Evie B - Consulting Historian - Vintage food and recipe blog

Added up the weight of these ingredients and you will end up with a cake weighting two stones! From an American cook book from 1948 called the modern encyclopedia of cookery by meta given. Love cook books from America during the 2nd world war. Food shortages not hav8ng the impact they did on British cook books of the same period. Fascinating for the food or social historian to compare and contrast 

Beautiful and functional I have a love of vintage jelly moulds both the more recent Tupperware variety but also the beautiful old Georgian Victorian and Edwardian versions.

Home made soups using lentils and other pulses are not only cheap they are filling and delicious.  Here is my lentil soup made by boiling the lentils with any veg I had in the house that needed using in some stock.  I like to add a creamy tin of condensed soup for both taste and texture. Delicious, nutritious and good for the tight budget. 

Nobody can deny that these treats look rather odd! And may be reminiscent of things that are not good for the appetite!  However there is nothing better for using up stale cake or biscuits than the traditional chocolate truffle here I simply melted chocolate with a little butter and sugar and mixed in the stale biscuits and cakes that needed using up . The good thing about this recipe is that it does not need precise quantities simply mixed to a very very thick consistency then set in the fridge.

The The Tupperware rice cooker is a foolproof method of cooking boiled rice! If you like me have spent many years struggling to cook rice then I can guarantee you will not be disappointed with this excellent gadget. See below for instructions you start by boiling the rice for just five minutes then Paul water and rice into the container leave to stand and low and behold you have perfect fluffy individual grains with no effort . My family were not disappointed I save this price in a traditional 1970s curry style .  With the obligatory boiled eggs sliced on top   these wonderful Tupperware gadgets work extremely expensive at the time from the fun Tupperware parties of childhood . But now can be easily acquired from eBay . Many of them however do not come with instructions so please feel free to download the recipe for you from here 

This delicious five ingredient dip very popular in America. Simply mix together grated cheese, soft cheese, ham, mayonnaise and chopped slivers of almonds. In any quantities to taste. Use what you have in the fridge. You won't be disappointed!  It's not called the million dollar dip for nothing!  ideal with tortilla chips   or my favourite on a cheese scone!

hard to believe this was considered to be an elegant way to serve a roast chicken! from an american food magazine 1966 I believe though garnish then was purely for decoration and not eaten often but discarded

Some of these are beautiful and creative  a step to far? a culinary travesty or a culinary gem? Not so sure about the ham and banana ! What do you think ? 

one of my favourite recipes from my childhood. a piquant and delicious barbeque sauce great on burgers and jacket potatoes the original old handwritten recipe book. some of the ingredients plus I have added a pinch of mustard powder start with sweating the onions. also fry a pan full for the burgers and sausages your bbq sauce will smother add the rest of the ingredients leave to gently simmer for your family and guests to enjoy  ther original recipe snipped from a magazine and stuck in the family recipe book fabulous on burgers  gorgeous on veggie lentil burgers 

Fanny cradock was a unique individual and this recipe reflects that! From a newspaper article in 1968 she describes a favourite dish of her own invention. Mixing crumbled brown bread, tinned sardines and lightly boiled eggs. She called it her dog's dinner!  Easy to make, very filling but a bit bland. As unique as its inventor  Never she of being creative or trying something different.  Fanny Cradocks Dogs dinner made a lovely portable lunch. Shown here in my vintage Tupperware bowl 

 Tupperware jelly moulds made the family favourite jelly even easier with the removable lid to aid releasing it from the fancy mould.  Add fruit to make this family favourite even fancier  Ideally serve with tinned evaporated milk. The tin to be opened with two stabs from an old fashioned tin opener Served in lady in crinoline bowl

Made a gorgeous cheese and potato pie tonight for me and the children. Simple recipe but delicious and very reminiscent of the past. Coming home after a day at school to this treat ideally served with baked beans! All it needs is mash potato knob of butter and any cheese that you have knocking around that needs using up . Great the cheese add to the mashed potato and bacon the oven till golden brown on top . Ideally save some of the grated cheese for the top of the potato for the extra cheesy brownie crust .  vintage saucepan originally bought in boots in the 1970s    Vintage greater from the 1960s   cooked in my enamel oven dish

Ideally cooked in a pressure cooker. The base is pearl barley, start your stew cooking then add any vegetables you have in the house that need using ! Onions, carrots, potatoes peas leaks, anything at all!  Add stock and herbs, any think you like the joy of this recipe is that it is totally adaptable because it comes from a time when no food was wasted and what better than a vegetable stew to feed a family when you have food that needs using up and not much money in the family purse.  Are used to love this stew is a child any season , it is wonderful on a cold winters evening but it is also very satisfying during the spring when there are so many plentiful spring vegetables.  Call me astute is not complete without dumplings and I added 16 to the pressure cooker so there will be at least one dumpling for every help him freeze what you don't use. Gorgeous on the first day,  it is extra special the following day when all the flavours have had chance to matur...