Vintage Thanksgiving: 1960s Edition

One of my daughters picked these 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s cookbooks up at Goodwill for me, knowing my affinity for vintage cookbooks. The (c.1959, p. 1965) holiday one has a multipage section devoted to Thanksgiving. I love reading vintage holiday menus. Although the specific recipe may be different from what my mother prepared, they conjure up what my memory wants to believe holidays were actually like, maybe in a different home or as featured in an advertisement or movie. I thought it would be fun today to go through their suggestions.

First of all, they provided 3 different menus, one featuring turkey as the main dish, the next featuring a roast chicken, and the third with rock Cornish game hens. Poultry, whichever you choose, was the featured type of meat. 

In the section for the turkey menu, they provided a handy guide for how to carve a turkey. 

Cooking instructions, from what I understand, are outdated, as turkeys that you purchase today cook faster than those in the past. The turkeys today are different, as well as our now preference for slightly less done poultry.

There was even a handy guide for spiffing up some of the traditional foods you might serve.

Dinner Accents: appetizers, salads, hot side dishes

apple-pineapple slaw, cranberry jello ring
I think the dish at the top is mayonnaise

creamed onions

an assortment of side dishes -- pretty serving dish

Some side dishes are what we might find on the table today, like baked butternut squash, buttered green beans, orange-glazed sweet potatoes, green peas, Waldorf salad, and pickled beets. But others were less familiar to me, such as creamed onions, a cranberry-strawberry-cream cheese-marshmallow-pineapple-lemon-mayo jello ring, and an apple-pineapple slaw.

The starchy dishes included herb and bread stuffing, corn bread, mashed potatoes, mushroom wild rice, and biscuits.

hot tomato starter

All menus had a starter dish -- hot tomato soup, hot oyster stew, or harvest fruit cup.

And I think there was a lot of coffee poured at holiday meals, if the menus are any indication. Hot coffee is the only beverage listed for all three menus.

mincemeat pie, pumpkin custard pie, cranberry mincemeat pie

Happy Endings

Let's get to the desserts.

pumpkin chiffon tarts, date-orange pudding, steamed cranberry pudding

The list is extensive: classic pumpkin custard pie, mincemeat pie, cranberry mince pie (that sounds interesting), pumpkin chiffon tarts, cheesecake mince tarts, date-orange dessert (a cake-like pudding topped with na glaze and hard sauce), cranberry steamed pudding, and something called pilgrim hats made with upside down, flat-bottomed ice cream cones, puffed rice cereal, and caramel candies made to look like a pilgrims hat. The hat band is made from jelly candies cut into strips. I think that last one was meant to appeal to children at Thanksgiving.

The cookbook also provided instructions for crafting table favors/place cards for each place setting, little pilgrim men.

So, tie on your apron, put on your string of pearls, and get those high-heeled pumps on. We've got a Thanksgiving meal to make!