Guardian Service Cookware: Vintage American Dual-purpose Cooking and Table Kitchen Equipment

In cleaning out my mom’s stuff, we found her most prized kitchen item – her Guardian Service roaster.  She never told me when she got it but I remember it, so it must have been a wedding present or an early-marriage purchase.  Mom often made a Sunday pot roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots in this.  She would put everything in the large pot and cover it with the glass lid and let it cook on the stove while we were in Church.  We would come home to a late lunch but it would be a great feast.  My mom credited the Guardian Service with the great taste rather than her cooking skills.  My mom was a great cook and I have shared some of her recipes on this blog under FOOD.

Mom loved her Guardian Service cookware so much, she saved her mother’s platters/fryers, triangle-shaped vegetable cookers,  and coffee pot.  What was surprising with this is that grandma was able to keep her heavy glass lids that still display the knight’s helmet and crossed battle-axe logo.   The glass lids often got broken over the years.  Glass lids came out during World War II (1939-1945) and remained post-war.  Before that the lids were made of the same metal as the pots.  Maybe grandma’s glass lids survived because she pretty much lived in the same house most of the time after this cookware became popular (circa 1933-1956).  Another reason many lids may not be found is that they were made to be interchangeable on various pots and pans so if you would afford to buy a full set you might not get lids for every pot. Interchangeability and reliability were concepts that blossomed during and after the Great Depression (1929-1939).

Many families still use their vintage Guardian Service cookware. This may be due to the history of the cookware, the ease-of-use (other than weight), or it could be because of the durability of the hammered aluminum. If you want to buy some of your own, check action sites like eBay or local seller sites like craigslist.  Recipes using this cookware can be found on the Guardian Serviceware Blog, as well as more history and logo samples.  If you want to know more, you can view the original marketing materials in the video below.  If you are more interested in cast iron cookware, check out the Cast Iron Collector.