Whatever happened to...?

[Ruby]

At the risk of dating myself, where did these foods/products/restaurants go?

Mello-Rolls - ice cream that was shaped like a small log that popped into a cone.

Charlotte Russe

Baked Alaska

Fudgcicles

Black Forest cake

Jelly on the belly donuts (jelly is on the outside)

Chocolate Cream Pie

Cantonese restaurants that served chow mein, chop suey & pepper steak. I know that Chinese food has evolved from what I grew up with but these restaurants don't seem to be around anymore except for one in the East Village. That one, around Second Avenue and 12th Street, even has the cashier's stand with a glass display of cigarettes. What a flashback to the ole days!

[Katherine]

Never heard of a jelly on the belly doughnut. Is that a NYC thing?

No fudgsicles? Sounds like a marketing decision in response to the fact that people like you and me haven't bought them since we were kids.

The others reside in our cookbook libraries. I think a made Baked Alaska a couple of years ago, and it was well received.

All these dishes are now considered to be old fashioned. I think it has something to do with the fact that we all have a clear idea of what they should be, which leaves less room for creativity on the part of the pastry chef. At the same time, they are 'unitary' in nature, and don't lend themselves to the current trend of 'deconstructivist desserts' - a scoop of this, a dribble of that, a cube of the other thing, a sliver of another, and a mound of that one, tied together in an artful theme.

[Fat Guy]

As far as baked Alaska and its ilk (crepes Suzettes, cherries jubilee, bananas Foster), they are still popular where they are legal. The problem is that in New York -- and I assume most of America -- the fire codes forbid live open flames in a restaurant dining room (even though these flames are very low temperature). But if you go to Club Med or take a cruise -- situations where regulations are far less strict and an atmosphere of festivity rules -- you'll see all these things.

At Strip House, they had crepes Suzettes on the dessert menu, but they didn't flame them in the dining room -- they did it in the kitchen. Lots of disappointed customers there.

Steve Klc wrote a terrific piece in Food Arts awhile back about the decline of great old-style desserts and dessert carts. I don't think he got into the whole flaming issue, and I doubt the aforementioned desserts are considered any good by contemporary pastry standards, but as with the dessert cart the idea of setting a dessert on fire in the dining room added a unique dimension to a meal and gave additional opportunities for server-client interaction. Imagine today trying to convince a union waitstaff to prepare bananas Foster or whip up some sabayon tableside!

[Katherine]

Baked Alaska isn't flambéed, it's baked.

Decline of flambéeing technique is a related issue, though, I s'pose.

[Fat Guy]

In my experience, when baked Alaska is served at a restaurant it is traditionally flambéed tableside. It has of course been baked beforehand as well. I've seen it set on fire straight up, and also doused with flambéed cherries in kirsch and the like. I don't think I've ever seen it served without some sort of pyrotechnic display, though I've only had it maybe five or six times in restaurant settings and never recently.

[Steve Klc]

I have seen a few individual portion size Baked Alaskas and wonder if it isn't making a bit of a comeback, albeit torched in the kitchen and not flambeed tableside.

[Malawry]

The April issue of Bon Appetit has a baked alaska on the cover. It looked pretty cool.

I eat Fudgsicles in the summer. They're amazingly low-calorie, which is important if you're like me and you NEED ice cream every day in hot weather.

[Jinmyo]

Tinned chicken.

Whatever happened to it? My parents bought this when camping in Canada (decades ago, before I moved here). See, it's a can. Like a can of fruit juice. But it has a chicken in it.

If you have found it, I don't want to know.  :wow:

[Bux]

Change is the only constant.

Mello-Rolls have probably been replaced by the prefilled frozen ice cream cone.

Fudgcicles and imitations are still around. I've seen them at some delis and street carts in the summer.

Black Forest cake is still being baked, but the Eclair pastry shop on West 72nd Street is no more. I believe Ceci-Cela makes an indivdual portion size version of black forest cake. I'm not sure if it's authentic.

[Bux]

Jinmyo, I believe I've seen chicken in a can in both tunafish sized cans and larger baked beans/chicken broth sized cans, but can't remember if it was in a supermarket or Chinatown in NY, nor how long ago.

We have from time to time purchased a pretty good country pate in a can in Brittany. It's really an excellent canned product and resembles the fresh product far more than most canned goods. I'm told it's a staple Breton sailors to stock.

[stefanyb]

Ruby-

Wow! Mello Rolls, and I thought they predated me!  I haven't even seen one since about 1952 in Brooklyn.

Foods from my youth:

1.egg salad made with carmelized onions and no mayo

2.salami and eggs

3.noodles almondine (box recipe like rice-a-roni)

4.my-t-fine pudding

5.sour cream and cottage cheese with raw vegetables

6.noodles and cottage cheese with butter

7.frozen Milky Way on a stick

8.pork chops or lamb chops in Chinese restaurants for people not adventurous enough to eat "ethnic" food

9.Lollipop back scratchers

Oh, the memories.

[tommy]

stefany, you weren't even born in 1952.

my friend was the "my-t-fine" boy on the commercial back in the 70's.  however, i'm too young to remember it.  oh well.  (really, he was!)  wilfrid, if you're reading this, it's jamie, whom you've met a few times.

[Lord Michael Lewis]

Talking of Flambé, whatever happened to the Gueridon(sp) trolley.., and to chaufroid(sp) for that matter?

[stefanyb]

Tommy- Did I ever tell you I love you? And you're right!  I couldn't have been born yet even though I was in school already.

But, thanks

Stefany

PS  Theres a whole thread that could be written about the "skin" on My-t-fine.  There was even tupperware sold with lids for individual portions so as not to form a skin on the pudding.  Personally, I didn't like the "skin" but I did love to turn my portion upside-down and pour heavy cream over it.

[tommy]

Tommy- Did I ever tell you I love you? And you're right!  I couldn't have been born yet even though I was in school already.

i am truly shocked.  and i'm not just saying that to be nice, as i rarely do such foolish things.

edited for typos.

[Jinmyo]

Bux, this was a whole chicken. In a can. I suppose they cooked it in there too. The skin was undifferentiated from the runny gel around it.

The only thing comparable I know of is the "coq au vin" I once had on an Air France flight that came out in a tin set on the plate.

[Lesley C]

Looking for flambéed desserts, fudgecicles, Black Forest cake, Cherries Jubilee, Baked Alaska (which is flambéed after it’s baked), sabayons made tableside, and dessert carts? Then come to Montreal. Our old French restaurants have all them and more.

Almost every French restaurant in Old Montreal offers Crepes Suzette and they'll flambé a pepper steak for you as well. We locals see it as American Tourist food. Chaud Froid, however, appears to have bitten the dust.

[Bux]

Bux, this was a whole chicken. In a can. I suppose they cooked it in there too. The skin was undifferentiated from the runny gel around it.

With or without the bones? Are we talking lage can or small chicken? Was it a whole chicken and did it resemble a chicken or was it all squished up? I'd assume one wouldn't can it with an empty cavity. That would take a lot of stock or aspic. Now that you mention it, I don't know why boiled chicken wouldn't can as well as boiled ham, which is not to imply that canned ham is the premium kind, but that it's acceptable for what it is. Canned chicken should be better than canned tuna fish. Does tuna become tuna fish when it's canned?

[mamster]

I haven't bought the actual Fudgsicle brand Fudgsicles in a long time, but the Darigold Super Fudge variety (the notably, uh, missile-shaped one) is quite satisfying.

Now I want to go to Montreal and get flambeed.

[BrennaMorgan]

Keebler Magic Middles--They were the MOST DELICIOUS COOKIES ever. Picture a chocolate chip cookie with melted fudge inside. I find it hard to believe that these were unpopular, so why did Keebler get rid of them?

[tsquare]

Now I want to go to Montreal and get flambeed.

but can't you do that locally at El Gaucho? Flaming kebabs and desserts. Maybe drinks?

(or is it the word "flambeed" - that doesn't look right.)

[MHesse]

Knorr's used to make a packaged, powdered cold fruit soup mix.

I liked that as a kid, but they don't make it anymore.

-mh