Straight Dope Message Board

[Qin Shi Huangdi]

By this I don't mean particular brand-name foods which are no longer available due to being discontinued or the company itself going out of business but rather particular dishes that used to popular but are no longer that common due to changing tastes. For example in older books I constantly read about references to liver-based dishes such as liver and onions or liverwurst being popular especially in diners and other relatively cheap eateries. However, I've almost never seen liver on menus outside of Korean specialty shops that serve sundae or Korean black pudding/blood sausages. Has taste for liver really disappeared as a result of Americans moving further away from their Continental roots where liver dishes often came from?

[Mama Zappa]

Well, liver is evil and preferred only by those who consider **mushrooms** edible, so there's that .

Anyway: We're at the tail end of the Baby Boomer generation and liver is definitely not something anyone my age or younger seems to voluntarily eat - I've certainly never heard of anyone saying "Yumm, fixing liver for dinner!". My mother loved it, as does my mother in law. Part of its loss of populariity may well be that it isn't really all that good for you especially given that its benefits (iron, protein) are readily available in the modern diet in less cholesterol-heavy forms.

One of my husband's proudest childhood memories was of the day his mother served them liver for dinner. He regaled the whole family with detailed descriptions of what he'd learned in school about what the liver *does*. His brother and sister, in a rare moment of solidarity, chimed in with plenty of appropriate EWWWWWWWWWW sounds.

His mother never served liver again. .

Other stuff: hmmm....

Weird Jello concoctions.

Instant pudding: for us growing up, it was actually a treat especially if Mom had bought some Cool-Whip (artifical flavoring and plastic, yummmmmmm).

Anything found at Lileks, for sure! (Jello often features there, as I recall).

Tuna-noodle casserole comes to mind. It's just not something you hear much about anymore, though on those rare occasions I have it, I quite like it - I have a tuna lasagna recipe that is basically TNC in a slightly different form factor.

[DCnDC]

I've seen a lot of old cookbooks from the early-to-mid-20th century and they all seem to have a rather curious obsession with aspic, gelatin, and all other sorts of gelatinized dishes, often in what I would consider quite odd pairings. I was born in the late 70s and I've not seen anything like any of that, well, ever.

[Inner Stickler]

Steak Diane
Fondue
Anything in Aspic
Baked Alaska
Cherries Jubilee
Peach Melba
Chicken Divan
Charlotte Russe
...

[GoodOmens]

Quiche.

[Inner Stickler]

Hams baked with pineapple rings and cherries in the center of each ring
Salisbury Steak
Poke cake

[ThelmaLou]

Chicken a la King

Maybe we could generalize to "creamed <anything> on toast" is out of fashion.

My mother (not a great cook) used to do creamed hamburger on toast and also something she called "corned beef and English peas" which was also sauce-y and served over toast. The corned beef was from a square can, and I don't know what it was about the (canned) peas that made them English.

[Inner Stickler]

I vote chicken a la king can't be dated because I had that a lot when I grew up and I refuse to believe the 90s is that old already.

Is it weird that I rather enjoy sauce-y things on toast?

[mistymage]

My kids range from 15 to 23 and all 3 like liver (no onions because I don't like that smell combo), 2 like tuna noodle casserole and 2 like broiled/boiled or fried chicken innards (heart, gizzards, livers).

You don't see Waldorf Salads that often anymore.

[John Mace]

Monte Cristo sandwich. They were everywhere in the 80s.

[terentii]

Originally Posted by mistymage

You don't see Waldorf Salads that often anymore.

Can I have a Ritz Salad instead?

[NDP]

Chicken à la king

A mainstay of American restaurants through the 1960s, it was all but gone from menus by the 80s. Its swift disappearance was the subject of an essay by Calvin Trillin who theorized that millions of gallons of the entre were being stored in grain silos in the midwest.

[terentii]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

My mother (not a great cook) used to do creamed hamburger on toast and also something she called "corned beef and English peas" which was also sauce-y and served over toast. The corned beef was from a square can, and I don't know what it was about the (canned) peas that made them English.

Were they mushy, like in pea soup?

[Intergalactic Gladiator]

Originally Posted by terentii

Can I have a Ritz Salad instead?

You have to watch out if you have a Watergate salad, it might have a bug in it.

[terentii]

Originally Posted by Intergalactic Gladiator

You have to watch out if you have a Watergate salad, it might have a bug in it.

OMG, I'm actually old enough to get this joke!

[Guy N. Forest]

Some things in 1950's Oklahoma which should never have been served:

• Brains and eggs
• Blood pudding
• Pickled pig's feet

I liked chicken a la king, but hated the occasional little bone or two hidden in the sauce.

[Bayard]

A while back I watched The Blues Brothers again. There's a scene where they go into a vert fancy restaurant to recruit one of the band members, who's working as a waiter there. They order shrimp cocktail. In movies and TV at least, shrimp cocktail used to be the signal that you were in a classy joint. I can't remember the last time I saw it on a menu or heard of anyone having it.

[mistymage]

Originally Posted by terentii

Can I have a Ritz Salad instead?

Eww...too many carbs!! Although I did once enjoy a mock apple pie made with Ritz. I guess there are a few recipes for Ritz Salad: http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-..._salad,FF.html

[Chefguy]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

Steak Diane
Fondue
Anything in Aspic
Baked Alaska
Cherries Jubilee
Peach Melba
Chicken Divan
Charlotte Russe
...

Fondue made a comeback and is offered in many restaurants now. I have two electric pots and usually make it once a year, just because I love it.

[ThelmaLou]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

I vote chicken a la king can't be dated because I had that a lot when I grew up and I refuse to believe the 90s is that old already.

Is it weird that I rather enjoy sauce-y things on toast?

I do, too! Stouffer's used to have frozen Welsh Rarebit (savory cheese sauce) that was yummy by itself over toast, or better, with bacon and a slice of tomato on that toast then cheese sauce poured over. Can't find it anymore.

Originally Posted by terentii

Were they mushy, like in pea soup?

No, the peas were whole, which raises the whole mysterious issue of "mushy peas," which I understand, you can actually find in a can.

[wolfpup]

Originally Posted by Mama Zappa

Well, liver is evil and preferred only by those who consider **mushrooms** edible, so there's that .

It's probably true that liver is rarely served as a meal nowadays, assuming it ever was particularly popular, but duck, goose, and/or chicken liver is still widely used in paté and just ordinary liverwurst, which are great snack foods. So, not entirely evil. Not sure what one does with cattle liver, though -- I sure wouldn't eat it!

I'm sorry to see that you have some kind of inexplicable aversion to mushrooms, one of the best accent foods around. Mushrooms sauteed in garlic butter on spaghetti, mushrooms on pizza, mushrooms marinated and grilled with steak, gently roasted mushrooms with prime rib -- those are culinary delights. Not to mention the wonders that can be worked on soups, stews, and rice with deep-flavored dried mushrooms like porcinis. What's wrong with you -- did you have some childhood trauma involving being chased by a giant mushroom?

[Maastricht]

Yes, shrimp cocktails! With avocado, or with grapefruit.

Macrobiotic cooking.

Desserts where you whipped powder with milk, poured it in glasses and set the glasses for hours in the fridge. They were considered an improvement over having to boil the milk with the powder first.


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[Maastricht]

Goulash.

Canned salmon. It was considered the height of luxury when I was a kid.

Elaborate alcoholic cocktails, made from a home bar. Too bad this one is gone.

Canned vegetables, its more frozen veggies now.


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[Rick Kitchen]

21 Truly Upsetting Vintage Recipes

[RealityChuck]

Beef tongue
Sweetbreads
Sauerbraten (mostly because of the disappearance of German food in general)
Soft shell (steamer) clams. Next to impossible to find.

[Tom Tildrum]

Some of this stuff pops up in a more modern setting under the rubric "nose to tail" dining.

[dalej42]

Crab claws, which I used to see as an appetizer. I'll assume it's because the prices have gotten so high that it would cost close to the price of an entree.

[bunyupp]

Originally Posted by Bayard

A while back I watched The Blues Brothers again. There's a scene where they go into a vert fancy restaurant to recruit one of the band members, who's working as a waiter there. They order shrimp cocktail. In movies and TV at least, shrimp cocktail used to be the signal that you were in a classy joint. I can't remember the last time I saw it on a menu or heard of anyone having it.

I was in Indianapolis recently and ate at St. Elmo Restaurant which is famous (deservedly so) for their shrimp cocktail.

[terentii]

Originally Posted by mistymage

Eww...too many carbs!! Although I did once enjoy a mock apple pie made with Ritz. I guess there are a few recipes for Ritz Salad: http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-..._salad,FF.html

Such things exist!

https://youtu.be/GFKirXQB9bA?t=840

[Aspenglow]

Chateaubriand. We still eat it, just call it other things now. And don't serve it with the traditional sauce.

[Aspenglow]

Also, Beef Wellington.

[Quimby]

When I was a kid it was much more common to roast and eat whole chickens vs. parts or just breasts. I know people still do it but it used to be the default unless you were frying or BBQing them.

[Donpeyote]

Cheese Blintzes , Liver & Onions

[terentii]

I was really hoping for apples, grapefruit, and potatoes in a mayonnaise sauce!

[silenus]

I have either made or have been served/ordered every single dish on Inner Stickler's lists at least once in 2016. And we've had more than a few shrimp cocktails this year as well, so Bayard's item is checked off too.

You people just aren't eating at the right places!

[bobot]

Originally Posted by Mama Zappa

...

Tuna-noodle casserole comes to mind. ...

I was going to ask if anyone still did this one, with the potato chips on top.

[Trancephalic]

I DEMAND HASENPFEFFER!

Originally Posted by Maastricht

Goulash.

Somebody should've told my ma.

[Aspidistra]

Plum pudding.

Yeah, I know it's still made and eaten regularly. But in my observation, never by anyone under the age of thirty. Once the grandparent generation gets another twenty years on the clock, I predict its slow demise with a brief detour through the kitchens of nursing homes.

[ThelmaLou]

Originally Posted by Rick Kitchen

21 Truly Upsetting Vintage Recipes

That banana candle looks quite naughty.

[Athena]

Originally Posted by silenus

You people just aren't eating at the right places!

This.

I haven't had everything mentioned in this thread, but I've had a lot, and recently.

Namely:

Tuna-Noodle Casserole. In fact, I just mentioned it in this thread as something I have the ingredients for more often than not for a quick, pantry-based meal.

Steak Diane: I've made it more than a few times this year.

I make quiche at least once every couple months. I also see it on menus a fair bit.

Not so much chicken a la king, but I really like tuna a la king and make it occasionally.

Liver, in the form of paté, like wolfpup said.

Elaborate alcoholic cocktails made from a home bar play far too great of a role in my life.

Sauerbraten and German food in general: one of the best restaurants in our town is German, and there's quite a few more springing up around the area.

Beef Wellington: Used to make it for Christmas all the time. I should make it again, it's great.

Roast Chicken, at least once a month.

Salisbury steak, as long as Stouffer's Frozen counts.

[suranyi]

Originally Posted by GoodOmens

Quiche.

We still eat quiche quite often. They sell tons of it at Costco.

[beowulff]

Obligatory link to Lilek's Gallery of Regrettable Food.

[Lamia]

I see aspic has been mentioned already. This topic came up in conversation at work a while back, and several of my colleagues named tomato aspic specifically as an example of a 1950s style dish that no one eats anymore.

[jayjay]

Lobster Thermidor

[Patx2]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

Hams baked with pineapple rings and cherries in the center of each ring
Salisbury Steak
Poke cake

I love a good poke cake. I'm smiling right now because jello isn't as popular as it used to be, but a poke cake made with strawberry jello, yum!

[Patx2]

Clams casino? I recall that being popular but I can't recall the last time I've seen it anywhere.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

Chicken a la King

Maybe we could generalize to "creamed <anything> on toast" is out of fashion.

My mother (not a great cook) used to do creamed hamburger on toast and also something she called "corned beef and English peas" which was also sauce-y and served over toast. The corned beef was from a square can, and I don't know what it was about the (canned) peas that made them English.

Chicken a la king was the first thing I thought of. Can't remember the last time I had it or saw it on a menu anywhere (though it's probably there under some fancy "rebranded" name. )

I eat aspic regularly, as it's a pretty traditional Polish and Eastern European food (especially this time of year), but I wasn't alive during the apparent aspic craze here in the US in the 50s or whenever. I love the stuff (Polish version is usually made with chicken/pork & veggies suspended in aspic) but all of my non-Eastern-European rooted friends think it's the most disgusting thing ever. It is so difficult for me to imagine it having any sort of popularity here, although I wouldn't discount it making a comeback now that I've seen things like offal make a comeback at mid-to-high end restaurants.

[pulykamell]

Also, rumaki? My mom used to make those all the time when I was a kid (though a simplified version of just chicken livers and bacon) when a James Bond movie was playing on the networks on a weekend night. (She probably made them other times, but I most associate it with James Bond movie nights when we'd both plow through probably a dozen chicken livers each throughout the movie.)

[terentii]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

No, the peas were whole, which raises the whole mysterious issue of "mushy peas," which I understand, you can actually find in a can.

Mushy peas are a British thing, often served along with bangers and mash (grilled sausages and mashed potatoes). They're just what the name implies, and it's like eating very thick pea soup.

They are indeed sold in cans; in Toronto, I buy mine at the Bulk Barn. There are also do-it-yourself kits with dried peas sold in boxes. (I passed on these after reading the ingredients and seeing all the chemicals involved.)

[Ukulele Ike]

Americans HATE organ meats. I'm amazed that the liver-and-onions eaters are only a generation behind us.

I love pulykamell's rumaki, though I haven't made it in years. The Ukulele Lady and I enjoy chicken livers several times a year, but the bacon would turn her off these days.

There used to be Argentinean steak houses all over NYC, where there would be a Mixed Grill of two kinds of steak, two kinds of sausage, plus kidneys and sweetbreads. That was how I learned to love sweetbreads...they can be unpleasantly mushy if braised, but they're GREAT grilled. Especially with chimichurri on the side.

Jane & Michael Stern's excellent SQUARE MEALS has a great tuna-noodle casserole recipe in the "Cuisine of Suburbia" section, called, I think, "He Man's Tuna Casserole." I've made it for young Banjo many times, and he still asks for it at the age of 21. But it's just as much work as a Chicken or Turkey or Duck Tetrazzini, which is much more delicious.