Posted on 11/26/2020 4:39:22 AM PST by mylife
The year is 1950. The Thanksgiving table is set, and before your growling stomach lies a cornucopia of show-stopping dishes: tomato aspic, jellied turkey vegetable salad, creamed spinach and whatever “cranberry surprise” is (yep, there’s mayonnaise in it).
Celia Sack, owner of Noe Valley’s 11-year-old Omnivore Books on Food, is a connoisseur of vintage recipes like these. Formerly a rare-books specialist at an auction house in San Francisco, both her personal collection and her in-store collection of antiquarian cookbooks are extensive.
So when I waltzed in one drizzly San Francisco afternoon with a strange request, Sack was more than prepared to help. I was embarking on a journey most would never choose to take: Instead of leaving the gelatinous monstrosities of ‘50s American home cooking in the past, I was determined to revive them.
With Sack’s help selecting a menu, I planned to test the boundaries of friendship by serving these dishes in an impromptu “Friendsgiving.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Grandma’s mincemeat pie was, as you say, made with venison, and definitely not a fad. It was regular fare on the farm.
Who doesn’t lime lime Jello with cottage cheese? Me! Anything with cottage cheese is gag-worthy food for me. I wish I could like it, and I try. Can’t do it.
Tomato Aspic can be pretty good...
Some things that taste wrong to a young not yet fully developed taste buds follow one thru life.
Any kind of veg aspic....fish, fowl, and meat no problem.
Frozen peas
Swanson tv dinners since the 50’s
Powdered milk
and a few others I can’t recall at the moment...but I’ll known them when I see or smell them. ;>)
I buy little Banquet chicken pot pies and always keep a few in the freezer - they usually cost less than a dollar.
I’ve tried the ones in the grocery that cost 5 times as much, and I still much prefer the Banquet - if I don’t have my own homemade chicken pie.
I also seriously miss the Swanson Mexican-style TV dinners...
First, belated Thanksgivings Day greetings and best wishes.
Do you microwave them? Haven’t had any frozen pot pies since the family tasting back in the 50s...4 thumbs down...and off the shopping list. And our fridge had a tiny freezer comparment back then
Instead we had a variant of Morgen Komm Wieder, spiced grd beef and pork in a Blintz like wrap, browned in butter. Mmmmmmm
Same to you.
I don’t think I microwave anything unless it’s leftovers already cooked properly in the oven; vegetables that just need steaming; and warming-up coffee.
I put the frozen pot pies on a baking sheet and in the oven, 32 to 35 minutes at 400 degrees. (The crust edges always burn slightly, but I don’t mind. You can wrap a strip of foil around the edge.)
I guess it’s ‘junk food’; but there are times when you don’t really want to bother much, and it hits the spot :-)
Junk food? Nah, pot pies and such are comfort food, simple and relatively quick and tasty.
Well, to be honest, there’s not a lot of chicken - or even veggies - in them. I eat them for the pastry and gravy - and that’s definitely comforting ;-)
That will be our little secret.
;>)
I don’t remember the song. I will have to Google that old commercial. I seem to remember that Jello had a similar pudding product which made some kind of 3-layered chocolate mousse or pudding, but I may be wrong.
I seem to remember that Jello had a similar pudding product which made some kind of 3-layered chocolate mousse
Jello 1-2-3
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