Your Favorite Retro Dishes

[Perilagu Khan]

The thread on lunch counter food prompted me to think about retro food in general. And what I mean by retro food is dishes that saw their heyday in the 40s, 50s, 60s or 70s, but are now either largely forgotten or considered infra dignitum.

I'll start off by nominating fondue. Now fondue is not completely off the radar these days, but I'd wager it is nowhere near as popular as it was in the late 60s and early 70s. Absolutely love that bubbling raclette with the white wine and kirch.

[Tripeler]

Fish sticks. From the freezer directly to the oven. Coarse corn meal in the coating. Haven't had it in over 40 years I guess....

[flavrmeistr]

Fish sticks, Mac and cheese and frozen peas. My inner 8 year-old is singing.

[HappyHattiesburgr]

I love casseroles as a group and they are considered retro I think.

[sueatmo]

In the 1970s and into the 1980s I used to make something called Majestic Pea Salad, wihich I loved. It was layers lettuce, frozen peas, and other things including hard cooked eggs and crumbled bacon. You spread a thick dressing over all and left it in the fridge overnight. I always love it, but I quit making it years ago. It filled a large glass bow. I believe I've taken it places where I needed to provide a salad.
But not in a long, long time. For me this is very retro

[laliz]

city chicken. My fave when I was litttle.

it was actually veal cubes on skewers ~~ but I didn't know.

[njmarshall55]

Fondue, yes. But for me, it's got to be the old standby...tuna noodle casserole.

[EWSflash]

Casseroles- the macaroni/burger/tomato one, tuna noodle casserole, tuna rice casserole (cream of ___ soup, tuna, cooked rice, peas, crumbs on top), pot roast, meat loaf. My mom's beef stroganoff, turkey tetrazzini, mock duck (flank steak marinated, butterflied, and rolled with a filling of Pepperidge Farms stuffing- deamn I miss that), I can probably come up with a bunch more eventually.

[Veronica65]

Chicken Croquettes. NO ONE seems to serve these anymore, and I always loved them, especially with nice thick chicken gravy.

[flueln]

I've actually never had Chicken Croquettes in a restaurant. I have a friend who makes really great ones. Someday maybe I'll get her recipe - if I beg hard enough.

[Veronica65]

They're not too hard to make, really--minced chicken, onion, celery and seasonings thickened with bread crumbs and then rolled in more bread crumbs. You bake them, pour chicken gravy over them by the gallon and there you are! Another healthy '70s classic!

[Perilagu Khan]

Do you mince the yardbird in a food processor?

[buttertart]

Over under sideways down, when will it end? (Sorry.)

[Perilagu Khan]

I suspect Jimmy Page would be a mite gamey.

[Veronica65]

lol ironically, Page was not on that track, it was Jeff Beck. :-) but I quite agree, I imagine the well-preserved Page would be a bit gamey.

[BrightRedMud]

I like to make retro desserts to serve to guests: German chocolate cake, boiled raisin cake with caramel icing, pineapple squares. People always say "Mom used to make something like this."

I'd love to have a chance to order a good Chicken Kiev in a restaurant again. And Yorkshire pudding to go with roast beef; that was everywhere in the '70s but almost impossible to find in a restaurant now.

[Perilagu Khan]

I honestly don't remember the last time I saw Chicken Kiev on a restaurant menu. Such a pity too, because it's a marvelous dish.

[kattyeyes]

I can remember--it was at The Russian Tea Room in NYC--and apparently, it's still there:
http://russiantearoomnyc.com/menus/fo...

I love Kiev, too, but must confess, my childhood memory of it came in the frozen box from Barber Foods! Maybe it's the nostalgia factor, but it still makes me hungry to think of the boxed version.

[Perilagu Khan]

I was not aware that processed Chicken Kiev existed! I'd be willing to give it a whirl.

[kattyeyes]

A guilty pleasure, but a pleasure just the same...what's not to love about a chicken breast oozing garlicky butter--let's be real! I haven't had one in years. I must buy one now. And if it sucks after all this time, I must learn to do it properly myself. Thanks for the memories--and the inspiration!

[Cremon]

I have Chicken Cordon Blue often but it has been decades since I had Chicken Kiev. I have never had it in a restaurant but now I want to get the Tyson packaged version and make it just to taste it again.

[Perilagu Khan]

My recipe includes lots of tarragon in the butter.

What you thought was thunder was just my tum-tum a-rumblin'.

[kattyeyes]

HA HA! Would love to see your recipe if you feel like sharing. I am completely contemplating the frozen version for dinner tonight. See what you started?!

[Perilagu Khan]

That's what happens when you read CH!

I'll try to post the recipe this weekend. It's not too bad, if I do say so myself.

[flueln]

I remember the Chicken Kiev @ old Russian Tearoom very fondly. My elderly cousin lived right next door to Carnegie Hall and RTR and we used to go there for lunch.

Frozen Chicken Kiev is certainly available, and a lot less trouble, but never as good.

Chicken Kiev is popular on menus in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe. But not so much here.

[beachmouse]

I never thought of german chocolate cake as particularly rare. You can still get it at the Public bakery in these parts.

[BrightRedMud]

In my area it was popular in the '60s and '70s, but not since. Interesting that it's still available in other places.

[Omeghan]

I just stumbled across this post .....wow! So many faves!

Lobster Thermidor
Broiled Rock Lobster tail (scampi in Montreal)
Seafood Crepes or a Coquille St Jacques
and yes Brandy Alexanders and Harvey Wallbangers
Crepes ( la Crepe Bretonne Montreal)
Ruby Foo's
Joe's Steak House
Ben's Deli

[lyden]

From the old Schrafft's menu -- creamed shrimp in patty shells. Pretty little pieces of pimiento in the cream sauce for color. And as noted above, open-faced sardine sandwiches on rye bread, with red onion and tomato. Butter on the bread.

[table5]

Back in 1977 or so, I had Seafood Valerie from an amazing restaurant Veronique that used to be located in Coolidge Corner Brookline, MA. This was a rolled fillet of sole stuffed with shrimp and spinach wrapped in a fillo dough shaped like a fish with Hollandaise sauce on top. Found it again on www.seafoodvalerie.com. Amazing.

[Cremon]

How about "gravy fries"? French fries with brown gravy on them. I remember getting those in diners as a kid. I miss that today. I can make it myself but you lose that road-side spontaneity you get from stopping in a place and having it served right up to you in just a few minutes.

[FoodFuser]

I have spoken above
of the role of sweet Mother in Law
and her 70' broccoli casserole.

She was so gifted of things that we needed.

She quickly ascended
With hugs and with kisses
to the truly felt moniker of Momma.

And damn, could that girl most deliver
such superb of a casserole
based upon broccoli.

Soft scents of good cheddar
Enstroked with the crisp of the Ritz
Add the supple of mayo
And she brought down good casserole.

I entrust that enamor
be gifted
to all forms of mothers
with moniker of Mother

who procede
with the beauty
of good casserole.

[arktos]

- Greeen Goddess dressing with iceberg lettuce (straight outta the '50's!)

- Hangtown fry (California's oldest Post Mexican-period dish)

- 'Joe's Special' (A San Francisco favorite with ground beef, eggs and spinach).

[laliz]

+1 on the Green Goddess
+1 on the Joe's special

nothing for hangtown fry, don't like oysters.

[Disneyfreak]

Pistachio ice cream as the dessert after dinner in a Chinese restaurant. That was always a treat. It isn't the same now.

[Sharuf]

Ginger ice cream was a SF Chinatown special treat. Is it still availaboe?

[Passadumkeg]

Lobster Newburg, deviled crab and clams casino.

[kattyeyes]

Totally dig clams casino...everything's betta with bacon!

[alkapal]

and the kat is back. ;-)).

[shaogo]

Wonderful companion mentioned something nobody else did (w.c. is new to Chowhound and is just now getting a demonstration).

Sardines. Who ever sees sardines any more, even on a deli menu?

It's a nostalgia thing.

Me, I prefer mine boneless if I can get 'em. But love 'em.

Hey, me and wonderful companion will, I promise, eat sardines (me on pumpernickel with raw onion) this week. I promise, really I do.

[alkapal]

he's back! he's back! happy birthday, shaogo!

[buttertart]

Hip hip hooray, happy day!

[Sharuf]

One of my favorite sandwich inventions -- sardines and avocado on sliced sourdough with mayo. Yum!

[alkapal]

was just reading about chermoula-stuffed sardines. i've never cooked sardines. what is their flavor like?

[buttertart]

Zabaglione, made tableside. Yum. It seems to have largely died out once tiramisu came in.

[alkapal]

a fave dessert of ours at our long lost fave frenchie place in old town alexandria, virginia (le gaulois), was the fresh berries (notably blackberries as big as the sun) with the boozy zabaglione! http://www.independent.co.uk/multimed... aaaaahhhhhh.

[buttertart]

So scrummy!

[FoodFuser]

We were easy to please with the Port-wine-laced cheese
that was sold with steel bail in the brown crock.

'Twas as pretty big hit, midst the Yuppie bullsh*t
for us folks of the wine and the cheeese crowd.

We called it "Port Cheddar" ...
thank God. now know better...
to read those ingredients, please.

(There were those who disdained, but majority claimed, that the stuff in the crock was a good cheese.)

It gave tongue twirling pleasure, and that's the real measure
Of gathering Joy, and those "Good Be's"

[HillJ]

Icebox cake; chocolate cookies & whipped cream
Pudding and graham cracker cake
Beef stew with mashed potatoes
Jello desserts; especially the jello & ice cream combo
Baked apples
...just to name a few

[mamachef]

Creamed English peas; creamed spinach; asparagus with brown butter cream sauce. You get the general idea.

[alkapal]

mamachef, i do a "quick and easy" creamed spinach.
knob of butter in skillet,
sauté a little minced shallot and garlic,
throw in 2 bags of baby spinach, wilt,
add a knob of cream cheese, stirring till melted.
wee bit of fresh grated nutmeg blended in.

[buttertart]

And casseroles of vegetables in cream sauce (white sauce) with buttered Ritz crumb crusts...in no way to be scorned.

[mamachef]

Everyone pretends to scorn it, but what's not to like? also any veggie almondine is fairly retro, and i love that a lot too. Or maybe I'm mistaking classic for retro? Not on the peas; I know for a fact those are retro as can be, but?

[gentlyferal]

I was a young wife when fondue was modish, and I by god used the fondue set I got as a wedding present. Yes, I sometimes miss the days when pigging out on melted cheese was the height of sophistication.

[shanagain]

It's made a comeback, you know.

Lowcarb needs to make its own comeback, then we'll all be golden again.

[gentlyferal]

Really? My daughter discovered fondue last year, websurfing. She bought a fondue pot on eBay and made Mark Bittman's cheddar-and-white-wine version - and was disappointed by the fruity taste imparted by the white wine.

We ought to try again with a beer version. Or tweak it more toward welsh rabbit; mustard, maybe horseradish...

Yes, it's time for a good hit of fat and salt :)

[shanagain]

Google William-Sonoma or Le Crueset & fondue - at least THEY seem to think it's come back! ;)

I made a "sort of" version not long ago with a hard apple cider and cheddar (cheap cheddar, don't even remember what it was) and could've eaten it with a BOWL - the heck with a spoon or dipper!) It was sweet - but had me searching for "vintage" fondue sets for days on ebay.

I might have to go look again.

[Perilagu Khan]

There's a chain fondue resto called "The Melting Pot." Never been to one and I do wonder if it's any good.

[alkapal]

i see people on yelp saying how they loved the melting pot. i have never gone, but it looked expensive for what it was. http://www.allmenus.com/va/arlington/...

maybe part of the enthusiasm is the "fun factor." but look out for the double dippers! ;-)).

[Perilagu Khan]

Double dippers will get a double-barrel! ;)

And speaking of retro cheese dishes, is it my imagination or has cheese souffle' gone the way of the dodo bird? My mom used to make it--and make it very well--back in the 70s, but I never see or hear tell about the stuff anymore.

[alkapal]

i think people are afraid of soufflés. <although it is an unrelated foodstuff, i just got a mental picture of the wild blancmanges on monty python, running around and terrorizing people! >

[buttertart]

The BEST MP episode ever, bar none. "Science Fiction Sketch". Angus Podgorny and his kilts...blancmanges against Scots at Wimbledon...scientist with bimbo assistant...

[alkapal]

live on, live on. blancmanges! oh gosh!

[eclecticsynergy]

How about a Python episode tailormade for foodies, the Crunchy Frog candy:
"What, a raw frog?"
"We use only the finest baby frogs, dew picked and flown from Iraq, cleansed in finest quality spring water, lightly killed, and then sealed in a succulent Swiss quintuple smooth treble cream milk chocolate envelope and lovingly frosted with glucose."

[alkapal]

my father and i would watch monty python together, and we got the biggest kick out of the crunchy frog skit -- especially since my mom hated frogs. we would tell her all about the "delicate, chocolate-covered crunchy frog" candy and laugh when she made a face! LOL. i sure do miss them both! i wonder if they are laughing about crunchy frogs in heaven?

[buttertart]

Mmm, crunchy frog...heap good!
Lots of the episodes had food references - the lupines in "Dennis Moore"..."we even feed the cat on lupines"...Reg Pither's Crunchie bar and sandwiches that are "only slightly impaired" when he falls off his bike in "A Bicycle Trip through North Cornwall", the most sustained bit of hilarious lunacy ever..."and Tizer, does your lovely daughter like Tizer, then?". And so forth.

[Firegoat]

if you're talking MP, you must talk SPAM

[sablemerle]

"... if it didn't have the bones in it, it wouldn't be crunchy, now would it?"

Ah, good times, good times...

[buttertart]

Crunchy frog heap good!

[flueln]

What about the Cheese Shop sketch, where John Cleese names every kind of cheese known to man and the shop doesn't have any of them...."Shut that bloody Bouzouki up!!"

[buttertart]

Including one that at the time was legendary/extinct, Dorset Blue Vinny. I like Dennis Moore ("we even feed the CAT on lupines!"), the bicycle trip through North Cornwall ("fortunately my Crunchie bar was only moderately impaired"), and the Science Fiction Sketch (blancmanges?) best.

[eclecticsynergy]

Yorkshire pudding and horseradish sauce to go with prime rib.
Time was, every restaurant had horseradish sauce for roast beef.
Ask for it now, and they look at you like you're from Mars.

[alkapal]

really? i just had horseradish sauce on the side with a prime rib sandwich. i've never seen horseradish sauce *not* served with prime rib.

[c oliver]

+1. It might not be as hot as I like but it's always there.

[buttertart]

A retro thing I wish I could still lay my hands on is milk from Jersey cows - when i was little the local dairy had Jerseys. Too bad they're more delicate and yield less milk than the ubiquitous Holstein. The milk is palest yellow and the cream the color of unsalted butter.

[grlwhoeats]

Prime rib with bernaise and crispy fried onions. Meatloaf with mash potatoes. Chicken Croquettes with chicken gravy.

[Passadumkeg]

Funny, reading all these foods, I remember hearing about them, but few did I ever taste. Both parents were 1st gen. Russian-American and we ate hearty peasant fare.
I do remember mom, in the 50's, bringing me home "a new Italian food that is very popular"; an uncooked pizza crust and 2 plastic bags (might as well have been heroin), one of cheese and one of sauce. I was hooked, still am. Funny, my retro foods are pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs, seldom eaten, but thoroughly enjoyed.

[c oliver]

Once I started grinding my own beef (thanks to alanbarnes) we eat a lot more burgers. ALOT. And Veggo introduced me to Oscar Mayer Angus bun-length dogs and, boy, are they a cut above. Esp. with the "chili" he makes with chorizo, poblanos, etc.

[cosmogrrl]

Duck a L'orange
Oysters Rockefeller

[steve h.]

Lobster Newberg (Newburg).

[massanutten]

Stuffed celery. I read somewhere that during one of those retro decades celery was the American family's favorite vegetable.
In the 1950's I was a farm kid in Virginia. When my Mother went to work and became a 'modern woman' she found the Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee spaghetti dinner in the box. We loved it!

[Perilagu Khan]

Chef Boyardee Spaghetti Dinner--man, I'd forgotten all about that one. The pizza kit, I still make, but will have to see if that boxed spag dinner is still on the shelves. As I recall, I used to like it, too. Then again, if I slip up and father a child, I'll probably name him or her Boyardee.

[buttertart]

Would make a good dog name. PS does the tomato sauce in the pizza kit still have that metallic citric acid kick to it?

[Perilagu Khan]

There's definitely SOMETHING unusual going on in that sauce. And it could be the aluminum.

[buttertart]

I taste it in my mind's mouth every time you mention it.

[lagatta]

That is funny, as so many convenience foods were real time and labour savers, but ordinary dried spaghetti was one of the original fast foods!

We never had tinned spaghetti but I was jealous of wee friends whose parents fed them such stuff. I also wanted my mum to make some of those horrid Kraft concoctions featured on television specials - if I recall they were "cultural" specials, plays, concerts and such. She recoiled in horror.

[elle7573]

Fluffernutter sandwiches (Wonder Bread, peanut butter, honey and marshmallows)

[jeanmarieok]

My kids still eat fluffernutters - sometimes add nutella instead of honey....I figure since it's on whole grain bread, it's not all bad. Or, is it?

[onceadaylily]

I introduced my boyfriend's daughter's to these. Well, he did, by cocking his thumb at me and asking her, "Do you know what Lily likes to eat for lunch in the summer?" He described the sandwich as if it were a recipe for trouble. She was ten, and her eyes grew very wide as she (re)appraised me.

[elle7573]

OK, here's a question. (I may start new topic!) Is it really a fluffernutter if you use healthy stuff, like whole grain bread? And what's better, mini or jumbo mallows or mallow creme?

[onceadaylily]

I hesitate to make myself an authority. I mean, I expect to take one to the chin over my martinis (dirty vodka), or my love of my chili (Texas red profaned with beans, oh lordy). But I don't know if I'm willing to fight for my 'nutter.

Okay. Yes, I am. It has to be squishy white with marshmellow creme. I prefer the Fluff brand, but if others are using the Kraft, that seems a bit like arguing Plochman's versus French's.

Maybe you could call your whole grain version a Nouveau Nutter.

[cosmogrrl]

Fried apples and onions. My Mum used to make it fairly often. Love it and still make it. Never see it anywhere and my BF was a bit shocked when I made it for him one night. He loved it!

[Passadumkeg]

Fried liver and onions too. I love it.

[buttertart]

cosmogrrl: German background somewhere?

[cosmogrrl]

Nope, Scottish. VERY Scottish. Both grandparents emigrated to Canada after WWI, around 1919. But somehow some German dishes came into the family recipe box. And then there's the whole Scottish fish dishes, some of which are similar to German ones.

[Perilagu Khan]

I'd be shocked, too.

[TexSquared]

Martinis (the real thing - gin and vermouth, stirred, up).

Stuffed baked potatoes (just saw it featured on Cook's Country on PBS this weekend, which reminded me!)

Shepherd's pie

Bananas Foster

[roxlet]

Why do you think gin martinis are retro? We drink them all the time!

[eclecticsynergy]

JUNKET!!!

Almost impossible to find in supermarkets now, but still available online.

[Jen76]

As in Junket Danish Dessert?! I loved that stuff when I was a kid. My grandmother would make it and serve it in vintage champagne glasses.

[roxlet]

Junket was something that my sister adored and that I found nauseating. I preferred Mi-T-Fine pudding as long as there wasn't that nasty skin on it. My sister also liked the skin.

[woodleyparkhound]

One of my favorite foods growing up was tuna noodle casserole. I still love it - now I even like the Weight Watcher frozen version. Once a few years ago, I bought these amazing homemade noodles from a farm stand just south of Columbus, Ohio - famous in that part of the country -- which sadly closed a couple of years later. Anyway, I made a homemade, from scratch (i.e. no canned soup used!) tuna noodle casserole with these noodles. It was so wonderful; I think I got the recipe from Joy of Cooking. It was better than my mom made!

[kattyeyes]

Icebox cake--graham crackers, then vanilla pudding, then grahams, then chocolate puddiing, then graham cracker crumbs on top. Must be in this order for proper contrast against crumbs (chocolate/crumbs not vanilla)! You can slice bananas in there, too.

[eclecticsynergy]

We used to make it with layers of graham crackers and chocolate pudding (the real cooked kind; I can't abide the instant stuff that some people call pudding nowadays)- called it
Mississippi Mud Pie

[gentlyferal]

Oh, one of the simplest and most elegant company desserts my mother used to make - consisted of these extremely thin and fragile chocolate wafer cookies that came in a long cellophane-topped box. She would stack them together with sweetened whipped cream and reassemble them into one long log, then cover it all with more whipped cream. It wasn't ready until the wafers had softened from the moisture of the cream. Can't remember the brand name of those cookies, though.

[alkapal]

nabisco's famous chocolate wafers! here's a little story about them and that dessert -- from the washington post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18114-2004Jul27.html

here's the recipe: http://www.nabiscoworld.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?recipe_id=53331

look at smitten kitten's version: http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/01/waf...

[gentlyferal]

Thank you! I dimly remembered they were "Famous" Something!

And thank you so much for the recipes and history links - as much fun as making or eating the dessert itself :)

[alkapal]

i like eating vicariously, too!

[flueln]

Nabisco's famous chocolate wafers are not placed with the cookies in our Publix supermarkets (Florida) but kept over in the vicinity of the Ice Cream along with the toppings. Probably because of the aforementioned dessert.

[pikawicca]

These are still available. My grocery store positions them near the ice cream cooler.

[buttertart]

One we used to have that you don't see any more is sliced bananas in milk with brown sugar for a weeknight family dessert. Fruit with cream (peaches, berries, etc) for fancy. My great-uncle who lived with us (b. 1895) used to insist on a piece of buttered white bread with all fruit desserts "to cut the acid". They go really well together.

[mcsheridan]

Tuna Cashew Casserole - no limp egg noodles in this one; crispy chow mein noodles (not crispy for long, though) go in with the canned mushoom soup, celery, onion, tuna, and cashews. More crispy noodles and cashews go on top for a hot, crunchy garnish.

Swedish Meatballs - with the above mentioned egg noodles. :)

Chicken Paprikash - with more noodles? Maybe, but rice is good, too; spaetzle is better. :)

[Perilagu Khan]

A bit surprised nobody's mentioned those luscious Vienna (pronounced vy-EE-nuh in my neck of the woods) Sausages.

[Paulustrious]

Went by the name of chippolata sausages in my neck of the woods.

Di you wrap bacon round them and skewer them, preferably with one of those skewers with a fluoro-cellophane end?

Profiteroles are not as common, and I haven't seen a savoury one in a long time.

[Perilagu Khan]

Never anything so sophisticated, I'm afraid. Just chuffed 'em straight outta the can. And haven't done so in many a decade, I might add.

[PattiCakes]

Did you ever do Texas Tommies? Hot dog, partialy slit to make room for a strip of cheese, then wrapped with a slice of bacon & broiled?

[Perilagu Khan]

Regrettably, no. But that does sound delicious.

I'm assuming American cheese?

[just_M]

We called them Tijuana dogs, and eat with a smear of mayo and salsa or ketchup. I haven't made those in forever, maybe I should.

[roro1831]

Oh, Vienna Sausages, ate them all the time as a kid, not so much anymore. That and potted meat. There was a place in New Orleans, actually the West Bank, that served a vienna sausage poboy. Sliced (length wise) vienna sausages with a red "gravy" more like a sauce. I was very skeptical but it was good.

[The 1st and only KSyrahSyrah]

Creamed tuna on toast
Anything covered in Velveeta
Anything covered Mushroom Soup
Jello Salads
wedge salad
Things cooked in lard or bacon grease (which was kept in a jar on the stove.)

[just_M]

Mc Donald's french fries fried in tallow. Oh how I miss those!

[shanagain]

Heh, come to my house. The bacon grease has been moved to a huge coffee cup in the fridge.. but it's there.

[c oliver]

I keep bacon dripping in a soup can in the fridge and cook with it at least a couple of times a week.

[Perilagu Khan]

When my bacon fat supply commences to running low, I get very nervous and agitated.

[Altarbo]

Indeed! What else would one make their roux with? Olive oil? Psssht. Or saute cut up potatoes in a huge skillet? (Before covering them with the caremilzed onions and random shredded cheese from the fridge.)

[pikiliz]

Angel's on horseback
cold stuffed tomatoes with eggs and ham
eggs in a nest
Chicken/ham a la king
corned beef hash
chicken kiev
brown betty
Cherry jubilee
Melba toasts

[Paulustrious]

I was thinking of chicken a la king the other day, and its menu-buddy Chicken Supreme. I went back in memory to my first parties-with-food. I can see the half grapefruits bearing cheese and fruit impaled on toothpicks. An edible hedgehog that was upgraded later in the decade to include objets d'art such as pimento-filled olives.

Scattered around would be the ubiquitous Quiche Lorraines. Maybe a plate of mushroom vol au vents. Saw-toothed tomato halves filled with curried egg salad. Open faced sandwiches on Swedish crisp bread. The loaf and bread knife in the middle of the table. Then we progressed to deep-fried Camembert.

Sadly, fruit salad is also a rarity these days.

[buttertart]

Remember that kind of party buffet well. Supplemented by baked mushroom piroshkis because they were taught by the local cooking school. (Great depiction of parties similar to some of my parents' in the beginning of Philip Hensher's "The Northern Clemency", Coronation Chicken and other delights in Sheffield in 1974. Your natal neck of the woods or close to it, I believe?

[Paulustrious]

Just by coincidence I lived not far from Coronation Street. Canadians know that name well, but it is less well known in the US. To aid you in locating my origins, my local 'delicacies' including wet nellie, chip butties and scouse.

[buttertart]

Liverpudlian, eh? (Hums Coro St theme song to herself, wishes they had that show here.)

[Harters]

Ahha, but I live even closer to the actual location of Corrie - filmed, as it is, in the city after which our metro area is named. It's set in the fictional Weatherfield, although it's always assumed to be the neighbouring city of Salford (the other city amongst the 10 boroughs in the area - and the place of birth of Mrs Harters).

I hadnt realised the programme was particularly known to Canadians (although I know it would have to be sub-titled if shown in the US - Americans seem to struggle with our accent).

To keep this on a food theme, Weatherfield/Salford is home to the well known Eccles Cake - always a cake in our part of the world, but now appearing on some dessert menus in restaurants, particularly "down south". Whereas Manchester is home to the much less known Manchester Tart.

[buttertart]

I thought Coro St was intended to be in Lancs or Yorks somewhere.
buttertart wants to know what Manchester Tart is! I've had Eccles cakes, they were available in Canada when I was growing up (remember in the Dark Ages Ontario was primarily populated by people from the UK and Ireland with some Germans and Dutch - and very few other nationalities, in small numbers. Multiculti Canada is very much a thing of the '80s and forward). British TV shows and entertainers/comedians were/are popular there, my mom was very fond of Tony Hancock for example.

[Harters]

At its basic, Manc Tart is a shortcrust pastry shell - base thickly covered with raspberry jam, topped with custard, baked, then sprinkled with desicated coconut. I'm not great fan!

Some more iconic foods from the north west to get your taste buds going:
http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/eat&...

And, yes, I know about the population of Ontario. I have an interest in the Great War so, when I visited the province a few years back, it was almost inevitable that I wanted to visit Kitchener (which had been renamed from Berlin in, I think, 1915). Had a rather good Mennonite meal near there, IIRC.

[buttertart]

I figured you would, it was more for other people's "edification". Kitchener (formerly Berlin, gee why did it get renamed?) is a very nice town and the Mennonite places do have good food.
The tart...well, no thanks.

[alkapal]

miss tartlet, if you and harters aren't gonna eat that manchester tart, do you want to pass it over here to me, please?

[lagatta]

Not here in Québec. Fruit salad is standard at summertime social gatherings, (think community groups) from plain to very boozy. With fresh summertime berries.

[kattyeyes]

Nothing like a fresh, boozy fruit salad. I remember my Aunt Pegi making a gorgeous one in a large trifle bowl--served with Cointreau dressing. That's filed under "classic" in my book as well. :)

[just_M]

My Aunt used peach schnapps. Is it any wonder a Fuzzy Navel was my first favorite drink? Come to think of it Aunts and Grands were pretty liberal with the booze back then. My Aunt would make a quicky peach melba for our snack which was a scoop of cottage cheese, a half a canned peach (in syrup), raspberries on top frozen/dethawed ok) and a drizzle of the peach schnapps. At bedtime there was always warm brandied milk and some sort of plain cookie or toast. No wonder fewer kids had ADD back then - ha ha ha

[betsydiver]

bacon wrapped canned pineapple chunks

[Firegoat]

Anything in "aspic"

[MacTAC]

Ice Cream Cake Roll...

[alkapal]

i loved the fried trout "almondine" from the morrison's cafeterias in the south. http://www.johnmariani.com/archive/2009/090927/morrisons-cafeteria-food-line2.jpg
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/430828
the sliced almonds were in the batter, and the fish was rather large and thin and really crispy. delicious!

i love the clams casino, brandy alexanders, and grasshoppers, too. don't forget popovers and date bars!

[kattyeyes]

Retro or classic? You decide. I made my grandmother's fruit crisp today. Her recipe is written as apple crisp, but you can swap the fruit and adjust the sugar accordingly. I made mine with rhubarb, blueberries and a peach--all native--with a buttery oatmeal/cinnamon/sugar crispy topping. This never goes outta style in my book. NOM!!!

[onceadaylily]

Classic. I love crisp . . . warm, with ice cream. I hope you took a picture.

[kattyeyes]

I did--here's a sneak peek! It was still sizzling on the table when I snapped this shot.

I'll put the recipe up on Katty's Kitchen over the weekend. It's a half-recipe, so perfect for 2 cups of fruit you have hanging around!
http://kattyskitchen.wordpress.com/

Thanks to Nanny for this and other classics that endure. :)

[onceadaylily]

Oh, trust me, I would have seen it on your blog. Your photos are always wonderful.

And if that is a Le Creuset cherry red casserole on the top, then I am officially jealous.

[kattyeyes]

Aww, thanks kindly! Nope, not Le Creuset--it's Emile Henry.

[tatamagouche]

Beautiful kattyeyes!

[woodleyparkhound]

Warm to hot fruit crisp (or its variants: clafoutis, cobbler, etc.) with ice cream is my #1 favorite dessert of all time. Period.

[c oliver]

Hey, k-e. I don't look at "retro" and "classic" as mutually exclusive terms at all. But, hey, between us girls, who EATS all that stuff you're baking?!?!?! :)

[kattyeyes]

HA HA HA! Oh, I have helpers in the eating department, believe me! When it comes to food, I'm all about sharing. I would be a house if I ate it all myself...and fancy myself more like the kind of house The Commodores sang about. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5EmnQ...

[Perilagu Khan]

We need to meet.

[Veggo]

Take a number, don't butt into the line!

[onceadaylily]

Pistachio fluff. For years, whenever I described it (not remembering what it was called), people always insisted I was talking about ambrosia salad, and then they would describe something that had only the marshmallows in common. It wasn't until after I mentioned it to my boyfriend, who knew exactly what I was talking about, that I was able to confirm that I hadn't imagined that pillowy, pineappley, nutty, green heaven in a bowl.

[marthasway]

Sounds like Watergate Salad to me, a jello delite from the 70's.

[onceadaylily]

It goes by that name as well, but there appear to be a few versions. The one I was plied with as a child at family reunions was made from whipped cream, pudding mix, pinapple, mini marshmallows and crushed pistachios.

[just_M]

Thats the version my Gran made and it was spectacular. Her ambrosia seemed to be more along these lines just different fruit and pudding. Which is why I could never find it and the deli stuff was just wrong. :-?

[marthasway]

oooh, much more classy than the Jello pistachio pudding mix & cool whip!

[mattwarner]

This dish was the only time my mother would EVER buy Cool Whip. She was really very judgmental about Cool Whip (as opposed to whipped cream), making the substitute so appealing to us kids on the few occasions we had access.

[mamachef]

Egg Foo Yong and deviled eggs, bugles and space stix.

[tatamagouche]

What are space stix?

[alkapal]

space food stix were pencil-shaped, mildly sweet, protein snack food items about four or five inches long wrapped in individual foil-lined packets -- made by pillsbury during the craze about all things "space." their texture was like a crumbly, less-dense tootsie roll.

all about them here: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=space+stix&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

oh, look at this ad! "lasting energy to feel alive!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPZ8HH...

what a hokey special effects set-up! compare that with avatar. wow, how long ago were the seventies! <geesh....40 years. where have they all gone so fast?>

[tatamagouche]

Those sound awful. The best part about that Google page was the pic in the middle of it all of Stix Hooper, "Gimme Some Space," 1982.

[Veronica65]

They have started making Space Food Stix again, although now they are little thick chews instead of sticks. Old Time Candy Co. online has them.

[tatamagouche]

I started a thread like this a while back:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/544962

http://www.denveater.com

[FriedClamFanatic]

We've started doing Swiss Steak again.....with mashed potatoes and green beans. Went without it for 30-40 years but it's nice treat every now and then

[Perilagu Khan]

My mom used to make Swiss steak (and sweet and sour pork) quite frequently. I must say, they were some of my least-loved offerings from dear mom.

[FoodFuser]

Where, oh where, in the beloved dishes of our retro memories, do we rank the Broccoli Casserole? The one made with Crushed Ritz crackers, frozen chopped broccoli, a matrix of beaten eggs, Campbells Cream of mushroom, and mayo, and 2 cups of grated cheese?

My MIL would bake it to dryness in a hemispherical Corning mixing bowl. Evenly browned remnants on the walls of the bowl would, in the denouement after the orgasm, be gathered lovingly from the pyrex with a plastic scraper and licked clean.

http://www.google.com/images?q=%22bro...

[canieatthis]

hey, no way you can bring up broccoli casserole (drooling just at the thought) and not mention french green bean casserole. in my adult years i've become a 'freshie' but will revert back to canned french green beans, canned mushroom soup and canned fried onions without a lick of guilt for this classic :)

[Perilagu Khan]

Ah...what the Swiss fonduenoscenti call "the mother."

[mcel215]

I think this question has come up before, but it could have been about school lunches too.

My dish that was my favorite growing up in Boston, is American Chop Suey. It is no relation to "Chop Suey", or any other Chinese/American dish.

This dish was to saute hamburger, onions and peppers, add a can of tomatoes. Salt, pepper and let it cook down a bit. Cook elbow macaroni and mix together, add some grated cheese and it's done. I still love it to this day.
I think it's only called American Chop Suey here on the East Coast, other people refer to it as Goulash, I believe.

[kattyeyes]

I'm in CT and we called it goulash...but I do remember American chop suey, too. Have also read here some folks call it slumgullion! And I wanna say one more difference could be a can of tomato soup instead of tomatoes. I love it, too. :)

[c oliver]

Bastardized but in the ballpark anyway:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goulash

[kattyeyes]

You really wanna know more? :) Dig in!
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5961...

[masha]

My husband, who was raised in NJ, called it American chop suey.

[Perilagu Khan]

I call it Hamburger Helper. ;)

[just_M]

Hmm, thats what I cal cream of mushroom soup :->

[marthasway]

My family calls t Meat Dope! As above like mcel214, but Pureed tomatoes or a can of tomato sauce instead of regular sized canned. Salt & lots of black pepper plus a tablespoon or two (or more) of Gebhardt's chili powder. Add a pound bag of elbow macs and water to cover by about an inch and a half. Bring to boil, turn down to simmer about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if necessary.

The name came from my grandfather's 5 brothers, who were fond of saying, "Pass the meat, Dope". The chili powder was added in the 50's. Served wth lots of vegetables and cornbread, this has fed lots of happy, hungry Texans through the years@

[kattyeyes]

Meat Dope! Fun story. :)

[marthasway]

made this favorite again this evening, after my post caused a wave of nostalgia. Served with slender Persian (sic) cukes from Asian market, sliced and marinated in vinegar and ice water and apple crunch top pie from old Sunset magazine article that I acquired in a circuitous way.

[buttertart]

I love that kind of apple pie, and Sunset magazine always has the best recipes...could you share the recipe on "Home Cooking" perhaps?

[mcel215]

You know, my mother may have added the elbows right in as well.... lol!

Too funny about your brothers.

[flueln]

Event though I grew up in the 50s and 60s, I don't think I ever had a Jello or gelatin-based salad until about 6 years ago, when I met someone who still made the ones she had enjoyed as a child.

[c oliver]

I've never heard of fondue being made with raclette. I use raclette for,well, raclette :) I thought gruyere, emmenthaler and jarlsberg were the usual culprits.

[buttertart]

Smorrebrod Danish open-faced sandwiches. They were available in the 70's in Toronto and I expect other cities too. Why are there no more (or very, very few) restaurants offerng these? So varied and delicious. I would think if Pret could go international, smorrebrod could too. (Was reminded of this by my interchange with Ferdzy - the Danish Food Centre was on Bloor in Toronto and had a menu of about 50 of these delights, everything from leberpostej liver loaf with bacon mmm on thin sour rye to fried Camembert with jam on toast. Plus Tuborg beer and pastries like kransekage almond paste cookies. Even poorish U of T students like us could join the bon ton occasionally and have a great lunch for not too much $$$). Wonder why Scandinavian food in general has fallen out of favor as a big deal cuisine in North America - it used to be one of the big draws, from places like the Danish Food Centre to the Kungsholm in Chicago...postwar assimilation and people thereby dropping out of the restaurant trade, as also has happened with Hungarian restaurants, which were prevalent after '56, damnit?

[Harters]

"it used to be one of the big draws, from places like the Danish Food Centre"

I wonder if Danish Food Centres were an international venture. We had one in our metro centre (Manchester) in the 1970s - an early version of the all-you-can-guzzle buffet, if you will. I loved it. Sadly. long gone (although the folk who operated it, still run a couple of bars in the city.

[buttertart]

This was definitely Danish government owned, to promote their foodstuffs. Maybe so! How fun, parallel lives.
I'm particularly nostalgic about Danish food because there was a Danish bakery around the corner when I was little and my parents were close friends with the owners. The pastries...and the parties they used to throw with every imaginable thing on the table and the whole kransekage decorated with Danish flags. My first exposure to food other than my mom's cooking and the very occasional and always unexciting restaurant meal out.

[Veggo]

I'm waxing nostalgic for the koldt bord at the long -defunct Copenhagen restaurant in Manhattan. All the herring, salmon, shrimp, cheeses and pastries one could eat for about 5 bucks, but that was in the 60's.

[buttertart]

Join me in a chorus of "Those were the days, my friends"...
Glad I lived through them, myself!

[Perilagu Khan]

Tastes change. This thread is proof of that.

[buttertart]

Of course, and things fall out of fashion, but if this food were available today I think it would be successful in the marketplace because it is so tasty. People are forever bemoaning the lack of Hungarian restaurants in NYC, where there used to be a lot of really good ones.

[Perilagu Khan]

Sounds like an opportunity for some enterprising restauranteur to me.

[buttertart]

Keeping my fingies crossed.

[FrankD]

Rhapsody on Yonge in Richmond Hill is an honest to God Hungarian spot.

Of course, like all UofT students, I miss the schnitzel and beef goulash at Country Style and the Blue Cellar.

[buttertart]

Ah, UofT days - How about the Continental on Bloor past Spadina, with its $2.20 full dinners (a small supplement for duck on Sundays, and $4.40 for the Transylvanian Wood Plate that was enough to feed an army) circa 1972??? Was great. (Need a Toronto trip one of these days, my oldest brother is in RH.)

[lagatta]

Thanks so much, FrankD and buttertart. We had lovely Hungarian (and I believe some former-Czechoslovakian - nowadays Czech or Slovak) ones in Montréal. Lovely food. I always liked strong coffee, of course, but a lot of our Italian places were just for men way back when.

Evidently there are still some authentic Hungarian places in Toronto up around St-Clair, near the Hungarian Cultural Centre. Alas I don't think any of the wonderful places near U of T still exist.

Buttertart, some Central European places seem to still exist in Hamilton and that area, though we should be asking that on the Ontario board.

[Veggo]

The chicken salad sandwich with sweet relish at the Horn & Hardart automats in NYC.

[Disneyfreak]

I loved Horn and Hardart's -- got the creamed spinach every time.

[Ferdzy]

Swedish meatballs! Once ubiquitous, now found only at Ikea and not surprisingly, not the best.

There was a restaurant in Toronto in the '70s - a sort of French cafeteria place - that always had lovely half avocados stuffed with shrimp and homemade mayo. This was before the days of farmed shrimp so they were smaller but had way more flavour than anything we get nowadays. Man, I miss them.

[buttertart]

That wasn't that place near Bloor and Yonge run by the Three Small Rooms / Windsor Arms people by any chance?

[Ferdzy]

No, it was further up Yonge Street in Rosedale. As far as I know it was an independant place. Later, there was a branch near Eglinton. It was a rather nice place and even as a poor student I could afford small treats there; pretty amazing given how upscale their market was.

[buttertart]

Hmm, don't remember it. You really could eat well in TO at that time even on a student budget, couldn't you?

[lagatta]

Well, here in Québec we still get those, as do people in the Atlantic provinces. In Québec they are called "Matane Shrimp" as they were processed in that eastern Québec town, but they are from anywhere on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They are small, tasty, and still not farmed. I bought some frozen ones today and will make nice meal salads with them.

I'm sure Swedish meatballs will return - there is an upswing in Nordic foods, mostly fishy.

[Carolinamountaingirl]

Canned mandarin oranges, canned pineapplles, mayo, sour cream & the piece de resistance....mini marshmellows. (add coconut if your're fancy).

[kattyeyes]

^^ambrosia^^

[Sandwich_Sister]

is that what ambrosia was, the only time I've ever heard of it was in the movie Edward Scissorhands.

[kattyeyes]

Believe so--that's how Nanny and my mom made it. Though I'm not remembering mayo, just sour cream. The rest, for sure!

[c oliver]

Here's the Southern ambrosia I grew up with.

http://projects.eveningedge.com/recip...

[SallyW]

Same here. When I hear people refer to one of those concoctions with instant pudding and bananas in them as ambrosia, I shudder.

[c oliver]

Glad to see someone else knows what "true" Southern ambrosia is. Reading about things marshmallows, mayo, etc. makes me want to cry out "WTF?"

[shanagain]

My grandmother's included pecans, also. (Is there anything Texans of a generation didn't add pecans to?)

[c oliver]

Ooh, pecans sound great.

[lagatta]

Mmm, pecans. Very expensive here, and often not fresh enough to justify the price. I love them.

[c oliver]

My Uncle Kite owned an insurance agency in Atlanta. Even as an old(er) man,he would travel to South Georgia to call on accounts. That was his excuse to buy pounds and pounds of pecans. We would all shell and then freeze them.

[Perilagu Khan]

In Lubbock, Texas the streets are practically paved with pecans. And that's not much of an exaggeration. Every city block has at least two or three pecan trees, and come November when the nuts drop from the trees, they're very heavy on the ground, indeed.

[buttertart]

lagatta, will Canada Customs let them in if you mailorder? I got some wonderful ones last Christmas for not a lot of $$$ (had to get from a place that only did pecans because of my nephew's peanut allergy). http://shop.landgrafpecans.com/index....

[Masonville]

Iowa 1955: "lime" jello, cottage cheese, shaved carrots, chopped celery--the rest I forget--some kind of mayonnaise dressing. I reflexively gag at the concept and yet, it was refreshing brisk, and got me through many tasteless fat-laden church suppers.

[Samalicious]

That reminds me of "Sunshine Salad" --- orange jello, crushed pineapple and grated carrots iced with Miracle Whip and topped with grated cheese. My mom made it nearly every Sunday. 1959-ish.

[marthasway]

I was thinking about this just yesterday when I bought some Detox Salad from the salad bar at Whole Foods, It's very tasty, but I couldn't help wondering how it would be as a Jello salad.

[PattiCakes]

Sunshine Salad!!! Ah the memories!

[KaimukiMan]

and it has to be canned pineapple, if you use fresh it will never set. grandma told us that every time she made it. i think she believed if you didn't say it, it also wouldn't set up.

[Masonville]

I was marginally with you until you got to "topped with grated cheese". Why kind of cheese?

[alkapal]

i'd say mild cheddar cheese, like kraft's bar cheese. http://www.foodservicedirect.com/product.cfm/p/186088/Natural-Medium-Cheddar-Chunk-Cheese-16-Ounce.htm

the same cheese would have been used on top of a pear "salad" with a dollop of cottage cheese or mayonnaise. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oYpNHPnUo3A...

[buttertart]

To Masonville: Iowa 2010 in my mother-in-law's house...no dressing though. I love Jello salads!

[YAYME]

My Grandmother bless her soul makes an awesome lime gelatin thing with mayo and whipped cream and horseradish. It is AWESOME. I love it so much.

[pikawicca]

Unfortunately, Steak Tartare seems to have gone the way of the dodo.

[mollyomormon]

Oh, how sad! I still see it on a fair number of menus in LA. Definitely one of my favorite foods.

[kattyeyes]

Nope, you just have to look harder for it. I love tartare and can happily find it about a half hour from home at Brasserie Pip in Ivortyon, CT. Here, I'll share a double portion with ya!
http://www.chow.com/photos/353200?tag...

[pikawicca]

That tasted very good. Thanks for sharing!

[robt5265]

almost all country clubs still serve it if asked for.

[MARISKANY]

For us "old timers" do you remember the Choc Full o Nuts on 34th St. in Manhattan where the favorite was a date nut bread and cream cheese sandwich?

[roxlet]

Was it also called "Nutted cheese"? I remember when I had mono as a teenager my father would bring me those sandwiches since they were the only thing I wanted to eat.

[smartie]

we have forgotten the simple half an avocado with dressing in the hole or even half a grapefruit either plain or grilled with sugar - those both used to feature in Trattorias in London in the 60s!
those kind of restaurants also used to do Steak Diane at the table, fried potatoes, cauliflour in white sauce, and the famous dessert trolley loaded with profiteroles, creme caramels, mini chocolate mousses and so on which was wheeled to each table.

[Harters]

Cauliflower with a white sauce (usually cheese) remains a regular at Chateau Harters.

As, indeed, does the half avocado (sauce of tomato ketchup, tabasco & lemon juice)

[betsydiver]

I always thought that when my mom served a whole head of cauliflower steamed, with peas surrounding the cauli all covered with a white sauce, was the epitome of elegance!

[Perilagu Khan]

A pea necklace!

She want a pea necklace!

[onceadaylily]

I just choked on my morning coffee. ;)

[ElsieDee]

Deviled eggs
Spinach dip in a bread browl
Tuna hotdish
Tater-tot Casserole
Anything made with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup
Meat loaf
Fondue
Real Cesar salad (the last "faux" one I had had ... grapefruit segments in it!)
Rootbeer popsicles
Curried tuna on toast

[Perilagu Khan]

Pork chops and rice baked with cream o' shroom is fantastic.

[nvcook]

I'm almost (but not quite) embarassed to admit that I love to brown the pork chops and then ladle the roasted garlic campbells soup (and extra shrooms) over the chops and rice and bake low and slow til the meat falls off the bone. Makes the whole house smell so comfy.

[lagatta]

You need almost-browned onions in that too, to have it smothered. There are actually variations of this homestyle dish in many cultures. I read a recipe for Southern US "soul food" featuring this decades ago and everyone still loves it.

[Perilagu Khan]

Sounds like a delicious riff on an old fav alright.

[gentlyferal]

Cream-of-something soup used as gravy/binder - yeah, that's retro all right. When I was a young housewife - during my fondue period - I discovered that Campbell's Golden Mushroom Soup made a delightful gravy for baked pork chops. Just pour it over the raw chops in the pan, and bake 'em. I liked it best with vermicelli.

Oddly enough, I couldn't *stand* Golden Mushroom as an actual soup.

[onceadaylily]

I once ate Campbell's cream of celery for lunch, and my mother was aghast. She, of the Shake 'n Bake, La Choy, canned veg battalion, was horrified. She brought frozen french toast into the larder, for god's sake, and was brought flat-footed short at the thougt of my preparing that for a meal. That was an important lesson, for a Midwestern girl.

[elle7573]

I second the rootbeer popsicles, and nominate the giant bomb pop (red white blue from the ice cream truck) as well

[buttertart]

That was too big to cram into your mouth all at once and ended up on your cheeks and shirt. How about SHARING popsicles? My mom maintained that's why they came in twos.

[Perilagu Khan]

Loved the Bomb Pops. And they still make 'em. They also come in junior sizes for people with small mouths like buttertart. ;)

[buttertart]

Dainty.

[flavrmeistr]

The Good Humor lemon popsicle. Never had another that came close.

[Perilagu Khan]

In my neck o' the woods even lemon ice cream, let alone lemon popsicles, is scarce as hen's teeth. And that hurts my parts because lemon ice cream is my favorite.

[just_M]

A Sidewalk Sunday was a major treat. We usually got the splittable Popsicle to share so the Sidewalk Sunday all to myself was just WOW :-)

[lagatta]

Crêpes. Not off the radar here in Québec, but we have far fewer crêperies than in the 60s or 70s. Agree with fondue, whether cheese, Chinese or bourguignonne.

I've never heard of some of the more obscure or regional US ones, but I'm not sure I even want to know what a frito pie is - though it may be a junquefoodie version of a classic Mexican or Tex-Mex dish.

[Perilagu Khan]

Oh, you want to know--believe me!

All it is is a layer of Fritos corn chips topped with heated chili (I use Wolf Brand), grated cheddar and diced onions, and then toasted under the broiler. Pickled jalapeno slices are optional.

Absolutely delicious. Even my dainty, yankee wife loves 'em.

[ipsedixit]

I'm much more pedestrian with my Frito Pie.

I just take one bag of Fritos, dump in one can of single serve chili (warm), some slices of American cheese, some banana peppers, and then pop the thing in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds.

Voila! Frito Pie in a bag.

[Perilagu Khan]

Wow. I never thought of my Frito pie as supra-pedestrian before. ;)

[TongoRad]

So lagatta was correct- it is just a junk food version of chilequiles ;) I bet it tastes better the closer one gets to midnight, too...

(Aw- who am I kidding, I'd eat it in a second, but I'd have to doctor up that chili first).

[Perilagu Khan]

Correct on all accounts. And you're encouraged to do anything to your chili except add beans to it. ;)

[PattiCakes]

Isn't there some goofy twist on this where you actually take the bag of chips, smushthe chips up inside the bag, put the chili/cheese directly in the bag & then nuke the whole thing?

[just_M]

At fund raisers and fairs it was always smash the bag between your hands, cut/tear open the bag, dump a ladle of chili, top with cheese, onions/jalapeños optional. Delicious every time!

[TongoRad]

Really? In the bag? I can't decide if you folks take this thing way too seriously or not seriously enough ;)

[PattiCakes]

And here I thoughnt this was just a college-hangover-I've-got-the-munchies-bad kind of urban legend. I will need to give the bag thing a try. Does this qualify as a "bag lunch"?

[Perilagu Khan]

Supposedly, this is the original Frito pie methodology. Then again, it could just be rural legend. ;)

[marthasway]

Yes to the Wolf brand chile! Even better than any homemade, except possibly the enchilada gravy at the little league park in the early 70's. No nuking in the bag or otherwise for me. The chili is hot enough to soften the cheese.

My mother used to do an oven baked version with layers of Wolf brand, Fritos, and cheese that would end up swimming in orange grease--not that there's anything wrong with that!

[shanagain]

I... I just don't think I can condone using real chili in Frito Pie. Sure, sure, I've done it with my homemade leftovers before. But I felt dirty & wrong - I think it offends the local gods to use it thusly.

As for when it tastes best - imo, it's when it's either 102 degrees at a softball game or freezing your butt off at a Friday night football game.

[Passadumkeg]

I miss the $.25 bowl of Frito Pie at the local bowling alley in NM, when I first started teaching in '71. Made may a cheap supper, w/ a Pearl draft.

[Perilagu Khan]

Agreed. Using real chili on a Frito pie would undermine the nature of both. Not that I've ever tried this, I hasten to add.

[Passadumkeg]

Sorry guys, real chile makes everything better! No cans for this cowboy since the military. (c-rations in little olive drab can, no thanks.)

[shanagain]

Thanks to this thread, dinner tonight was Wolf brand (hot), Fritos, shredded cheddar, onions and jalapenos.

I lie, the local gods lurrrrrve chili in any form.

Passadumkeg... I'd just hate to waste your NM chile/s on trashfood.

I'd do it.. but dammit, I'm such a heathen that I can't recommend it to anyone. Hell, and all.

[Passadumkeg]

To paraphrase Wartzberg Beer, Life's too short to eat canned chile.
Sixteen days and we're "enchanted" again.
AKA: Passadumchile

Can't wit to return to visit our daughter in The Land Of Live Oak Ale!
Two weekks ago I did a World of Music radio show, with a Elgin buddy, about the music of The Independent Republic of Texas; listen to the podcast at weru.org.

[FrankD]

I remember when the "Magic Pan" chain was quite popular in Toronto. Every dish was some sort of crepe, from appetizer to dessert.

Frito pie is actually quite good in the same way that a well made poutine is.

[beachmouse]

I think you can still find frito pie at some Sonic Drive-In locations.

[brooklynkoshereater]

Still love hot chocolate brownie with cold ice cream for dessert. Love stuffed mushrooms for appetizers. And I still make onion dip for just about every party - and it always (always!) all goes.

[PattiCakes]

Does anyone remember a half grapefruit, drizzled with rum & sprinkled with bron sugar, run under the broiler & topped with a cherry?

Or a salad/app with avocado chunks & grapefruit sections, served in a parfait glass?

[KaimukiMan]

could do a whole thread on parfaits

[betsydiver]

creme de menthe parfaits...with vanilla ice cream ver pretty and tasty. I thought this was the height of elegance when my Mom would serve them for company (and let me have some even though it contained alcohol!)

[PattiCakes]

sorry, that was supposed to be "brown sugar".

[roro1831]

I'm not sure how retro this dish is, but I know I had never had it until I ate Easter dinner with some friends. It was a canned pear half with a big dollop of mayo on top.
It was actually good and my friend said that was a big deal when she was growing up.
Not really sure it needs to make a comeback.

[marthasway]

My 77 year old daddy's favorite, except we used Miracle Whip and some grated longhorn cheese on top. My mother, Fancy Nancy, usually serves it on a lettuce leaf. I spent years scraping off the dressing until I realized how right it was!

[roro1831]

Yes the cheese, I forgot about that. Like I said, I was very skeptical at first, but it was good. It's been about 5 years since I have had it.

[Perilagu Khan]

There is an entire thread on CH devoted to the lamentable disappearance of roquefort dressing.

[KaimukiMan]

green goddess dressing/salad
breadsticks (the crunchy kind)

[roxlet]

Green Goddess dressing isn't retro to us -- we make it all the time. I have had people beg me for the recipe when I've made it as a crudite dip, and last week, my husband made a whole hot smoked salmon for someone's party and included Green Goddess as a sauce on the side, and it was inhaled. Even anchovy haters love it and never seem to know what that elusive umami taste is.

[mcel215]

Could you share your recipe for GG please? Thanks.

[roxlet]

I won't be home for a couple of weeks, but it is from one of the old New York Times cookbooks by Craig Clairborn. I will try to remember when I get home mid-July.

[mcel215]

Thanks, roxlet.

[roxlet]

I have posted the recipe on the Home Cooking board.

[KaimukiMan]

there was a time that if you e-mailed the palace hotel in San Francisco they would send the 'original' recipe. don't kno wif they still do that or not.

[mcel215]

Really, hmmm. Perhaps I'll try. It's actually for a friend of mine, who loves GG.

[alkapal]

there were a couple of threads on green goddess dressing last year. original recipe and lore.

[Janet]

Jello salad. You don't ever see that on a menu.

[buttertart]

You see it on every buffet and salad bar in the great state of Iowa. V popular!

[Querencia]

A vintage thing that used to be seen at lunch counters (like Woolworth's) in the1940's that I have never since was half a cantaloupe filled with vanilla ice cream.

[anakalia]

Ditto to the poster who mentioned grasshopper pie! Or, "grasshopper" anything -- as in those grasshopper brownies? They seem very 70s or 80s to me.

Tuna casserole for sure, although Bon Appetit had an updated, fancy-pants version of it in an issue last winter that was delicious.

What about baked alaska?

[JerryMe]

Tuna noodle casserole - I haven't read thru the thread so I don't know if it's been mentioned or not.

The other is the old relish tray w/ pickles, olives, celery - crisp and cold.

[canieatthis]

when first married this was the ONLY dish i could make. we had tuna noodle casserole each and every night for a month straight. i cleverly created 'new' versions each meal by adding different things each time. 'look, honey, tonight i've added... peas!' ha.

been over 20 years and he still looks at me cross-eyed whenever i mention tuna noodle casserole :)

[Sandwich_Sister]

I was born in 79 so I'm going to try here.

Chicken Cacciatore

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Galantines

Peach Cobbler

[FrankD]

There isn't a doughnut shop in Toronto (and believe, there's one on almost every corner) that doesn't have egg salad sandwiches (both on white and brown) in its cold case, right next to the chicken salad, and the tuna salad. Certainly, there's nothing like a cold egg salad sandwich (with onion and celery for crunch, of course) on a hot summer day.

[Sandwich_Sister]

My mom sometimes makes them, but I've never seen it at the sandwich shops here in Florida

[Vetter]

Deviled eggs. Preferably made by someone's grandma.

[roro1831]

I have deviled eggs monthly, I never considered them out of style. And every time we or someone else makes them, they are the first thing gone.

[Sandwich_Sister]

This is also the case with me. I make them for work functions, bbq's etc and they are always the first thing gone.

[Glam Foodie]

Does chocolate fondue count? I think it's AWESOME, especially when it's spiked and there's plenty of strawberries and pound cake about.

Beef Stroganoff FEELS retro to me... I'm 24, so that might have something to do with it. My mom used to make it a lot growing up; it's one of my dad's favorite dishes.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake is also classic, kitschy, retro deliciousness. Those gleaming red maraschinos... yum.

And I think I read in an Ina Garten book that tiramisu is very 80s. I don't know if that's true, but I adore it nonetheless.

[Babyducks]

Oh, yeah, pinapple upside down cake...,that's a cake my dad and I would bake using Bisquick. The recipe on the box was something called Velvet Cake.

[just_M]

Clam dip
butterflied, deep fried shrimp w/ the tails fanned
sherbet punch
creamed chipped beef
I miss them all but especially the first two.

[Babyducks]

I don't know if this is retro, but I rarely seen stuffed jumbo shrimp on the menu anymore. That was always my go to choice growing up in New England.

[Querencia]

To JustM---Stouffers makes decent creamed chipped beef (frozen). My husband is the only surviving World War II veteran who actually likes it and does not call it by its rude name.

[just_M]

Stouffers is good. However my waistline thanks my taste buds for being loyal to a little cafe in Gilbert AZ. :-)

[EWSflash]

On Thursday mornings the cafeteria at work has creamed chipped beef- I try to stay as far away as I can. That was one of my fovorites growing up, on toast, biscuits or potatoes or just about anything.

[kattyeyes]

SOS rocks and I love it more the way Veggo suggested at one point--as a combo of chipped beef AND creamed eggs. Yeah! Must have this every few months or so...esp. in the winter.

[just_M]

I really need to try that. My Dad used to make poached eggs served swimming in butter that I adored. This might give me the best of both worlds :)

[mattwarner]

The sherbet punch always gets rolled eyes from my foodie friends, but - man! - does it move when you put it out at an afternoon party!

[buzzardbreath]

+1 the creamed chipped beef! I made it often when I was a teenager because it was easy, and it was one of my Dad's favorite meals. I would make it now but it is harder to find the dried salted beef (the brand I used was Hormel).

[Babyducks]

Tuna Noodle Casserole

[woodleyparkhound]

Tuna Noodle Casserole was my top favorite dinner as a child! I still love it, but you never see it anymore. I made it from a recipe in Joy of Cooking in the late 90's; it was fabulous -- even better than I remembered!

[PattiCakes]

Did your version have a crust made with broken up potato chips?

[woodleyparkhound]

Sorry it took me over a year to respond! I remember that version, but we always had it with toasted bread crumbs on top. It was also made with these homemade noodles I got from a now-defunct Amish roadside market. I've never had better noodles in my life.

[kattyeyes]

My friend's mom used to make such a thing called Tuna Pea Wiggle (!)...which always made me laugh as though it was the dish's formal name, "That's Tuna P. Wiggle to you!!!"

[buttertart]

I love how your mind works, kattyeyes!

[cherilyntx]

I still make it, in 3 versions: 1) Cajun, with "Cajun trinity" veggies and Cajun seasoning, 2) French version with shallots and fines herbes, and 3) Indian curry. Highly Americanized, and possibly a laughable version of fusion, but it's certainly comfort food!

[grampart]

chicken croquettes

[lrostron]

Chicken a la king! A weekly staple when I was a kid back in the 60's.

[asommers]

I love the stuff and still eat it about every other month or so

[milkyway4679]

That's still quite popular in certain areas actually. I'm 21 and grew up eating it regularly, and most of my friends ate it as well.

[shaogo]

Oh, man! Do you put Colman's mustard in the sauce?

I don't think I've made Chicken a la King in over five years. But you *know* I'm gonna make it either tonight or tomorrow night...

[smartie]

quiche

[juliadevi]

not in France, at least... people make it constantly (me included) and you can buy it in every bakery....

[nofunlatte]

Seafood Newburg
Chicken Divan
And a personal favorite: Brandy Alexanders

[PattiCakes]

Yowzer. I forgot the Brandy Alexanders -- made with ice cream as a very special treat.

I also forgot fried clams (mentioned below somewhere). Pasadumkeg and I could wax poetic on the HoJos fried clam strips.

And the Hot Shop's chicken croquettes. Retro food AND retro restaurants!

[just_M]

Oh yes. I loved Ho Jo fried clams so much I wanted to be the girl who walked around with the refill tray! She got to wear her hair in a bun (special!) wear a cute little dress and make people happy by giving them as many delicious fried clams as they could eat :-)

[Babyducks]

Yes, I forgot about the clam rolls. Howard Johnsons, in my area of Ct., would have all you can eat fish fry on Friday nights. I would always order a chocolate ice cream soda with coffee ice cream.

[flueln]

I don't remember all the clams you could eat at my Florida HoJos, but I did love the clams. I always ordered a coffee soda with peach ice cream when it was in season. Or the black raspberry ice cream -- who makes that now? Who even raises black raspberries. I understand it's a lot of trouble.

[kattyeyes]

HA, they grow wild outside my allergist's office on the perimeter of the parking lot. I picked three times this season. :)

[EWSflash]

Wow- lucky gal!

[alkapal]

all you can eat clams were only on fridays at howard johnson's. i had them in d.c. at the watergate ho-jo's and in florida, as well.

[buttertart]

I remember that from family trips to the States - HoJos was about as classy as we went - it seemed typical American abundance to us (ayce was pretty much unknown in Canada at the time). My dad liked them but I was too busy thinking about their multiple flavors of ice cream to eat clams.

[lagatta]

I remember that too, buttertart, in the same context. There wasn't really much all-you-can-eat here (my mum quite wisely said it was wasteful and (forget what term she used, not "gross", not "sinful" as she wasn't religious, but something with a slight moral connotation). I liked clams, but as a small girl some of the supposedly "chic" Chinese places in Montréal impressed me far more. The food was so pretty!

By the way, I was seriously allergic to cows' milk as a child, so Chinese food was a liberation, especially for worrying mum!

[alkapal]

nothing against your mom, but it isn't "wasteful" if one eats all the clams.

"gluttonous," on the other hand, might fit the bill! '-)).

[Firegoat]

If you're feeding a 20 year old male college student staying with you for the summer an all-you-can eat is neither wasteful or gluttonous. It borders on divine.

[buttertart]

You have to be Canadian to understand the mindset behind this.

[c oliver]

Could you explain that please?

[cosmogrrl]

I'll try to explain but I may be off base. I'm an American, but my Mum was Canadian and I have a lot of family from there who visit often. Things, including food, were (and are but not so much anymore) more expensive in Canada. Rationing in WW2 was more severe in some ways there than in the US. To my Mum in the 40's the most wonderful thing on earth was a Hostess sno-ball, usually smuggled in from Bellingham (she lived in BC at that point). She loved them even as an adult. Wonder bread was also a "luxury" item also usually smuggled in from Washington, the most popular girls had them in their lunch sandwiches.

The relatives that visit are always amazed at the sheer amount of "stuff" we have in our stores. They marvel at the sheer volume of things in say a Costco (which is on the list of places to visit in SF), as well as the prices. I do a lot of shopping with my Canadian relatives when they're in town, and shopping is not my fave thing; this is how much I love them!

There is also a feeling of enough is good enough. Don't be too showy and don't waste anything. However this may just be my family values speaking. But from what I still hear from my family, they do view Americans as a bit wasteful.

@buttertart, I hope I've not offended, this is just what I have observed after living with a Canadian (and have heard from other Canadians) for 42 years. It may not be what you mean, and is just my opinion.

[buttertart]

No cosmogrrl, it is precisely what I meant and didn't have the energy to write last night. The enough is good enough is certainly true of my family - don't draw attention to yourself either.
I don't think the concept of there still being things you just can't get in Canada (asthma inhalers of the Primatene variety without a prescription, Tylenol PM and melatonin tablets being three that come to mind because of my family) would be comprehensible to most Americans (on the rare occasions Canada remotely enters American consciousness - there is scarcely ever mention of Canadian news even in the New York Times, even though it is the US's biggest single trading paertner).

[lagatta]

Yes, I think that is part of what my mother meant. Second World War rationing was more severe in Canada because the country was part of the British Empire then and expected to send wheat, meat and other necessities to the Mother Country. Sure, the US also sent a great deal of food and many US Merchant Mariners were lost at sea as well, but it was an alliance, not an obligation.

I think we can get melatonin now. But until (members only) Costco, we never had the giant formats of vitamins and over-the-counter medications.

And then there is the cultural roots of Scottish and French thrift! Where I live, in Québec, the standard of living remained low by North American standards until recent decades.

[buttertart]

I remember my mom talking about a grocer keeping something special under the counter for her from time to time during the war (can of salmon sort of thing). They had several men working in the house (some of my great-uncles who were ineligible for service, one was a WWI vet) and took in a boarder (when have you heard of a boarder in the last 30 or so years?) so they always had a reasonable amount of food but it was apparently hand to mouth.
The thriftiness also was because of the Depression - when even paper was used to the max (writing on both sides and sometimes even both directions on both sides for letters etc). You just didn't throw things out (use it up, make it do, or do without).
I married an American at 18 (to whom I'm still very happily married) and moved to the States in '74. Stores being open all hours and on Sundays was a revelation.

[FrankD]

Well, we've come a long way since 1974. There are plenty of 24 hour stores, and Sunday is just another day to shop (or see a baseball game, for that matter - they had to change the law to let the Blue Jays play!).

But there are some things you can get here that are really hard to get in the US, like aspirin with codeine or Crunchie bars, so it's not all one way. However, I do remember going to Vermont as a kid, and marveling at the huge containers and different brands that were available. My wife still prefers to shop in Buffalo, not because of prices, but because of the selection.

And "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" was a favourite saving of my great aunt. Some of that "Yankee thrift" snuck over the border with the Loyalists.

[kattyeyes]

Speaking of HoJos (and CT, no less!), remember their toastees? I think that's what they were called...corn was my favorite...blueberry wasn't bad either. Mmmmm, toastees. :)

[alidrum]

Oh I loved hojo's frozen corn toastees..we had them for breakfast with lots of butter and for dinner my mom would top them with creamed chicken..Why don't they make them anymore? You would think with all the frozen and convenience foods they would be perfect nowadays....

[bigdnotemeril]

I used to buy toastees in publix a couple years ago, I must ask the Mgr. if still avail.

[grampart]

I found this recipe for a home-made version.
http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com/200...

[kattyeyes]

You rule! That's on my list to bake. Thank you! :)

[grampart]

You're very welcome. Let us know how it turns out.

[kattyeyes]

Hey, grampart! I meant to report back, but wanted to do so when I baked them again. I'd be willing to bet money HoJo's corn toastees did NOT include vanilla. I screwed up when I baked these because I used the wrong size pan, but they were far sweeter than I recall...and I definitely roll on the sweet side of life. Further, since I was the only one eating them, I was rather toastee-d out...but enough time has passed, so I'll definitely try again and report back if I approach anything close to HoJo success!

[c oliver]

My husband claims that part of the reason he fell in love with me was that I was not a "Brandy Alexander kinda gal." He associated that with frou-frou, don't get your hands dirty kinda of women. I think he told me this when we were working in his SF backyard that was literally chest-high in weeds :)

[Harters]

Mrs H had two dishes last week that were almost bang on for being 1970s classics:

Prawn cocktail (although it was crayfish not prawns)

Followed by steak with pepper sauce.

Just needed Black Forest Gateau for dessert to make the full dining out extravaganza.

[PattiCakes]

Onion Dip, made from scratch & not from the dry soup mix.
Ham Loaf
The Wedge (now enjoying a come back)
Watergate Salad
Welsh Rarebit
Icebox cake

[c oliver]

I was cleaning out MIL's fridge and found a Stouffers Welsh Rarebit in the freezer. I'll definitely be checking that one out :)

[nvcook]

I saw on a different thread that she had passed. So sorry for your loss.

[c oliver]

Well, thank you very much. We're spending lots of time in Reno taking care of things and eating good food. Duck chow fun from Chinese Duck House the other night. Mmmm.

[pasuga]

The Stouffer's Welsh rabbit is definitely decent - especially with bacon and good sliced tomatoes. Used to be one of Mom's standbys when she didn't feel like cooking so it's comfort food for me. <g> Best I've ever had though, was years ago from an old Williamsburg cookbook - made in a double boiler with sharp cheddar and beer. Yum!

[c oliver]

Cool

[PattiCakes]

Hubby loves the Welsh Rarebit from his youth, served on top of an English Muffin, a slice of Pork Roll and a pineapple ring. It's an acquired taste.

[velochic]

Is this the recipe? I had this bookmarked.
http://www.history.org/almanack/life/...

[betsydiver]

Waldorf salad..diced.apple,walnuts,celery,raisins in a light mayo dressing, served on lettuce

[alkapal]

fresh waldorf salad is so delicious and refreshing: juicy sweet apples, chewy raisins, crunchy nuts, plus the crisp green crunch of juicy celery all lightly dressed with mayo. very nice -- and so pretty on a butter lettuce "cup." i like to use cut fresh grapes, too -- sometimes in lieu of raisins.

look at this deconstructed version --pretty! http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14510/waldorf+salad

and i love authentic ambrosia (fresh navel oranges, fresh grated coconut) in the dead of winter: http://www.sweetsavvy.com/recipes/rec...

[buttertart]

That deconstructed Waldorf salad would go very well with ham in an American-themed dinner.

[alkapal]

indeed! it is ironic that it comes from an aussie site.

speaking of fruit in salads, recently i saw a resto salad made with sliced pear (plus gorgonzola, pecans, etc) , but sliced ultra thin on a mandoline, along the whole length (or was it the width?). anyway, it was very nice to see the shape of the fruit.

[buttertart]

So thin pear-shaped slices? That would be pretty.
New apples coming in, I see the Waldorf in our future.

[alkapal]

sort of like what is shown about midway down in this post: http://www.alexandracooks.com/2009/01...
ps, doesn't that featured salad look awesome?!?! egads, what a bunch of yummy ingredients all tossed together!

[buttertart]

Totally - she is one amazing photographer. Those are like the Ottolenghi pics. I must get a better camera, the mobile don't cut it.

[alkapal]

look at this "carpaccio" of pear and turnip salad -- cool, huh? http://zeewebdesign.com/Exercise_9/Ca...

[buttertart]

That's nice too - would be great with Asian pear.

[Nanzi]

I just made a huge bowl of Waldorf Salad, and all the youngsters 42 yrs old and younger had to have the recipe. I could have sworn I'd made it for my kids, 2 of those present. But they swear no I didn't.
Another oldie my mom used to make was a 'salad' of split the long way Bananas with alternating dolops of mayo and peanut butter. That one my 2 did remember, but none of the others.

[EWSflash]

Oh yes- it's still a Thanksgiving staple for us!

[Perilagu Khan]

Makes me think of an episode of Fawlty Towers.

[sueatmo]

Months later I see this! Yes, Waldorf Salad would one of my most favorite retro foods. I often combine pears and apples, or varieties of apples. I add chopped nuts, sliced celery and mayo/yogurt for dressing, and I agree that it should be light. I like a little grated nutmeg over all and a freshly shredded cheddar topping. I loved the pics of pears and lettuce. What a lovely version of this. I don't know why you couldn't tinker a bit with the mayo for a different flavor.

[joth68]

Lobster Thermidor

[adamshoe]

Chicken or turkey Tetrazzini. Salisbury Steak. Beef Wellington. adam

[EWSflash]

Mmmmm, turkey Tetrazzini- my mom made that really, REALLY well, from a recipe out of the Gold Cook Book- anybody remember that one?

[woodleyparkhound]

Egg a la Goldenrod (crumbled hard boiled eggs in white sauce over toast) - my mom used to make it.

[eclecticsynergy]

I loved those Goldenrod Eggs! My Gram used to make 'em; she'd mix the chopped whites into cream sauce and rub the yolks through a fine sieve to make the golden "pollen" on top.

[shaogo]

We didn't get the "de luxe" treatment. Chopped boiled eggs in Bechamel, on toast (with the crusts *on*) was the order of the day but oh, so good!

[cookie monster]

Oh yum - my mom made something similar with a curry cream sauce, and peas along with the hard boiled eggs. I hadn't thought about that in years.

[Jen76]

My mom made this like shaogo. Chopped hard boiled eggs in Bechamel, but she served them over English Muffins. Yum. I make Eggs a la Goldenrod now and then. Comfort food.

[ipsedixit]

Nesselrode pie (extinct as far as I know)

Grasshopper pie

Carpetbag steak (extinct in the United States, but prevalent overseas, I believe)

Steak Diane

[junescook]

Hi Ipsedixit,

Arthur Schwartz has a recipe for Nesselrode pie on his Food Maven website. I for one really miss listening to him on "Food Talk". I did get to meet him here in Litchfield, CT a month or so ago when he did a presentaion and book signing. Here's the web site, click on Most Requested Recipes.

http://thefoodmaven.com/

[ipsedixit]

Thanks, that is indeed quite interesting.

[marthasway]

I have loved Arthur Schwartz since I bought Cooking in a Small Kitchen in 1978, while I was in college. Those recipes made my reputation as a cook! He's one of my culinary heroes.

[nofunlatte]

ipse, I make Steak Diane once a year, usually for New Year's Day. Never made it until a few years ago, so I never had it in its "prime". This one needs to be resurrected.

[ipsedixit]

Indeed it does. You *need* to invite me to your New Year's Day bash sometime! :-)

[shaogo]

Steak Diane is prepared by La Trattoria in Canton, Connecticut -- expertly, at tableside. Really old-skool.

Carpetbag steak is prepared at The Grist Mill in Farmington, Connecticut (abuts the campus of the venerable Miss Porter's School). Carpetbag steak is divine the way they do it with lump crabmeat inside, the steak done just right... I think they stick a little Gorgonzola in there.

Egg Foo Young is something only known to old farts like me.

Remember chicken or seafood "vol au vent?"

Creative, savory/sweet molded Jell-O salads, particularly the one with coleslaw inside (and Pineapple). I *love* this stuff.

[Perilagu Khan]

I've been researching old Chinese and Polynesian resto menus and have seen an abundance of chop suey. I've heard of this delicacy, but have not had the great good fortune to sample it.

[flueln]

Or the misfortune... Chop Suey was a mess thrown together by Chinese chefs in the old west to satisfy the coolie gangs building the railroads. It mostly didn't. If you must eat Chinese/American food, go for chow mein. And as for egg foo yung, every Chinese restaurant I've ever been in serves it (I like mine with shrimp) -- even the buffets make them and set them out. Not vanished food at all.

[Perilagu Khan]

Yes, I had a very strong inkling that chop suey was not the acme of Chinese cuisine.

[roro1831]

Carpetbag steak is also prepared at Jacques Imos in New Orleans, whether it is true to the classic, I'm not sure.

[EWSflash]

I'm glad I'm not alone, shaogo. When my lunch buddies at work go on about how gross all those Jello salads they grew up with were (and they do this every so often for some reason), I remember fondly the lime Jello with grated carrots and celery, and sometimes a little chopped pineapple too.

[c oliver]

One of Sam's really big dislikes was people complaining about or putting down the food they were served as kids. I remember that whenever I read or hear those.

[pikawicca]

Yeah, but I bet he never ate a Jello salad!

[lagatta]

That is too true, at least not at home. He may well have eaten it at a so-called "real American's" home (and I don't mean Amerindians) but he did have access to a lot of what we would recognise as real food, whether Japanese or Californian in inspiration. In any case, while I love Sam and was deeply pained by his demise, I feel no need to deify his opinions.

A lot of the food I didn't like as a kid was the product of poverty - in the relative, Western World sense. Too many cooked carrots and other cheap veg - we did sometimes have access to wonderful homegrown veg at farmer relatives, and my parents sure knew the difference - sometimes just fried onions and potatoes, or pasta, to eat.

I'd love to bring back aspic salads (vegetarians, you can use agar agar) but not with all the sugar and chemicals in Jello. Cabbage in aspic is lovely.

[pikawicca]

I love homemade aspic, but Jello is not food, merely something concocted in a lab to resemble food. It is, perhaps, the perfect evil of processed food.

[Querencia]

picawikka: Bite your tongue---jello has legitimate purposes. First, it is often the only thing a sick and feverish child will eat so you can get some calories and liquid in via red jello. Second, except for raw pineapple and kiwi it makes a jazzy disposition for ratty-looking fruit when you clean out the refrigerator. Third, on a buffet table it looks pretty---shiny and in fancy shapes. Fourth, if you get stuck with grapefruit that's too sour to eat, put it in Black Cherry Jello and the finished product will taste like cherries, not nbad in the dead of winter.

[EWSflash]

Oh no, it's the stuff of comfort to some of us- and it is food, even if it's made out of hooves and seaweed- especially the seaweed.

[sandylc]

It's the artificial flavors and colors and high sugar/artificial sugar that will get you in the Jello! The hooves and seaweed are the health food of the deal.

[flavrmeistr]

Jello mold made with coleslaw from the KFC, church supper classic from my youth. I dream about it. Nilla Wafer pudding is another.

[alkapal]

please don't call me an old fart because i remember egg foo young. i made it in my dorm room! ;-)).

[EWSflash]

I wouldn't have thought that possible- how did you do it?

[alkapal]

LOL -- with a chun king "kit" and a burner and a skillet. ;-).

[sandylc]

Oooh, there was a restaurant here that, until recently, made THE best Egg Foo Young!! It had these wonderfully crisp onion strings all over the outside of it...heaven. Of course, the wallpaper paste cornstarch brown sludge that came with it was a pass...I ate it with soy sauce.

[Jen76]

I am either of an age to now qualify as an "old fart" (egads!) or perhaps I hung around the grandparents too much as a kid, but I most certainly remember Egg Foo Young and Chop Suey. They were my grandparents' favorite "Chinese" dishes. Ha!

[gentlyferal]

What do you mean, "Egg Fu Yung is only known to old farts?" I just started making it for my family a few years ago, when Google showed me how easy it was. Cheap, too. I make a stripped-down version without any meat or fish at all, but it's gotta have bean sprouts, celery and mushrooms at the very least. Just douse it in that addictive oyster sauce/soy sauce/chicken stock gravy and I'm happy.

Is it true they eat egg fu yung sandwiches in Philadelphia?

[dmckean]

They eat them in St. Louis.

[mattwarner]

gentlyferal,
I love EFY, but I never get it right. Do you have a favorite recipe you could share?

[gentlyferal]

Sorry for the delayed reply, mattwarner, but I don't read Chowhound often enough :) Anyway, the trick is to have something succulent/crunchy, like bean sprouts, in the egg mixture. Also, the gravy must be chicken stock with oyster sauce and soy sauce, lightly thickened with cornstarch.

Otherwise the recipe is actually pretty flexible. Slice thin and fry up some mushrooms and celery, along with bean sprouts (or, if you have none, thinly sliced iceberg lettuce; The flavor is actually quite similar!). Then, if you like, add some chopped shrimp or chicken or both. Stir in enough eggs to make it soupy. Ladle out into a pan and fry.

Unless you use a wok, your patties will be plate-size and thin, but still delicious. It's the curvature of the wok that keeps the restaurant ones from spreading out all over the place.

As far as I'm concerned, egg fu yung is actually a pretty forgiving dish. Lately I've been making it with purslane, which keeps better in the fridge than bean sprouts do, and still has the crunchy-juicy thing going on. It's the addictive gravy, and the crunch, that make the dish.

[RobertLaughlin]

Carpetbag steak is supposed to contain oysters, not crabmeat.

[c oliver]

I love Steak Diane and every few years I'll fix Julia Child's recipe. Mmmm.

[Firegoat]

steak diane showed up on a recent episode of Hell's kitchen.... one of the chefs, I think late 20s to mid 30s admitting she had no idea what it was.

[Paulustrious]

Steak Diane is more prevalent in the UK than the US. I still make it as I enjoy the spectacular flambe moment. (See avatar) It forms part of my steak-three-ways and allows me to serve a 'gravy' with my meat, something that is relatively rare in North America.

In the UK the flambeing was done at the table and, of course, it used to stop the conversations. I suspect the US fear of litigation has diminished its use. Here in Greek town, Toronto, the "OPA" of saganaki still rings out.

[tatamagouche]

Sauce with meat rare in North America? Huh?

I do not know why you are shirtless near an open flame in that photo, but I do know that it's *awesome.*

[alkapal]

he is shirtless due to his prior flambé incident. ;-)).

[Perilagu Khan]

Looks pretty hairless, too. Coincindence? I think not!

[Paulustrious]

I was forgetting Southern BBQ.

And I said 'relatively rare'. So I will stick with that statement. I lived in the UK, France, Germany, Holland and Switzerland over a period of twenty years and sauces with meats were more common than the US.

Although not as common as with Indian, Chinese and many other Asian cuisines.

[tatamagouche]

Hmm. I don't see it. Maybe in home cooking, but in restaurants meats are as often as not served *with* some form of sauce, even if they're not *in* sauce. Is that the distinction you're making?

In any case I will bow to you as the naked chef.

[Passadumkeg]

My mom was a very saucy bitch! Broiled sirloin steaks often on Sundays w/ a FRESH mushroom, onion cream sauce. I was unaware of Campbell's Cream of.. sauce recipes until I went away to college. Grave w/ veal roast was common too. Too many ethnic groups in US/Canada to make such a generalization.

[Harters]

Can't recall seeing Steak Diane on a UK menu since the 80s. Time for a revival here, IMO.

[CocoDan]

Chicken or Shrimp Croquettes, and 3D Burger from Howard Johnson's. Where have they gone?
CocoDan

[Perilagu Khan]

What was the nature of the 3D Burger?

[CocoDan]

The 3D Burger was the original Big Mac (only way better). It was two patties on a seseme seed bun (three slices) w/ lettuce, tomato and a special sauce that was sort of like a Russian dressing. Oh, if only I could get just one more. Hope that helps.
Enjoy,
CocoDan

[bigdnotemeril]

What about the fried clam strips, on the square rolls at HoJo's. Dang I miss those!

[EWSflash]

Me too!

[alkapal]

count me in on the AYCE clam strips!

[PattiCakes]

A very fond memory from my youth. Passadumkeg (http://www.chow.com/profile/93538?tag...) can go on and on about those clam strips, although now he is much more into REAL fried clams from Maine. I would so enjoy a one day reprise of those AYCE clam strips & having access to a local White Castle.

[Passadumkeg]

They were a HS favorite of mine too. A buddy worked at Ho Jo's, he'd roll out of work w/ a box full of clam rolls and we'd scarf them down on the way to ice hockey practice.

[FriedClamFanatic]

Of course.........as much I admire you and enjoy your comments in most posts...............NO COMMENT on Clam Strips!It's like having Thanksgiving dinner with stuff the is in rollsbought over near the bacon! (OK.so I had to say something!...just to keep my self dignity!)

[alkapal]

>>>It's like having Thanksgiving dinner with stuff the is in rollsbought over near the bacon! <<<

what exactly does this mean?

[Passadumkeg]

Hey! it was 1963, where were you, Clammy? He says w/ a giggle.
I'm leaving the house in 5 minutes to go eat a quart of fried clams for $15!!!
Revenge is sweet.

[Disneyfreak]

Me too!

[FoodFuser]

As a land-locked young lad
sprouting in Louisville, Kentucky
no way we could conjure fresh clam strips.

HoJo's was epiphany
with its orange and blue.
Jarring colors blew my mind
and so did their clam strips.

Frozen, of course,
but the heck did I know?
Except they were good, crunchy, chewy, and greasy.
Holy Grail to teenager with zits.

Louisville also in the Land of White Castle.
No jarring colors as Hojo's
just gleaming white parapets
grill always steaming with smell of the onions.

Fifty yards away from Mom's office
where afternoon I dutifully reported
There stood a White Castle.
The power of those towers seduced me.

Mom was conundrumed
she was such good meal planner
confronted with kid always hungry.

We settled to stasis that I could have four
as long as I ate them slow, one at a time.
So inside the Castle, the staff got to know me
as the kid who ate, ordered one at a time.

Beauty of memory of Mom in her office
and I saddled up to the burger bar.
Knew all cooks and waits by name
they never complained that I ordered so slowly

Even at that rebellious young age I saw my Mom's point,
as three hours later we were seated at home
with a really good meal.

She rationed White Castle
but when came to Hojo's and clam strips
floodgates were opened full roar.

Now departed, she conjures memories
many of food.
We ate laughingly
We ate good.

[flavrmeistr]

Since you're from Louisville, I have to ask: Who needs Hojo's when you have Moby Dicks? I love that place!

[Passadumkeg]

Does Moby have a clam roll?

[flueln]

Wild Mountain Blackberry Ice Cream from HoJo (only during the summer, of course)

[EWSflash]

OMG- the Hidden House in Tucson used to have Oregon Blackberry ice cream that I can still taste if I try very hard to remember it. I'd almost kill to taste it again

[asommers]

Frito Pie
Meat Loaf
I was only born in 72 so thats about all that hits me as retro so far

[swamp]

I love a good Frito Pie but I must say here in Texas it is not forgotten. There is hardly any bar in our area that serves basic pub grub that does not have it on the menu. Of course the best is still one from a little league baseball game made right in the cut open bag of Fritos.