Relic Tray: 101 Glorious Ways to Cook Chicken

In the 1960s, it wasn’t enough to just cook chicken, damn it. One had to cook it gloriously. At least, that’s what the manufacturers of “lighter, clearer” Wesson pure vegetable cooking oil wanted their customers to do. That’s why Wesson published this free 15-page booklet (consumers had to order it by writing to “The Wesson People” in New Orleans) filled with recipes for cooking up some glorious chicken. There are several recipes for pan-fried chicken, of course, as well as oven-fried, oven-baked, broiled and grilled out on the barbecue.

I found this treasure at an estate sale in midtown — in one of those 1920s cottages that look so adorable from the exterior and then you walk in and it’s practically a scene from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The kitchen was a wreck, but filled with cookbook pamphlets that the former owner had dutifully sent off for back in a happier, more domestic era.

There’s a recipe for chicken croquettes called “Chicken Logs” and for something completely different, one for “Chicken Pancakes” served with a dill-yogurt sauce. But nothing beats the creativity of “Fruited Chicken,” which isn’t just darn tasty, but fights constipation too!

The recipe’s after the jump.