Vintage Thursday Thingie: Cook booklet

This is a funny little cook booklet exclusively filled with recipes for fried foods!
There is no date...but here on the back cover is the first clue: the lovely salt and pepper shakers say 1950s to me.Finally, inside some of the mystery is solved. This is a booklet put out by Spry Shortening! No wonder its all fried foods! (There is another vintage Spry cook booklet dedicated to baked goods.) Now look carefully at the Spry can-do you see the checked or gingham pattern around the name?

When Spry was introduced in the 1935-it was not in the blue gingham can. During WWII, Spry was not in a can at all-it was in a bottle…I’m guessing the metal was needed for the war effort. Both showed Spry written in green on a V shaped yellow background and both had the running baker holding a pie on the sides as the logo.

In 1951 out came homogenized Spry in a Blue Gingham can with a small running baker logo. "Homogenized" was only used in advertisements -not on the can.

“All Spry in the blue gingham can is homogenized” was the slogan.

In 1953- Spry in the blue gingham can now says across it: homogenized… exactly like the can in my cook booklet.

In 1955 a new can came out-no running baker at all-its the red and white can that I remember as a child.

So now we know that my little "Frying is Easy" cook booklet is a Spry cook booklet from 1953-1954! Pretty good solution to the mystery. And what is inside? Mmm, doughnuts!
Bet you didn't know that frying (in Spry, of course,) was so digestible! "...foods like those fried the Spry way are not only good-tasting but nutritious and digestible-as digestible as if baked or boiled." Too bad we all believed this...can we blame today's obesity problem all on '50s advertising copy?

Fortunately not all the recipes look as good as the doughnuts...here's one of those super weird 1950s concoctions. This one, like all "...the recipes in this booklet were carefully developed in the Lever Test Kitchens.."
A tuna fish sandwich, dipped in French toast batter, and fried in Spry! Honestly-did they ever taste the things they made! Though I have to say that if you were going on a breakfast picnic, the other filling might just fill the bill.

If you have a Blue Gingham Spry can-or you find one-what a fabulous rare find it is. After all, the Blue Gingham can was only produced for 4 years, from 1951-1955!

Hope you enjoyed my "Frying is Easy" cook booklet. To see more wonderful vintage treasures, hop on over to Suzanne at Coloradolady-the hostess with the mostess of Vintage Thursdays Thingies and the keys to wonderful vintage treasures. I'm also linking to Week-end Cooking at Beth Fish Reads.