Credible, still edible.

Today I have another one of the promotional cookbooks that I inherited, strange creatures they are, cultural icons of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Some of them aren't dated, leaving me to have to guess how old they are. Including this one:

I've seen a couple of these on sale on eBay, but no one else seems to have a publication date either. Here's a clue on the back cover:

Wikipedia's page on "The Incredible Edible Egg" notes that the campaign began in 1977, which sounds about right. I have always thought that the campaign was a panicked response to the 1970s reports that linked cholesterol to heart failure. Prior to the 1970s, advertising eggs would have been like advertising air; everyone ate them, and if there wasn't a war on you could get them, and good for us! Then cholesterol became a thing and they had to write a jingle.

I think this book might be a second wave of the campaign. That flowy script on the cover, chosen for the book's "classic" theme, was very popular for a brief period in the dawn of the 1980s. After 15 years of psychedelia, hemp, country, and disco, there was a brief vogue for old money and preppy stuff. Including that font.

Classic egg recipes seems like a handy collection for the non-vegan in your life, and mine looks like it got some use. It is a guide for some great basics, like scrambled eggs and omelets, souffles and mousses, and of course, Scotch eggs!

So surely I couldn't find anything gross in this book of classics, right? Like, say raw-egg drinks?

Yup.

"Old Fashioned Egg Coffee"?

I've noted elsewhere that one of the worst drinks I ever ingested was a silver fizz, a gin drink made with egg white that I drank on a dare. This book has a few, like that Instant Egg Pick-Up, that don't even soften the blow with alcohol. And speaking of alcohol, for those who had too much the night before:

Yes, the Prairie Oyster--"this drink is called the imbiber's breakfast." Which includes an ounce of brandy.

Things were different in 1980.

Below that they have the Egg Cream, which is a drink that famously has no eggs in it. But no, the American Egg Board found a way to squeeze two raw eggs into it. "Grownups like it too, and sometimes add a touch of spirits."

I think I'll stick with the Scotch eggs, thanks.

On the whole an interesting recipe tome, but I didn't find anything in the beverage area that didn't make me think of edible snot or salmonella. But I guess these things are classic too.