Distinctly

D SQUARED FALL 22

Was in an antique store out in the middle of nowhere and there was an open zipper bag with like 14 thin paper cookbooks in it. (Dylan… call me.) The label said “8 cookbooks, $9.50″ so maybe somebody put something into this that wasn’t supposed to be there. With that in mind, I removed four or five that I didn’t like, zipped it back up, and paid the woman for the batch.

Two pamphlets put out by Church & Dwight, makers of Arm & Hammer (and Cow) products, both 1933, on what to do with all that sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate that you’ve been hoarding.

You’re damn skippy that I will be sharing a lot more of this 1935 cookbook in the near future.

“Hello, Martha? Was I supposed to do something with the oranges? I just put them whole into the aspic.” Which is the surprising difference. Not sure what the surprising difference really is but this 1966 cookbook was put out by Carnation condensed milk, and the photo above is a panorama that shows on the back cover she also made orange cupcakes.

If you’ve ever read recipes from certain sources, you’ve noticed that there will be a note on cooking temperature or time for higher altitudes, since (word has it) folks in Colorado were not getting the same results. No, really, look it up. So the fine folks at Fisher Mills of Seattle – still the makers of must-have scones at fairs around Puget Sound – are telling you what they’d tell you anyway in this 1958 tome. The cover is another panorama of the Washington or Oregon seacoast, with the beach on the back. One bonus note about this one: The previous owner glued recipes from newspapers and the backs of boxes on some pages that presumably are blank, one of which is a Betty Crocker cake mix recipe for banana nut bread that ends with “High Altitude: not recommended.”

And now, a friendly competition between Jell-O (1928) and Knox (1958). There is a higher likelihood that there are real strawberries in the Knox desserts, because their product is unflavored and you damned welll put them there, than in Jell-O, which coyly pictures a strawberry plant on the cover.

Two exceptions to the rule, because “The Magic Of Spices” (1964) was made by the American Spice Trade Association and not a specific retail brand, and “Meals for Two” (1971) is a store checkout number by the Culinary Arts Institute and published by Consolidated Book Publishers.

You bought four pressure cookers… what all can you make at the same time? I’m pretty sure this undated 72-page booklet came packed with a Presto pressure cooker but the first page says “price twenty-five cents” anyhow. And so you know, that timer on the stove is also a Presto product: “Price is $3.38 east of the Rocky Mountains and $3.6, West of the Rocky Mountains.”

(Patrick Stewart voice) The RCA Estate oven. 1955 edition of the 1952 cookbook made by a company you probably weren’t aware ever made kitchen appliances: “Famous for TV, radio, recorded music, ranges, and air conditioners.”

Bananas and Bacon – Guaranteed to start conversation. Or something. This is the back cover of “The New Banana” from United Fruit Company, 1951. Yes, for once a banana cookbook that’s not by Dole or Chiquita.