Top Ten 1950s Dinners Nobody Eats Anymore
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I canned the first bushel of so of tomatoes and peppers from our garden today.
The garden didn't do so well this year, so it didn't take long. It was cold and dry all summer; the coldest summer on record in this part of Michigan.
That's fine by me (I hate the heat!), but the vegetables didn't care for it. We got tomatoes. We got peppers. We got radishes.
Everything else: Not so much.
Anyway, I was in the kitchen in my 1950s farm-wife apron working with hot Ball jars, when it hit me that so many of the foods that were common when I was growing up are things that nobody eats anymore. I was flooded with all these memories of hot summer kitchens putting up produce with my mother and grandmother.
Then, while the tomatoes were processing, I cruised by the HP forums and saw someone had posted yet another a spammy thread promoting their spammy affiliate marketing site, and I thought to myself, "Hey, nobody eats SPAM anymore either!"
Not that that's a bad thing, mind you.
I got to thinking that a hub on defunct 50s cuisine might be kind of fun. Why not channel this strange nostalgic moment and do something productive with it?
I realize this will only appeal to readers 'of a certain age', but hey, we read too!
Anyway, if I don't record these dinners for posterity, who will?
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Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America
Price: $9.83
List Price: $22.00 |
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Vintage Beer, Alcohol & Drinking Films DVD: Old Hops, Brewery & Beer Making/Brewing Movies
Price: $10.99
List Price: $19.99 |
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Woman's Day: July 1954, Art Poster by Woman's Day Magazine, size 8" x 10"
Price: $17.31
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Mom 'N' Pop's Apple Pie 1950s Cookbook: Over 300 Great Recipes from the Golden Age of American Home Cooking
Price: $7.94
List Price: $24.95 |
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SPAM Classic, 12-Ounce Cans (Pack of 6 )
Price: $19.52
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- Grilled Spam & Pineapple Sandwiches. Spam (which began as a clever abbreviation of the words 'Spiced Ham') was a canned meat-like substance popular during WWII. The popularity of this product fell off a lot post-war (wow, who'd have expected that!?) so Hormel kicked off a recipe campaign to save it. This sandwich was its hallmark. Basically the sandwich is a slice of grilled Spam with a ring of grilled pineapple on a toasted hamburger bun with mayo. I know, now you want one, don't you? (Don't you?)
- Chipped Beef on Toast. White sauce was as necessary to 1950s cuisine as arugula is to the Obama White House. Any leftovers could always be dumped into white sauce and served over toast or biscuits. 'Chipped beef' was a very thinly sliced form of corned beef (or something that somewhat resembles and tastes like corned beef) that was found in the lunchmeat section in little plastic packages. The chipped beef we used to buy was made by Buddig. Make up a white sauce with butter, flour, and milk, dump in a package or two of chipped beef. Heat, pour over toast. Dinner is served.
- Chicken a la King. Every other 50's luncheon party featured this dish. You start with lots of white sauce (of course), add some peas, carrots, and chicken chunks, pour it all in a casserole dish, and then layer biscuit dough on top. Cook until the biscuits brown. Serve with the white sauce/chicken/pea goop ladled over the biscuits. So elegant!
- Tuna Casserole. I'll bet some of you still eat this. You don't have to admit it to me, mind you, but know that I'm on to you anyway. My kids used to love this stuff, especially if I made it with wagon wheel macaroni. For those of you lucky enough to have never eaten tuna casserole, here's how it works: Take a can of cream of mushroom soup, several cups of cooked pasta of any kind, a can of milk, and a can of tuna fish. Mush it all together and top it with crushed potato chips or bread crumbs. Bake for half an hour at 350 degrees. Eat by the plateful it if you're really, really hungry or 17 years old and male. (OK, same thing.)
- City Chicken. Does anybody remember this food? You can still find it in some grocery meat departments. I always wonder, who still eats this? Someone must, or they wouldn't be selling it, would they? 'City Chicken' is basically comprised chunks of veal and pork threaded onto a pointy wooden skewer. You bread or flour the skewered meat stick, then cook it in hot oil in a frying pan until brown. Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy (made from the pan drippings) on the side and some kind of grey canned vegetable cooked to death. Canned corn is good. Pick up the stick and eat like a chicken leg.
- Meat Loaf and Mashed Potatoes. I'll bet some of you still eat this too. Every so often I get the urge to make meat loaf, especially in the fall when it first gets cold. It makes good sandwiches too, hot or cold. I make it with several kinds of ground meat, tomato sauce, dry onion soup mix, catsup, bread crumbs, and a beaten egg. Tastes better than it sounds. Thank God.
- Swedish Meat Balls. My Mom loved to make this dish even though nobody in the family really liked it at all. It was very popular and I think it seemed elegant to her for some reason. When we were kids we used to call these things 'porcupine balls', because my Mom made them out of hamburger, bread crumbs, and raw rice. The rice never really cooked all the way through; hence the porcupine part. The meatballs were simmered in a white sauce (yay! white sauce!) with nutmeg, which was weird, but that's what made the meatballs Swedish as opposed to Armenian or something. Serve these over hot buttered egg noodles, rice, or the bottom of your trash can.
- Chop Suey. Chop Suey in the 50s had four ingredients: Pork chunks, sliced celery, sliced onion, and soy sauce. Dump all the ingredients in a saucepan including the entire freaking bottle of soy sauce. Cook it to death. Serve over rice with crunchy chow mein noodles on top. This dish has enough salt in it to kill at least four adult men, but it's surprising tasty. 'Chop Suey' is Mandarin for "geez Americans are morons."
- Pot Pie. Most of us think of those frozen pies filled with tiny tiny bits of mystery meat and mixed vegetables when we think of 'pot pie', but my grandmother made a different dish called by the same name. She layered sliced potatoes, sliced onion, flour, butter, and thin pork steaks in a 2 quart saucepan. Pour cold milk to cover the whole thing, then cook on medium-low heat until it's all tender. Hint: The flour, butter, and milk blend during cooking to make a white sauce. Actually, again, it tastes better than it sounds.
- 'Hot Brown' Sandwiches. When I first waited tables right out of high school everyone knew what these were. In some places they were called 'Manhattans.' First you make a sandwich with white bread and hot sliced beef or turkey (no mayo), then you slice the sandwich in two pieces on the diagonal. Place the sandwich on a plate with a scoop of mashed potatoes between the two halves. Now slather gravy over all of it. The cheaper the white bread the better--if the bread is too good it won't soak up the gravy and the meat juices, so don't go all Paul Prudhomme on this thing. I sold SO MANY of these hot lunches when I first started my working life. They fill you up cheap and were enormously popular. Now you see them nowhere.
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Comments
I have fond memories of chipped beef on toast which the boys in the Army used to call "sh-- on a shingle."
I remember quite a few of these dishes. You've made me hungry and nostalgic. Looks like we're eating retro tonight!
Hi Breakfast Pop--Actually we still eat some of them too. Thanks for stopping by! :)
Ralph--Stouffers makes a pretty good frozen version of it. In the winter if we've feeling lazy and hungry we have it over mashed potatoes. I thought of that sh*t on a shingle slang while I was writing this--You know it's not bad stuff, really. :)
Gina--Glad you got some inspiration from it. Bon appetit!
I still eat many of these meals. I found Stouffers makes frozen Chipped Beef and sauce and I do keep some in the freezer and do eat it on toast. Love tuna casserole, pot pies, and chop suey. What would life be without meatloaf and mashed potatoes. New cookbooks still have these recipes, but they have changed the names! I think that they're called one pot meals now.
Never have eaten Spam though.
Yum Yum, I'll have an order of SOS please. And if you want to really have some fun this holiday weekend, take someone you love and go down to the movie theater and see Julie and Julia. What a hoot! You will be starving when you come out and any of the above will be perfect or splurge and go for Boeuf Bourguignon at your local French joint.
Chuck
I am so drooling for the spam sandwich now. I didn't know about the pineapple but I'll have to try that. Thanks for the tip.
I never ate spam but I did like grilled,fried Treet and cheese sandwihes, also fried Treet with eggs.
SOS is great and using sausage instead of chipped beef is equally tasty.
I have often enjoyed the other dishes you referenced.
Great Hub! :)
Hi Nelle--We buy those Stouffers Chipped Beef meals too. They're good. We eat meat loaf once in awhile, but the rest of it, not so much. It was all good though!
surfzen--I'd love to see that movie. I hear Meryl Street is great in it.
Ball up--Pineapple is pretty good on ham sandwiches too. :)
Tom--Spam is an acquired taste for sure. Now that you mention it I do remember eating it like bacon with fried eggs when I was a kid. Can't imagine eating it now!
Ha! Ha! I love your antics Pam! When I used to work as a waiter in a diner, I had a regular that was a Korean War vet. He'd occasionally tell me stories about his Korean friends in the trenches and about how they'd share with one another their culture. When he got into telling the guy about rice pudding, the listener became confused. "Why would you do such a thing to rice?" He said (typical Asian).
I liked how you gave the run-down on all of these not-so fabulous foods, Pam. I had a suite-mate in college who would take turns with me cooking our nightly supper. He was the first one to introduce me to your "white sauce." I must say, I was not impressed. Every time he'd make it, I'd eat every thing but the white sauce and "clean" my plate when he wasn't looking. The poor guy probably still thinks I loved it, because I never said a word to him about it!
Loved this hub! (as he prepares his Spam sandwich...)
Some still sound good. In the UK we used to eat Spam Fritters-Slices of Spam dipped in batter and then deep fried. Hellish for the calories and cholesterol buy nice in a way.
I love Swedish meatballs!
Great Hub! My family ate the tuna over toast with white sauce dish. Also grilled cheese sandwiches made with Velveeta cheese and Campbells tomato soup. And does anyone remember stewed chicken? My mom used to buy the whole canned chicken (bones included) and prepare a dish over noodles. This was actually pretty good!
Treet=Spam different manufacturer. I have tasted Spam and could find no difference.
Now I'm starving. I'll have the Swedish meatballs, if no one else wants them. Yum.
Chop Suey. I love it, PGrundy! Thanks.
hello pgrundy ,What I wonder is your ability to concentrate on such topics which do not occupy the normal consciousness..your hub is an excellent example of the lateral thinking..( concept of Edward D.Bono )..great
Hi guys--Wow, everybody seems to be relaxing and reading HP this morning!
Dohn--It's amazing what we will eat in college. I remember one week when I was especially broke and ate nothing all week but Kraft Mac n Cheese. Bleechk! I at a lot of popcorn and oatmeal too--cheap, filling!
Ethel--Spam Fritters! lol! That's one I never heard of!
Kephira--Probably you make them better than my Mom did. Cooking the rice would've helped!
Catlyn--We used to eat tuna in white sauce over toast too. It's not too bad when you're hungry. :)
Tom--Amazing that there would be competition for the canned processed meat market, but where there's a niche there's a way! :)
Teresa--Check with kephira, I think she's working on some Swedish Meatballs right now. :)
Paradise7--I actually liked Chop Suey too. So salty, but it was actually pretty good.
Ishavasyam--Yes, if I couldn't think sideways I don't know what I'd do. I wouldn't think at all I suppose. Thanks for reading this. :)
Love this hub, reminds me so much of how we ate as a family
It also brings to mind some of the food we would have for a snack, like butter and sugar on bread...
you just ate what you had, we didn't have any packaged snacks in the pantry
wow, think I may do a hub about that!
Well, we have not forgotten the humble yet ever so comforting meat loaf and mashies - a big favorite around here. Funny that you bring up that 50's food - we were just talking about chicken fricasse, not sure how that is spelled - anyway, they served it a lot but I am not sure what it is.
Yes, Pgrundy....
Meryl has it totally nailed...She IS Julia for sure....go see it.
Chuck
What a great hub PG…There are memories of some dishes while others (2, 4, 6, and 7) my family still enjoys today… Some things are just too good to leave behind…
Pgrundy, Another great Hub!
As a Baby-Boomer, I remember all of these foods...what memories!
We still love mashed potatoes and meatloaf, and we use pinneapple with ham.
Spam? I don't think I could get it down, it is on the same level as the liver and onions my Mom used to surprise us with! My Sis and I swore then, that we would never make it for our families and we both stuck to our promises.
Oh, I did not see the new movie with Meryl Streep, but I did purchase the book that was published when the movie was released, "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking," by Julia Child and Simone Beck. Excellent cookbook in my opinion.
You have such a gift, I read every Hub you publish!
Who knew a Website was not imperative? Now I can move faster!
elizabethkcmo--I remember eating buttered bread with sugar sprinkled on top! Yum! Also, whenever my Mom made piecrust she'd sprinkle any leftover pie dough with sugar and bake it for snacks. That was good too.
Dolores--We eat a lot more of this kind of food in the winter, when it's good and it sounds good. I remember a dish with chicken that was chicken pieces floured and stewed in a pot. It would make its own gravy, and then we'd lay these big slice dumplings on top at the last and steam those, and have the meat, gravy, and dumplings over all. Not sure if that's what you're recalling, but your comment made me remember it. God, that was good. I'm gonna try that again! God, now I want some!
Nancy--Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
okmom23--What a nice thing to say! Thanks! I'm with you on the SPAM, ack! I remember Julia Child's show on PBS (yes I'm that old!) She was way cool.
surfzen--It's on my list! :)
I remember all of these foods VERY well. Still eat most of them. SPAM is still a mainstay in Hawaii. And SOS for me was dried chipped beef that came out of a small jar similar to jars used for flavored cheese spreads back then. When in HomeEc we were taught to fancy it up by serving it on "toast points." And Chicken a la King was often gussied up by serving it in toast CUPs.
When I arrived in Missouri last summer I discovered instant "black pepper gravy" at Sam's Club. Hmm --- never thought white gravy was difficult enough to require an instant variety but hey, whatever floats your boat. As a young bride I remember my husband's aunt (who ran all the church dinners) educated me on how to make gravy men would rave over --- "most women don't add enough black pepper to their gravy." Well, since I love black pepper --- or pepper of any kind, that's never been my problem.
PG --- I'd forgotten you were in Michigan. I too grew up with canning all summer long --- and canned my own tomatoes for many years. They smell great. Colder than usual in Missouri this August too. Must be a global warming thing.
Great post.
Hi KEckerle--I wondered about whether it was a climate change thing too. It rarely broke the upper 70s here this summer, and usually we have a couple of weeks in the mid to upper 90s plus a good month of mid to high 80s, but not this year. Winter was long and cold too. The Farmer's Almanac is predicting another very cold, rather dry winter this year.
I made a cherry pie today and immediately wished I'd put up some sour cherries. They are $3.99 for a 12 ounce can here! That's nuts. Next year I'll at least freeze some. I started canning again last year and wasn't all that into it--just trying to save money. But it's not that hard once you buy the jars. Hey--that would make a good hub! Thanks for stopping by! :)
Stouffer's Creamed Chipped Beef is by far the best rendition of the 50's dish I can think of! Spam, well, I did spend some time on the Big Island but never ate a bit of it...maybe I'll give it the old 21st century try here on the mainland.
I think i have eaten all of these things. My mom also made a "Tamale Pie" kind of like chili and beans with hominy and black olives. She sprinkled corn meal on the top which absorbed the juices and made a cornbread crust. My Sis and I were talking about that the other day and wondering how, exactly, she made it.
Her 'special' spam was covered with yellow mustard, slashed with a diamond pattern of knife cuts, and studded with cloves to give the effect of a Lilliputian ham, before being baked in the oven.
Hi lorlie6--thanks for your comment! I appreciate you stopping by and saying hey.
Rochelle--That Tamale Pie sounds great. I remember those funny little 'Spam Hams' with the cloves too! I'd forgotten all about that!
Hi - Pat here - The minute I saw the title of this Hub I though 'chipped beef on toast'. It was one of my Mom's fav things to make and I absolutely hated it.
I'd completely forgotten about Hot Brown Sandwiches - yuck, yuck, yuck.
My Mom also loved SPAM and I found it nauseating.
I think you can begin to imagine what meal time was like when I was growing up!
Actually, I do make meatloaf and mashed potatoes, especially in winter. I don't remember my mom making meatloaf, and her mashed potatoes came out of a box. (I bet you can guess what I said when that was on my plate.)
When I see Tricia this week we might try to remember what food we cooked as young brides in the 1970s...
Fun Hub - thanks.
Wonderful hub! I ate most of them until I was put on a diet.......sigh I especially miss pot pies!
Pam, you are so funny, I'm still laughing with your Mandarin lesson.
I confess that my dh cooks for us the tuna casserole and I just adore it!
And thank you for your grandma's pot pie recipe, I'm certainly going to cook that wonderfully easy thing, although sprinkled with red pepper ...
Hi 2patricias--We actually still enjoy chipped beef on toast, but if I never see another can of Spam I won't cry! lol! My Mom was actually a pretty good cook. I'll have to write another hub on the GOOD stuff just so as to be fair to her. Thanks for coming by. :)
georgiakevin--Dieting sucks, doesn't it? I really like frozen pots pies, but I never buy them anymore because the good ones have like, I don't 1200 calories each or some such thing--it's obscene! But they sure taste good!
Rosario--My kids LOVE tuna casserole, but my guy hates it and I don't miss it. I think probably we all have secret comfort foods that are our faves. For me, it's probably beef stew or mac and cheese (the real kind, not the boxed kind). Anything with cornbread too! Thanks for your comment. :)
WOW, your Mother's recipes, yes, that's a great idea for a hub, Pam.
I loved canning too. And since I grew up with a yard full of cherry, apple and peach trees, you just can't beat those Montmorency cherry pies!!! Something I never see anymore either is the Queen Anne Yellow Cherries. Yum. The biggest cost is the jars --- I used to hit the flea markets and garage sales although I find them easily on sale here in the Ozarks.
One thing I miss that I don't see outside of Michigan is Farmer Pete's Pickled Bologna. I've had a couple other brands, but they are not as good.
Strange what the weather does. I'll be in Missouri again this winter and I'm told the Farmer's Almanac says we're in for a bad winter with lots of snow. Oh goodie! Did that sound sarcastic enough? Things lose in the translation when they are in writing!
This has brought back memories of my primary school days. We used to have spam fritters at least once a week. A slice of spam deep fried in batter - Nice and healthy for a growing kid right?
Anything but chipped beef, either my mother didn't know how to make it or it was the worse thing I ever ate. Still get goose bumps....yuck...Thanks for the memories. :)
Here is a treat I did like, and my kids still do. Warm bread with a slice of chocolate, and a side of grapes. Also my mom's concoction. She was very creative. :)
Good hub. It brings back a lot of memories. Ok, now This sounds gross, but we had a dish that my father called "meat and worms." It consisted of canned spaghetti and scrambled hamburger. It was actually pretty good.
This was great! I have always been really interested in the history of food fashion - but mainly from the British perspective - and it seems there were some differences on your side. You have introduced a whole lot of fabulous dishes I haven't heard of before! I was unfortunate enough to attend a British boarding school and some of your dishes remind me of the stuff they served us - a similar take on Chop Suey I think. My children are growing up clueless as to what Spam is - poor devils. The deep fried SPAM fritter - suddenly springs to mind!
As an South African, some of these are un-familiar to me. We had the Chicken a la King though and I see it is making a comeback here!
Great hub! Although the kids and I still have meatloaf and mashed occasionally, I do continue to have nightmares about my Mom's tuna casserole!
Many were(are) delicious meals and very reasonably priced to make. Great hub as usual.
Actually, most of these are frequent meals in my house. Maybe it's got something to do with family size and budget. A lot of these are cheaper to make than the newer meals that families with "2.3" or fewer children can afford.
Very interesting read.
I love meatloaf and mashed potato with gravy. the left over meatloaf makes a good sandwich. I have never cared for spam but tuna casserole is good once in a while. I made it in my younger days when I had little money. I usually eat children,fish and salad now. Your hub reminds me of a lot of the old days.
mmmmmmmmm Spam, off the strength of this hub I've just been and joined the UK spam fan-club, lol, if it wasn't so late and the shops were open I'd quite possibly nip out and buy some, I've not had it in ages, but used to love that stuff.
Apart from the tuna casserole most of the others were lost on me though, Possibly I'm a little too young or a little too non-American.
p.s. the Spam fan club wasn't really up to much, no special offers or anything, all they really did was take my e-mail, no prizes for guessing what kind of e-mails I'm expecting. :D
I'm only in my 20's, but even I grew up eating a couple of those! More specifically, meatloaf and tuna casserole! I was always kinda on the fence as to whether or not I liked meatloaf, but I've always liked tuna casserole. Unfortunately, my wife doesn't like canned tuna (and I can't really blame her... it's not really the best stuff in the world), so I don't get tuna casserole very often anymore. Oh well, I still get a ton of other delicious foods ^_^
Hi everybody--I took Labor Day off, so now I am way behind on saying thanks for all the comments! So...
Thanks for all the comments! lol!
I didn't even know there WAS a Spam fan club! (Sound like there's a hub somewhere in THAT Mr. Voodoo!)
:)
My sister still rocks the spam in her house and I make a mighty fine meatloaf & mashed potatoes. You might even catch me mking a pot pie once in a while. Never a big fan of tuna casserole :-) Great hub. Kudos.
Thanks Chloe!
I loved your article-made me laugh. My hubby has high blood pressure so I am learning to cook all over again. Thanks for the chicken salad recipe-It is good!!!
I wouldn't know what people ate in the 50's because I wasn't around. But I would bet that whatever people are eating now 50-60 years from now they will be totally different again. I like some of these things on the list, but I wouldn't want to eat them every night for dinner that's for sure. In today's market we have access to so many fresh fruits and produce from around the world due to air shipping. I would imagine in the 50's you were much more dependent on what foods were available locally or canned. Sorry you had such a cold summer. I got an email from Brownwood Acres complaining about the cold too. I've been to Michigan, in the winter even. Cold and lots of Standing Water. Hopefully you'll have an Indian summer and mild winter to make up for it. I couldn't live there. I love the heat of the desert southwest.
Number 3,6,7, and 10 were commonly served as school lunches in the 60's. I can't say my mother was guilty of any of the 50's meals (I think she was, when it came to food, a little ahead of her time); but I had an aunt who would serve the "rare delicacy", fried Spam, when I'd stay at her house. I loved it and just didn't understand why my mother would not honor my request that she make Spam for dinner "like Ruthie". :) Fun Hub. (I have to say I'm not above the occasional tuna casserole even today. :) )
nice hub . your hub make me hungry especially the food stuff made from potato. yummy...... , delicious my mouth is watering.
I hate Spam, always did. I just cooked up a mess of fresh tomatoes for spaghetti sauce. Thank god for my old food mill, the one with the wooden roller in it? I love City Chicken and do it now and again. SOS is great and around here one can still get an open face sandwich with the gravy, turkey or beef. Not one for Chop Suey and got very tired of Tuna Casserole as that is all my first wife could cook. Thanks for the trip. CC
Hey! I grew up in the sixties but mom made chipped beef gravy,spam, meatloaf,pot pie,etc. truthfully, I loved the chipped beef and pot pie. I wasn't crazy about spam, but mom always seemed to make it taste good! BTW, I still make pot pie in the fall and winter. My family loves it!
Many of these foods are packed with calories and fat so there is no wonder that they are no longer part of our diet.
"'Chop Suey' is Mandarin for "geez Americans are morons.""
LOL. We used to eat canned chop suey a couple times a year on camping trips, so I have fond memories of it, but I suspect if I ate it anywhere BUT camping trips I'd hate it.
I've never had tuna casserole of the sort you describe, but I do occasionally like to toss tuna with grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, capers, and lemon juice in pasta. That's pretty good.
My school cafeteria used to make pizza with Spam. It wasn't bad!
I've eaten all of those foods. My favorite white sauce dish is scalloped potatoes with onions and cheese! Yum...
When I was a kid growing up (1 of 7 kids) we had "creamed dried beef" about every week. Mom always got dried beef from the deli section it is hundreds times better than the Budding packaged stuff. She would pile high a plate of toast and we would have at it. I could eat 10 pieces myself. As a matter of fact I made this about 2 weeks ago. Before I make the white sauce I sautee onions first as this recipe can be bland if you are not careful. Mom always added onions too.
I have been desperately looking for a recipe since my husband mother died. She gave me the recipe before she died but somehow I misplaced it. It is a jello recipe using lime jello. There is cream cheese in it, pineapple and walnuts. He said she has been making this since he was a kid so I believe it is a recipe from the 50's as well.
Great Hub!
Around here we call the hot brown sandwiches hot shots and occasionally Manhattens. I would chow down on this any day. But then again, I love just plain old "gravy bread" which is of course just what it sounds like. Gravy over bread. I was eating this once and someone thought I was eating a desert. They thought it was maybe angel cake with a caramel sauce. Aw heck give me the gravy bread instead of the cake!
My Grandma, when she would make pies was very special. the pies? ....I could care less about..it was the leftover pie dough she would slice into strips, layer on butter and cinnamon and the bake. OMG those were such wonderful treats! people back then did not waste anything.
pgrundy, I found myself smiling throughout this read. In the 60s in SC, we had fried spam, tomato and mayo sandwiches. Our gravy was and is a bit different. We fry the flour in the cooking oil before adding the milk or meat juice.
This piece is enough same and different from some I wrote this week, I think it would be a perfect compliment. Mind if I link this in my side capsule on one or more of my recipe hubs?
My mom used to make Dried Beef Casserole: 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup milk, 1 cup shredded American cheddar cheese, 3 Tbs. chopped onion, 1 cup uncooked macaroni, 1/4 lb. dried beef, chopped and 2 hard-cooked eggs, sliced. Mix together and turn into buttered casserole and refrigerate 3-4 hrs. or overnight. Bake for 1 hour, uncovered in a 350 degree F.oven.
Yummy!
When I go to my mom's she still makes the meatloaf and potatoes. She must be stuck in a time warp!
Thanks for an interesting retrospective. Just the thought of Tuna Casserole makes my gorge rise. I loathed it beyond all reason, it made me sick every time I ate it. You didn't include anything else I hated though. I never tried Spam sandwiches with pineapple but probably would've eaten it over trying to eat tuna casserole. Pineapple and ham works.
Most of the rest sound fairly tasty and are familiar except City Chicken and Hot Brown Sandwiches. I miss Chow Mein, which you used to be able to get at Cantonese restaurants and in grocery stores canned. The canned or restaurant varieties had Chinese vegetables and water chestnuts included and were heavenly.
I love meat loaf. We still eat meat loaf whenever I can persuade Karl or Kitten to make it. Swedish meat balls always give rise to certain Babylon-5 jokes though.
Thanks everyone!
Robert--I'm with you on the tuna casserole. Have to be pretty hungry to eat that. I feel the same way about green bean casserole but my kids love it. :)
I love Spam! Growing up in Hong Kong, we used so much of that to cook. Most of the time, we couldn't even afford the real Spam, so we bought some off brand. It wasn't as good, of course. Tell you something funny though. One day, I was shopping at WalMart, a liile boy saw that I had tons ofSpam in my cart. He pointed my cart and said,"Yuck! Spam?". I thought that was funny:)
that's it
I saw a lot of Spam on the menu when I was in Hawaii last year and to be honest it’s something I like but choose not too in favour of healthier alternatives. I love Swedish meatballs and got to sample some “home cooked” meatball when in Gothenburg last year, they were fantastic. I find food choices can come in cycles; I’ve found myself eating foods now that I ate as a child and for some reason stopped eating. Maybe these foods will all make a comeback at some point in the future.
We are a HUGE spam fan lol. My family liks to eat Spam and Mac & Cheese it taste great and its quick and easy...I like your blogs keep up the good work
...makes me glad that I'm too young to really remember the hay day of these food nightmares, except meatloaf.(shiver) f!!! you meatloaf, you will never make me barf again because I will never eat you again!
Beef on toast - we had that every so often at my boarding school, called, "sh** on a shingle" by the unappreciative girls.
Tuna casserole is something I make - but no tinned soup or pasta, rather tuna, tomatoes, corgettes, onion and garlic.
Hi LG--Sounds like a good way to go on the tuna casserole. We still eat chipped beef for dinner sometimes, but we have it over mashed potatoes. Thanks for stopping by. :)
Oh, the memories! Tuna casserole on Fridays--good Catholic household. Spam, spam and more spam--even Monty Python loved Spam. All of these dishes are part of our American culinary history. Some of the best restaurants continue to serve meatloaf and gravy--Eddie Matney's meatloaf dish (at "Eddie's House" in Scottsdale) is legendary. In fact, I'm working on a short story right now where meatloaf is the "spark" between two characters. Great trip down memory lane here.
If you want to read more about the old classic TV dinners, I believe St. James wrote one some time ago and can be found on his blogs.
Thanks Dink96. :)
What a walk down memory lane! Love some and to quote "others, not so much". Thanks for a fun read. My dad - a child of the rationing - kept a store of military rations (the forerunner of spam) in the cabinet and threatened us with it often. LOL - never did have to try it and never tried spam until I was older and entered a contest - it wasn't bad. Thanks for sharing.
Hi The Rope--SPAM really isn't as bad as it sounds, is it? I mean it's bad...but not that bad. Thanks for your comments!
breakfastpop says:
3 months ago
Actually, I still eat some of them. You kicked up my appetite with this hub!