Now you're cookin' with Coke!

No, seriously, you're cooking with Coca-Cola!

Yes, this is another great promotional cookbook---really a few binder pages that never had their binder---that was bequeathed to us. Not from my mom this time, but from another beloved relative who sadly is no longer with us.

When did this thing come out? If you are old enough, you know from the mere glance at the page above that this is a product of the 1980s. The design with the skinny font and random elements dropped hither and yon: pure 80's. Let's have a look inside.

"Coke Classic" says the bottle, which means that this booklet came out in the wake of the New Coke disaster, when Coke decided to change its secret recipe, ran hard up on the cheese grater of public opinion, and abashedly slipped old Coke back on the market as Coke Classic. That dates this booklet after 1985, but how long after? Maybe 1987 or 1988? New Coke was Coca-Cola until 1992, when it became Coke II, until it was discontinued a decade later. They shrunk the "Classic" in 2002 and dropped it in 2009. Let's say 1987.

Nope---inside cover says copyright 1991. Coke was using 80's design into the 90's. Oooooh, bad move, Coke.

As for the recipes, are they any good? There was one for a fruited pork chop that wasn't bad. Some of the others are just cheating. In the picture above they show the product with squares of gingerbread. But the recipe starts with a box of gingerbread mix! You can't make a real recipe and start with a pre-made mix! That'd be like me publishing a book with my spaghetti sauce recipe that starts, "Open a jar of Rao's...."

Here's a couple of recipes that fit my criteria of No-Way-No-How:

Twin Cheese Dip featuring Coke (note that it calls for Coca-Cola, not Coke Classic, although only Coke Classic is seen throughout the booklet). I don't recall Roquefort being that popular in the 80's, or 90's, or in fact now, but there it is. The dip might not be awful, but I'm very picky about dips.

Coke meat loaf. You have 24 oz. of ground beef, 1/4 cup minced onion, ketchup (sorry, catsup), mustard, and basil vs. 4 oz. of Coke. You think there will any Coke flavor in the finished product? I think not.

But if you try them, let me know how you make out. The barbecue sauce looks interesting, and might actually retain some Coke flavor, which would work well with it. I could run the other recipes as well, if you want; I'm sure Coke won't mind.