The Singles’ Cookbook compiled by Cleveland and Euclid-East Singletons 1979 U.S. Singletons
I found this book a little perplexing. I had expected from both the title and the organization name that it would be cooking for singles. Like single people or at least the lone sibling in a family with twins or triplets. It is not. I couldn’t find anything about the group or any other singleton group. It’s not an uncommon name for companies, hospitals, and even last names. The recipes were compiled in Ohio but contain recipes from New York, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and a few other states.
I have a fondness for cookbooks for one. Back in high school my school counselor urged me to take “Food for Singles” as an elective which even then felt like a bit of a slight. But I did grow to love recipes with tiny portion sizes. The best one is Solo by Anita Lo. So I was hoping for an actual cookbook for singles! There are a handful of recipes with fairly low yields like Tammi Tschappat, Euclid East’s Pineapple-Pumpkin “Pudding” which has two servings but most serve at least 4 and often much more.
It does have a rather horrifying Cauliflower Layer Salad (Rowan Habegger, Pittsburg) that has you refrigerate lettuce, bacon, raw onions, and cauliflower overnight with a sugary Parmesan dressing poured over top. Then in the morning you remove it from the fridge, poke holes in it (?!?!) to let the cold dressing seep in.
Ed Olszewski (Baltimore)’s Maryland Crab Cakes look solid as do the Sour Cream Kipfel contributed by Dolores Koenig, Euclid-East.
If anyone knows what the Singletons group was or why they put out a Singles book but not actually for singles, please let me know!