Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Dining Delights

The 1948 cookbook, Dining Delights, was published by French's (R.T. French Co., located on Mustard Street in Rochester, NY). It gets special mention for its artfully presented dining tables filled with the titular dining delights. These are impressive spreads!


1. Front cover - A rather anemic looking bird


2. Carol French's introduction - Note that Carol explains that the mashed potatoes on the cover is their 'newer' French's Instant Potato.


3. Cod Fish Cakes on a fishy dish. I can't get over how beautiful the colors are in a lot of these older cookbooks!


4. Surely the masterpiece of this book, the Stuffed Franks! They are stuffed with mashed potatoes. The Broiled Tomatoes aren't covered in cheese but smothered with mayonnaise and mustard!


5. Some ethereal hues in the Salmon Salad Platter (with Mustard Mayonnaise) and the soup.


6. There's nothing like a dinner of Spiced Pot Roast of Veal and Pancakes!


7. The first of two picnic scenes. I can't really identify all of the food (I think those are hamburgers on the grill), but there's a lot of food and drinks.


8. This page has recipes for French's Doughnuts and Mincemeat Turnovers! Also, all the bottles are wearing aprons!


9. A savory ham slice with, probably, Veg-All. I've noticed that the tarts seem to be arranged in a creepy clownlike face.


10. This page shows the packaging design of various pickling spices.


11. Try These Taste Thrills! - Different ways to enhance your dining experience with French's products.


12. More packaging design - Includes other French's items (Instant Potato and Good Luck pie products), Colman's mustard, Silvo silver polish, and Brasso metal polish.

2 comments:

Jason Stockl said...

Great illustrations!

Most of it even looks appetizing...

Maria said...

The earlier cookbooks really don't seem to be as offensive as ones from the 60s and 70s.

Oddly, I thought the hotdogs looked really good, and I know that would be considered one of the least appetizing dishes in the book!