A recipe from an ad for the American Wine Advisory Board
published in LIFE magazine November 12. 1945
I love finding a decent recipe on an ad because building posts like this one chalenge both the foodlover and the designer in me. And old ads are always more fun to work with because the illustrations usually are drawings like this superb watercolour and not photos – Ted
A recipe from an ad for the American Wine Advisory Board
published in LIFE magazine November 26. 1945
This chicken fricassee can start you on a test of some pleasurable eating. You serve the chicken steaming hot. Then pour a glass of California Sauterne or an other good white wine, well chilled – and taste the wine and food together.
A classic American recipe found in “Delicious Recipes
with Mueller’s Macaroni Products” published
by C F Mueller Co in the 1940s
A starter recipe found in “The New Sealtest Book of Recipes
and Menus” published by Sealtest Inc in 1940
If you’re not all that fond of oysters I’m sure this recipe will work
just as well with mussles or scallops – Ted
A breakfast recipe found in “The New Sealtest Book of
Recipes and Menus” published by Sealtest Inc in 1940
A rather surprising waffle recipe for scandinavians who do not serve waffles for breakfast, but more like we would serve cakes. A waffle recipe without sugar or other sweetening would of course then seem a little strange to us.
A baking recipe found in “Baker’s Favourite
Chocolate Recipes” published in 1943
If you like both chocolate and mint, this is the cake for you
A children friendly punch recipe foun in “The New Sealtest Book
of Recipes and Menus” published by Sealtest Inc in 1940
It’s strange how our perception of images change over time.
Seen with 1940 eyes that man was obviously meant to look like
a friendly old uncle. Seen with 2017 eyes I wouldn’t have left
my children alone with him for more than 5 seconds.
Ted
A delicious cake recipe found in “Baker’s Favorite
Chocolate Recipes” published in 1943
This book has a lot of great illustration in down toned colours that really caught my attention. I have not tried to brighten up the colours, just given them a little more depth as they probably would have lost some over the last close to 75 years – Ted
A pie recipe from The Second World War found on historyextra.com
No one knows where the name for Homity Pie originates from but the dish was popular with land girls during the Second World War. As well as unrationed items, the recipe also includes rationed foods like cheese, eggs and butter – the original recipe would have used these frugally. Nowadays we don’t have to be so sparing with the cheese and butter, which only make it even tastier.
In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates homity pie – a hearty, vegetarian dish popular during the Second World War.
The Women’s Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars so women could work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls. The name Women’s Land Army was also used in the United States for an organisation formally called the Woman’s Land Army of America.
In effect the Land Army operated to place women with farms that needed workers, the farmers being their employers.
As the prospect of war became increasingly likely, the government wanted to increase the amount of food grown within Britain. In order to grow more food, more help was needed on the farms and so the government started the Women’s Land Army in June 1939.
The majority of the Land Girls already lived in the countryside but more than a third came from London and the industrial cities of the north of England.
In the Second World War, though under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, it was given an honorary head – Lady Gertrude Denman. At first it asked for volunteers. This was supplemented by conscription, so that by 1944 it had over 80,000 members. The WLA lasted until its official disbandment on 21 October 1949.
Land girls were also formed to supply New Zealand’s agriculture during the war. City girls from the age of 17 and up were sent to assist on sheep, cattle, dairy, orchard and poultry properties.
The Women’s Land Army was the subject of:
A classic mid-century recipe found at goodhousekeeping.com
After the war, celebrated cookery writer Elizabeth David heralded a new, imported cooking culture, popularising French classics such as this beef bourguignon. The dish became popular in Britain in the 1940s. This version is bulked up with vegetables, much as stews would have been at the time due to the rationing.
I can clearly see when studying my collection of old cook books that Scandinavia followed suit about five years later. A remarked interest in Continental cooking, particular French began around 1950 – Ted
A WWII recipe from an ad for Kitchen Craft flour
published in 1942 
Little touches like home-baked bread and cake, a thermos filled with old-fashioned soup, or a small jar of his favourite salad, make a box lunch much more like a meal at home.
The fact is, every hard-working man in our war industry deserves and needs heartier, tastier food than the average box lunch offers. The gingerbread pictured on this page is one part of a perfect answer. It’s light, velvety satisfying. It is well-blessed with homemade taste.
Try this tested recipe. It will make sufficient gingerbread for several generous lunch box servings plus enough for two dinners for a family of four. And it’s easy to bake when you use home-type flour like Kitchen Craft.
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A fairground classic recipe found on lostrecipesfound.com
Here’s a little-known fact: Early corn-dog purveyor Ed Waldmire, Jr., wanted to call his corn-dog stand “The Crusty Cur”….his wife convinced him to change the name to “Cozy Pup.” Like most other American fried-food-on-a-stick, batter-fried weiner wands have state fair connections.
Vaudeville actors Carl and Neil Fletcher abandoned their Dallas song-and-dance act tent show in 1938 when the Texas State Fair offered them the chance to operate a food booth. The two had read about a man in the Oaklawn neighbourhood of Dallas who was baking corn-battered hotdogs in moulds, and the idea intrigued them, so the brothers set out to improve on the product. They perfected their batter-dipped and fried corn dog in time for the 1942 Texas State Fair.
Easy, portable and quick, corn dogs soon became fast-food-restaurant darlings. Cozy Dog Drive-in in Springfield, IL claims first-to-market status (1946) but restaurateur Dave Barham started selling at Hot Dog on a Stick in Santa Monica, CA, that same year.
Sparkler, ade and ice cream soda recipes from an ad
for Canada Dry Water published in 1946
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From the ad text: The most delicious of summer drinks are yours for the making when you have a big sparkling bottle of Canada Dry Water on hand! You can mix refreshing fruit-ades with fresh fruit juices . . . tangy fruit sparklers with bottled or canned fruit juices. . . tasty coolers with soft drink extracts . . . real ice cream sodas – all with that professional touch!
![000_recipe_eng_thumb[1]](https://recipereminiscing.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/000_recipe_eng_thumb11.jpg?w=159&h=18 "000_recipe_eng_thumb[1]"){kind=small}
– 
A recipe from an ad for Jell-O Chocolate Tapioca
published in 1945
When it comes to retro recipes there’s no way around good old Jell-O is there. No other product has given us ads with images of such eddable monstosities. To my defence visitors, this is not the worst of them – Ted 😉
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A recipe from an ad for Nabisco Brand published in 1945
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In context:
Nabisco dates its founding to 1898, a decade when the bakery business underwent a major consolidation. Early in the decade, bakeries throughout the country were consolidated regionally, into companies such as Chicago’s American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company (which was formed from 40 Midwestern bakeries in 1830), the New York Biscuit Company (consisting of seven eastern bakeries), 
and the United States Baking Company. In 1898, the National Biscuit Company was formed from the combination of those three. The merger resulted in a company with 114 bakeries across the US and headquartered in New York City. The word “biscuit” is a traditional term for what are now termed “cookies” and “crackers” in American English, though British English retains “biscuit” to refer to these baked goods.
Key to the founding of Nabisco was Pittsburgh baking mogul Sylvester S. Marvin. Marvin arrived in Pittsburgh in 1863 and established himself in the cracker business, founding S. S. Marvin Co. Its products included crackers, cakes, and breads. Marvin was called the Edison of manufacturing for his innovations in the bakery business. By 1888, it was the largest in the US, and the centerpiece of the National Biscuit Company . Marvin was also a member of the elite South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club of Johnstown Flood fame. The F. A. Kennedy Steam Bakery in Boston, known for inventing Fig Newtons and producing Lorna Doone cookies, was one of the very first acquisitions made by Nabisco, joining the company in 1898.
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