Retro food. What does it mean to you ?

[Kouign Aman]

Toad-in-the-hole?

Tapioca pudding? (YUK!)

Smoke haddock poached in milk?

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Yup, but being from a british background, I dont think they qualify as retro in our household. I could use a good "recipe" for finnan haddie, if you have one. I havent had it in yonks.

[The Old Foodie]

Yup, but being from a british background, I dont think they qualify as retro in our household. I could use a good "recipe" for finnan haddie, if you have one. I havent had it in yonks.

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I'm from a British background too (a Yorkshire lass); toad in the hole is not retro to me either; tapioca is retro and will stay that way ("frog spawn" we called it as kids); finnan haddie - just simply stick in some milk and poach is minimalist and probably best, but then there is using it in kedgeree - very retro, that!

[BarbaraY]

Use their copy of The Silver Palate Cookbook?*

I do! I do! Love the leg of lamb with raspberry vinegar and mint marinade and also the Amaretto Mousse.

Very retro for me is Chicken Kiev. Haven't made it in years.

I made Chicken crepes a few years ago when my sis was visiting from the midwest. Booooring!

Beef Bourguignone may be retro but my grown daughter says that it's just comfort food. I made it often when my kids were little.

[demiglace]

Not going back too far but I remember party food from the 80's being cocktail wieners, bacon wrapped prawns...and well bacon wrapped everything. Do people drink Gimlets anymore?

[The Old Foodie]

Not going back too far but I remember party food from the 80's being cocktail wieners, bacon wrapped prawns...and well bacon wrapped everything. Do people drink Gimlets anymore?

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When did bacon-wrapping go "out" and prosciutto-wrapping come "in" ?

[Kouign Aman]

I beg to differ - Frog Spawn is not retro, its nursery food.

Blanc mange - THAT is retro.

So is bread pudding even if it is on every menu the past 10 years.

[Kikyo]

Do people drink Gimlets anymore?

An Absolut gimlet straight up is my standard cocktail. Granted, when I ordered it out with my dad one time, he told me that I ordered "old lady" drinks, but the classics are my favorite.

My husband drinks them too. I think he started drinking them after he read some Elmore Leonard or Dashiell Hammett books.

I was introduced to them by a friend.

I used to think of Manhattans as a retro cocktail, but now they seem to be in style again.

[Tmnoland]

When I was a kid, I thought the ultimate in adult party eats equaled one of those green slushy whiskey sours (Made with the fancy green maraschino cherries ) and a tin of smoked oysters mmmm) That, and maybe some cheese stuck on a toothpick like "T.O.F." mentioned, just screams air hockey and shag carpeting to me.

-therese

[The Old Foodie]

I beg to differ - Frog Spawn is not retro, its nursery food.

Blanc mange - THAT is retro.

So is bread pudding even if it is on every menu the past 10 years.

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But, is it fair to feed children something we wouldn't eat ourselves? Does it represent child cruelty? "Wont eat it! Want your creme caramel!" I hear them cry. Or is creme caramel retro now? It has also been on every menu for the last 10 years - and I'd choose it over bread pudding anyday - even with marmalade and whisky in it, or whatever the current bread-pud flavouring is.

Blancmange is so retro it dates back to at least the fourteenth century - and had chicken and ground almonds in it - so retro in fact that it would be positively amazing and innovative if it was on the menu at one of the cutting-edge restaurants now.

[Kikyo]

When I was a kid, I thought the ultimate in adult party eats equaled one of those green slushy whiskey sours (Made with the fancy green maraschino cherries)

Does anyone think the green maraschinos taste different than red? Just me? I only had them one time, at Musso and Frank's in Los Angeles (so they are definitely retro in my mind!). I had one in my gimlet, as a matter of fact. I felt like it made the drink taste different, and I didn't like it, but maybe that's just my overactive imagination.

Come to think of it, I think that's the only time I've ever had a maraschino in a gimlet period, so maybe it was the cherry and not the color.

[misgabi]

I don't care if it is retro, I refuse to stop making bread & butter pudding, and I am sure my guests are happy about this. Most people are annoyed if I don't and first time diners at our home almost swoon when I bring it out (unless it is crepe suzette night then everyone swoons - best dessert ever).

There is something to be said for these "retro" favourites that keep on keeping on. They strike a nerve in us and we want that nerve struck again.

(although I completely refuse to eat frog spawn or junket!!!!!!!!)

[The Old Foodie]

Is retro different from classic?

I think of things like crepes suzette and beef bourguignonne as being "classic".

Now tiny cubes of cheese on toothpicks stuck in an orange are definitely retro - especially if they have little coloured cocktail onions on as well.

[Susan in FL]

Is retro different from classic?

I think of things like crepes suzette and beef bourguignonne as being "classic".

Now tiny cubes of cheese on toothpicks stuck in an orange are definitely retro - especially if they have little coloured cocktail onions on as well.

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Very interesting question, whether retro is different from classic. I love the study of words. I think of retro as now less frequently and less commonly served, and as having had a period when the then popular foods/dishes were served frequently -- except for present day revivals of certain dishes making them popular again, probably temporarily. I think of a classic dish as something that was popular back in the day and remains so, and probably always will be. Prime rib roast with Yorkshire pudding... a classic.

Ms. Old Foodie, do you think that the UK has more classics that have kept going, or might that be just my impression from my limited experience, one trip to England?

[The Old Foodie]

Very interesting question, whether retro is different from classic.  I love the study of words.  I think of retro as now less frequently and less commonly served, and as having had a period when the then popular foods/dishes were served frequently -- except for present day revivals of certain dishes making them popular again, probably temporarily.  I think of a classic dish as something that was popular back in the day and remains so, and probably always will be.  Prime rib roast with Yorkshire pudding... a classic.

Ms. Old Foodie, do you think that the UK has more classics that have kept going, or might that be just my impression from my limited experience, one trip to England?

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Hello Susan - I love words too, and I think your definitions of retro and classic are absolutely right. There is a definite "temporary" sense about "retro" - a sense that such things are interesting or curious, and representative of an era but not enduring.

I really cant comment on the current state of British food - I essentially left England when I was 16 and my family migrated here, and I dont think a couple of brief trips back count. If they have more classics there, it would simply represent a longer history I would think. On tupac's blog there has been a discussion of chicken-fried steak - that seems to be a classic American dish, in some states anyway.

Perhaps one of you "over there" might list some other dishes that you consider to be American classics?

[i think I should explain "over there". When US servicemen were stationed in Australia - particularly in Brisbane - during WW II, they were very popular with Australian girls. Aussie men - disgruntled with the competition - used to grumble that the US soldiers were "over-paid, over-sexed, and over here". It was before my time I hasten to add, but it is a good story, Yes?]

[Pan]

Several of you have hit some of the foods I was thinking of (for example, chicken croquettes, blintzes), and one I had forgotten: My mother used to make delicious piccadillo, from the Round the World Cookbook, I think (there's a cookbook that would have some other retro dishes in it).

To me, goulash and chicken paprikas are "retro," at least in this area, though they're undoubtedly perfectly commonplace in Hungary. Stuffed cabbage is retro to me, though I could eat it every day of the week at various nearby Polish diners if I wanted to. Lokshen (Jewish [and presumably also non-Jewish] Eastern European sweet noodle-and-cheese pudding) feels old fashioned and perhaps therefore retro to me -- nice comfort food. And eclairs and black forest cakes and Sachertortes -- joys of my childhood -- feel retro to me, probably because I'm not in Vienna or Paris (eclairs=mille feuilles). Good thin-battered onion rings are retro.

[Susan in FL]

My bad... I was thinking for a while that you were in the UK now. I knew not, but it was brain fog for a while. Nevertheless, still an interesting discussion, and yes, what a great story! Thanks.

[Pan]

I thought of another good retro food: Flanken soup! I miss this soup my father used to make when I was a boy. Cheap or free flank bones with a little meat on them, boiled with leeks, parsnips, onions, white beans, dill, salt and pepper, barley, and I forget what else. So soothing! Now flanken is too damn chic and expensive to make a peasant-style soup out of.

Similarly, his split pea soup seems retro to me. Or is split pea soup merely a classic?

[andiesenji]

I just thought of "Swiss" steak... That is something that hasn't come over my horizon for a good number of years.

Fondue made a comeback last year and suddenly there were fondue pots all over the place when just a few months earlier the only place you could be sure of finding them was on ebay.

And how about that old standby of the "Ladies-Lunch" circuit, Chicken A La King?

[Syrah]

Split pea soup is certainly a classic. It always reminds me of Christmas, when after the ham was gone we would be subjected to a weeks worth of soup in 40C heat.

When I think of retro food, I reminded of what was considered the height of sophistication at my mothers gatherings. She would take pieces of devon (also known as bologna I believe in other parts of the world) and spread with mashed potato, roll up and secure with a toothpick. The toothpick was very important! I discovered this when helping her make them and forgot a few toothpicks.

[SuzySushi]

And how about that old standby of the "Ladies-Lunch" circuit, Chicken A La King?

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And don't forget the popovers while you're at it... one of the first recipes I learned how to make in home ec class.

[Susan in FL]

Cool stuff we're talking about. And Suzy, you reminded me of the very first thing I made in home ec class, Welsh rabbit. (If you ever wondered about the rabbit - rarebit thing, lookie here.)

[Marlene]

This thread occurred to me the other day when I came across a recipe for Welsh Rarebit. I haven't made this in probably 20 years, but I recall it was a standard growing up.

[chappie]

This thread occurred to me the other day when I came across a recipe for Welsh Rarebit.  I haven't made this in probably 20 years, but I recall it was a standard growing up.

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Mom used to, in a pinch when she probably didn't feel like cooking (she was/is a great cook), microwave a Stouffer's container of Welsh rarebit and serve it on buttered toast.

I hadn't thought about it in years until finding the recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook. So much better homemade! Butter, flour, garlic, horseradish, hot sauce, mustard, beer, cheese, and I added some Marmite.

I see myself making it over and over again.

[helenjp]

Pinwheel scones. That's retro where I come from, probably foreign food for the rest of the world . Come to think of it, ginger crunch, and pink potato salad may fall into the same category.

Late 80s early 90s means "timbales" to me. Seemed like every plate looked like an oversize lego block.

In Japan, there's a sudden interest in the food of the Showa era. Heck, some of the retro reprints in food magazines are things I remember poring over, dictionary in hand, in 1980 . Yes, there were Japanese hippies making brown rice onigiri back then, but there was a growing interest in learning to make "the real thing" at home, and I learned a lot about classic pastry techniques from Japanese magazines back then! Salmon pie?

Maybe the biggest gourmet impact of the '60s here was expensive-but-just-affordable canned crab? Combine that with the explosion in aquaculture of nori and the availability of cheap machine-made sheet nori and there you have the crab roll and other sushi rolled up in nori sheets...I always wondered why '70s nori rolls were *so* elaborate, like Brighton rock candy sticks!

[Matcha Eyes]

I didn't come into this world until the final weeks of 1983, but this thread made me dig out my mother's 1970 edition of Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Here are some retro-sounding recipes. Some of them are classic, some weird, and others seem rather disgusting. This book also tells you all the different ways to set tables and how to behave. Not to sound sexist, but the book seems like a retro guide for yesterday's domestic engineers.

Appetizers:

Curried Wheat Snacks

Deviled Almonds

Dried Beef Log

Tropical Fruit Fluff

Tuna Pate

Luau Bites

Teriyaki Minatures

Swedish Pickled Shrimp

Punches: (remember punches?)

Raspberry Cooler

Apricot Swizzle

Quantity Fruit Punch

Sandwiches:

Broiler Tuna Burgers

Frosted Ribbon Loaf

Teatime Sandwiches

Cakes n' Stuff:

Chiffon Cake(orange, pineapples, maple, etc.)

Pineapple Upsidedown cake

Sponge Cake

Boiled Frostings(and coconut on everything)

OoOoOoH! Here's a fun section! Casseroles and one-dishers!

Shrimp Curried Eggs

Cheese Fondue Bake

Hungarian Noodle Bake

Chipped Beef Puff

Hungarian Goulash

Stuffed Pepper Cups

Veal Rolls Divan

Classic Chicken Divan

Rice Rings

Newburgs(lobster, crab, shrimp)

Fried Rice

Tuna-noodle Casserole

Desserts:

Cherry Angel Dessert

Berry Floating Island

Ambrosia

Apple Betty

Cherries Jubilee

Raspberry Bombe

Tutti-frutti Tortoni

Java Tapioca Parfaits

Baked Prune Whip

Pots de Creme

Cottage Pudding

Apricot Bavarian

Chocolate Charlotte Russe

Pineapple Cream Loaf

Beef:

Swiss Steak

Rump Roast

London Broil

Ginger Sauced Tongue

Chicken-Fried Steak

Pork:

Chicken-fried Pork Chops

Crown Roast

Ham Loaf

Fruit Stuffed Pork

Canned Picnic Shoulder(okay, I just vomited in my mouth)

Eggs:

Deviled Eggs

Ham and Egg Divan(apparently you can "Divan" anything)

Creamed Eggs

Fish and Seafood:

Codfish Balls

Salmon Loaf

Halibut Royale

Clam-stuffed Shrimp

Rock Lobster Tails

Chicken:

Chicken Kiev, a la King, Croquettes, Parisienne, Sweet-sour, au Vin, etc

Salads!(another exciting chapter)

Frosted Cheese Mold

Waldorf Salad

Spicy Apricot Mold

Jellied Chicken Salad

Summer Tuna Mold

Hot Five-Bean Salad

Cucumber-cheese Ring

Tomato Aspic

Green Goddess Salad

Vegetables:

Creamy Green Beans

Beets in Cream

Creamed Peas and New Potatoes

Scalloped potatoes, tomatoes, corn, etc