Ruth Berolzheimer gives cooks the bird

I haven't done much with one of my favorite old series of cookbooks lately: the Culinary Arts Institute's booklets edited by Ruth Berolzheimer. I love that they tend to include so many recipes clearly intended to use up odds and ends in the kitchen, and the black-and-white photos rarely look like much of anything, but often have great captions. Today's exhibit is 250 Ways to Prepare Poultry and Game Birds (1940).

Since the weather is starting to heat up, today we're looking at some chilly chicken concoctions. As you might expect, there are plenty of chicken salad recipes, like Chicken and Fruit Salad.

I know a lot of people like the fruit/ meat combo, but does anyone really long for chicken with orange, grapes, banana, and apple? That seems like it's overboard for all but the most hard-core fruit-and-meat enthusiasts. Maybe I'm misguided, though...

...as "Sunday supper will be gayer for this chicken and fruit salad." (It is nice to know that everybody was okay with Sunday supper being gay, and they would happily allow it to be gayer. And I thought the 1940s were too buttoned up.)

There's a plain old Chicken Salad, too, but this one still gets dressed up a little.

Yes-- check out the cucumber boats-- complete with pimiento strip oars!-- to use as serving vessels. 

If the chicken salad just won't feel complete without gratuitous gelatin, though, it can also be served inside a molded egg ring.

Bonus: The cook will know which came first: the chicken (salad) or the egg (ring). I'd recommend the egg so the ring has more time to set up, but the chicken might come first for those who really like to give the flavors time to blend. Either way, it will come out "festive."

In this case, festive seems to mean "looking like a stranded deep-sea creature that has either too many or not quite enough flippers/ fins/ claws, and enough eyes to look in every direction at once."

Sure, these recipes might be okay for a warm day, but what if it is a REALLY hot day AND you want to show off the fact that your fridge has a fancy freezer compartment?

Yes, it's Frozen Chicken and Rice. I can only imagine what a thrill it was to try to gnaw your way through frozen chicken, rice, peas or asparagus, and hard-cooked eggs! What would a frozen hard-cooked egg feel like? I can't quite imagine the texture, but in any case, my teeth already hurt just thinking about it....

So there you have it-- an array of frosty fowl that might get a chilly reception-- or maybe a warmer one than you might expect if you appreciate a gay supper.