ROFLMAO! Not sure of that candle 'thang' myself, ded!

O.M.Goodness ! Lima beans AND Spam??? Double ewwww!

These are devinely vile!! I can see them for a Fear of food Halloween Dinner.

Steve

The banana candle salad has been around for a while. There's an illustration of one in my 1913 Heinz Salad Booklet.

Yeah, these are all oldies but not so goodies. That Frosted Ribbon Loaf, or something very similar, is in one of my ancient cookbooks.

I just posted it on my facebook, commenting this was why I was thin growing up and have a hard time eating jello.

I remember that igloo meat loaf, as well as the banana candle. The one I saw had a ring of pineapple, half a banana and a maraschino cherry on a lettuce leaf. I had one that was a rabbit made out of a pear half too, LOL.

Jello was certainly popular and what in the world is that last thing? It looks like liver pate covered with avocado and mayonnaise or something.

Annie

OMG, I remember that rabbit. My mother in law made a "salad" of canned pears, cheese and mayo. It tasted pretty good, to be honest, but hardly what I call a salad. Well, maybe it sat in a lettuce leaf, so there you go.

Come to think of it.....I liked that Perfection Salad! My MIL made it often, mostly for Easter dinner with a ham.

Teresa

Haven't laughed so much in ages! My mother used to make one of those loaves covered in cheese and I remember it being good!

Check your local library for these books by James Lileks, and snatch them up for a roaring good time.

-The Gallery of Regrettable Food - highlights from classic American recipe books.

-Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery

If you enjoyed the link above, these books are full of these recipes, photos, and most of all, Lileks most enjoyable snarky commentary. Hubby and I read "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" together over breakfast, each taking turns reading out loud, to much laughter at every turn of the page. Ah, the liberties taken with peas.....

-Grainlady

Promise not to laugh - back in the 70's we had a party and the only appetizer I knew of was spam cut in cubes skewered onto toothpicks with pineapple chunks and cheese. Oh, yeah, and of course potato chips with sour cream dip. But we had plenty of chilled Bali Hai wine to wash it down with, thank goodness! :D!

So what is so funny?

In a few years, the joke will be on us. We deep fry everything, ice cream, butter, ------

And we wrap everything in bacon.

dcarch

I'm sure our grandchildren will find our foods just as amusing. We, on the CF, run the very great risk of becoming food snobs.

Coming out of the depression and WWII, the 1950's had quite a bounty of food, most good, some not so good. I remember eating a lot of that as a kid. Those pictures bring back memories of a lot of church suppers!

I have a coworker who still loves Spam. And foods like these show up at the pot luck lunches we have at work a couple of times a year.

And I'm sure we all have our secret favorite foods that we wouldn't dare share with the forum.

And how about Velveeta? They are still advertising their cheese dip, even if there is going to be a shortage!

One thing I love about the movie "Mermaids" is the 50s/60s appetizers that Cher serves her two daughters as though it was their meal (which it is actually). That is all she makes for them, appetizers, things on toothpicks, like the pretzel sticks in the pic linked here.

You can change out the ingredients, put them on longer picks and call them "banderillas" - a tapas specialty - then they are "in" again!

Teresa

"We deep fry everything, ice cream, butter"

I thought that was only at the Texas State Fair. Deep-fried beer was the kicker.

Sent link to the DSes. That article is hilarious.

That's it bacon and batter is our generational Jell-o!

Oh, what we leave to our future generation.

Although I had heard the term before and knew what it was, the first time I saw Hors d'oeuvre in print I said to myself - "what are Horse Doovers??" Hah! And yes I do remember Jello, especially that awful green one they made at school. And Grandma made the same one every time too. I have many old vintage cookbooks from the 50's and 60's that have those awful looking dishes in them and the color quality in them would make a filet mignon look horrible.

I always brought a Frosted Ribbon Loaf to get-togethers.

*I was a red-neck in a snooty women's club. The first time I brought my lovely Frosted Ribbon Loaf, I had it on a plastic lid covered with foil. I presented my masterpiece to the snooty hostess. She rolled her eyes, pulled out a "gallery tray" and slid the ribbon loaf to her tray. I will never forget that humiliation;
I immediately searched for and bought a "gallery tray" and many decades later I still have it and used it. Here it is with a butterfingers loaf cake.

Lots of goodies from the past to turn a stomach.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mid-Century Menu

Cheese wiz and hot dog pizza?
Spam favorites. 1 tpsp grated onion and 1/4 tsp
worcestershire, lol.

I have to say I have never tasted spam. When I was growing up we lived on a small farm in a very rural area. My father died when I was 9 and there were 5 of us. I believe Mom bought and traded for groceries at the rolling store that came by our house. I'm not sure how often, but she would trade butter and eggs for the staples we didn't have. I doubt the rolling store carried spam and she wouldn't have been able to afford it anyway. lol It would definitely been classified a luxury.

jude

I own this book pictured below, and it's hysterical. It's also sobering, in that I distinctly remember at least 70% of the foods pictured, LOL. The comments after the recipe titles are all mine, I couldn't help but provide the snark, all in good fun.

The book contains the full recipes for such delicacies as:
"Liver Sausage Pineapple" - yes, that one pictured in the OP's link. C'mon, I KNOW you want to learn to make this one, don't you? Don't you? Hey, why are you covering your ears and shutting your eyes??

"Mackerel Soup" - canned mackerel, tomato juice, and beef bouillon cube, complete with chopped cucumber boiled in the pseudo-broth.

"Heavenly Ham Loaf with Pickle Stuffing" - the ham, of course, being ground-up generic luncheon meat (off-brand Spam)

"Crown Roast of Frankfurters" - don't worry if you're penny-pinched, you can just sub hot dogs for the rack of pork chops! The coleslaw filling is just a bonus.

and we mustn't forget the inimitable "Baked Corn Chex 'n' Cheese Custard", which is exactly what it sounds like.

LOL!!! I had to send the link on to a friend who has a great aversion to anything "jello salad".

I guess I was on the wrong end of 'society' and didn't have to eat any of these..... concoctions. But..... now I understand Grace's deep dislike for this kind of food.

Oh, dear, I had no idea that this was discontinued.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spamarama

The L.A. County Fair used to have a Spam cooking contest - you can see a Huell Howser episode in which he visits the contest. I have always liked Spam - in small doses and if it is sliced thin enough. I frequently find it on the menu at Hawaiian restaurants.

They now make turkey spam, and so I bought a can last week but have not used it yet. I plan to use it in an omelet (not a whole can) and perhaps on a sandwich or in a salad. It is a bit salty, and so I have to use it in a recipe in which I am able to reduce salt that would otherwise be used. I've used in in quesadillas also.

Not sure about the Jello recipes - I definitely do not like sweet Jello in a savory dish. It struck me that the author of the blog must be Canadian because she said "Holy smokes" instead of "Holy smoke", and I've only heard Canadians use the plural form, but as it turns out, she is from Maine - close enough, I guess! Canadians often pluralize things that are singular in the U.S., such as "I don't like the sounds of that" instead of "I don't like the sound of that." Not sure where that comes from, but I notice things like that a lot when I watch HGTV, which has a lot of shows made in Toronto. They also say "Open Concept" instead of "Open Floor Plan", and I find that one particularly odd.

Lars

publickman, perhaps you know the answer to a question that has been bugging me. We live near the border in New York state. Why do Canadians say "my son is going to university" instead of saying "my son is going to the university". My husband thinks its because in Ontario there is only one college/university which is in Toronto. So there are no choices. Here we have about 14 colleges/universities in just our area. I still don't get it. If I'm going to the grocery store, I don't say "I'm going to grocery store" even if there was only one.

Perhaps its just that I don't know proper grammar.

Debra - I think your husband has it backwards, putting "the" in front of it implies you're referring to a single institution, not the other way around.

Do you find any awkwardness about people saying they're going to college? Going to school? Going to church? Going to court? Going to camp? If not, then what's the matter with going to university?

I imagine if you're going to "the" grocery store you've got a particular store in mind. If not, while you might not say you're "going to grocery store" you might say, more generically, "going grocery shopping?" When Ralph says he's going to send Alice "to the moon" I know which moon he means!

But we digress.

Dcarch - You're right, anything that gets used to death today is tomorrow's laughing stock. Ever notice the judges cringe on cooking competitions when someone adds truffle oil? I sense bacon and deep-frying becoming similarly frowned upon unless used judiciously and in good taste.

Stuff like foams will most certainly be on the next generation's list of "you've got to be kidding me." In fact, I think they were already being made fun of before I even heard of them. Like all of life's advances, food trends are moving much more quickly now. Things become "so yesterday" before most of us have even had a chance to try it.

There's bad and there's overplayed, for example IMO there's nothing wrong with tiramisu, but many of us have enjoyed its break from ubinquitousness.

FOAS, like you, I didn't figure out foam until it was already out of vogue and I didn't manage to actually make macarons until recently and they are already yesterday's news.

Lars, maybe it's a northern thing, I also say "Holy Smokes", but my Grandpa was Canadian, as were his parents.

Jude, I'm so happy to see you here again, welcome back! How is the hubs?

I have eaten Spam, and don't care for it at all, it tastes like salt encased in gelatinous goo. Maybe it's the texture that's actually off-putting to me, because I like salt.

I just cannot eat Jello, even when I was a child I would gag. It just feels so icky in my mouth.

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Sun, Jan 12, 14 at 20:40

I grew up in Michigan, too, but a suburb of Detroit. It was "Holy smokes!" there, too. Also near Canada. And "at university" is British English, too.

FOAS, ahh interesting, I see your point. It just sounds so odd to me for some reason and I only hear Canadians say it here not the americans. A lot of canadians live here and many more shop in our stores. We (americans) often joke about the speech patterns of our neighbors to the north. No offense is meant, its just like teasing your sibling : )

Also, interesting about the deep frying and bacon. I very rarely eat bacon and none of my family or close friends deep fry anything. Maybe I'm missing out on something??? Like a lot more calories perhaps?

In the South, it was/is "Holy Smoke" - singular. Maybe we were too lazy to make it plural? LOL - just kidding.

There are a lot of words and figures of speech not used today that I personally miss.
Teresa

I say "going to university" similar to saying "going to school", but I do not say "going to hospital", which is another British English saying that might have migrated to Canada also.

I guess "Holy Smokes" is just northern - I was unaware that it was said on both sides of the border.

Back to cooking: I will say "I am making dinner" - not "I am fixing dinner," but I have heard both said.

Maybe I only think I like Spam - I haven't had it in years - not even when we were on Maui. I do remember buying it 20 years ago in Culver City, thinking that it would be good to have in case of earthquake. After the earthquake, however, I did not get around to opening the Spam because I had too much other food. I've learned not to stock foods for emergencies that I do not normally eat. There's no way I could go hungry with what I have in my kitchen, and I have a propane tank for cooking, if needed.

Lars

>>I frequently find it [Spam] on the menu at Hawaiian restaurants. >>

The state of Hawaii eats more Spam per capita than any of the other states in the US.

Dismayingly, Spam musubi just made an appearance on an upscale fusion menu in one of San Francisco's 3,725 restaurants. It's a slice of Spam fried with soya and sugar and placed atop sushi rice rectangles. Directions (and photos, in glorious color, ugh) below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Salt, sugar, and more salt: Spam musubi

Now I know why we used to all be so skinny! HAHAHA!

You know, AK girl, you might be on to something there. LOL

Annie

Ribbon loaf, perfection salad --actually very good. An offshoot of that ribbon loaf are rolled sandwiches. Hard as the dickens to find a bakery that bakes a Pullman loaf and can slice it the long way.

My dad use to make this awful awful soup he learned in the marines.Brown flour potato soup omg it makes me sick just to think about it.It use to put a film on roof of your mouth .oh he would fry the flour till brown.Sometimes too brown,he would pour water over it and burnt flecks of flour would float ,then when it was ready he would pour vinegar on it.I had it once that was it,when I saw him making that I knew I wasn't eating that day!!!!!

Bulldinkie, did the soup only have flour in it? No meat or veggies? Yuck!

I guess sometimes you just come up with a concoction based on what's available. When I went to overnight camp we would be starving before dinner. When we sat down at the table waiting for the food to arrive (we took turns being "biddie") there would be salt, pepper, bread, butter and sugar on the table. We always had an appetizer of bread spread with butter and sugar. Makes my teeth ache to think of it, although I still like toast with cinnamon sugar, which isn't much different.

I also associate the phrase "going to university" with Canadians or British. I never hear it here. I suppose it's not different from saying "going to college". On the other hand, every university has colleges but not all colleges are universities. My pet peeve is "went missing" but I think I have lost that battle as I see and hear it everywhere now, including the local news which is about as low brow as you can get.

I used to have a cookbook that was put together by the people in the little town in upstate PA where my mother grew up. It seemed like every recipe called for two cans of mushroom soup and a container of Cool Whip. It was from the 1970's.

I just tried to find that cookbook as well as some other really old ones and realize I tossed them on one of my occasional cleaning tears. Too bad.

I think the Early 21st Century will be ridiculed as the Hot Mess period. Just as Jell-O enrobed indeterminate food items in the 50s and 60s, the over abundance of hot peppers and sauces masks the flavor of so many items nowadays. It could be anything in that siracha tomb.

"It needs a little more heat" has become the rallying phrase of a generation of cooks. Buffalo wings, chipotle mayonnaise and film clips of Adam Richman will be our legacy.

Hot pepper sauces have been extremely popular in many cuisines for centuries; e.g., Thai, Tex-Mex, Vietnamese, Sichuan, Ethiopean, South Indian,etc., and so I do not think that they will go out of style any time soon, although they may retreat from certain regions. Certainly they will never go out of style in Texas. Typically, they are more popular in tropical areas of the world and actually have a cooling effect on the body, since they can induce sweating. This would not be desirable in a cold climate, however, which is why I think they may retreat to the warm regions of the world. I use a lot of chili sauces, but I use very little black pepper and think it is over used, like salt. There is so much variety to chili sauces - less for black pepper - and I so no reason why chili sauces should not partially replace the formerly ubiquitous black pepper on a permanent basis. I think there will be a continuation of fusion cooking, providing ever more variety than what was available in the past.

I have never seen nor heard of Adam Richman before.

Lars