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 ...
Very lamentable brand name... why not “Poopchinie bread”??
“Whoever thought this was a good idea, let alone ‘food’ or even appetizing?”
I think that was an experiment where the Jello Cartel locked a bunch of Home Economics Teachers in a lab and wouldn’t let them come out until they ‘invented’ something! ;)
Ah, but a canned molasses based bread by any other name would still taste as sweet.
What about heritage breeds of turkeys? Oh, you meant they 1950s, not the 1850s.
Remember the orange Jello with shredded carrots? Maybe some canned mandarin oranges or marshmallows?
My sister used to lap that up when they had it at the school lunchroom cafeteria. Of course we had very little sweet food at home so I’m sure it was the closest thing to dessert for her.
Never even heard of the ubiquitous "green bean casserole" til I saw it on the net.
AND THIS MONSTROSITY never appeared on Mom's table.
With cream cheese you say?
Damn that Craig is a genius!!
Just add water.. makes it’s own sauce!!!
Would be a funny joke to have guests arrive and have a can sitting on each place setting, plus fork, knife and can opener.
;)
Yep. The ‘Orange Salad’ is in her rotation, too!
In her defense, she makes THIS killer ‘salad’ with Cool Whip, pudding, chopped up Snickers bars and green apples:
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/candy-bar-apple-salad/
Now I didn't mind so much plain old Jello. But when the adult women of the family started putting in bits of carrots, celery, lettuce and who knows what else, well that always made me want to gag.
How to lose friends? Call Thanksgiving “Friendsgiving”.
HA! The jello mold. My Mom still has hers.
The problem with this type of fruitcake is there is too much fruit and not enough cake. The flavors and textures aren’t balanced.
We used to have to open the can on both sides, so we could push it right out of the can and slice it. Same with canned cranberry sauce.
We also made sliceable turkey stuffing in those days as well. You do this by adding a dozen and a half eggs to the stuffing mix and cram it into the turkey cavity. Once cooked, you would slice the breast meat, separate the drumsticks and that mass of stuffing would slide right on out of the bird. Then you would give everybody slices of stuffing topped with gravy.
That is usually aspic. Aspic was popular during times of rationing. It was a way to stretch the food. Many of the recipes you saw as a kid were foods popular during rationing, things like cottage cheese and casseroles. I found a book about it at the library.
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