<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><em>For the third installment of our</em> Patrick F. Taylor Foundation Object Project <em>potluck series, we embraced 1950s cooking. We found recipes influenced by the end of <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/taste-wartime-rationing-1940s-product-cookbooks" target="_blank">World War II rationing</a>, an ongoing interest in convenience, and the growing peacetime prosperity and leisure that many, though not all, Americans enjoyed. Here are just a few of the trends we noticed:</em></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1416075" target="_blank"><img alt="White shirt with a print of watermelon, pickles, skewers of meat, and grilling tools" class="auto-caption media-image img__fid__17995 img__view_mode__media_large" rel="lightbox" src="https://americanhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/blog_image/public/NMAH-JN2012-1031.jpg?itok=cINlETo1" style="width: 437px; height: 550px;" title="BBQ shirt, around 1965. Beginning in the 1950s, it became fashionable for Americans to enjoy a meal outside on the backyard patio. As depicted on this shirt, grilling required new tools like grill racks and spatulas."></a></p><p>In many parts of the country, summer is synonymous with backyard barbecues, a practice that began in the 1950s as many Americans celebrated their newfound leisure time through casual outdoor dinners. After the frugality of wartime living, postwar home cooks invested in grills and other accessories for their suburban backyards.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Left: Bologna with grill marks. Right: Deli meats in different shapes, on a platter." class="auto-caption media-image img__fid__18081 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" rel="lightbox" src="https://americanhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/blog_image/public/bologna%20and%20meat%20platter.jpg?itok=YuyZ535m" style="width: 550px; height: 198px;" title="Left: Barbecued Bologna, made by Nanci from “Good Housekeeping’s Summertime Cook Book,” around 1950s. Right: various meat appetizers made by Emma, from “Good Housekeeping’s Appetizer Book,” 1958."></p><p>As many Americans enjoyed greater prosperity after World War II, meat took center stage on the plate. At the same time, men assumed a new role in many households: <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/food/resetting-table/backyard-cookout">grill masters</a>. While cuts of fresh beef were prized, many of the recipes we found in 1950s recipes from the <a href="http://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/NMAH.AC.0396.pdf">Product Cookbooks Collection</a> called for more affordable or convenient canned deli meats. Nanci, our brave team member who volunteered to make Barbecued Bologna, had a memorable experience asking for a three-pound loaf of unsliced bologna from her local grocery store. But once she had it in hand, she glazed it with a mixture of currant jelly and mustand, studded it with whole cloves, and grilled it over hot coals.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Left: Ad showing a mother and daughter wearing crowns in front of a refrigerator. Right: Gelatin salad on a bed of lettuce." class="auto-caption media-image img__fid__18080 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" rel="lightbox" src="https://americanhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/blog_image/public/frigidaire%20waldorf%20salad.jpg?itok=mlXHbeaj" style="width: 550px; height: 239px;" title="Left: Ad for a Frigidaire refrigerator, 1959, in which mother and daughter declare “Frozen foods without frost!” and “Fresh foods without frost!” Right: Waldorf Salad, made by Judy from the “Gel-Cookery Recipe Book,” Knox Gelatine Company, 1955."></p><p>While men socialized and tended to the grill, women still had <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/object-project/refrigerators/toy-kitchen">domain over the indoors</a>. In well-equipped, increasingly all-electric kitchens, they prepared salads and sides to accompany an outdoor meal.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Cover of a cookbook with a blue checkered background and pink cake and silver cake server" class="auto-caption media-image img__fid__17999 img__view_mode__media_large" rel="lightbox" src="https://americanhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/blog_image/public/Hotpoint%20Electric%20Range_cover.jpg?itok=6GD0X17C" style="width: 370px; height: 550px;" title="Cover of “Let’s Get Acquainted with Your Hotpoint Electric Range,” published by General Electric Company, around 1954"></p><p>One cookbook we looked to for our 1950s potluck is titled <em>Let's Get Acquainted with Your Hotpoint Electric Range</em>. Not just a recipe book, it also serves as an instruction manual for the Hotpoint oven and stove. Furthermore, dishes are organized into entire menus for ease of cooking. The "budget oven meal" includes four dishes that all cook at the same temperature in the oven (including the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/26335914292/in/album-72157667077871276/">Crown Roast of Wieners</a> that we boldly taste-tested). The menu, which provides "dinner for eight," even gives instructions on how to situate the oven racks and where to place each dish.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Three silver TV dinner trays with separated sections for different dishes." class="auto-caption media-image img__fid__18079 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" rel="lightbox" src="https://americanhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/blog_image/public/ET2014-12357_1.jpg?itok=NH6VDFCm" style="width: 413px; height: 550px;" title="Swanson TV dinner trays, 1950s"></p><p>Swanson debuted frozen TV dinners during the 1950s, and the tagline "Just heat and serve!" became a hallmark of convenience. As more women worked outside the home—but were still assumed responsible for cooking—they turned to TV dinners that required little effort to prepare and serve.</p><p>The 1950s also saw the beginning of ethnic foods going mainstream in America, fueled in part by returning soldiers' exposure to foods from other countries. <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/wok-frozen-food-aisle">Frozen ethnic foods</a>, though Americanized, offered not only convenience, but also variety. (We hope to explore America's take on cuisine from other countries in greater depth when we reach the 1960s in our decade-by-decade potluck series!)</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Cover of a cookbook showing a well-dressed woman pouring a can into a pot on the stove." class="auto-caption media-image img__fid__18082 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" rel="lightbox" src="https://americanhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/blog_image/public/Choice%20Recipes_cover.jpg?itok=QVudyBdm" style="width: 369px; height: 550px;" title="Cover of "Choice Recipes and Menus Using Canned Foods," American Can Company, 1950s"></p><p>Of course, canned foods were the "original" convenience food and they continued to play a role in 1950s cooking. While selecting recipes for our 1950s potluck, we noticed that some of the dishes were made by simply combining two types of canned soup, or even a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/26155409540/in/album-72157667077871276/">can of carrots with a can of pineapple</a>.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Left: Cookbook with a serving bowl full of red soup, with a yellow rose next to it. Right: Slightly orange cake with white frosting." class="auto-caption media-image img__fid__18001 img__view_mode__media_large" rel="lightbox" src="https://americanhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/blog_image/public/tomato%20cake%20side%20by%20side.jpg?itok=Rn8FLuD-" style="width: 550px; height: 273px;" title="Cover of “Wonderful Ways with Soups,” Campbell Soup Company, 1958, and Tomato Soup Cake"></p><p>In recipes designed as much to sell canned soup as to result in tasty meals, canned tomato soup found its way into a cake, and condensed milk was used in a smoothie-like beverage called Carnation Fruit Flip. The Steak Stroganoff wouldn't have been complete without a can of condensed mushroom soup, and the base of a mock Hollandaise sauce was condensed cream of chicken soup.</p><p>Some closing 1950s observations from the <em>Taylor Foundation Object Project</em> team? "The recipes are steadily getting better!" "Dessert is still the best." And, in stark contrast to the 1930s, "There’s nary a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/21546857104/in/album-72157659781129906/">radish rose</a> in sight."</p><p>Check out other photos and recipes from our 1950s potluck:</p><p> </p><p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumofamericanhistory/albums/72157667077871276" title="1950s Object Project Potluck"><img alt="1950s Object Project Potluck" height="508" rel="lightbox" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1588/26428269295_f7328a1d99_z.jpg" width="640"></a></p><p> </p><p><em>Caitlin Kearney is a new media assistant for the</em> Taylor Foundation Object Project. <em>Previously, she has blogged about <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/pass-gelatin-taste-history-through-mid-century-cooking">mid-century cooking</a> and <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/parties-plastic-how-women-used-tupperware-participate-business">Tupperware parties</a>.</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-user field-type-user-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related Staff Member: </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/users/kearneyc">KearneyC</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-posted-date field-type-datetime field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Posted Date: </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - 09:00</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-blog-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Categories: </h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/blog-tags/object-project">Object Project</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/blog-tags/food-history">Food History</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/blog-tags/invention-innovation">Invention & Innovation</a></li></ul></div><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OSayCanYouSee?a=8zR3yPxet_E:j9ny4Fni6-Y:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OSayCanYouSee?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OSayCanYouSee?a=8zR3yPxet_E:j9ny4Fni6-Y:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OSayCanYouSee?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OSayCanYouSee?a=8zR3yPxet_E:j9ny4Fni6-Y:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OSayCanYouSee?i=8zR3yPxet_E:j9ny4Fni6-Y:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OSayCanYouSee?a=8zR3yPxet_E:j9ny4Fni6-Y:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OSayCanYouSee?i=8zR3yPxet_E:j9ny4Fni6-Y:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OSayCanYouSee?a=8zR3yPxet_E:j9ny4Fni6-Y:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OSayCanYouSee?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OSayCanYouSee/~4/8zR3yPxet_E" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
