292934 Sat May 24 20:42:57 -0700 2003 37 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1600711 Yes, I am of that "chowhound" vintage and want to have a dinner party for my dear, "not too old" same age friends. I have a dilema about what to serve, not that I have lost the memories, just too many things to choose from. Does anyone have any suggestions? This site is so helpful and I know that I can create many happy memories for my guests. I want to have a theme that I know everyone will enjoy and remember, they kind of expect something like that from me, so help! Many thanks to you all. Sat May 24 20:42:57 -0700 2003 0 jsl 1 1600714 As a reference point I would recommend "American Gourmet: Classic Recipes, Deluxe Delights, Flamboyant Favorites, and Swank 'Company' Food from the '50s and '60s" by Jane and Michael Stern. Your public library probably has it or can get it on loan. Many good ideas. I would suggest Lobster Thermador, or if your ceilings are high enough Tenderloin Shish Kabobs flamed a la "The Pump Room". Sat May 24 21:26:58 -0700 2003 1600711 0 sylvesterrussell 2 1600730 Yeah, but that was the type of stuff that you ate in restaurants rather than at a home dinner, like baked Alaska. Food at home tended to be simpler. My mom's 1950 American Family Cookbook has some suggestions for dinner parties (with and without servants). Too bad it's not Lincoln's Birthday. There's a suggestion of building a log cabin out of asparagus. Anyway, here's what they suggest for a dinner party(without servants) fruit cup with crushed candy mints stuffed pork chops Roast sweet potatoes hearts of lettuce salad with French dressomg dinner rolls celery olives peach cobbler coffee salted nuts If you have servants ... Mock lobster bisque crackers baked ham creamed peas boiled potatoes sauteed mushrooms hard rolls jelly mixed green salad cherry tarts Coffee I guess that's why they drank so much hard liquor in those days. Dont forget to start with the cocktails and canapes. Highballs (with bright red masciano cherries), gin and tonic, manhattan ... simple booze and either soda or more booze ... none of those sweet drinks / milkshakes that pass for booze today. Perhaps a bowl of punch. As the cookbook says canapes transform an ordinary meal into a party. They suggest cutting slices of bread into small rounds, triangles or other shapes. Toast on one side and top with any number of ingrediants. The housewife will find this a fertile field for a display of her talents (I am paraprasing Chowhound team). Crabmeat, shrimp and deviled ham were among the more palatable suggestions. Don't forget the celary stuffed with cream cheese ... and cocktail frankfurters. What ever you do, NO sundried tomatos or goat cheese. I remember an old episode of Beverly Hillbillies where granny was making goat cheese and everyone was gagging. That was in the 70's. Today, granny would be even richer selling that goat cheese. Anyway, I'm sure posters will have better suggestions. Here's a place that sells 1950's cookbooks. There's one with 160 chafing dish recipes. There IS a cookbook about the Cheese Tray ... but it's by Kraft Cheese which may tell you something. My favorite title was "Meat cooking for good eating". The picture below is from the movie "The Ride Home" and is a picture of a 1950's dinner party. Link: http://www.oldparsonage.com/cookbooks50s/Cookbooks50.htm Image: http://www.reelsondemand.com/laura_shannon/jpg/lshannon_19_lg.jpg Sun May 25 01:04:26 -0700 2003 1600714 0 Stanley Stephan 3 1600731 Hmmm, you'd need servants to do baked ham, boiled potatoes, creamed peas and a mixed green salad but mom could stuff a pork chop just fine without help? Sun May 25 01:19:52 -0700 2003 1600730 0 Gary Soup 4 1600734 Maybe it was a cost thing. Pork chops were cheaper than ham. They probably assumed you could afford the better ingrediants like mushrooms and mock lobster bisque if you had servants. Someone had to shell them peas and pit them cherries. Sun May 25 01:52:41 -0700 2003 1600731 0 Stanley Stephan 5 1600748 This is a great thread. I am trying to think what would have been served at a 'fifties dinner party but that was the decade my husband was in school and we could barely afford any sort of food at all, let alone give dinner parties. However I am pretty sure the dessert served on such an occasion would have contained equal parts of artificial whipped cream, Jell-o, and Crisco. And the quintessential appetizer then was the dip made of sour cream and dry onion soup mix. Good references here are the cookbooks made up of ladies' clubs'-contributed recipes bound on a spiral---they show up at yard sales. Sun May 25 11:22:54 -0700 2003 1600734 0 N Tocus 6 1600751 My agèd mother, ever the snob, would rather have died than to have served forth anything so (to her mind) declassé as a jello salad, or an onion soup dip, or any of the usual 50s kinds of things. I distinctly remember her curled lip and her tone of voice as she hissed about the neighbor's oh-so-elegant black cherry jello with (mind you) canned bing cherries. Mother's dinner parties were more along the lines of gazpacho, saltimbocca, fresh asparagus (and not served in the form of a log cabin, either, although that sounds quite charming to me), potatoes anna, a salad based on bibb lettuce, and a charlotte malakoff. As I reflect on her choices, I see that it's small wonder I turned out to be a HOUND...the apple (oops, sorry, the heirloom organic hand-pruned hand-picked apple) hasn't fallen very far from the tree. Sun May 25 11:55:26 -0700 2003 1600748 0 Cristina 7 1600787 I wish I'd been invited to your mother's parties! But, now that you've dissed black cherry jello, my imp of the perverse can't resist: if in the dead of winter you get stuck with some grapefruit that's too sour to enjoy for breakfast, put the segments in black cherry jello and the whole thing will end up tasting like you're eating black cherries. Sun May 25 18:34:12 -0700 2003 1600751 0 N Tocus 3 1600732 I found a cocktail section in the cookbook. They say cocktails should be served as an appetizer and always with a "food-bit". NEVER server the sweet cocktails immediately before dinner. Sweet cocktails are served first. Tart or dry cocktails properly preceed the meal. There are those old favorites .... Sidecar, Tom and Jerry, Old Fashioned, whisky sour, Gin fizz, Gin Ricky, Pink Lady (my mom's favorite). They also wax poetic about the "Wine Service" and I wish I could quote them directly Wine is compared to music causing the epicure to shudder with pleasure. For some people it can awaken their romantic dreams. They assure you it is quite stylish to serve wine with dinner. As an appetizer serve dry sherry. Champagne is suggested for dessert, but never, never served with shellfish. While in certain high social circles it is considered the ultra drink with seafood, a seasoned gourmet would not dream of committing this gaff. Sun May 25 01:37:56 -0700 2003 1600730 0 Stanley Stephan 1 1600719 A "1950'"'s dinner party just wouldn't be complete without a Eugene McCarthy impersonator serving hors d'ouvres to the guests. :-) Sat May 24 22:39:46 -0700 2003 1600711 0 2chez mike 2 1600720 not to pick nits but I think you mean Joe McCarthy. He was the virulent anti-communist senator of the 1950's. Eugene McCarthy was the peace candidate & senator fr/ the 60's. Sat May 24 23:39:50 -0700 2003 1600719 0 Lan4Dawg 3 1600725 And the Joe McCarthy impersonator should be pouring whiskey, not serving hors d'oeuvres. Sat May 24 23:58:02 -0700 2003 1600720 0 Gary Soup 4 1600739 And you need J. Edgar Hoover in a dress to clear the plates. Sun May 25 09:59:40 -0700 2003 1600725 0 Cristina 3 1600755 Yes. I meant Joe. Sun May 25 12:50:45 -0700 2003 1600720 0 2chez mike 3 1600756 Yes. I meant Joe McCarthy. Sun May 25 12:53:29 -0700 2003 1600720 0 2chez mike 1 1600723 There are several good books on the subject but I found when I did a '50s dinner party, I was better served by going to a local library (or old bookstore) and getting 1950s editions of Bettey Crocker & McCalls' cooksbooks. Complete with photographs, you'll be shocked at the suggestions! Sat May 24 23:51:42 -0700 2003 1600711 0 Carrie 1 1600726 Pizza from a Chef Boy-ar-dee pizza kit. Swanson TV dinners (preferably Salisbury steak). French fries with chicken gravy on top. Rocky Road ice cream. Sun May 25 00:07:07 -0700 2003 1600711 0 Gary Soup 1 1600735 What about jello moulded with tinned fruit? I also recall a dessert called Junket - but perhaps that was a Canadian thing. Sun May 25 07:18:09 -0700 2003 1600711 0 judithgorman 2 1600741 No, Junket was an everywhere thing. Still out there, but I'm not sure why. Off-putting texture, that. Remember Whip 'n Chill? Sun May 25 10:07:16 -0700 2003 1600735 0 Deb Van D 3 1600896 Whip 'n Chill! That was such a treat for us kids. Mom didn't buy it very often because it was more expensive than the boxes of jello or pudding mix. Tue May 27 00:25:18 -0700 2003 1600741 0 Val G 1 1600736 Enough already!!!! You all seem to have survived your mother's cooking didn't you??? Find an old Better Homes and Gardens and Betty Crocker cookbook and see what your mother still has floating around.. Off the top of my head I remember doing canned fruit cocktail with sherbet, mock lobster (who could afford the real stuff),cranberry mold with nuts and pineapple..which seems to be what Harry and David's has in their gourmet section, and oh those original Pillsbury rolls.. chicken with the apricot and onion soup mix.. peas with onions or peas with mushrooms from Birdseye.. Oh yes.. I made the mud pie from scratch.. and Yodel bombe with chocolate chip and peppermint stick ice cream.. I could go on and on if my senior brain were working early this a.m....will check out if I have any of the old recipe books left... Sun May 25 08:45:19 -0700 2003 1600711 0 ParrotMom 2 1600742 Hi ParrotMom, My grown-up kids still request "apricot chicken"! I like it too. It's just as good cold, as hot. I made a dish of it just the other day. I recently started putting some hot pepper flakes into the mix too. Pat Sun May 25 10:18:03 -0700 2003 1600736 0 Pat Hammond 1 1600744 Trying to think of things you don't see so much anymore. --Chicken 'n dumplings or coq au vin if you want to show off or chicken Jerusalem --creamed oysters or other seafood in vol au vent patty shells --oysters Rockefeller --scallops in a sherry-cream sauce baked in scallop shells --spagetti and meatballs --stuffed mushrooms --stuffed baked potatoes --garlic toasted bread --Cobb salad or green goddess salad --souffles --French-cut frozen green beans baked in mushroom soup sauce with canned onion rings on top --pineapple upside-down cake --strawberry shortcake --lemon cake pudding and let's not forget to start things off with clam dip and onion soup dip along with carrot sticks and potato chips (tortilla chips didn't exist then). Sun May 25 10:51:39 -0700 2003 1600711 0 Sharuf 1 1600749 Stanley Stephan (below) is right. Menu choices between with servants and without servants was about how labor intensive, as well as presentation requirements. The roast had to be on the right sort of platter and carved. Those old platters are very heavy when they're loaded, and can be tough to balance. You don't want to tip it and have juices dripping down your beautiful dress. Also, all dressed up (1950s style) is a tough way to haul a roast out of the oven- splatters on your skirt, etc. If you're working stovetop, a nice apron will do the trick. Most of the messy prep is done well ahead, and then you go get dressed, whereas the roast has to come out of the oven closer to sit-down time. That's all happening in the kitchen while the hostess with the mostest is out front entertaining her guests. I remember that we had a wonderful dish which we called "Potted Pork Chops". As I remember them, they were seared and then put into a tightly lidded pan with lots of apple slices and I don't know what else for a slight thickener and flavoring. Also butter I suspect, or maybe they were seared in a little left over bacon grease. Anyway, once they got to the braising stage, you could clean up the kitchen and go get dressed while they simmered happily for a long time. They were yummy; definitely fit for guests. Our usual fancy dinner party with servants was based on a sliced filet of beef main course. I remember grilled tomatos went with it and some sort of potato - perhaps a little individual gratin thing. No one had heard of cholesterol in those days. Dessert was a fancy, indiviually moulded/shaped ice cream thing, maybe a flower shape, with berries and petit fours. Colored mints in dishes on the table. Don't forget the individual cigarette holders and ashtrays at each place!!! Sun May 25 11:36:03 -0700 2003 1600711 0 Jane 2 1600772 Oh yeah, petit fours. We didn't have servants so my mom would go downtown to the gourmet shop (that's really what it was called) to pick up a box. Wonderful tiny shop with every nook and cranny filled with exotic stuff. Definately need the colored mints too. Don't forget to percolate that coffee ... Maxwell House? I hope you'll tell us what the final menu is. Sun May 25 16:49:55 -0700 2003 1600749 0 Stanley Stephan 3 1600796 Stanley- I seem to remember Savarin coffee cans in the kitchen. . ;-). Very red. Sun May 25 22:09:05 -0700 2003 1600772 0 Jane 1 1600761 No mention of a 1950s themed dinner would be complete without a visit to the site below. It was mentioned on CH months ago but newcomers may have missd it. Link: http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/index.html Sun May 25 13:36:46 -0700 2003 1600711 0 Bob Martinez 2 1601061 Ah yes, what 50's dinner party would be complete without a dish like this... Link: http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/knox/7.html Image: http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/knox/kling.jpg Wed May 28 19:47:59 -0700 2003 1600761 0 nja 1 1600765 When I was growing up, no dinner party would have been complete without hot hors' douvres, especially rumaki with plum sauce. Sun May 25 14:51:56 -0700 2003 1600711 0 zora 1 1600766 My friends and I made many dinner parties in the 60's, and I don't think they were that different than the 50's. Even though you want to stick to the theme, you still want them to enjoy the dinner! My suggestions: Appetizer course: shrimp cocktail. Lamaize sauce was a popular treat. Entree: filet roast. We all knew how to do that one. Accompaniments: stuffed baked potato, green bean casserole (that's the one with the canned mushroom sauce and the canned onion rings) Side salad: iceberg lettuce with a bottled dressing Dessert: molded salad - I knew about 100 ways to make a jello mold in those days - Cake. Chocolate layer cake (yes, very common), pineapple upside down, strawberry shortcake. Cut-up pineapple with cherries stuck in with toothpicks. I don't know of anyone who would serve canned fruit cocktail for company. We all knew how to bake, and used the recipes from Ladies Home Companion or McCall's and other magazines - not bad, either! For snacks with cocktails, definitely sour cream onion dip. Martinis, bloody mary's, if they drink. Wine was chablis (almost made me hate white wine forever!) This was a great thread. Wonder if I still have that 3-layer chocolate cake recipe from the "Best of McCall's" - pretty good! Sylvia Sun May 25 14:52:11 -0700 2003 1600711 0 SylviaG 1 1600779 While this is a slightly dim memory, I do remember my parents entertaining in the Midwest--de rigeur were martinis w/olives (we were allowed to fish the olive out and kind of enjoy the gin flavor), tinned anchovies wound around a caper served on Ritz crackers, sometimes replaced by sardines, molded salad--jello sometimes served with Miracle Whip or mom's tomato aspic ), maybe a wedge of iceberg lettuce or half of avocado with Wish Bone dressing--don't remember much focus on vegs. Dessert was often my Bronx-raised mother's wonderful cheesecake or pound cake. Sun May 25 17:28:40 -0700 2003 1600711 0 berkleybabe 2 1600780 And the main course would be grilled steak, almost always! Sun May 25 17:29:33 -0700 2003 1600779 0 berkleybabe 1 1600784 Chicken Divan (with broccoli). Tres elegant. I can't remember where I read it recently (been gorging on food lit) but there was a piece about Chicken Divan and how broccoli wasn't part of the original equation. I almost died laughing, because it was what me Ma served when she was trying impress my Dad's business associates, before she discovered Coquilles St. Jaques served in giant scallop shells. Sun May 25 17:41:59 -0700 2003 1600711 0 GG Mora 1 1600893 If you want to serve a casserole instead of a huge piece of beef, my mom's chicken spaghetti would hit the spot: baked with cheese on top, sort of a chicken tetrazzini-type thing. Actually, it was delicious and I remember it fondly. That was her special-occasion or impress-the-boss dish, served with buttered "French bread" and iceberg lettuce with bottled thousand island dressing. Or for a festive variation: lettuce leaf, topped with a slice of canned pineapple, a scoop of cottage cheese, and a maraschino cherry! Mon May 26 23:25:23 -0700 2003 1600711 0 Zorra 2 1600909 Deja vu: maraschino cherries; pimientos; sauces with sherry; liberal use of sour cream; fancy-cut radishes; lots of parsley earnestly strewn about; celery stalks stuffed with that spready cheese that came in those jars that you could later use for juice glasses. Oh yes, let us retrieve memories of -- Fear of Garlic, and Hot Spicey Pepper Panic. Tue May 27 09:54:43 -0700 2003 1600893 0 Sharuf 1 1600910 Saw a show on Food TV not so long ago that listed the top 5 things of the '50's. They were: - BBQ's - casseroles - TV dinners - hawaiin drinks - jello molds Tue May 27 09:59:49 -0700 2003 1600711 0 baby_tran 1 1600954 Shrimp Cocktail, Beef Wellington, Salad with Green Goddess dressing, Layer Cake or Cheesecake. Don't forget the Martinis. Tue May 27 13:53:42 -0700 2003 1600711 0 Seattle Rose 1 1601058 Thank you all for responding with so many great ideas. I have copied them all and now will go from there. Such fun, thank heavens I have time since the party will not be until July. It has been an enjoyable reading time with so many suggestions that I had forgotten all about. I actually did have silver individual ash trays for the table with matching cigarette holders and lighters!! Since no one smokes anymore they are long gone or maybe even buried somewhere in a box in storage. Many thanks to everyone!! Wed May 28 18:42:06 -0700 2003 1600711 0 jsl