1960: "The heart of the all-electric home is the kitchen - cool, colorful, and homey - truly the center of family life. Tireless electric servants do most of the, affording more time for the fun of creative cooking." Sounds like they are trying to convince the wood cookstove and propane gas women to nag their husbands for electric.

The deep well cooker was built into those early stoves, and worked as a version of today's crock pots aka slow cookers. The deep well had an electric element under a 6-quart pot, and used a small amount of electricity to simmer the food. They came with flat rack and trivets for pot roasts, and wire baskets for deep frying or blanching vegetables. The insert could be heated on top of the stove as an extra pot. I wonder how popular they really were. Since we never see them in today's stoves, they must have been a gimmick the appliance manufacturers liked more than the customers did. I can picture women using them for storage and wishing they had another burner, so eventually no more deep wells.

Here are some unusual (to me) recipes:

Green Beans and Scallions

Cut stems off 1 bunch of scallions and finely chop the white part. Cook in a covered casserole with 2 packages frozen green beans, salt, butter, and 1/2 cup water.

This next one sounds a bit bizarre to me:

Grapefruit and Apples

Cut a grapefruit in half and cut around the segments. Slice a cored apple into thin slices and stick them next to the segments, standing up.

Golden Onions

1 1/2 pounds small white onions
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup raw carrots, grated

Cook onions in 1/2 cup water and 1 teaspoon salt until tender. Drain well. Melt butter in a saucepan on low, add flour, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Cook until well blended. Add milk; cook on medium until smooth, stirring constantly. Add carrots and cook until thick, about 5 minutes, continuing to stir. Add hot onions and serve at once. Makes 6 to 8 servings.