Reminiscing: Mexican Cookery for American Homes

Hola, gentle readers! Courtesy of Aunt and Uncle of Ken, I have been gifted with an array of old cookbooks that are nothing short of hilarious to read. I do not know how they obtained these gems, but I am grateful for the joy they have brought to my life.

Today's offering is Mexican Cookery for American Homes from Gebhardt's in San Antonio, Texas. There is no exact publication date, but one of the advertisements has a copyright date of 1943.

This cookbook has a few fantastic color illustrations. Keep an eye out for the salt and pepper shakers that appear on the "tablescapes." Above, you will see small cacti, I think.

As for recipes, I scanned a few that I thought you would especially enjoy. On page seven of this book, right at the top, there is a recipe for "Mexican Style Tongue." Mmmmm...

For those of you who prefer lighter fare, perhaps you would be interested in this recipe for "Gebhardt's Bean Salad:"

The picture really sells it for me.

Those of you with more adventurous palettes might be interested in this recipe for "Deviled Eggs in Aspic:"

Doesn't it look tasty? Father of Ken has been an aficionado of tomato aspic since Grandmother of Ken (she of the Ranch Jell-O fame) made some for him in the seventies.




I just can't tell you how good this looks.

Here's the rest of the tomato aspic recipe and a recipe for "Sombrero Salad"--isn't it cute? I also love the table decorations:





That's not all, gentle readers. The next section of the book covers main dishes such as "Boiled Spaghetti" (top photo) and "Chili with Eggs" (bottom photo):





I think this might be my absolute favorite part of the whole book. There is just something so appetizing about this photograph of appetizers. It reminds me of the part of Bridget Jones where Mark Darcy remarks, "If you ask me, there's not enough blue food."



Seriously, what is up with the blue stuff on the edge? And the presentation of the whole thing is just...there are no words.

That's it for Mexican Cookery--I hope you enjoyed it. Next up: the cookbook that came with the Presto Pressure Cooker in the 1950s.