# Those dishes of yesteryear **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266 "2005-08-09T13:28:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/121 "2005-08-11T00:15:55Z")
> [@Hello Again](#): > > What edition do you have? They completely revised it around 1997. B ut I have the '72 version of Joy and it is absolutely indispensible as a baking cookbook and as a reference for general cooking theory and practice. > > Don’t you be dissin _The Joy of Cooking_\*. Isn’t that the version with instructions on skinning 'possums et al? :eek: I agree, though. **The Joy** is **in** dispensable in any kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/122 "2005-08-11T00:37:23Z")
Somewhere I have a 1938 publication entitled _America’s Cook Book_. Strictly a family heirloom, no one’s dared make a recipe from it in at least a generation (I guess it’s got weird old ingredients and/or measurements in it, firkins, hogsheads, asbestos flour, who knows.) Anyway, it’s incredible. Pages and pages on how to make good dough and stuff you can make out of it. A primer on deep frying. Huge drippy roast-beast platters no one in 1938 could probably afford to make. I feel like I’ve just had sex with June Allyson every time I read it. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/123 "2005-08-11T01:16:18Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Potato ricers have made a comeback. My mom had one of these. I can’t recall her using it, but I used to love playing with it as a kid. A couple of fondue restaurants seem to be making a go of it in the San Jose area, surprisingly enough. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/124 "2005-08-11T02:20:39Z")
> [@Oslo Ostragoth](#): > > Make your own. I think I will. The ones I buy at the deli are good, but they sometimes have hard tops that I need to cut off before I can eat… like part of the beet dried out or was burnt or something. Like I said, I’ll ask Grandma for her recipe. > [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Somewhere I have a 1938 publication entitled _America’s Cook Book_. Strictly a family heirloom, no one’s dared make a recipe from it in at least a generation (I guess it’s got weird old ingredients and/or measurements in it, firkins, hogsheads, asbestos flour, who knows.) Anyway, it’s incredible. Pages and pages on how to make good dough and stuff you can make out of it. A primer on deep frying. Huge drippy roast-beast platters no one in 1938 could probably afford to make. I feel like I’ve just had sex with June Allyson every time I read it. I have a cookbook something like that, almost all the women in my family have a copy. It’s called [Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens](http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/002001/f1/nlc009047-v6.jpg), the main difference though is we still use it. Only some of the recipes have strange measurements (such as 'buy a penny’s worth of [insert product here]) but they were inserted more for curiousity value. I love that cookbook. Reminds me, I still need to try my hand at oatcakes… ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/125 "2005-08-11T02:32:41Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > I feel like I’ve just had sex with June Allyson every time I read it. [Google images,](http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&imgsz=xxlarge&newwindow=1&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=June+Allyson) and yes, if I were my grandfather’s age and had the chance in the 40’s, I would have. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/126 "2005-08-11T03:25:41Z")
Random responses to some of the previous posts: My JOC is my bible. It’s falling apart but since the newest one is full of recipes whose ingredients include such things as canned soup I’m not interested. I’m seriously thinking of scanning the best pages because it’s not going to last much longer. I’ve never heard of chili as a side dish or appetizer. EVER in 47 years. But then, I’ve also never heard of it with macaroni or without…you know…_chili_. The following items are served in my house on a monthly basis: Pot Roast Swiss Steak Meat Loaf Stuffed Bell Peppers On a more quarterly than monthly basis: Chili Beef Stroganoff Corned beef and cabbage But just as often we have grilled salmon; roasted vegetables such as asparagus, zucchini, peppers, leeks; spinach pizza; vegetable slaws; homemade breads such as focaccia and ciabatta; so we’re just as likely to have something quick, healthy, or trendy. And I work full-time and am a single mother. I think the likelihood of these dishes being served in your home depends more on how talented the cook is and how much they enjoy cooking. But of course the family’s tastes would enter into it. I do take exception to whoever called these “old fashioned” foods “bland” - maybe YOUR mother’s food was bland… 😉 Tater tots are just as popular as they ever were. In fact, in 2003, Americans consumed 70 million pounds of OreIda Tater Tots. That doesn’t even count the imitators. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/127 "2005-08-11T04:08:05Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > What about green beans caserole? With the french-fried onions and mushroom soup? My mother always made it with real onions. Mmmm! My family always has this at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s one of the few things I’ll make myself. I love corned beef and cabbage, but I’m not wild about the idea of cooking any in my apartment. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/128 "2005-08-11T05:19:26Z")
My mum also would make chili for dinner, and that was dinner. Maybe we’d have buns with it, but nothing else. Then when I hit 30, I found I couldn’t make and eat my mum’s chili recipe without gastrointestinal repercussions. Oh, dear. But if I made my mum’s chili and served it over plain white rice… So that’s how I make it these days. I like meat loaf, too. I make spaghett/pasta sauce, meat-rich, and then add egg, bread crumbs, etc. and the leftover sauce turns into meat loaf. Meat loaf, chili, spaghetti, all sorts of Campbell’s soup/ground beef casseroles… Still good eating. Also my mum’s “salmon casserole” which involved canned salmon, almonds, rice, and a potato chip crust. Mmmmm. Pickled beets? Side dish, occasionally, while I was growing up. Beef stroganoff? Definitely, and damn, it was good, too. I never got Chicken a la King, though! ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/129 "2005-08-11T14:11:12Z")
Dunno if it’s something unique to the midwest, but I remember eating Dumplets Dinner by the freakin’ metric ton when I was a kid. Wavy pasta noodles with a buttery, MSGey sauce. Actually, I’ve been thinking about this stuff a lot recently. Maybe I finally worked out all of the MSG put into my system back then, and I need topping off. > [@Beware of Doug](#): > > . . .asbestos flour. . . Man. What I wouldn’t give for some asbestos flour. I encounter a need for it fortnightly. ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/130 "2005-08-11T14:49:16Z")
Dang! This thread is making me hungry! wanders off to kitchen . . . ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/131 "2005-08-11T18:49:39Z")
> [@Hello Again](#): > > Sure there’s more prepared food but that’s not why no one wants liver & onions. Meat prices have gotten cheaper and there’s no particular reason to serve offal any more. If you can get chicken parts for 99/lb (very common price for thighs and sale price for whole chickens) why feed your kids something that culturally, we consider dog food? Because it’s nutritious and delicious? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/132 "2005-08-11T19:07:45Z")
Liver is only suitable for dogs? It’s great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266/133 "2005-08-11T19:31:13Z")
I said that _culturally_ Americans consider it dog food (compared to say, the British, Americans are not very fond of any kind of organ meat). Just look at any grocery store. Compare the amount of liver available at the butcher (little, if any at all is sold) to the number of different types of dog food that are Liver flavored. If you tell people you like liver, they are likely to say “gross!” Personally, I like liverwurst, which is made from liver, and people act like I some special breed of freak. Also, a lot pof people think that liver is full of toxins. I don’t know if that’s in any way true. But since people know the liver’s job is to filter/process toxins, it’s a pretty common belief. In sum, Americans are adverse to organ meats, and would choose practically anything else over it if it was within their budget. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-dishes-of-yesteryear/316266.md?page=6)