You're really cooking when you're cooking with Seven-Up! — A Closer Reading

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In Category - Historical Cookbooks

Authors: Seven-Up Company Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2021 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Cooking, American; Cookbooks; Cooking (Soft drinks) Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 6,094

Reading time 27 min

Text sections 1

You're really cooking when you're cooking with Seven-Up! — A Closer Reading can be approached with a clearer sense of reading commitment from its source measurements: 6,094 words, 27 min estimated reading time, and 1 detected text section.

The text analysis averages about 14.2 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Cooking, American,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #65743

A 1957 promotional cookbook from the Seven-Up Company, this booklet presents recipes that incorporate 7-Up as a key ingredient in dishes ranging from meat bastes to desserts, reflecting mid-century American cooking trends and soft-drink marketing.

Editorial Edition Score 4.4/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg65743

Read the Text

_you’re really_ COOKING _when you’re cooking with_ SEVEN-UP!

for a new dimension in kitchen cookery

_Nothing does it like Seven-Up!_

Seven-Up can be an exciting new ingredient for those housewives who are always alert for ways to put “something extra” into their favorite recipes. The crystal-clear, lively flavor of 7-Up will take on a new dimension when you do what mealmakers all over the country are doing ... using 7-Up in recipes for pie crusts, cakes, meat preparation, salads, desserts, gravies, sauces, and punches.

Your family and guests will quickly notice the sparkling new flavor, the subtle tang, and the light airiness that 7-Up adds to your favorite dishes.

Now you’re really cooking ... when you’re cooking with 7-Up!

Baste your Roasts with 7-Up!

One of the most popular kitchen uses for 7-Up is that of a tangy baste for meats and fowl. Seven-Up helps to highlight the natural flavor of the meat.

Place your roast in the roaster with lid off until meat is oven-brown. Use only enough water in roaster to prevent sticking. When ready for additional liquid, add 7-Up as required, basting at frequent intervals.

Start your roast or shoulder of lamb with about ¾ cup of water to create enough steam to last until the meat heats through evenly. Then baste with two or three (7-oz.) bottles of 7-Up, the number depending on the size of the roast.

Place turkey in roaster with one cup of water (for steaming). After turkey heats through, baste with three or four (7-oz.) bottles of 7-Up, depending on size of bird.

You can get the best out of any wild fowl or game by basting it with 7-Up. Seven-Up takes away any “gamey” taste and still preserves the natural flavor.

For that Special “Party Touch”!

1 cup buttermilk pancake mix 2 tbsp. corn meal 1 7-oz. bottle 7-Up 8 wieners

Combine dry ingredients. Add 7-Up and mix with an egg-beater for 2 minutes. Dip wieners into batter, then fry in deep fat at 350° for 2 to 3 minutes. Insert skewers and serve warm with chilled 7-Up.

Bake ham in oven at 325° ... 20 minutes per pound. One hour before finished, remove skin and fat and score top of ham in 1½″ squares. Insert whole clove in each square. Mix one cup brown sugar and one tablespoon prepared mustard. Sprinkle and rub into ham. Baste with ½ cup 7-Up. Baste again with 7-Up each 15 minutes until finished.

Make Fish a Company Dish!

Here’s an exciting new “catch” for housewives ... 7-Up as a baste for your favorite fillet. This recipe will tell you how ... your guests will love it!

1 lb. fresh or frozen fish fillets ¼ cup 7-Up 2 tbsp. melted butter or margarine ½ tsp. salt Dash of paprika Cooked or canned asparagus, drained Melted butter or margarine 4 strips pimiento

Thaw frozen fish just enough to separate. Place fillets on greased broiler pan, 3 inches from heat. Combine 7-Up and butter; pour half over fish. Sprinkle fish with salt, paprika. Broil 5 minutes. Pour remaining sauce over fish. Place asparagus in 4 stacks on broiler pan; brush with butter and top with strips of pimiento.

Broil 3-6 minutes longer until fish flake easily and are golden brown. Makes four servings.

If you like to make your own sauces, here’s a good one for tartare sauce.

MIX: 1 cup mayonnaise 1 tsp. grated onion chopped celery to your taste sweet pickle to your taste

For an added flair, serve tartare sauce in shells.

In broiling, basting, or pan-frying any fresh or frozen fish, use a bottle of 7-Up. See how 7-Up adds a pleasant lemon flavor and helps to eliminate unpleasant cooking odors.

Here’s a Family Favorite!

1 lb. navy beans 2 7-oz. bottles 7-Up 1 can (2½) tomatoes 6 slices bacon—cut into small pieces 2 tsp. salt ½ tsp. pepper 1 medium onion—diced ½ green pepper—diced 2 stalks celery—diced 1 can (8-oz.) tomato sauce ½ cup molasses ⅓ cup brown sugar ½ cup catsup 1 tbsp. prepared mustard 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 2 tsp. vinegar 1 can (2-oz.) mushroom pieces

Wash beans and soak overnight in water.

Next morning, drain water; add 7-Up, tomatoes, bacon, salt, pepper, cover and simmer 1 hour. Add onion, green pepper, celery, tomato sauce, molasses, sugar, catsup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, cover and simmer another hour. Then add mushrooms and turn into baking dish. Bake covered in slow oven (250° F.) for 3 or 4 hours. Remove cover and bake 1 hour longer.

With Popular Packaged Mixes!

Add lightness and airiness by using 7-Up as the liquid ingredient in any of the many popular “mixes” on the market today. Just add 7-Up in the amount of liquid called for in the recipe on the box. You will also find 7-Up a welcome ingredient for your own pastry recipes.

Pancakes, wheatcakes, hotcakes ... call them what you will ... your family has a new treat in store when you make them with 7-Up.

1 egg 1 tbsp. melted shortening 5 oz. 7-Up 1 cup buttermilk pancake mix

Continue Reading →

The booklet opens by addressing “housewives who are always alert for ways to put ‘something extra’ into their favorite recipes,” immediately positioning 7-Up as a versatile kitchen ingredient rather than merely a beverage. The recipes that follow demonstrate this claim: 7-Up appears as a baste for beef, pork, lamb, turkey, and wild duck, as a moistener for fruit pies, and as a mixer in a batter for “7-Up Broncos”—hot dogs dipped in a 7-Up-laced pancake batter and deep-fried. The tone is enthusiastic and instructional, with frequent exclamation points and phrases like “Nothing does it like Seven-Up!” that reinforce the brand’s promotional purpose.

Basting as a Branded Technique

The most prominent use of 7-Up in this collection is as a basting liquid for meats and fowl. The instructions for roasts specify adding 7-Up “as required” after an initial browning, while turkey recipes call for three or four 7-ounce bottles. A notable claim is made for wild duck: “Seven-Up takes away any ‘gamey’ taste and still preserves the natural flavor.” This assertion—that a lemon-lime soda can neutralize strong flavors while keeping the meat’s character—is a key selling point. The basting method is presented as a simple upgrade to standard roasting, requiring no special equipment. The booklet does not explain why 7-Up works chemically, but the repeated emphasis on “tangy” and “sparkling” results suggests the carbonation and acidity are meant to tenderize and add brightness.

Desserts and Drinks: Sweet and Savory Boundaries

Beyond meat, 7-Up is deployed in sweets and beverages with equal confidence. For fruit pies, the cook is told to “sprinkle four (4) tablespoons of 7-Up over the fruit filling before putting on the top crust,” promising that the “lemon-lime piquancy … brings out the flavor of the fruit.” A party punch features “7-Up ‘icebergs’”—frozen blocks of soda that, when melted, “don’t dilute the punch.” Dried fruits can be simmered in 7-Up until tender, and canned fruit cocktail is improved by replacing its syrup with 7-Up. Perhaps most striking is the suggestion to mix chilled 7-Up with cold milk in equal parts, “Do not stir,” creating a drink “especially pleasing to children.” These recipes blur the line between cooking and direct consumption, treating the soda as both ingredient and mixer.

Marketing Through Recipe Design

The catalog subjects list this work under “Cooking, American; Cookbooks; Cooking (Soft drinks),” but the excerpts reveal a text that is as much a brand advertisement as a recipe collection. The copyright notice dates to 1957, and the booklet’s language—“Now you’re really cooking … when you’re cooking with 7-Up!”—echoes the slogan in the title. Recipes are designed to increase household usage of the product: a single turkey recipe consumes three to four bottles, and the “7-Up Broncos” appetizer pairs the cooked item with “chilled 7-Up” for serving. The closing pages expand the sales pitch beyond cooking, urging readers to “serve 7-Up with food … making it a part of mealtime and party menus.” The cookbook thus functions as a point-of-sale tool, embedding the product into everyday meal preparation.

Readers approaching this booklet should recognize it as a period marketing artifact rather than a comprehensive cookbook. The recipes are brief and assume basic cooking knowledge; measurements are given in cups and bottles, not weights. The emphasis on “party touch” and “company dish” suggests the intended audience is a mid-century homemaker seeking novelty. For modern cooks, the recipes offer a glimpse into postwar American food culture, where convenience products and branded ingredients were celebrated as innovations.

That Seven-Up booklet makes me think of a time when cooking felt like playful invention, soda sneaking into everything. There's a warmth in that old-world practicality. A similar quiet charm lives in The Stag Cook Book: Written for Men by Men — Key Ideas to Explore, almost like holding a friend's handwritten note from another era. It lingered with me the same way, a small, genuine piece of someone's daily life.