Chicken puffs, ham medleys, salmon party logs

Inspired by "Julie and Julia" and the resurgence of Julia Childs' "The Art of French Cooking," I somehow found myself thumbing through the "Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook" circa 1973 last night.

French cooking it is not. It's not healthy or sophisticated or contain any vegetable that's not canned. It is, however, a really interesting glimpse into food culture of 35 years ago in this country. At least for a foodie like me.

My mom told me the book contained the first meal she ever cooked for my dad in their New York galley kitchen (tuna noodle casserole), so I suppose it holds some sentimental value for me (she went on to cook him a similar pork casserole, topped with blue cheese).

Some of the book's recipes just sounded disgusting and wrong: liver loaf, scrambled brains, jellied chicken salad, and bacon butter.

Some sounded relatively normal: biscuts, Coq au vin, and ceasar salad.

Below is my own personal winner's gallery:

--Luncheon meat dinner

Here, luncheon meat is left unidentified. Turkey? Ham? Roast beef? Doesn't matter. Add some marmalade, sweet potatoes, and pineapple and you've got yourself a nice little one pot dinner.

--Frosted cheese mold

Anything with 'frosted' that is not some kind of baked good, in my opinion, is beyond disgusting. As is the term 'mold' without further reference to some kind of cheese product. This gem is made with gelatin, milk, cottage cheese, whipped cream, frozen limeade, pecans, and--the all too often overlooked in my own cooking--green food coloring.

--Frosted ribbon loaf

There's that term again--something frosted that doesn't fall into the dessert category. It kind of looks like a cake in the photo, but where the cake would be, it's white bread, where the frosting in between would be, it's a mix of ham salad filling and egg salad filling. The entire thing is frosted with cream cheese. Why not? It's the 70s--we're not countin' calories!

I like that "shrimp curried eggs" make an "unusual casserole" that's a "perfect main dish for a ladies luncheon."

I like that I can top chicken livers and water chestnuts with bacon and call them "luau bites."

I suppose it's easy to criticize these with my California chardonnay drinking, farmers'marketing going, sushi eating, 21st century viewpoint.

Anyone else have any tried and true recipes from this era?