Espresso (1939); Alfredo; Thin Mints

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ESPRESSO

   OED and M-W have 1945 or 1946.
   From the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, 5 December 1939, pg. 20, col. 5:

   _Caffe Espresso_
   Prepare strong drip coffee, one-third cup drip ground coffee and four or five cups of boiling water by the usual method.  Beat an egg white until foamy; beat in two tablespoons of sugar; whip a quarter pint of heavy cream until stiff.  Fold the two together and top each cup of coffee with fluffy whitecaps.  Place a lump of sugar in cup before pouring coffee.  Approximate yield six portions.

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ALFREDO

   The closest I've come to "fettuccine Alfredo" this early.
   From THIS WEEK magagine, NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, 10 December 1939, pg. 11, col. 3:

   Finally there is the recipe for spaghetti (Col. 4--ed.) which Mr. Morro got from the famous Alfredo in Rome.  It's a very simple one but a great favorite among distinguished gourmets visiting Rome.  We call it
   _Alfredo's Spaghetti_
1 package (8 oz.) spaghetti
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup grated cheese
   Cook spaghetti in boiling, salted water according to directions on package.  While hot dot generously with butter; turn until butter is melted.  Sprinkle with grated cheese.  Yield 4-6 servings.

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THIN MINTS

   From Clementine Paddleford's column in the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, 8 December 1939, pg. 30, col. 7:

   THIN MINTS--A food-show introduction that appears for the first time this morning on the New York market is the thin mint, a square, bittersweet chocolate not an eighth of an inch thick, filled with peppermint fondant.  The leaf-thin squares measure an inch and a half, a new size for after-dinner service to follow the coffee.  The flavor is superb, the mint nicely blended with the fondant, the chocolate of quality, as is all the chocolate used by this concern.  Getting a good chocolate is a process of innumerable steps from the choice of the cacao beans through the roasting, the milling, the heat treatment, to the final ageing.  Fine chocolate, like fine wines, must be properly aged to ripen its goodness.  Each little square is packed in a transparent envelope to keep the smooth sheen unblemished.  The price is $1 a pound for sixty mints.  There are half-pound boxes, too.