# Your favorite retro/forgotten/by-gone foods **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [January 4, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611 "2024-01-04T21:56:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/61 "2024-01-06T16:56:12Z")
Middle School Cafeteria Pizza Italian Dunkers (Essentially open faced stale hotdog bun with government mozz and a tomato and hamburger flavored dipping sauce) Burger King Whopper from the 90’s I would make when I was done with my shift. Szechuan Sauce and McNuggets, Rick & Morty were right about that. Nacho Bell Grande when it was good, i.e. when chopped green onions were sprinkled on it and the refried beans didn’t taste like caulking compound. Newcastle beer before being ruined by Heineken. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/62 "2024-01-06T16:56:39Z")
My mother liked liver and onions. Not me. I could eat it if served, but I don’t choose it for myself. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/63 "2024-01-06T16:58:07Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Newcastle beer before being ruined by Heineken. Newcastle was garbage even before Heineken messed with it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/64 "2024-01-06T16:59:58Z")
For retro recipes I’d say Watergate Salad (pistachio pudding mix, cool whip, marshmallow and pineapple)…it was largely forgotten but it apparently is making a comeback. It has been my go to for potlucks for years. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/65 "2024-01-06T17:04:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > > [@Sitnam](#): > > > > Newcastle beer before being ruined by Heineken. > > Newcastle was garbage even before Heineken messed with it. 😛 Fair. The only alcoholic beverage I enjoy is English-style pub ale. No one else likes that in Midwestern America generally so I have to take home small quantities of local brews. It’s only a problem if I am at a scuzz bar and the full range of options is mostly Bud or Bud Lite. Newcastle used to be acceptable. Now it is not even that. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/66 "2024-01-06T17:09:40Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Steak au poivre? The name rings a bell and sounds like a Don Draper three martini lunch dish. I think it’s just steak with a cream sauce and capers? Steak au poivre comes with either a gravy made from meat drippings and stock, with cracked peppercorns that create a crust on the steak when it’s broiled; or _a la creme_, which is the above gravy finished with cream, which I love. I can’t find it on any local steakhouse menu. Spaghetti carbonara is another one that I can’t find in local restaurants, probably because it involves using raw eggs. As for fondue, we used to do two fondues every New Year’s Day, one for cheese and another for oil for things like small meatballs. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/67 "2024-01-06T17:13:33Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > My mother liked liver and onions. Not me. I could eat it if served, but I don’t choose it for myself. My mother just made liver. She didn’t like making complicated dishes. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/68 "2024-01-06T17:41:39Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Spaghetti carbonara is another one that I can’t find in local restaurants, probably because it involves using raw eggs. I see it a lot on menus, but it invariably lists cream as an ingredient, I suspect so the sauce can be cooked to eliminate concerns over raw eggs. I just make carbonara at home because I almost always have the ingredients on hand and it’s so easy. Plus, restaurant versions invariably disappoint. > [@silenus](#): > > You are obviously not stationed at Pituffik AFB Greenland. > > [Buy Cold Weather MRE #4 -Turkey Tetrazzini | SURVIVAL SUPPLIES](https://epidemicproof.com/products/2022-cold-weather-mre-meal-4-turkey-tetrazzini) Turkey Tetrazzini! Maybe not as “elegant” as I had in mind, but I am for sure going to make some soon. I had completely forgotten about it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/69 "2024-01-06T17:56:47Z")
The McDonald’s Cheddar Melt. I’m sure it would not at all live up to my memories of it in the 80s (or was it early 90s?), but I loved that thing as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/70 "2024-01-06T18:10:02Z")
Arthur Treachers. I Love malt vinegar! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/71 "2024-01-06T18:14:51Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > I see it a lot on menus, but it invariably lists cream as an ingredient, I suspect so the sauce can be cooked to eliminate concerns over raw eggs. Maybe. Or perhaps they don’t know the difference between carbonara and alfredo? You’re right: it’s dead easy to make and so good if done properly and the eggs aren’t scrambled. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/72 "2024-01-06T18:26:34Z")
When I was a kid, Mom seemed to have the idea that nobody wanted to eat the heels from a loaf of bread, so she’d always save them in a big paper bag from the supermarket. When the bag was full (and the bread so stale that nobody could eat it even if they _liked_ the heels), she’d break them all into her largest stock pot, drench them with milk, add sugar, vanilla extract and raisins, and cook it until the crusts were soft. She’d only do this on Saturdays, so we kids (8-10 of us any given year) would have plenty of time to mow through it all. Never called it “bread pudding,” though. Just “bread and milk.” Can’t get that any more (especially since I’ve since learned that I quite like the crust-ends). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/73 "2024-01-06T18:31:37Z")
I like to eat bread pudding hot, straight from the oven, along with peanut butter straight from the jar. 😊 ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/74 "2024-01-06T19:36:32Z")
Frozen Chicken Kiev is in most grocery stores here. A variation with cheddar and broccoli, too. I bake in a little aluminum foil boat in case of leakage. Swanson sells cans of Chicken Ala King. Fixed up with mushrooms/any leftover bits of chicken, butter, and a dash of sherry, over rice or toast, it’s not bad! Prepared cheese fondue can be heated in a pan and poured over chunks of crusty bread in a bowl if no fondue set. I live alone and do this. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/75 "2024-01-06T20:14:13Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Alligator was like fishy beef, not my ideal combination. But it wasn’t a great cut, just some gator bites and bits. I want to try a decent cut done by a decent chef sometime. > > Rattlesnake actually made me think of rabbit. I had both alligator and rattlesnake at a vendor party at a conference once. Their marketing push was around exploring. Both were fine, but nothing I wanted to go looking after. And there were no lines at those stations. Emu and ostrich, on the other hand, are both great. Rabbit is okay. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/76 "2024-01-06T20:17:03Z")
When I was a kid growing up in Queens in the late '50s the Chinese restaurant we went to served Cantonese style food, especially lobster Cantonese. Haven’t seen that in decades. My mother made chicken a la king fairly often, but it isn’t something I miss. (Hers was fine, I’m just past dishes like that.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/77 "2024-01-06T20:31:47Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > When I was a kid growing up in Queens in the late '50s the Chinese restaurant we went to served Cantonese style food, especially lobster Cantonese. Haven’t seen that in decades. Still found here in the northeast at most large Chinese restaurants. Lobster is less commonly found in small mainly take-out places. Shrimp with Lobster Sauce is the same dish made with shrimp, Lobster Sauce refers to the sauce in Lobster Cantonese. In New York and Philadelphia the Lobster Sauce was a light egg sauce, here in RI and MA I’ve mainly found it as a dark sauce although they’ll usually make the light version on request. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/78 "2024-01-06T21:35:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The McDonald’s Cheddar Melt. Along that line, we loved the KFC beef ribs. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/79 "2024-01-06T21:46:46Z")
KFC had beef ribs? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2024, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611/80 "2024-01-06T22:14:24Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > Imagine you were making a menu for an upscale restaurant in the '50s. What kind of stuff would you put on there. You’d get a kick out of **[the online menu collection at the LA Public Library](https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/lapl-indexes/menu-collection)**, which you can narrow down to any decade or year (note: site doesn’t work with the Edge browser, works fine with Firefox) and request only menus that have actual images of the original menus. The New York Public Library has a similar collection. In one or both collections, menus go back to at least the 1910s. For instance, a special dinner at the Ambassador, Los Angeles, in honour of Nikita Khrushchev, September 19, 1959: [![](https://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/fullsize/d/rb04072-03.jpg) ](https://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/fullsize/d/rb04072-03.jpg) Menu at the Armstrong-Schroder, Bevery Hills, 1955: [![](https://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/fullsize/j/rb03858-02.jpg) ](https://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/fullsize/j/rb03858-02.jpg) [![](https://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/fullsize/j/rb03858-03.jpg) ](https://dbase1.lapl.org/images/menus/fullsize/j/rb03858-03.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-retro-forgotten-by-gone-foods/995611.md?page=5)