Belly of the Beast

Died yesterday and reported in adjoining obituaries: Peg Bracken, author of the “I Hate to Cook” cookbook, and Vincent DeDomenico, creator of Rice-A-Roni.

Three years before Betty Friedan told ’60s women it was OK to be bored by kitchen duties, Bracken showed them how to short-circuit them with convenience foods. And a grateful food industry, Mr. DeDomenico, included, was right there to help.

Bracken, by the way, was an advertising copywriter. There’s a shocker. Her recipe for “Skid Row Stroganoff”:

Start cooking these noodles, first dropping a bouillon cube into the noodle water. Brown the garlic, onion and crumbled beef in the oil. Add the flour, salt, paprika and mushrooms, stir, and let it cook five minutes while you light a cigarette and stare sullenly at the sink.