Retro Recipes

SilverSage

SilverSage

Resident Crone
I found myself going down a rabbit hole this morning when I clicked a link about recipes from the 50's and 60's. Two hours later, I have the urge to revisit some of those dishes that I haven't seen in decades. I thought it would be fun if folks wanted to play along. No rules, just simple.

Every week I plan to make one old time dish that I haven't had in years. Some could seem quite fancy in their day, like Steak Diane or Boeuf Bourguignon. Others were simple, like Jello Salads, Chicken and Dumplings, Salisbury Steak. There were desserts; Ambrosia, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Baked Alaska. My mother always used convenience foods and soup for Chicken ala King and Tuna Casserole. There are so many more that come to mind. When is the last time anyone had Fondue or Rumaki?

Is anyone up to play along? Once a week (or whenever the mood strikes you), dig up something from your memory bank, make it, and share it with all of us.
 
SilverSage said:
I found myself going down a rabbit hole this morning when I clicked a link about recipes from the 50's and 60's. Two hours later, I have the urge to revisit some of those dishes that I haven't seen in decades. I thought it would be fun if folks wanted to play along. No rules, just simple.

Every week I plan to make one old time dish that I haven't had in years. Some could seem quite fancy in their day, like Steak Diane or Boeuf Bourguignon. Others were simple, like Jello Salads, Chicken and Dumplings, Salisbury Steak. There were desserts; Ambrosia, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Baked Alaska. My mother always used convenience foods and soup for Chicken ala King and Tuna Casserole. There are so many more that come to mind. When is the last time anyone had Fondue or Rumaki?

Is anyone up to play along? Once a week (or whenever the mood strikes you), dig up something from your memory bank, make it, and share it with all of us.
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Sounds great, Kathy - I'm game!

Lee
 
Man, if nothing else, it's been fun going through my mom and grandmother's old recipe cards, and my first cookbook (Better Homes and Gardens, 1968 edition).

So far, I've pulled out 5 or 6 recipe cards I want to make, LOL!

Many of the dishes I grew up with, I still make, but I'm trying to remember non-dessert dishes that I haven't had since childhood.

Lee
 
This caught my attention because I bought a pineapple to make a salsa over blackened Chilean sea bass. Judy looked disappointed, and asked for a pineapple upside down cake. That was a few days ago and the pineapple is still sitting here. The fish is still in the freezer.

When I was looking through those old time recipe sites, one of them was pineapple upside down cake. I thought "Oh, why not."

Most of the online versions use a can of pineapple and a cake mix, but I pulled out King Arthur's Baking Book and went from scratch. It's in the oven now.
 
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SilverSage said:
This caught my attention because I bought a pineapple to make a salsa over blackened Chilean sea bass. Judy looked disappointed, and asked for a pineapple upside down cake. That was a few days ago and the pineapple is still sitting here. The fish is still in the freezer.

When I was looking through those old time recipe sites, one of them was pineapple upside down cake. I thought "Oh, why not."

Most of the online versions use a can of pineapple and a cake mix, but I pulled out King Arthur's Baking Book and went from scratch. It's in the oven now.
Click to expand...

I'm with Judy! Keep that stuff away from my sea bass! You're a great wife, Kathy. :heart:

Bet the house smells incredible!

Lee
 
So I figured out why people don't use fresh pineapple. Canned fruit is already soft and falling apart. When you bake it in a cake, it sort of melts into the cake. Fresh fruit stays firm. It takes a saw to cut through it!

Normally I wouldn't post this picture, but I thought I'd talk through all the problems. The recipe called for a 10 inch skillet or 10 inch cake pan. I chose the pan, but that was a mistake. A 10 inch skillet only has about a 7-8 inch bottom, so is decidedly smaller. The cake spread out too much, leaving a cake layer that was too thin to balance the fruit.

The recipe called for either cake flour or all purpose flour. I had both, and decided on cake. Way too tender for the weight of the fruit!

The recipe called for dark brown sugar in the pan to form the caramel. It was so dark that when I turned it out of the pan, I couldn't see any of the fruit.

So in general, it is overly sweet, way too thin, and much too dark. If I were to use this recipe again, I'd start by making my own caramel instead of using brown sugar, lightly pre-cooking the fruit in the caramel before adding the batter. I'd use a smaller pan, maybe 8 inch, and stick with all purpose flour. I'd also increase the amount of batter by 50%. There just wasn't enough cake to call this a cake.

20250817_183050.jpg
 
SilverSage said:
So I figured out why people don't use fresh pineapple. Canned fruit is already soft and falling apart. When you bake it in a cake, it sort of melts into the cake. Fresh fruit stays firm. It takes a saw to cut through it!

Normally I wouldn't post this picture, but I thought I'd talk through all the problems. The recipe called for a 10 inch skillet or 10 inch cake pan. I chose the pan, but that was a mistake. A 10 inch skillet only has about a 7-8 inch bottom, so is decidedly smaller. The cake spread out too much, leaving a cake layer that was too thin to balance the fruit.

The recipe called for either cake flour or all purpose flour. I had both, and decided on cake. Way too tender for the weight of the fruit!

The recipe called for dark brown sugar in the pan to form the caramel. It was so dark that when I turned it out of the pan, I couldn't see any of the fruit.

So in general, it is overly sweet, way too thin, and much too dark. If I were to use this recipe again, I'd start by making my own caramel instead of using brown sugar, lightly pre-cooking the fruit in the caramel before adding the batter. I'd use a smaller pan, maybe 8 inch, and stick with all purpose flour. I'd also increase the amount of batter by 50%. There just wasn't enough cake to call this a cake.

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Excellent post, Kathy! That slice of cake LOOKS good to me!

Lee
 
I'm thinking I'll probably do a spinach and mushroom quiche, those were a huge favourite for Jeff,Ty and their Dad, my first husband Wes.

I'll probably do my Grandma's meatloaf.

Mom's bacon fried rice.

I've been doing a lot of thinking on this. 🤔

There were some things that I made for Steve and I (second/late husband) while I lived in England that his Mother Betty used to make.
 
Growing up, our dinners consisted of meat, one starch (to this day, I'm always surprised when people have multiple starches in one meal) and a vegetable. And salad at Nan's.

We ate more white rice than potatoes or pasta, almost never had gravy or sauce, and only had bread during dinner when we ate beef stew or pea soup (an exception was garlic bread with spaghetti and meatballs). Even given all that, I was a chubby kid.

This crockpotted Lipton Onion Soup pot roast, buttered rice and peas was one of Dad's favorite meals. I loved having it tonight!

Lee

Dinner.jpeg
 
QSis said:
Growing up, our dinners consisted of meat, one starch (to this day, I'm always surprised when people have multiple starches in one meal) and a vegetable. And salad at Nan's.

We ate more white rice than potatoes or pasta, almost never had gravy or sauce, and only had bread during dinner when we ate beef stew or pea soup (an exception was garlic bread with spaghetti and meatballs). Even given all that, I was a chubby kid.

This crockpotted Lipton Onion Soup pot roast, buttered rice and peas was one of Dad's favorite meals. I loved having it tonight!

Lee

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Looks delicious Lee! How did you make your pot roast?
 
QSis said:
Crockpot, black pepper, Lipton's Onion Soup (dried), couple of chopped fresh garlic cloves, a few rehydrated wild mushrooms with their liquor. On low for 8 hours.

House smelled great when I got home from work!

Lee
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My mother used to make this! No rehydrated mushrooms though...and she used garlic powder over fresh garlic. It was still so good. We had it with mashed potatoes.
 
Classic Macaroni Salad

southernbite.com

Classic Macaroni Salad

This classic recipe for Macaroni Salad is perfect for any potluck or church supper. It's creamy and filled with great flavor. Plus, I've included a few great tips to help you make the best macaroni salad ever!
southernbite.com southernbite.com

Actually, I grew up with macaroni salad dressed with Italian dressing. But I thought Kathy would like the creamy dressing better. She did!

I made this as written, except I added 3 hard boiled eggs. Delicious!

Lee

mac salad.jpeg
 
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