Fabulous Fifties

Hello,
My name is Michael Toth and I am planning a theme dinner called "The Fabulous Fifties". I wanted some menu suggestions. I'm looking for something more than french fries, pizza, hamburgers, and sundaes. I would appreciate any "upscale" menu suggestions. Thank you.

By George (George) on Friday, January 18, 2002 - 01:56 pm: Edit

Here is a link to a retro Good Houskeeping article, pretty scarry stuff.
http://www.retro.westhost.com/50food/food1b/food2/food3a/food3a.html

The emphasis was on casseroles and canned veggies, and if your were lucky Birds Eye frozen vegetables, the perception was they were better and back then they might have been.

Just about any kind of gelatin mold was a hit.

Fancy dishes back then were Chicken Cacciatore, Seafood Neuburg, Sliced Steak with Peppers and Onions, Stuffed Pork Chops with Applesauce, Prime Rib, Stuffed Lobster. Double Baked Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes (had to be from instant).

High Ratio Cakes we just hitting the market, and Neopolitan Ice Cream was fancy(Vanilla, Choc and Strawb)

Some urban CC with European Chefs were actually doing heavy handed classical stuff, lots of Beef Wellington, Whole Poached Salmon, even Chaud Froid stuff.

Guess I'm showing my age here. ;<)


George

By Cheftim (Cheftim) on Friday, January 18, 2002 - 11:21 pm: Edit

Don't forget "Baked Alaska" for Dessert.

Tim

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Friday, January 18, 2002 - 11:33 pm: Edit

Man George, Good memory.
How ah.....old did you say you were ?
LOL

By Bessnfloyd (Bessnfloyd) on Saturday, January 19, 2002 - 01:09 am: Edit

Don't forget corn dogs, foot long hot dogs with tough casings one had to struggle to eat, slathered with ketchup, lime jello salad with celery, chipped cabbage, pineapple, mayonnaise and who knows what, chicken in aspic (with canned peas, naturally), and in the south, lots of deep-fried fish with hush puppies. Swiss steak was also popular, and meatloaf with mashed potatoes. If girls didn't know how to make cloverleaf rolls, they were assured they wouldn't get a husband. You also had to know three or four ways to cook beef liver, although no one would eat it. Everyone drank Coke, except for those out to make a statement who ordered tomato juice with pepper, hot sauce and a squeeze of lemon, or buttermilk with black pepper. Frozen foods had just become popular, and the trick was to cook them to death until they TASTED like canned ones. Frozen pot pies were all the rage, too, but you had to eat them on TV trays clustered around that little black and white round screen, quietly, so everyone could hear. Cake was either double chocolate with chocolate-butter icing, strawberry shortcake or yellow cake baked with canned fruit cocktail on the bottom. And don't ask me how old I am!

http://sneakykitchen.com

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Saturday, January 19, 2002 - 01:21 am: Edit

Bessnfloyd, liver, hush puppies, pot pies,
yummmmmmmm.........
ah... " little ROUND black and white screen ? "
I think you just dated yourself.

By George (George) on Saturday, January 19, 2002 - 10:48 am: Edit

Spike-
I hit the half century club this March, hopefully ;<).

George

By Bessnfloyd (Bessnfloyd) on Monday, January 21, 2002 - 12:34 am: Edit

What can I tell you, Chefspike, I have a very good memory. They weren't glory days, them there fifties, either. Wonder what people will think about our society 50 years from now? And our food...

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, January 21, 2002 - 01:20 am: Edit

Well George, your always going to be ahead of me.
which is fine with me, I don't ever want to catch up. As long as I can answer the alarm, I figure I'm doing ok. Bessnfloyd, thank God the food is better. Our first tv was rounded, and I still remember shoveling coal into the furnace to heat the house. One of my chores. Thank God I don't have to do that again.

By Bessnfloyd (Bessnfloyd) on Monday, January 21, 2002 - 07:55 pm: Edit

Hey, ChefSpike, bet you even remember Howdy Doody, Claribel the Clown and Buffalo Bob, and the Sid Ceaser Show with Imogene Coca!

Remember the Westinghouse ads with the avocado green refrigerators, or ones with doors you could actually upholster to match your kitchen curtains? And Alcoa Theater which first touted baking your turkey or roast with an aluminum foil cover?

And a lot of other ads far better forgotten!

Bess
http://sneakykitchen.com

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, January 21, 2002 - 08:18 pm: Edit

the tv shows were just a few years before me.
But the foil ads I remember. I'm not sure what year howdy doody went off the air, but I'll call the tv museum and find out. I remember the Frank Sinatra show and the Dean Martin show, and Judy Garlands. Tv only had 3 channels. cbs, nbc, and I think abc came later. YIKES!!!!!
Thank God that changed, TV was my parent. LOL.

By Oldchef (Oldchef) on Tuesday, April 09, 2002 - 05:36 pm: Edit

Weren't "chiffon" cakes, Green Goddess dressing, and that exciting European import, Beef Fondu, on the menu then?

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Tuesday, April 09, 2002 - 06:48 pm: Edit

LOL
green goddess dressing!?
thats funny, I remember that.
What was that stuff??
But American chiffon cakes weren't really chiffon.
They called them that because hand held electric mixers were able to whip air into the box cake mixes. Any cake mix called chiffon, put into a "greased" pan, turns into a version of sponge cake. All you need for chiffon cakes is a little water in the bottom of your pan, and for big pans or sheet cakes, some paper.
Beef Fondue....what was it dipped in.???

By Corey (Corey) on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 12:29 pm: Edit

hmm, now a days a Green Goddess is that cute woman you met last night that has had too much to drink the night before. a real green goddess...