T.

One of my passions is vintage cookbooks
and entertaining books. In the used bookshop
here in Westport I discovered this gem,
Sunset’s Host and Hostess Book, compiled by
Helen Kroeger Muhs, published in 1940.
The chapters include: Luncheons,
Cards and Clubs, Week-End Entertaining,
Younger Members, Meals with a Foreign Flavor
and With, For and by Men.

There is no question that the vernacular
of cooking has evolved significantly
in the past sixty-nine years.
Here are some recipe names that are
particularly amusing (parenthetical asides
by the author of this blog):

Tomatoast (for the comatose guest)
Sauerkraut Juice Cocktail
Iced Vegetable Fingers (…and other assorted appendages)
Baconized Prunes ( You gotta love the notion of bacon
as a verb: I bacon, you bacon, he/she bacons, we bacon,
you bacon, they bacon. “Yesterday we baconed”.)
Pumper Nickels
Tuna Tempters (Heaven forbid the presence
of the Tuna Temptress.)
Apple Grunt
Plum Duff
Palmbergs
Macaronada (wait – isn’t this a dance?!)
Wiener Scallop
And my favorite:

Bologna in Disguise
8 slices bologna, cut ¼ inch thick
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup salted cracker crumbs
3 T butter or other shortening
Grated American Cheese
Minced parsley

Dip the slices of bologna in beaten egg,
then in cracker crumbs, then back into the
egg and again into the crumbs. Fry to a
golden brown in the shortening, turning
carefully with a spatula. Place on a hot
platter, sprinkle the tops with grated
cheese and minced parsley, and serve at
once, accompanied by good crisp pickles.



Ah, yes, fried bologna; or, more colloquially,
baloney.