Picked up a 1950s cookbook for 50 cents and it had a recipe for jello with hot dogs in it

I was at the Salvation Army in Cleveland last Saturday and grabbed this beat up old cookbook called "Party Perfect Meals" from 1953 just because the cover had a lady in a fancy dress holding a tray of food. Paid 50 cents for it and flipped through it in the parking lot. There was a whole section on gelatin salads with stuff like shredded carrots and mayonnaise mixed right in. But the one that got me was the "Savory Jellied Dinner" that used lime jello, chopped hot dogs, and cottage cheese. I actually tried making a tiny batch last night just to see if it was as bad as it sounded. It was worse. The hot dog pieces went all rubbery and the jello never set right because of the grease. I learned that some old recipes really did just throw random ingredients together because they thought gelatin counted as a vegetable. Has anyone else found a recipe so weird you actually had to test it?

2 comments

2 Comments

daniel_rivera1d ago

Man, that's some cursed cooking right there. Hot dogs and jello sounds like a punishment from a bad 1950s housewife nightmare. At least you only wasted 50 cents (and maybe your appetite).

daniel_rivera1d ago

You ever wonder what the thought process was behind that combo... like did someone actually taste it and go "yeah, this is good"? Seems like a lot of those old recipes were just about using up leftovers without caring how they'd actually taste.