(emphasis added)
Hmm… 12-15 pounds of money - I hope you can use coins! 
Around here its the essential “obligatory gift” to people you aren’t close to. And though there are people who actually eat them, I don’t know any.
MarcusF–I think I confused the two-I was very small when we had plum pudding (I think we may have only had it twice). But I well remember the thick, hard, crusty white “icing” that covered some dessert (it must have been the fruitcake)–I loved the white stuff, hated the cake part. I think my grandmother must have changed recipes --she started sending these round fruticakes in a tin–which weighed a ton and reeked of either brandy or rum. No white crusty sweet stuff, sadly.
I have heard of the custom of the sixpence in the pudding–why not do it this holiday? The kids might get a kick out of it (or break their teeth).
I think a lot of it is regional/ cultural. Before I moved to the midwest (southern Illinois), I thought that Krispy Kreme doughnut shops died out in the fifties. I have since learned just how wrong I was, and added “go under a waterfall of glaze” to my list of lifetime goals.
On a very similar note, bread pudding was another of those things that I thought no one ever ate anymore, until my husband found a recipe for Krispy Kreme bread pudding. The house smelled wonderful while he was making it, but in the end it was pretty bland and a waste of a lot of good doughnuts.
Also, every grocery store near me - from the mildly upscale (Dierbergs) to the discount (Shop N’ Save) has limburger cheese.
I remember eating a Swanson frozen dinner (it officially wasn’t called a TV Dinner by then) which featured sauerbraten, spaetzle, red cabbage, and some kind of dessert. This would have been about 1970. I wonder how long that particular variety has been off the market.
Michigan is one of the states in which you can still find plenty of German restaurants. I’ve eaten at Schnitzelbank in Grand Rapids, and recommend it to any Dopers who find themselves in that city.
What’s tongue like? Is there anything about its taste or consistency that’s odd? Or do people just avoid it because of the the idea is somehow repellent?
I’m afraid to try it for fear I won’t know when I’m done chewing. 
I’ve never tried most “variety” meats (=organs), but I have had steak and kidney pie at the Kingshead in Santa Monica, and thought it was pretty good.
I miss German food! All of the German restaurants I used to know of around West L.A. (and even the Valley) are gone. Must be because there are now like, 2 Germans living in L.A. I suppose. We just don’t get the Northern European immigrants any more.
Unless Spiny_Norman still lives here…he’s Danish and that would make 3 Europeans.
Fishsticks. I think fishsticks made of 70% of the grocers freezer in the 70’s. The only other stuff in there was frozen pizza (bad in a way only 70’s could be), Ice Cream (available in Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry and FUCK YOU!), a handful of frozen vegetable cubepacks, and frozen Orange Juice Concentrate.
Fishsticks are still around, but they are nowhere near as prominent as they were back in the day. Many fishstick makers now make something more like a British Fried Fish from Fish & Chips.
There was also Orbitz which every science geek had a bottle of on their desk, but that nobody drank. This was because it was like drinking fruit flavored Phlegm.
I loved Orbitz! Everyone decries it, but then we had a Bubble Tea craze a couple years back. What was Orbitz but prepackaged clear Bubble Tea with itty bitty “bubbles”?
Tang!
Making bread pudding out of doughnuts? No wonder it didn’t work! I usually make it by request during the holidays, plus sometimes just because, as it’s easy, cheap, and tasty.
INGREDIENTS:
6 slices day-old bread
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups warm milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 inch square baking pan or 8" X 12" casserole dish. (Or I just use a spray and it works fine.)
Break bread into small pieces. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with the raisins. (I personally can’t see why you wouldn’t want them, but I’ve gotten the request before.)
In a medium mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Beat until well mixed. Add in the bread, mix well (I suggest by hand), and add to prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.
I think I’ve got a carton of the FU flavor in my freezer right now. From now on peanut butter and ice cream are no longer acceptable combinations in Casa de SpazCat.
Was it that Publix Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl stuff? Usually their ice cream is really good, so we were delighted to try the new flavor, but ugh! Even the kids wouldn’t eat it and we eventually threw it out. (I wrote Publix a polite e-mail and got a coupon for free ice cream).
Thos nasty orange Circus Peanut candies. My mother eats bagsful of those each month. We call them Chemical Peanuts.
StG
I’ve never cooked it myself; it was always something I’d buy at the deli, like pastrami or corned beef. Thus, it was prepared and sliced thin…I’d either take it home to make sandwiches or get it on a sandwich to eat in or take out. I never felt there was anything odd about the taste or consistency. Beefy, yummy goodness piled high on rye with some horseradish mustard, and a dill pickle and maybe a potato knish on the side. Wash it down with a Dr.Brown’s cream soda. Dang! Now I’m hungry!
The people I know who didn’t like it, didn’t like the idea. At a party we once threw, we had all kinds of goodies from the local Jewish deli for knoshing on. After eating a particulary tasty sandwich, one gal asked what that meat was (pointing). I told her tongue. She said no way. Without thinking, I gathered up the slices still in the deli paper and pushed them together. When the obvious cross-section of a tongue appeared, she was horrified - despite the fact she’d liked it when she ate it.
I’d guess you’d like it, if you’re OK with organ meats and such. I mean, I like hearts and gizzards and my only objection to liver is the flavor (though it’s fine as an ingredient in a dish). Oh, and chopped chicken liver is great, but I don’t like fried chicken livers.
Wild Goose (Canada Goose) is big here in Northwest Ohio. You wouldn’t likely find it on a menu at a restaurant. But if you know some Hunters they are usually more than willing to get rid of one or two to make room in the freezer. I’ve had it, and it wasn’t too bad, but if I were to have cooked it I would have done some things differently… the times I’ve had it, it was badly marinated and very dry.
Black Bear is not uncommon here near the Ohio Valley and Appalaichans, although I’ve never tried it… my neighbors growing up were Bowhunters and would take a trip down to Tennesee or go up the U.P. and invariably come home with a Boar or Sow. Don’t know whether they ate it or not, but there is an abundance of Bear Recipes on the internet (Even saw a recipe for Bear Lasagna…heh!). This is a useful link for its characteristics, care, and preservation. Apparently, Bear Lard makes some mean pastry goods as well.
I’ve made a kind of deviled ham for sandwiches with leftover Easter Ham. Does that count?
If you follow my Mutton link to the Moonlite Barbecue Inn in Kentucky you can purchase Sorghum Syrup. I’ve personally never tried it, but I have had a rather interesting and delicious sugar beet syrup in Germany. I’d kill for some fresh and still warm Brotchen from the Baker down the street drizzled with zuckerruben sirup.
Hi devilsknew.
Eating goose and bear may not be unheard of, but it’s not nearly as common as it used to be. Who in the US, for example, still prepares a Christmas goose? And in the past, bear meat would not have seemed at all exotic, but now, I think most Americans would be surprised (and many appalled) to find it on their plate.
It’s getting hard to find sorghum syrup. They have a sorghum festival in Blairsville, GA, where I can get some, and it’s also available at the Farmers’ Market in Decatur. (For that matter, you can get some with your biscuits at many Cracker Barrel locations, if you know to ask.)
It used to be, though, that sorghum syrup was very common in these parts, and easily obtainable. Every supermarket carried it in the syrups and jellies section. Often, it came in a paint-can-like containers. For generations, sorghum syrup was on most breakfast tables (in the South, anyway).
Nowadays, you have to search for the stuff.
I don’t know about the donuts part either. Real bread pudding isn’t that hard to make with regular bread and it was easilly found in New Orleans when I lived there. Famous restaurants often had their special recipe for a liquor based sauce (like whiskey) for it. My wife makes it when we have big groups over. It is actually a superior desert and incredibly appealing when made correctly.
Well, you may never have heard this before, but it’s kinda greasy.
