A friend of mine wants to have a 1950’s themed dinner on Friday. She already has plans for many Jello molds filled with unnatural things, but she’s looking for help in coming up with the rest of the meal. There will be martinis, too. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Pot roast with new potatoes was always a good Sunday meal. You’ll need incredibly brightly colored peas and carrots as a vegetable.
Other options would be a casserole, or spaghetti and meatballs with cheap chianti. Does Franco-American still make that spaghtetti with the almost orange sauce?
For dessert, apple or cherry pie a la mode, or angel food, white, or devil’s food cake from a mix. Don’t use a mix for frosting, though. You want powdered sugar with vanilla scalded in boiling water and smeared on the cake until it becomes as hard as an Aqua-Net flip.
You could serve a Swanson’s TV dinner, but now they put them in microwavable plates. If it’s not in the original aluminum foil tray, it’s not the same thing.
As you can guess, I’m really not a fan of 50s-era cooking.
You can’t do better than this site.
Eve, that’s an excellent idea.
Basandre, don’t kill me. And don’t let her kill me either.
looking to try and find out if Fondue was arround or popular in USA in the 50’s I found this interesting cite http://www.foodtimeline.org/ .
Not a food, but an activity.
When people come to the door, she should say, “Are you now or have you ever been a communist?” and if they say yes, they get blackballed from the dinner.
Considering what food from the 50’s was like, maybe those that say “yes” should be the ones forced to eat the dinner.
As for fondue, I always thought it was popular during the 70’s and it’s re-emergence has to do with nostalgia for that decade.
As for what to serve, I suggest a dinner with **Chicken ala’ King ** as the main course. (I always had the impression that was a dish popular in restaurants during the 50’s but I could be wrong.)
Just take everyone out to the Automat.
TV dinners?
I also like the Chicken ala King idea mentioned - served in pastry shells with peas.
VCNJ~
Meat fondue (the one with meat cooked in hot oil) was popularised in US during the 50’s but cheese fondue only got popular in the 70’s. Since meat fondue tends to suck unless you use very good beef (in which case it is still a bit of a waste of fillet steak) I don’t think I’d suggest it.
A wedge of iceberg lettuce with a dollop of Miracle Whip.
Canned vegetables boiled for 20 minutes.
That how my mom cooked 'em! :: where’s that pukey smiley? ::
Meatloaf.
I kinda like fondue, to be honest, though I hardly ever eat it.
Your friend may want to have some hamburgers and/or hot dogs in reserve. They’re both good fifties foods, and her guests will be grateful for them once the camp and novelty wear off and they realize “Omigod, this is crap! We’ve been eating crap!”
Segregate the bathrooms?