I worked for the Carson Pirie Scott department store in Aurora, Illinois during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Having worked my way from elevator operator (that’s another story) to manager of small electrics, I got to see firsthand what people were cooking with at that time.
Believe it or not, there was a time when pot roast was cooked on top of the stove or in the oven. It’s hard to imagine that now, especially with slow cookers back in vogue. But in 1971 the crockpot debuted in American stores and this had a huge impact on the dinner table. More women had entered the workforce and finding a way to have dinner ready when you walked in the door was a task that the Rival Company solved with their product. I can remember the buyer promoting this at a staff training and making it sound almost magical. And in the era of harvest gold and avocado green appliances, the best selling color for us was burnt orange.
It seemed that every bride who registered for wedding gifts wanted or needed:
A bun warmer
A hot tray
A fondue pot
But the product that had a significant impact on us all was Nordic Ware’s bundt pan. A modern take on an old world pan, this cast aluminum pan gave American cooks a new format to experiment with. And when Ella Rita Helfrich of Houston, TX won the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1966 with her recipe for Tunnel of Fudge Cake, made with a bundt pan, the pan became as popular as the recipe. Snohomish had its own Pillsbury Bake-Off winner in 1971 with Mrs. Pearl Hall’s Pecan Pie Surprise Bars.
Terry Beck
Sno-Isle Libraries
Photo credits:
Believe it or not, there was a time when pot roast was cooked on top of the stove or in the oven. It’s hard to imagine that now, especially with slow cookers back in vogue. But in 1971 the crockpot debuted in American stores and this had a huge impact on the dinner table. More women had entered the workforce and finding a way to have dinner ready when you walked in the door was a task that the Rival Company solved with their product. I can remember the buyer promoting this at a staff training and making it sound almost magical. And in the era of harvest gold and avocado green appliances, the best selling color for us was burnt orange.
It seemed that every bride who registered for wedding gifts wanted or needed:
A bun warmer
A hot tray
A fondue pot
But the product that had a significant impact on us all was Nordic Ware’s bundt pan. A modern take on an old world pan, this cast aluminum pan gave American cooks a new format to experiment with. And when Ella Rita Helfrich of Houston, TX won the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1966 with her recipe for Tunnel of Fudge Cake, made with a bundt pan, the pan became as popular as the recipe. Snohomish had its own Pillsbury Bake-Off winner in 1971 with Mrs. Pearl Hall’s Pecan Pie Surprise Bars.
Terry Beck
Sno-Isle Libraries
Photo credits:
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