When we eat chili, that’s all we eat. That’s all we need. We use tons of meat (ground beef and sirloin cubes), beans, onions, and home-canned tomatoes, juice and chunks. Topped with grated cheese, and served with corn chips (they make good crackers).
I’m going to keep checking in here, cuz you’re all reminding me of good stuff that we haven’t head for awhile.
Bread pudding, anyone? With lemon or whisky sauce?
Restaurant menus in Buffalo tend to be far more nostalgic than what you would find in many other aprts of the country. In many places – not old people meat-and-three diners, but regular restaurants – the menus are practically out of the 1950s, the only difference being the prices. The words “fried”, “roat” and “broiled” seem to prefix every other item.
Here’s a typical old-school Buffalo-style restaurant menu. Some highluights:
Smoked Polish Sausage Platter with Sauerkraut
Liver & Onions
Roast Pulled Pork Platter
Roast Turkey Dinner
The Big Meatloaf Platter
Open Face Roast Beef Platter
Of course, “all entrees served with (choice of 2) Homemade french fries, homemade cole slaw, fresh garlic mashed potatoes, rice & red beans, Baked Southern white bean casserole with bacon, vegetable, macaroni salad or chef salad”
Casserole. That’s a wond you don’t see in many restaurants nowadays.
Oddly enough, when I saw the title for this thread, the first dish I thought of was chicken a la king. I was also reminded of Calivn Trillin’s comment that because of the sudden disappearance of the once-common dish from American menus, there must be large silos throughout the midwest stored with all the surplus chicken a la king from the 50’s. Pot roast and meatloaf, however, are now considered fashionably retro so they’ve made a comeback onto restaurant menus as “comfort foods.”
As for my own experience, I sometimes ate at a restaurant called The Shack that used to serve Depression-era dishes like beef heart in gravy, kidney, ham and lima beans (which I actually liked), and the aforementioned liver and onions. When I was there, I often wondered if enough people still ordered those items to justify their continued presence on the menu. The Shack closed a few years ago and is now a Thai place.
Also, one time I was perusing on-line the menus of a number of New York delis and noticed nearly all of them featured tongue sandwiches which something I have never seen in any eating establishment I’ve ever been in. Then again, I’ve spent most of my life in the Western U.S. so my experience in this area is pretty limited.
You bet it was a mistake. They mean to win Wimbledon.
Hoots, mon! I got tae hurry, I dinna wanna be late for ma kilt fittin’!
Do they have delis where you live? I’ve never been to a deli that didn’t have tongue on the menu.
I just remembered another staple that’s disappeared.
Corned beef and cabbage.
I can’t even get corned beef here, except for that crap in a can (and Spam’s the only crap in a can I’ll eat).
Can’t get beef heart or tongue either, dammit. Mom used to fix beef heart often. I always thought it was special meat (rich people food), because there was no fat on it. Lean = good stuff. (I don’t think that way anymore – give me a ribeye with a good chunk of fat in the middle and I’m happy.)
I didn’t realize that a lot of the stuff I grew up eating was depression-era food, but I guess it was.
I wonder if anyone will ever feel nostalgic about pizza, sushi, grilled salmon, or pad thai.
My mom did that, and I do that. No sandwiches with it or anything like that. I crumble tortilla chips into my chili and put cheese, sour cream, and guacamole in if I’ve got those things.
But, then again, multicourse meals where more than one course requires more work than heating in the microwave are kind of rare for us, just because Mr. Neville and I usually barely have the energy to fix one dish for dinner as is. My mother didn’t really enjoy cooking, so the same was true for her.
Pizza is definitely comfort food for me, especially for breakfast. Sweet & sour chicken or fried rice are also comfort foods for me.
I know several women who desperately missed sushi while they were pregnant and couldn’t have it.
Tongue is delicious. When I’ve had it, it was sliced thin with a bit of a sweet, fruity glaze to it… salty and sweet together, mmmm. Most people are grossed out, and they’ll say things like “I don’t want to eat any food that tastes me right back,” but it’s most comparable to corned beef or pastrami, and a nice change from those once in a while.
The only place I ever see corned beef and cabbage on the menu anymore is at Irish-style pubs, and I often wonder about the freshness, since these are establishments that serve lots of alcohol and probably not nearly as much food, despite having menus. Luckily, most supermarket meat sections I’ve seen sell large cuts of corned beef, which are easy to cook at home – just boil it for a few hours in a big pot with a cored, quartered head of cabbage and some salt and pepper.
I love sushi. I hear that things don’t look good for the continued survival of most of what we eat in a sushi bar. Should that turn out to be true, I for one will be very nostalgic.
Hey, that diner is 2 minutes from my house. The First State Diner, I believe. I think I’ve only ever been there for breakfast, but my parents eat there all the time.
-G
What did you hear, and where did you hear it? 
:eek: 
Yeah, that’s the one! Very odd place. People screaming at each other in the kitchen. Waitresses who have no idea what the items on the menu are and have to ask the managers for help in pronouncing the names. Eisenhower-era food. Tasty, though, but definitely artery clogging.
I don’t see many restaurants serving chicken n’ dumplings anymore and that’s a crying shame. Course, having fixed them once from scratch myself I can’t say I blame them as it took the better part of an afternoon.
Dear ol’ Mom used to fix a shredded beef in a disturbingly orange, greasy tomato sauce on an open hamburger bun concoction. I’m thinking it was a “Manwhich” or some such name that only appealed to hapless teenage boys as a potential substitute for chest hair.
Auntie Pam Are you sure you can’t get Corned beef there? We’ve been able to buy in every state in which I’ve lived - Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Tennessee. You can buy it at Wal-Mart. We have it a few times a year. Corned beef and cabbage with boiled potatoes and carrots. Yum!
StG
Mmmmm, chicken ‘n’ dumplings.
I have a version that takes under 30 minutes, if you’re willing to live with using premade chicken stock and having drop dumplings instead of rolled dumplings. This recipe makes enough for two.
Ingredients:
Whatever parts of the chicken you like. Mr. Neville and I use skinless boneless breasts and skinless bone-in thighs (the breasts are for me, the thighs are for him). You can use frozen chicken; if you do, there’s no need to thaw it.
Frozen peas & carrots
Chicken stock (enough to cover the chicken, more if you like it soupy)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water.
You can cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and remove any bones, but I don’t.
Boil the chicken in the chicken stock. Reduce heat to a simmer. If the chicken was frozen, simmer for a few minutes to make sure it’s thawed.
Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
Mix the water into the flour mixture. Stir until there are no dry lumps.
Add the frozen peas & carrots to the pot with the chicken. Simmer for a few minutes to make sure they are thawed.
Drop tablespoonsful of the dumpling dough into the pot with the chicken. Dunk any dumplings that float.
When the dumplings no longer look liquidy, wait a couple of minutes to make sure they’re cooked through, and it’s ready.
Serve in pasta bowls.
AuntiePam I’m surpised you can’t find corned beef. It’s become more of a seasonal thing, but you can’t move around here near St. Patrick’s Day without tripping over a stack.
lieu, Manwich was a canned sauce that you were supposed to mix with browned hamburger to make Sloppy Joes. It was basically a sweet tomato sauce.
I’ve definitely rediscovered the joys of mushroom soup. Casseroles are one of the only things I can make, besides spaghetti (and chili) that the whole family will eat.
If you want to get them at a restaurant, Cracker Barrel has them.
Pot roast? Onion dip?? Creamed peas??? OH MY GOD!!! I weep for the comfort foods of yesteryear. Although, back in the day, we just called it stuff we liked to eat. Anyone like stuffed peppers? My grandmother’s were always good. Rice, tuna, sauteed veggies[onions, zucchini, some garlic.] Baked in the oven napped with a very thin tomato sauce, to allow for evaporation. Dee-lish. Tuna croquettes too, and corn fritters. The recipe came from THE Bible of 50’s cuisine, the Betty Crocker cookbook[the big red-covered loose-leaf bindered one we all remember] Creamed peas MUST be served with meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It’s the ultimate meal if you are into plate-licking. Oh sure, just me I guess. For fast hot turkey and gravy sandwiches, buy thick sliced turkey beast at the deli[8 slices to the pound is a nice thickness] Swiss steak takes a lot of time, but if you make a big batch you’ll have plenty of leftovers[this freezes very well] Chipped beef is fairly common around here, every coupla’ Sunday’s I gotta’ have me some. Bread pudding? Maida Heatter’s recipe is ethereal, and once you’ve tried it, you’ll never be satisfied with whatever you’re familiar with. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but a good poundcake or chiffon cake will fill the bill. Cabbage rolls, called galumpkees around here, are good. 86 the kraut for me, though. Is it time to have a “Dishes of Yesteryear” Dopefest?
cher3, StGermain – there! Now I have a reason to go to a Wal-Mart. Thanks. I didn’t even think of them. I figured if it’s not at a HyVee, it’s not in Iowa, anywhere.
quiltguy (quilt guy? hmmmm, maybe you could help me with a basting issue) – creamed peas! Yes! Gotta have them with “new” potatoes though.
Anyone hungry for pickled beets yet?
Pickled beets…yum! I used to eat those as a child all the time. Then I got to where I couldn’t stand them. Now, on the other side of 50, I like them again. Go figure. 