1978's Eat Your Heart Out with Corn Dogs, Tomato-Cheese Strata, Cannelloni & more -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

Vintage Cookbook: Eat Your Heart Out - Patricia B. Sirrine, Norma B. Leavitt and Elaine B. Kiester

Publication Details: Eat Your Heart Out Publishing Co., 1978

"Eat Your Heart Out" is a quintessentially 70s Canadian cookbook. Published in 1978 it was something of a best seller with several printings over the next couple of years. It was put together by three sisters from Alberta and has over 200 pages of recipes.

These cover all the standard bases from soups, to breads (it has a very large selection of bread recipes in fact), to main dishes, etc. As always with cookbooks from this era there are a lot of classics, some reasonable takes on different meat recipes, some attempts at Chinese or Mexican style recipes that are of very mixed value, and some hilariously awful ideas like having a "jello salad" with Chimichangas! (Please don't do this.)

Many of the pages had little jokes or folksy quips at the bottom and the entire book has a very informal and actually quite charming feel.

Here we take a look at all the recipes associated with the (very) period photography in the cookbook. Sometimes the photographs have one recipe tied to them and sometimes they have several. But this is a large book and there are many recipes that would make it worth seeking out if you are a fan of classic, homestyle North American dishes from casseroles to roasts to a wide array of desserts.

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(A previous contributor from BC, Chris Green might debate the title here!

"B.C. Ferries' World's Best Clam Chowder Recipe: Contracted-out!")

See also: The Saint Louis Cookbook with Catfish Creole, Chimi-Churri Oysters, Bourbon BBQ & more -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

See also: Corn Flakes Break'n Bake w. Parmesan Pork, Apricot Chiffon Pie & more -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

Vintage Cookbook TBT List

Cooking...With a Velvet Touch w. Clam Chowder, Pumpkin Pie & more -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

Vintage Cookbook: Cooking...With a Velvet Touch, Mary Blake (48 pages) 

Publication Details: Carnation Brands 1960

1960's Cooking...With a Velvet Touch is a cookbook that reflects many aspects of its era. It has recipes both timeless and hideous, period cookbook photography and lots of what were meant to be helpful cooking and life tips to stay organized and on top of things.

Meant to create brand loyalty it, to say the least, pushes the envelope of good taste in finding culinary uses for Carnation Evaporated Milk! In fact, we looked at one of the more heinous suggestions before on the blog. 

And there is nothing quite as appetizing as seeing evaporated milk poured from a can onto ground beef!

But it has lots of great recipes as well, especially for sauces and desserts, and is as charming as it is dated. It is also a quintessential example of the "brand name cookbook" genre that were immensely popular at one time and that are still around in examples like Campbell's Soup cookbooks.

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Evaporated milk pouring onto ground beef says 'gourmet' to me!

Helpful hints for those who wish to be hyper-organized!

See also: Winnie-the-Pooh's Spinach & Bacon Salad Revisited -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

See also: 1923's Purity Flour Cook Book w. Lemon Meringue Pie, Roast Chicken, Homemade Bread & more -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

B.C. Ferries' World's Best Clam Chowder Recipe: Contracted-out!

Submitted by Chris Green
I was shocked and appalled to discover that the "geniuses" who are running our quasi-privatized Ferry Corporation in British Columbia have discontinued serving the world's best clam chowder recipe, replacing it with yet more contracted-out White Spot garbage.



Since they don't want to serve it anymore, I am sharing the recipe here. BC Ferries had leaflets in the early 1990s ("A New Wave for BC Ferries") that gave the "secret" to its greatness away for free! It was presented with "Thanks to Quality Control Supervisor Stanley Wong".

INGREDIENTS:

5 1/2 oz. (160 grams) Ham or Salt Pork, chopped
26 oz. (743 grams) Potatoes, diced
12 oz. (335 grams) Carrots, diced
21 oz. (590 grams) Onions, diced
12 oz. (335 grams) Celery, diced
9 oz. (263 grams) Green Pepper, diced
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. White Pepper
1/4 tsp. crushed Thyme
1 litre (1.2 quarts) Water
9 oz. (252 grams) Tomato Paste
23 oz. (650 grams) canned Whole Tomatoes (crushed)
2 oz. (57 grams) Chicken Base
3 cups canned Clam Nectar
3/4 cup Water
9 oz. (270 grams) Colflo* or Flour
2 drops Tabasco sauce
3 drops Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
2 lbs. (900 grams) fresh Butter Clam Meat (chopped)
1 tsp. fresh Parsley (chopped)

Sauté ham, potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and green pepper in a saucepan for 5 to 10 minutes. Add garlic powder, white pepper, thyme, 1 litre water, tomato paste, tomatoes, chicken base, and clam nectar. Cover and boil for 30 to 45 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Combine 3/4 cup water with flour and add to the soup. Add tabasco, worcestershire, sugar, salt, clam meat and parsley. Heat to serving temperature. Yields approximately 3 litres (3.6 quarts).

(I would imagine substituting chicken broth for the 1 litre of water and chicken base would be more than acceptable).

*Editor's Note: Colflo is an old-school (and that is not meant negatively) thickening ingredient that is purchased in bulk and used primarily by diners and cafeterias.

Chris Green is a 6th generation British Columbian, with deep family roots in labour and leftist politics in Nanaimo and Cowichan. He has shared food or booze at one time or another with Leaders of four different BC political parties, including four Premiers. He regrets to inform you that this includes his former SFU classmate, Christy Clark. He has volunteered or worked on NDP campaigns from the 1980s to the present day, but actually started out tagging along with his Grandma door-knocking for Tommy Douglas. He lives in Surrey, BC.