50's cocktail party

[Taboni]

My SIL is turning 50 next month and my wife and I are planning a 50's era cocktail party to celebrate. I know this is the era of "regrettable food" but certainly there must be some iconic foods of the time that won't make my guests gag. I was originally thinking Tiki themed but I think the wife wants to be a little more sophisticated (of course Tiki IS my idea of sophisticated)

Any menu suggestions?

Edited January 5, 2007 by Taboni (log)

[Syrah]

This may be a useful resource

http://www.foodtimeline.org/fooddecades.html#1950s

[Taboni]

Perfect. Thanks.

[Kayakado]

I was looking through my 1950 BC Picture Cookbook last night and was surprised to see Spinach Dip. I thought it was a 60s or later thing but obviously not.

[highchef]

salmon crouquettes? spam..seriously! I think 50's food is funny, and fun, like fondue. the salad w/ the canned pineapple and sweetened mayo w/grated cheese on top. all things hawaiiian (sp?) or doing with a coconut like drinks.

swedish meatballs.

7-up cake

that cake w/ the yellow liquor...I always forget the name of that stuff. you make harvey wallbangers with it.

I can see my mom now, bringing home the newest recipe that was flying around the office to try!

[tino27]

that cake w/ the yellow liquor...I always forget the name of that stuff. you make harvey wallbangers with it.

←

Galliano.

I'm also doing a 50's themed cast party for my roommate. Here is the menu I've planned for him:

* Wild mushroom and shallot mini-quiches

* Canape trio: Shrimp Toast, Reuben Toast, Chicken Liver Toast

* Bouchees aux deux Fromages (Fried Cheese balls)

* Chicken Croquettes with Sweet & Sour dipping sauce

* Roquefort stuffed olives and button mushrooms in a herbed vinaigrette

I also used the reference that Syrah linked to -- it was pretty good.

[Toliver]

One word: jello

Word.

edited to add: The jello is a classic by Rachel Perlow. The pic is from the last eGullet pig pickin'.

Edited January 5, 2007 by Toliver (log)

[Taboni]

Yup I have Rachel's Jello mold at the top of the list!

[mark922]

I can't believe you're even thinking of a 50's era cocktail party without the quintessential two snacks: bacon-wrapped water chestnuts and mini hot dogs wrapped in Pillsbury crescent roll dough.

[Taboni]

Well the mini hot dogs are a given. They are my SIL's favorite snack and I plan on having quite a few.

[Marlene]

Cheese and bacon on toast strips, broiled in the oven. Classic 50's nibble.

[srhcb]

that cake w/ the yellow liquor...I always forget the name of that stuff. you make harvey wallbangers with it.

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Galliano?

SB (didn't care for Wallbangers)

[mark922]

Cheese and bacon on toast strips, broiled in the oven.  Classic 50's nibble.

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That reminds me: toast squares with mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, and minced onion, broiled until they brown a bit on top.

[Chris Amirault]

Seems like you have quite a few food ideas. What cocktails are you considering? I'd go with two or three options:

Manhattans (or Brooklyns, or Red Hooks) with some quality rye or bourbon;

some Tiki drinks -- if you've got velvet falernum, I'd go with a Test Pilot; and

a sour, like a classic Sidecar.

Of course, you gotta serve some real Martinis with orange bitters.

[Fat Guy]

I suggest you get a copy of the original Elegant but Easy Cookbook. Published in 1960, it would of course have been written in the late 1950s -- and many of the recipes are really good.

[Taboni]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I think for cocktails I am going to stick with 2 or 3 for ease of service. Probably Mai Tais, Manhattans and one other yet to be decided on. I might substitute the Mai Tais with the classic Trader Vics Samoan Fogcutter since I have some pretty cool Tiki glasses to serve them in.

[gariotin]

My Lord - I haven't seen the Lipton Onion Soup Dip mentioned anywhere - 50s party staple w/ruffled chips.

Rachel's jello mold is a thing of beauty!

[laurelm]

Bon Appetit just had a 50 year anniversary issue and did food and recipes from all the decades.

I believe the 50s one was in fact a cocktail party.

It was Sept or October issue if you can get your hands on it.

If you wish, I can check out mine and send the titles and recipes if needed.

Good Luck!

[KatieLoeb]

bacon-wrapped water chestnuts

Wasn't that chicken liver and bacon wrapped water chestnuts, aka Rumaki?

Pretty good recipe to be found HERE.

[maggiethecat]

I was a tiny tiny tot in the 50s, but I remember my mother's iconic smoked oysters wrapped in bacon -- much as I love their relative, rumaki, they win hands down.

If you're not totally tied to Tiki, may I propose the Old Fashioned as the authentic 50s third cocktail? (Galliano is so 60s.) And No One used bitters in a 50s martini -- nor should they now. Gin, vermouth and an olive, Bartender. Save the bitters for the Old Fashioneds.

Most of the food ideas here are 60s stuff, but I'm not gonna cavil, except to say mini-quiches weren't happening. Deviled eggs, then as now, were.

[Chris Amirault]

I'm thinking that Maggie has a good point. Maybe, like the "sixties," which happened in the 1970s for most people (if at all), 50s cocktail parties took place primarily in the 1960s. Flipping through Jane and Michael Stern's great American Gourmet: Classic Recipes, Deluxe Delights, Flamboyant Favorites, and Swank "Company" Food from the '50s and '60s, I can't imagine that most people save Vincent Price and James Beard were making "the Golden Eggs of Crassus" at home even as late as 1959.

[mark922]

bacon-wrapped water chestnuts

Wasn't that chicken liver and bacon wrapped water chestnuts, aka Rumaki?

Pretty good recipe to be found HERE.

←

Not if you hate, hate, hate chicken liver (or any other type of liver for that matter).

[KatieLoeb]

bacon-wrapped water chestnuts

Wasn't that chicken liver and bacon wrapped water chestnuts, aka Rumaki?

Pretty good recipe to be found HERE.

←

Not if you hate, hate, hate chicken liver (or any other type of liver for that matter).

←

Rumaki can be made with scallops in place of the liver if you please.

[rich]

Here's a suggestion for entertainment - run the Superman episode: "Superman's Best Friend," on the TV. It contains one of the great food-fight scenes of 50's television.

Edited January 8, 2007 by rich (log)

[Taboni]

bacon-wrapped water chestnuts

Wasn't that chicken liver and bacon wrapped water chestnuts, aka Rumaki?

Pretty good recipe to be found HERE.

←

Not if you hate, hate, hate chicken liver (or any other type of liver for that matter).

←

Rumaki can be made with scallops in place of the liver if you please.

←

Going to do bacon wrapped scallops since I am not even a teeny tiny fan of chicken liver.