quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
There is no food which isn't improved by added banana.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
There is no food which isn't improved by added banana.

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Tomato soup? Kippers? Eggs Benedict?

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Yes please
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
Ew, ew,ew, ew!

(In the case of the banana candle, I will admit I was primarily attracted to the mise en plate.)
 

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Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kelly Alves:

Having said that,the banana candle? Awesome.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by lilBuddha:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kelly Alves:

Having said that,the banana candle? Awesome.

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Nearly a dozen replies bouncing around my skull, but nary a one suited for Heaven.

ETA:And again for the cross post

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
There is no food which isn't improved by added banana.

---

Tomato soup? Kippers? Eggs Benedict?

---

Yes please

---

There are more than one variety of banana. Plantain with all of these please.
 

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Posted by Kyzyl (# 374) on :
 
Thank you, Alex. I am down with flu today and needed a laugh. Surprising, these did not have an effect on my stomach!
 

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Posted by Mili (# 3254) on :
 
These recipes always make me glad I was born right at the end of the 70s. Although my Grandma used to make a meatloaf a bit like some of these recipes - at least it only had savoury ingredients though.

If you want to know what these meals taste like you should check out http://www.midcenturymenu.com/ where a couple called Ruth and Tom cook, eat and review the finished products.
 

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Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :
 
As a young bride in the 70s I was invited by our Elder to a dinner to which each was to bring a contribution. Not totally pot-luck; his wife would assign items to each of us (fair enough – as someone said on a later occasion, "So that we don't get ten pizzas").
She rang me and asked me to bring a jellied salad.
I stewed for a day or two and then phoned her and explained that I'd never made such a thing and please could I bring a green salad. To which she graciously agreed.
I don't think I'd ever seen such a thing, let alone eaten one.

GG
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
When I was a child we had to endure something called "Mock Fish"

It tasted like curried wet cardboard
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
We had a thing called "tree bread" which was made from, you guessed it, trees. Supposedly it was really good for you. High fiber.
 

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Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:
As for the others, yes, they're a bit horrifying, but even Julia Child spends a good bit of time discussing molded aspics, jellies, and restuffed fishes. I guess it was just The Thing To Do back then or something? Does anyone here remember exactly why there seemed to be an obsession with gelatin and molded things back in the '70's?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
There is no food which isn't improved by added banana.

---

Tomato soup?

---

You may jest, but the "banana hollandaise" recipe in AC's link looked frighteningly like a dish D. served to me when we were courting, except the hollandaise was replaced with - you've guessed it - tomato soup, and it was topped with grated cheese.

And I still married him.

Having said all that, I recall with some fondness a dish my mum used to make which involved a mixture of tinned ham, sweetcorn, pineapple and mushrooms cooked in a sort of white sauce, and served with rice.
 

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Posted by Barnabas Aus (# 15869) on :
 
My recently-departed mother-in-law owned a set of recipe cards remarkably similar to those on that page. They are still in the spare room at her house awaiting the clearing-out. I think my wife has a set stashed in a cupboard somewhere here. Neither of them have seen any use in the last quarter of a century to my knowledge. Should we pass them on to our children as an heirloom?
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Meat loaves are really unfashionable these days, aren't they? Like quiche, just one of those things you don't see on a menu any more.

Some of those things, like the baked bananas with bacon, could actually be quite nice, it's just the unfortunate way they're presented. There's no way that a jellied salad could ever be anything than unpleasant to eat, though.
 

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Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Meat loaves are really unfashionable these days, aren't they? Like quiche, just one of those things you don't see on a menu any more.

---

Most diners will have their "famous" meat loaf on the menu (can't say I've ever heard of a diner's meat loaf before I ate there, no matter how good it was), but I can't imagine somewhere with even the slightest pretension putting it on the menu—okay, maybe with "Asian-style ketchup and kimchi slaw" or something, but that hardly counts. It'd be putting lipstick on a pig—meat loaf isn't supposed to be fashionable, it's supposed to be hearty, filling, and delicious!

I think quiche was just made too badly one too many times and, like Lambrusco, the evil memories remain no matter how good the thing is. That said, I'm glad I know of a bakery within easy bike distance that does a good one.

[ 12. January 2014, 04:21: Message edited by: Ariston ]
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Incidentally, the salmon reminds me of one made for a buffet lunch at one place I once worked in. The cook had ideas, but they didn't always quite translate - the gooseberry and onion soup, the kidney and orange soup, the Marmite triple decker sandwiches made with alternate slices of brown and white bread, the spaghetti bolognaise with kidney beans which somehow managed to taste of rosewater, the triple-fried chips...

Anyway he did this whole poached salmon for a buffet lunch and proudly presented it, with a cherry for an eye, an orange in its mouth, and the whole thing basking on a bed of bright blue rice with shreds of lettuce. It was nicknamed Percy, for some reason, and was quite a talking point.

[ 12. January 2014, 04:27: Message edited by: Ariel ]
 

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Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
I found a CA desert diner that discovered a wonderful fact: spicy, tomatoey meatloaf makes a great breakfast meat. It was yum! with eggs, hashbrowns, and a crispy, buttered muffin.
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
I had some meatloaf sandwich sliders the other day that were amazing.

RE; Ritz Mock Apple Pie--I remember seeing that on packages! Sounded... underwhelming.

[ 12. January 2014, 04:31: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
There is no food which isn't improved by added banana.

---

I have a recent (still in print) recipe book which suggests "an ideal dish for St Valentines Day" - "Parsnip and Erotic Banana Experience."

The ingredients include parsnips, cabbage, red peppers, maple syrup and mashed bananas.

The recipe "serves 4" - as if the recipe wasn't queasy enough, the idea of four people sharing this "erotic experience" on Valentine's Day just tips it over into .
 

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Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :
 
Mastering the Art etc has a recipe for a rolled soufflé where the filling is crab in a light tomato sauce - a sort of Swiss Roll. It's years since I made it, but it tastes good, easy enough to make and a good first course before a range of mains. It can share the oven while it reheats with the main.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
I had some meatloaf sandwich sliders the other day that were amazing.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Incidentally, the salmon reminds me of one made for a buffet lunch at one place I once worked in. The cook had ideas, but they didn't always quite translate - the gooseberry and onion soup, the kidney and orange soup, the Marmite triple decker sandwiches made with alternate slices of brown and white bread, the spaghetti bolognaise with kidney beans which somehow managed to taste of rosewater, the triple-fried chips...

Anyway he did this whole poached salmon for a buffet lunch and proudly presented it, with a cherry for an eye, an orange in its mouth, and the whole thing basking on a bed of bright blue rice with shreds of lettuce. It was nicknamed Percy, for some reason, and was quite a talking point.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
It was probably a natural development after wartime restrictions leading to the rationing in the Fifties, and the beginnings of getting adventurous and starting to play in the Sixties in this new, expansive area of peacetime.

Hell, there was a time when it was thought exotic to eat out at all, and to go and have a prawn cocktail followed by steak and chips and a slice of Black Forest gateau, possibly even with a glass of Blue Nun, was accounted a pretty good meal. Quiche and pizza were still only things you had abroad, if you were affluent enough to travel overseas for holidays.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
There is no food which isn't improved by added banana.

---

I have a recent (still in print) recipe book which suggests "an ideal dish for St Valentines Day" - "Parsnip and Erotic Banana Experience."

The ingredients include parsnips, cabbage, red peppers, maple syrup and mashed bananas.

The recipe "serves 4" - as if the recipe wasn't queasy enough, the idea of four people sharing this "erotic experience" on Valentine's Day just tips it over into .

---

Strangely, there's only one other reference to this one on the Internet that I can find (yes, it sounds so squicky that I just had to track it down). Of course, it's from the Ship.
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
It's from this cook book, which is a very hit-and-a miss cookbook. I've had some great successes from it, but also some total disasters. There is a beetroot pie, which turns out a blancmange pink; your eyes tell you it should be a dessert, but it's savoury.

The parsnip erotic experience involves par-boiling whole parsnips, then cutting them almost in half lengthways, from the pointy end; this produces a "legs apart" effect.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
My grandmother, Sussex rural background, used (apparently, my mother never reproduced it) to serve small beetroot with white sauce. With lamb, which was also served with suet pudding cooked in the meat tin, so soaked with the meat juices. Which I have had. I've meant to try the beetroot, but somehow, the thought of the those dark blobs poking through the pinkified sauce doesn't attract.
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
Basically, blanche 4 cabbage leaves; boil 4 whole peeled parsnips, cook the chopped onion, chopped red pepper, lemon juice and maple syrup in butter, add the mashed bananas. Cut the parsnips to resemble legs ( ), place the 4 parsnips on the 4 cabbage leaves, spoon the banana-ey mixture between the parted parsnip "legs" ( ), serve to the people whose idea of Valentines Day is getting together as a foursome to experience erotic parsnips.
 

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Posted by Cottontail (# 12234) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
Basically, blanche 4 cabbage leaves; boil 4 whole peeled parsnips, cook the chopped onion, chopped red pepper, lemon juice and maple syrup in butter, add the mashed bananas. Cut the parsnips to resemble legs ( ), place the 4 parsnips on the 4 cabbage leaves, spoon the banana-ey mixture between the parted parsnip "legs" ( ), serve to the people whose idea of Valentines Day is getting together as a foursome to experience erotic parsnips.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Meat loaves are really unfashionable these days, aren't they? ...

---

Apparently not over here; there are a couple of TV cookery shows that seem to churn out some kind of meat-loaf recipe about every three months.

Can't think why.

NEQ:

Cottontail, pass that carbolic soap once you've finished with it, will you?
 

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Posted by MrsBeaky (# 17663) on :
 
I quite like retro food, done well. Things like avocado and prawn cocktail and homemade Pavlova.
I also have some vile memories of food cooked by in-laws who still operated in the 70s under the constraint of wartime rationing and also believed in boiling all vegetables to death and cremating all meat.

But one of my clearest childhood memories is visiting my grandmother in Baltimore, Maryland and eating amongst many other delicious things, her tomatoes in aspic.....

I guess I'm just a bit odd!
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
Odd thing, that - the boiling to death thing was taught against during the war because of the fuel shortage. OTOH, I can imagine vegetables cooked n a haybox being somewhat overdone.
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by MrsBeaky:
...believed in boiling all vegetables to death and cremating all meat.

---

quote:

---

Ariel: Yes, the canteen cook I mentioned in a previous post used to get the chips cooked by 8 am. They were set aside in a tray to cool, then heated up in hot oil for lunchtime. If you came in late to lunch, around closing time, he’d obligingly re-heat the re-heated chips in some more hot oil for you.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Moo:
... When she arrived at 8AM, her first task was to put the cabbage on to boil for lunch.
Moo

---

The head cook at the refectory of the college where I used to work did that with the pasta. When she was off work for six weeks having surgery, the refectory takings shot up ...

re: tomato jelly/aspic - there's someone who always brings a tomato jelly to Cathedral pot-lucks, and it's absolutely delicious.
 

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Posted by georgiaboy (# 11294) on :
 
The quite-nice-actually restaurant where we almost every day have breakfast after mass had a special omelette today which had a filling of cheddar cheese and tomato 'pudding.' There are no words appropriate to Heaven to describe this mess.
Turns out that tomato pudding was tomatoes stewed with bread cubes and sugar (and God knows what else). It looked dreadful (sort of like leftovers from surgery) and tasted much, much worse. I took two bites and sent it back to the kitchen.

In ref to the link in the OP, I can report that in my younger days I had most all of those dishes (except the one with Spam), at least once and survived to a healthy old age. (I rather fancy that erotic banana candle!)
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cottontail:

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
Basically, blanche 4 cabbage leaves; boil 4 whole peeled parsnips, cook the chopped onion, chopped red pepper, lemon juice and maple syrup in butter, add the mashed bananas. Cut the parsnips to resemble legs ( ), place the 4 parsnips on the 4 cabbage leaves, spoon the banana-ey mixture between the parted parsnip "legs" ( ), serve to the people whose idea of Valentines Day is getting together as a foursome to experience erotic parsnips.

---

I just thought of an improvement to that recipe. It involved not mashing the banana, but perhaps adapting the idea of the banana candle.

I am filled with self-loathing now and am off to scrub my brain with carbolic soap.

---

We need to hang.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
If you don't hang together you will assuredly hang separately.
 

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Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
The word salad implies a dish of lots of bits of (usually) uncooked food. These are solid lumps (well, wobbly lumps) of cooked food. How is that a "salad"? You might was well call a Christmas cake a salad. It's made of lots of bits of fruit embedded in some sort of matrix. Or call pâté salad. Or soufflé.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Am confused by the name "salad" for these vegetables and other stuff in various jellies. There are traditional names for such things - galantines, terrines, (in Britain those words don't neccessarily imply meat as I think they might do in carnivorous France) aspics and so on. But what on earth have they got to do with salad?

The word salad implies a dish of lots of bits of (usually) uncooked food. These are solid lumps (well, wobbly lumps) of cooked food. How is that a "salad"? You might was well call a Christmas cake a salad. It's made of lots of bits of fruit embedded in some sort of matrix. Or call pâté salad. Or soufflé.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Bit all those other salads you mention are bits, mostly uncooked, with maybe some sort of dressing. Not a block of jelly or paste you could slice with a knife.

And anyway, those jelly things have perfectly good names that have been in use for centuries. Why take a name from some other food in the first place?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Am confused by the name "salad" for these vegetables and other stuff in various jellies. There are traditional names for such things - galantines, terrines, (in Britain those words don't neccessarily imply meat as I think they might do in carnivorous France) aspics and so on. But what on earth have they got to do with salad?

The word salad implies a dish of lots of bits of (usually) uncooked food. These are solid lumps (well, wobbly lumps) of cooked food. How is that a "salad"? You might was well call a Christmas cake a salad. It's made of lots of bits of fruit embedded in some sort of matrix. Or call pâté salad. Or soufflé.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gee D:
Alan Bennet's definition of an English salad is a sardine lurking under a lettuce leaf.

---

Stereotypically an English salad is a few limp lettuce leaves, half a tomato and a dollop of salad cream. This still exists in many pubs, usually as a sort of garnish on a plate otherwise occupied by a large portion of something fried. The luxury version is a few limp lettuce leaves, half a tomato, a dollop of salad cream, and a sprinkling of cress.
 

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Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
You forgot the raw onion rings!

Jengie
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
True. In some places they substitute a dollop of coleslaw.
 

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Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :
 
Raw onions are an abomination before the Lord and are specifically outlawed in the Bible - see 2 Leviticus 3, 5-7. St Paul in Romans also condemns the practice and his language makes it clear that he is condemning it for all time, not just to rituals dedicated to Daphne.

Such a clear prohibition did not stop one of the name chefs here devise a breakfast - breakfast!!! - for a domestic airline, which had smoked salmon with raw onion rings, and the then obligatory drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil at its centrepiece. The front of the plane stank barely 15 minutes out of Sydney
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
Onions, raw or cooked, are what make a snack into a meal!

I'm about to buy some now to put into my salad sandwiches to take to work for tomorrows lunch.

As for "salad course" service a la Russe belongs in history books and 19th century novels. These days salads are either the whole meal, or a vegetable that goes with the main course. And either way, they ought to have onions in them. Salad without onions would be like low-alcohol lager, or mild cheddar, or non-contact rugby, or X-factor boy bands. Bland, cheap, and pointless.
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
I believe it was Sine who used to refer to jellied salads as "congealed salads".

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gee D:
Raw onions are an abomination before the Lord and are specifically outlawed in the Bible - see 2 Leviticus 3, 5-7. St Paul in Romans also condemns the practice and his language makes it clear that he is condemning it for all time, not just to rituals dedicated to Daphne.

---

But St. Paul didn't know about hamburgers. What's a hamburger without lettuce, tomato, pickle, raw onion, ketchup and cheese? Served on a nice big bun, of course.
 

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Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :
 

quote:

---

But St. Paul didn't know about hamburgers. What's a hamburger without lettuce, tomato, pickle, raw onion, ketchup and cheese? Served on a nice big bun, of course.

---

You forgot the beetroot.
 

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Posted by Athrawes (# 9594) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gee D:

If you think for a moment, what gives onions their bite? It's sulphur, and of course sulphur features in all fire and brimstone sermons. The nature of the sulphur in onions is made acceptable by cooking, but those suffering the fires of Hell will know no such comfort.

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Because their onions will be burnt.
 

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Posted by Leaf (# 14169) on :
 
Ok, I've got this: turnip granita.
It is my mother-in-law's specialty. I've never seen the recipe, but it must be thus:

• Put turnips through a woodchipper.
• Soften the turnip chippings slightly until they resemble damp particleboard.
• Pack in a casserole and freeze solid, at least a week before serving.
• When turkey or other roasted meat is withdrawn from the oven, stick the frozen solid casserole in the oven to warm from the residual heat, for about five minutes.
• Serve in great triumph, as this is The Veg for the meal.
• Enjoy the gritty scraping of frozen turnip against your teeth, as well as the extra turnippy bitterness that seems to be induced by this method.
• Do this for fifty years in a row.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
You forgot the raw onion rings!

---

And the beetroot, especially if it's leaching its juice all over the potato salad (restaurants get 25 extra points from me if they put the beetroot into a separate bowl).

In some parts of Newfoundland they get round this problem by putting beetroot juice into the potato salad (which is always made of mashed potatoes), turning it the most alarming shade of magenta.
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
At least it shows a certain consistency Leaf (as well as sounding disgusting).
 

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Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
Beetroot coleslaw is delicious ... and pink.

Don't judge a dish by its colour.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Meat loaves are really unfashionable these days, aren't they? Like quiche, just one of those things you don't see on a menu any more.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by balaam:
Beetroot coleslaw is delicious ... and pink.

Don't judge a dish by its colour.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gee D:
Ken, there's no prohibition on cooked onions. They're the base of any casserole from every cuisine I know of, and are useful in a wide variety of sauces. The ban is on raw onions.

If you think for a moment, what gives onions their bite? It's sulphur, and of course sulphur features in all fire and brimstone sermons. The nature of the sulphur in onions is made acceptable by cooking, but those suffering the fires of Hell will know no such comfort.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Palimpsest:
The solution in the US is to eat raw Vidalia onions. They're grown in a place which is low in sulphur and taste sweet. It's too bad the season is so short.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Palimpsest:
The solution in the US is to eat raw Vidalia onions. They're grown in a place which is low in sulphur and taste sweet. It's too bad the season is so short.

---

Using the word "solution" implies that there is a problem! (And all onions taste sweet. They are packed full of sucrose - plain ordinary sugar. Its just that the other wonderful flavours they have add an extra layer of complexity above and beyind the simple sweetness of a spoonfull of sugar.)

But the only problem is that finicky delicate picky-eating onion-refusers (and their cousins the garlic-refusers and leek-refusers) miss out on some of the wonderfullest-tasting foods.

The obvious one to start with is cheese and onion. One of the great taste combinations of the world. . And at its best it has to be good, honest, strong, mature cheese - ideally an strong Cheddar - paired with good, honest, flavourful, raw and crunchy onion. It is a sadness, if not quite a sin, to deny such harmless pleasures! One of the all time classic flavour combinations Up there with bacon and eggs, cheese and pears. fish and chips, gin and tonic, mushrooms and spinach (and cheeeeese.... though goats cheese or halloumi better for this one), peanut butter and jam, potatoes and garlic, strawberries and cream, strawberries and dark chocolate, strawberries and red wine, strawberries and cream and dark chocolate and red wine, toast and marmalade, toast and marmite, tomato and basil (pretty much anything and basil, especially if there is olive oil and garlic as well) Why would anyone want to deny themselves the glorious taste of ripe cheese and raw onion? It seems such a shame. Like never listening to Bach.
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
I hate raw onion. I hate all onion unless it has been softened down to mush. It's a textural thing - I hate the wet crunch. Similarly I also hate cucumber and raw tomato. I'm not terribly keen on salad in general though, excepting a nicoise - I just prefer cooked vegetables to raw. My favourite vegetables are cruciferous, green, leafy vegetables which is possibly why.

I don't think I've ever listened to any Bach either....
 

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Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :
 
In the meantime, think of those around you before you eat a raw onion sandwich at lunch. The smell is nearly as bad as that of the kim chi eaters getting onto the morning train

If you choose to disregard the clearest of Biblical teaching and eat raw onion, that is your choice and you will have to answer for it yourselves in due course. St Peter will wilt as you speak and be unable to open the pearly gates.

[ 15. January 2014, 20:12: Message edited by: Gee D ]
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
My housemates have a student cookery book, published in 1993. It includes a recipe for 'lamb creole' - cream of tomato soup mixed with dried mixed herbs, poured over lamb chops and baked. Describing that as 'creole' is possibly the saddest recipe I have ever seen.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Was 1993 the date of first publication? Or was it revised edition? I study the bibliographic information on cookbooks keenly, because it's a clue to evolving fashions in British food. Firstly, it will (in those days) have taken a year or so to reach print; the authors will have been (you hope) established chefs whose style will have been established maybe a decade or so previously. By these means I can see how a quintessentially '70s recipe ended up being published in the early 90s.

We have - or had - a Marguerite Patton cookbook which was published in the 60s, but in fact reflected the cuisine of the 40s with recipes for Whole Roasted Spam and something that consisted of cold mashed potato topped with cream cheese and cornflakes.
 

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Posted by Pearl B4 Swine (# 11451) on :
 
A local specialty (SE Penna: Amish, Brethren, Mennonite- or just plain German origin) is "beet eggs". Hard boil eggs, peel, put into a big jar of pickled beets and sliced onions. Let soak at least a whole day. Beautiful beet color leached into the egg white, and into the onions too. Delicious. When you buy them at a market stand you're always asked "Do you want beets too, or not?"
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
Was 1993 the date of first publication? Or was it revised edition? I study the bibliographic information on cookbooks keenly, because it's a clue to evolving fashions in British food. Firstly, it will (in those days) have taken a year or so to reach print; the authors will have been (you hope) established chefs whose style will have been established maybe a decade or so previously. By these means I can see how a quintessentially '70s recipe ended up being published in the early 90s.

We have - or had - a Marguerite Patton cookbook which was published in the 60s, but in fact reflected the cuisine of the 40s with recipes for Whole Roasted Spam and something that consisted of cold mashed potato topped with cream cheese and cornflakes.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:

Many of the "cheap" fish dishes would not be cheap at today's prices, and the "cheap" meat products recommended - sweetbreads and offal - not readily available today.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jade Constable:
My housemates have a student cookery book, published in 1993. It includes a recipe for 'lamb creole' - cream of tomato soup mixed with dried mixed herbs, poured over lamb chops and baked. Describing that as 'creole' is possibly the saddest recipe I have ever seen.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
So the final winner would be something like "Spaghetti Bake Surprise Provencale"?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
A tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce.

---

Our school cafeteria ladies would slice frankfurters into penny-size disks and mix them in with the tinned spaghetti. They actually ran a contest for a name to call the resulting concoction. The name that won? "Pennies From Heaven"
 

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Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Our worst school dinner dish was the so-called custard. It still makes me feel sick thinking about it. even though it is over forty-five years since I last saw any of it.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by balaam:

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Our worst school dinner dish was the so-called custard. It still makes me feel sick thinking about it. even though it is over forty-five years since I last saw any of it.

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Is that the super economy custard, made so thin it ran like water and had bubbles in so that it looked soapy with a lather. I don't think it could be watered down any further.

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Or the one that's so thick that it comes out of the (shiny metal water) jug in a single lump. If it's yellow it's definitely custard, but if it's brown it could be gravy. *shudders*
 

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Posted by Kitten (# 1179) on :
 
And people wondered why I refused point blank to eat school dinners

[ 17. January 2014, 20:49: Message edited by: Kitten ]
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:

quote:

---

Originally posted by balaam:

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
Our worst school dinner dish was the so-called custard. It still makes me feel sick thinking about it. even though it is over forty-five years since I last saw any of it.

---

Is that the super economy custard, made so thin it ran like water and had bubbles in so that it looked soapy with a lather. I don't think it could be watered down any further.

---

Or the one that's so thick that it comes out of the (shiny metal water) jug in a single lump. If it's yellow it's definitely custard, but if it's brown it could be gravy. *shudders*

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
My kids' primary school had a problem with one of their puddings, and rounded up several mothers to taste and decide if the pudding was, in fact, inedible.

It was deep fried coconut ice-cream, but the cook had deep fried the ice-cream in the same fat as yesterday's fish.

We confirmed that the school could not possibly expect any of their pupils to eat it. It's one of the most revolting things I've ever tasted.

ETA to add - my school dinners were lovely, and the fishy deep-fried ice cream was a rare aberration on the part of my kids' school, where the standard was generally high.

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Deep-fried ice cream being served in the UK is pretty unusual in itself! Far be it for me to perpetuate stereotypes about Scotland, but when the shoe fits....
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
I once shared a flat with someone who cooked everything - REALLY - in soup.

Worst ever: greased dish into which had been emptied:
2 tins sardines in tomato sauce
1 tin sweetcorn
1 tin spaghetti hoops
1 tin new potatoes
half teaspoon so-called herbes de Provence
1 tin mulligatawny soup
topping of grated Edam and breadcrumbs

The smell was bad enough - God knows what it tasted like, but the guest recipient was never seen again.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I have a cookery book - or had (I'm in bed and not checking) called "The I Hate To Cook Book" by an American writer - remembered, Peg Bracken. The bits in between recipes are great fun. There's a very good eggless chocolate cake. But she did a lot of cooking things in soup.
From which I have taken the idea of Condensed Cream of Celery, Chicken or Mushroom as a binding agent for leftover poultry, on occasion. With added veggies. But not tomato, or, bless us and save us, mulligatawny.
The sardines reminds me of a cartoon in a Girl annual, involving a character called Lettice Leafe, and a dish of sardines in chocolate sauce. Not quite as edible as fish fingers in custard, I feel.

[ 18. January 2014, 17:03: Message edited by: Penny S ]
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
That reminds me, when out shopping recently, I noticed breakfast in a tin. This is baked beans, sausages, mushrooms, chopped pork and egg nuggets with cereal, and bacon. You just empty the whole lot into a pot or microwave it and there you are.

It was the idea of the cereal along with everything else that sort of tipped the balance for me. It wasn't immediately clear whether it was included as a course in its own right or a binding ingredient, but I suppose the logic is it all gets mixed up in your stomach anyway.

Cooking with soup used to be quite popular (though I still struggle to get my head around the idea).

[ 18. January 2014, 17:08: Message edited by: Ariel ]
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
If there were sausagey nuggets, there would be cereal in the filling, as rusk.
I suppose the soup thing came before the custom made sauces for pasta, chicken and so on, of which there are now many shelves in the supermarkets. But whereas the condensed soup can be used as sauce or soup, the sauces can't be used as soup. (Though that might be the way to use up the container of tomato sauce that I had for when a friend came and I changed my mind at the last minute and went to the chippy.)
 

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Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jade Constable:

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
My kids' primary school had a problem with one of their puddings, and rounded up several mothers to taste and decide if the pudding was, in fact, inedible.

It was deep fried coconut ice-cream, but the cook had deep fried the ice-cream in the same fat as yesterday's fish.

We confirmed that the school could not possibly expect any of their pupils to eat it. It's one of the most revolting things I've ever tasted.

ETA to add - my school dinners were lovely, and the fishy deep-fried ice cream was a rare aberration on the part of my kids' school, where the standard was generally high.

---

Deep-fried ice cream being served in the UK is pretty unusual in itself! Far be it for me to perpetuate stereotypes about Scotland, but when the shoe fits....

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sioni Sais:

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:
So the final winner would be something like "Spaghetti Bake Surprise Provencale"?

---

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Two tins value Spaghetti in tomato sauce
Mixed herbs
Capers

Put the spaghetti with 1 tsp mixed herbs and as many capers as the family can stand in a dish that ought to have Shepherd's pie in it.

Place in a oven at Gas mark 5 until solid as a rock.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
If there were sausagey nuggets, there would be cereal in the filling, as rusk.
I suppose the soup thing came before the custom made sauces for pasta, chicken and so on, of which there are now many shelves in the supermarkets. But whereas the condensed soup can be used as sauce or soup, the sauces can't be used as soup. (Though that might be the way to use up the container of tomato sauce that I had for when a friend came and I changed my mind at the last minute and went to the chippy.)

---

The cooking in soup still persists in some places. Mr ACG (who is currently out with the forces) informed me that they had 'Hungarian Goulash' the other day. This delightful dish consisted of chopped up hot dog in cream of mushroom soup. This being a step up from the 'surprise' that was leftover chicken, hamburger and spaghetti that was chopped up and served on a plate together.

Apparently they largely survive on the care packages from home and fantasizing about home cooked meals.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
... she did a lot of cooking things in soup ...

---

We bought a slow-cooker a few years ago and as neither of us had lived with one before we followed up the purchase with a huge slow-cooker cookbook by an American called Phyllis Pellman Good. Judging from the recipes, it seems that she more-or-less thinks it's impossible to make anything in a slow-cooker without adding a tin of some sort of condensed soup (usually chicken or mushroom).

Oh yes, and it's got about 50 recipes for chilli con carne.

On the subject of monikers to be avoided, I find myself instantly skipping past any recipes with "Mom's", or worse still, "Mom's Favorite"* in the title.

* My apologies for the spelling.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by georgiaboy:
Another artiste seen recently on Youtube, portrayed a Texas matron extolling her 'Tater Tot Hot Dish'. (I did NOT make that one up!) I think, though I'm not sure, that the performer was a man in drag.
(In case Tater Tots aren't yet exported (and I hope they're not) they are small cylinders maybe a half inch across and a half inch high, which are supposed to be potatoes, pre-cooked so you can just 'hot them up.' IIRC the TTHD had cream of mushroom soup as a major ingredient. (It would, wouldn't it?)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by L'organist:
I once shared a flat with someone who cooked everything - REALLY - in soup.

Worst ever: greased dish into which had been emptied:
2 tins sardines in tomato sauce
1 tin sweetcorn
1 tin spaghetti hoops
1 tin new potatoes
half teaspoon so-called herbes de Provence
1 tin mulligatawny soup
topping of grated Edam and breadcrumbs

The smell was bad enough - God knows what it tasted like, but the guest recipient was never seen again.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:

quote:

---

Originally posted by georgiaboy:
Another artiste seen recently on Youtube, portrayed a Texas matron extolling her 'Tater Tot Hot Dish'.… IIRC the TTHD had cream of mushroom soup as a major ingredient. (It would, wouldn't it?)

---

Come to think of it, that doesn't sound like it'd necessarily be half bad, if you got fresh enough tater tots—perhaps score a few from Sonic or something. Tots are just fried potatoes, after all; is a crust of mashed potatoes on a shepherd's pie holy and good, but diced and fried ones on hot dish or casserole an abomination?

As for those of you who are shocked—shocked!—that someone would use cream of mushroom soup in their best recipes, get thee hither to your local Lutheran church basement potluck, where you'll get to sample all sorts of delights (including several featuring some combination of tater tots, canned green beans, tins of tuna, and/or potato chips and, for the fancy versions, topped with French-fried onions) made with the venerable Lutheran Binder. I'm guessing far more people associate the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with hotdish and fear of the spicy ketchup than any debate on nature and grace.

As a side note, the only reason I provided that Wikipedia link is for the two pictures it shows as examples of hotdish. Note the topping, georgiaboy.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Drifting Star:
How about slices of leftover Christmas Pudding covered in the lemon part of a lemon meringue pie mix? Any takers?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
That's a new UK restaurant venue concept waiting to happen. Someone alert Ramsey.

---

Or - Heaven forfend! - Heston Blumenthal, who'll probably cook them in chocolate with powdered gold sprinkled on the top and charge £100 a pop.


 

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Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jade Constable:

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
My kids' primary school had a problem with one of their puddings, and rounded up several mothers to taste and decide if the pudding was, in fact, inedible.

It was deep fried coconut ice-cream, but the cook had deep fried the ice-cream in the same fat as yesterday's fish.

We confirmed that the school could not possibly expect any of their pupils to eat it. It's one of the most revolting things I've ever tasted.

ETA to add - my school dinners were lovely, and the fishy deep-fried ice cream was a rare aberration on the part of my kids' school, where the standard was generally high.

---

Deep-fried ice cream being served in the UK is pretty unusual in itself! Far be it for me to perpetuate stereotypes about Scotland, but when the shoe fits....

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by georgiaboy:
Allright, okay, but, but, but,

My only experience with 'tater tots' has been in distinctly sub-par cafeteria service.
AND
My only exposure to 'hotdish' has been Garrison Keillor's explication of Minnesota-style Lutheranism, so my impression was that it was always tuna.

Am I forgiven?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:

quote:

---

Originally posted by georgiaboy:
Allright, okay, but, but, but,

My only experience with 'tater tots' has been in distinctly sub-par cafeteria service.
AND
My only exposure to 'hotdish' has been Garrison Keillor's explication of Minnesota-style Lutheranism, so my impression was that it was always tuna.

Am I forgiven?

---

Hmph. Ignorance is no excuse…except this time. Get thee to a Sonic and order ye some tots; don't even bother taking them anywhere, they have to be absolutely hot and fresh or else you'll never Get It.

As for tuna…that's the weird thing. I thought that too—tuna noodle casserole being the standby—but, after moving east/slightly north, it's become more hamburger and green bean based. Is this a Missouri Synod/Evangelical Lutheran split? Is the way you prepare your one-baking-dish meal for church more indicative of your churchmanship than hooch preference (especially if you're in a part of the country that doesn't drink)? Should we start comparing tuna noodle to tater tot hot dish to Hawaiian haystacks to Methodist meatloaf? Does this way madness lie?

Tune in next week.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Hawaiian haystacks? I'm scared to ask.

---

quote:

---

Hawaiian haystacks are ready in less than 30 minutes and are a fun way to use up leftover rice, chicken, veggies, and coconut for a weeknight dinner.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kelly Alves:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Hawaiian haystacks? I'm scared to ask.

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From allrecipies:

quote:

---

Hawaiian haystacks are ready in less than 30 minutes and are a fun way to use up leftover rice, chicken, veggies, and coconut for a weeknight dinner.

---

I did not read further.

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Fun things you learn about working at a Boy Scout camp: the Hawaiian haystack is the LDS equivalent of Lutheran hotdish, and saying you've never even heard of them, much less had them, and (furthermore) didn't know fry sauce was a legit thing rather than some flawed experiment you saw in a Utah Micky D's while mountain biking once will get almost as many Baffled Looks from your BYU-educated cook as your explanations for how to make iced tea.
Short explanation, as she put it: make piles of white rice on everybody's plate. Put shredded chicken, chow mein noodles, chopped vegetables, coconut, soy sauce, and pineapple into small bowls in the middle of the table. Everybody piles whatever they want onto their rice, which, once the noodles and shredded coconut are on top, look like haystacks.
There's something about them—I think the faux Polynesian flair from canned pineapple—that reminds me of the era of Jello salads.
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
Hon? There's a reason I didn't read further.
 

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Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
You're reading the thread on Jello salads, and that's what sends you to the Branca Brothers' Brain Bleach?

[ 22. January 2014, 02:52: Message edited by: Ariston ]
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
Weirdly enough. I hate coconut. And pineapple, in a savoury dish.
 

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Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Ariston, your "fry sauce" sounds rather like the sauce that is de riguer on that great British starter, the prawn cocktail: add tomato ketchup to mayonnaise* until you achieve the desired degree of pinkness, add a few drops each of Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and lemon juice and a shake or two of paprika (or was it cayenne?) to taste. I'd never have thought about dipping chips (fries) in it, but I bet it'd be rather good.

* Back in the 70s, this might well have been replaced with salad cream ...

eta: Bugger it, now I want a prawn cocktail.

[ 22. January 2014, 03:34: Message edited by: piglet ]
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by piglet:
Ariston, your "fry sauce" sounds rather like the sauce that is de riguer on that great British starter, the prawn cocktail: add tomato ketchup to mayonnaise* until you achieve the desired degree of pinkness, add a few drops each of Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and lemon juice and a shake or two of paprika (or was it cayenne?) to taste. I'd never have thought about dipping chips (fries) in it, but I bet it'd be rather good.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Weirdly enough. I hate coconut. And pineapple, in a savoury dish.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:



...make piles of white rice on everybody's plate. Put shredded chicken, chow mein noodles, chopped vegetables, coconut, soy sauce, and pineapple into small bowls in the middle of the table. Everybody piles whatever they want onto their rice, which, once the noodles and shredded coconut are on top, look like haystacks.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Weirdly enough. I hate coconut. And pineapple, in a savoury dish.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ken:


How did it get to be standard fare in lilywhite Utah, on top of a plateau, in the middle of a desert, over five hundred miles from the sea?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:
Does anyone here remember exactly why there seemed to be an obsession with gelatin and molded things back in the '70's?

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I thought this thread was about food, not bras and coiffures ...
 

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Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :
 
One of the primary EnZed "bring your own" dishes of choice is potato bake which I confess I find most pleasant (as indeed I find grated cheese and raw onion sandwiches).

But while I blanche at the opening link, I don't go in for this artyfarty "Twice-baked (what, you got it wrong first time?) Poofled Gorgonzola and Buffalo Bocconcini Soufflé Served with a Compost of Beetroot and Mongolian Radish and Drizzle of Tiger Sperm Dressing" that seems to plague menus and recipe books these days.



[ 22. January 2014, 18:42: Message edited by: Zappa ]
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
Fry sauce is basically thousand island dressing - not a million miles away from tartar sauce, which is obviously delicious with chips. It reminds me a lot of various mayo-based sauces eaten with chips in Belgium. Mmm sauce andalouse.
 

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
Clarification - by tartar sauce I mean French/British tartar sauce, not the American style - I find the use of pickle relish unpleasant and miss the capers and tarragon.
 

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Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :
 
A lot of prepared thousand island dressings use sweet pickle relish as well. I don't get the obsession with relish. Especially sweet relish.

[ 22. January 2014, 20:50: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zappa:
One of the primary EnZed "bring your own" dishes of choice is potato bake which I confess I find most pleasant ...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lothlorien:

One 70s recipe I remember was based on a large can of tuna well drained.

Add a bunch of finely chopped parsley, the more the merrier. A can of crushed pineapple also drained.

Stir all this through a 300 ml carton of thick sour cream. Place all in a bowl and top with a packet of what were then called French fries or straws.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:

quote:

---

Originally posted by georgiaboy:
Allright, okay, but, but, but,

My only experience with 'tater tots' has been in distinctly sub-par cafeteria service.
AND
My only exposure to 'hotdish' has been Garrison Keillor's explication of Minnesota-style Lutheranism, so my impression was that it was always tuna.

Am I forgiven?

---

Hmph. Ignorance is no excuse…except this time. Get thee to a Sonic and order ye some tots; don't even bother taking them anywhere, they have to be absolutely hot and fresh or else you'll never Get It.

As for tuna…that's the weird thing. I thought that too—tuna noodle casserole being the standby—but, after moving east/slightly north, it's become more hamburger and green bean based. Is this a Missouri Synod/Evangelical Lutheran split? Is the way you prepare your one-baking-dish meal for church more indicative of your churchmanship than hooch preference (especially if you're in a part of the country that doesn't drink)? Should we start comparing tuna noodle to tater tot hot dish to Hawaiian haystacks to Methodist meatloaf? Does this way madness lie?

Tune in next week.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Clarification - by tartar sauce I mean French/British tartar sauce, not the American style - I find the use of pickle relish unpleasant and miss the capers and tarragon.

---

Ah! Thank you, you have just explained what is wrong with tartar sauce over here. I thought that I had got a faulty batch, but now it all makes sense!

Sadly though, this means despite living in shrimp central (you can get it straight off the boat here) I am doomed to sub-par dipping sauces for the little beasties
 

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Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lothlorien:

One 70s recipe I remember was based on a large can of tuna well drained.

Add a bunch of finely chopped parsley, the more the merrier. A can of crushed pineapple also drained.

Stir all this through a 300 ml carton of thick sour cream. Place all in a bowl and top with a packet of what were then called French fries or straws.

---

You left out the last bit: Throw in bin.

I think tuna and pineapple has to be up there with kippers and strawberry jam.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:


That is the inbuilt intelligence which we share with rats. Food associated with being sick gets the revulsion factor automatically attached.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
Food associated with being sick gets the revulsion factor automatically attached. I read a piece in New Scientist, in which the author referred back to an occasion when he had had an upset from sunstroke after having eaten watermelon, and for years couldn't face the stuff, though it was innocent.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lothlorien:


As for kippers and jam... Evening meal on Sunday was usually attended by a large number of hungry teenagers before church.

I would make several loaves of toast and prepare large amounts of food to go on it. Sliced cold meats, mashed boiled eggs, tomatoes, jam and heaps more.

My young sons loved all this because they had freedom of choice. The only rule was that if you put it on the toast, you ate it. So middle son found himself eating toast, peanut butter, cucumber,raspberry jam and curried egg.

I come from a family which is used to mixtures others find intriguing, even disgusting, but even this was too much for me. He ate it quite happily.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
... it's a variant of the Billy Connolly line - 'there's always diced carrots in it'.

---

There's an anthem for days like that:

Ubi caritas - everywhere there are carrots
 

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Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
That is the inbuilt intelligence which we share with rats. Food associated with being sick gets the revulsion factor automatically attached.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
There is no food which isn't improved by added banana.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Penny S:
That is the inbuilt intelligence which we share with rats. Food associated with being sick gets the revulsion factor automatically attached.

---

I have this reaction to raspberry ripple ice cream. Around fifty years after having it and then throwing up at a childrens' party, the thought of it still makes me heave.

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