Back in print!

I don't hate to cook, but I've always enjoyed this cookbook -- it's a good read. That 1940s - 1960s humor has always appealed to me. I'm glad it's available to a new generation of reluctant chefs. Some of the recipes include Skid Row Stroganoff, Clam Whiffle (a "souffle that any fool can make"), Hushkabobs ("So-called because the family isn't supposed to know it's just that old Sunday roast still following them around"), Fake Hollandaise, and Hootenholler Whisky Cake. There's a chapter on household hints ("If your veils or lace collars get that tired look, you can crisp them by ironing them between two sheets of waxed paper") and an even more amusing one on how to talk about food as if you understand and care about cooking. This would make a fine, entertaining gift for newlyweds or someone newly out on his or her own.

Here's Mrs. Bracken's recipe for Sweep Steak -- "So called because a couple of seasons ago, this recipe swept the country":

4 - 6 servings

2- to 3-pound round steak or pot roast
both 1-ounce packets in the package of onion-soup mix

Put the meat on a sheet of aluminum foil big enough to wrap it in. Sprinkle the onion-soup mix on top of it, fold the foil, airtight, around it, put it in a baking pan, and bake it at 300 degrees for three hours or 200 degrees for nine hours, it really doesn't matter. You can open it up, if you like, an hour or so before it's done, and surround it with potatoes and carrots.