American Cookery, February 1942.

The cover of American Cookery for February 1942 features a patriotic tablescape with a starry Seafood Pie (page 295), shrimp, crab, fish, and oysters in a white sauce, topped with a flaky crust. I think I'd eat that. For dessert, Lincoln Log Cake, a vanilla cake filled with maple-flavored frosting and rolled into a log jelly-roll style. Lincoln's birthday (February 12) used to be a much bigger deal before it got rolled up (like a jelly roll) with Washington's birthday (February 22) and turned into President's Day (the third Monday of February.) Page 297 also features a four-tiered Washington's birthday cake, much more patrician than the humble log for Lincoln.

I'm sure many of us have wondered about the three basic rules for giving a church supper for men, and on page 302 we are answered: 1) have plenty to eat, 2) give good service, and 3) don't try to make money. Yes, men are cheapskates, so if you need to raise money for church ministry, try a ladies' luncheon where the pocketbooks are presumably open. This begs the question of why one would have a church supper for men, but I suppose making all those weighty decisions and solving pressing Scriptural issues is easier when stuffed with baked ham, mashed squash, hot rolls, and mock Indian pudding (the recommended menu.)

We also get a step-by-step preparation for a "stag party," (page 306) which did not have the 2018 connotation in 1942. Here we see Winifred Hackett doing every bit of preparation for her husband's dinner party (thrown for a friend who is joining the Army) before tiptoeing away and letting her husband take all the credit. The Greatest Generation, indeed. Click on each image to enlarge.

American Cookery, January 1942

My small stack of American Cookery magazines has been sitting and quietly crumbling in a dresser drawer for over a year. I overhauled my entire study a couple of weeks ago, and hauled them out of the dresser, which I disposed of to a friend with a new house in need of furniture.

The January 1942 issue of American Cookery would have been released to a nation of cooks who were reeling, like everyone else, from the attack on Pearl Harbor and our sudden entry into war. The first mention of the war is an article on "Eating for Defense" (page 263) with pictures of adorable moppets eating a lunch supplied by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and an elderly housewife surveying her shelves of canned fruits and vegetables. Ann interesting statistic states that American ships were daily supplying Great Britain with $2,000,000 worth of food: pork, lard, dried eggs, canned orange and tomato juices. This sounds like a staggering amount of food to produce and ship.

Other interesting tidbits are an article about the editor's prized kitchen, done in soft clover greens and featuring a view of Cape Cod (page 271.) Color pictures would have been a nice luxury here.Also, how to create nutritional broths with things like spinach, radishes and dandelions (and not much else) (page 274), creating a fig cake to lure the most stony-hearted suitor (page 276), and a "Cooks A-Calling" feature wherein the author introduces stuffed peppers to the people of Scotland. Click on each image to enlarge.

This issue featured an extra treat:: a folded cover from the magazine Capper's Farmer, July 1934, 5 cents a copy. I can see why someone tore it out and saved it, it's a charming picture.