For most of us, there’s nothing tastier than one of Mom’s famous home-cooked meals.
After all, there’s nothing like a baked mac and cheese or delicious, decadent lasagna bites like these to bring you straight back to your childhood dining room and Mom’s delicious cooking!
That said, there are probably at least a few recipes from your childhood that you remember with more than a hint of dismay. After all, the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s were an… unusual time for cooking.
In fact, thanks to Betty Crocker and other inventive food gurus of the day, the trends in cooking in the midcentury leaned heavily toward loafs, rings, and gelatin molds, heavily studded with ingredients like mayonnaise, crushed pineapple, and cocktail olives.
And thanks to one creative blog — entitled 70s Dinner Party — you can now relive all those unique dishes!
While some truly delicious cuisine did emerge from this time, I think that we can all remember at least one meal where we sat back for a moment and thought, “Wouldn’t this asparagus taste better if it weren't suspended in aspic?”
Scroll through the gallery below to see some of our favorite retro dishes, straight out of a 1965 edition of Ladies’ Home Journal!
Thanks to the advent of new and exciting packaged food products, middle-class households in the 1950s enjoyed some very experimental recipes.
Brand-specific cookbooks — like Jell-O, Hellmann's, and Spam — introduced some very creative ideas into kitchens across the country.
The results? Unique and often puzzling dishes that are more interesting than they are appetizing…
Scroll down to explore some of these creative recipes!
Frozen Fruitcake Salad
The midcentury notion of "salad" takes some getting used to; this sweet confection was made almost entirely of unnaturally colorful cherries and Cool Whip!
Orange Basket with Assorted Veggies
If you enjoy your peas and carrots with a splash of citrus, this little orange basket might be right up your alley!
Beef and Banana Stew
Bananas were all the rage starting in the 1950s. Chiquita Banana was the fruit of the moment, and a cookbook entitled Be Bold with Bananas may have contributed in part to this unusual pairing of flavors.
Shrimp Salad Sandwich Roll
Minced shrimp, ham, or corned beef mixed with mayonnaise made for a popular sandwich spread in the day, but this one clearly took inspiration from its cousin, the Swiss Roll.
Stuffed Iceberg Lettuce
While vegetables were a core part of the midcentury diet, they were almost always "dressed up" with something extra — in this case, ham salad stuffing.
Frankfurter Casserole
Frankfurters have been an American culinary staple for decades, but enjoyed a renewed surge of popularity in the '60s, when they were quickly incorporated into a wide variety of casseroles and party platters.
Cranberry Candles
A Thanksgiving recipe that fortunately never caught on, these candles combined cranberry, mayonnaise, and gelatin for a festive holiday table-topper.
Party Sandwich Loaf
After all, finger sandwiches are a bit passé; much more suitable to make an entire sandwich and coat it liberally in mayonnaise frosting, and olive-and-egg garnish.
Sauerkraut Mold
Sauerkraut, which traditionally makes for a tangy and crisp accompaniment to meat dishes, takes on a less appetizing sheen when suspended in lemon-flavored gelatin.
Roast Chicken
At first glance, this looks like a perfectly ordinary roast chicken, and probably tastes like one, too. But this chicken is truly dressed to impress, in a pastry shell designed to look like a tiny tuxedo.
Jellied Salmon
Of course, no food was more frequently a victim of the jelly craze than the salmon. When a whole fish was too expensive to come by, canned salmon and gelatin could be reconstituted into a passable imitation.
Pineapple Stuffed with Ham Salad
Another major trend of the era was food inspired by Hawaiian cuisine. Perhaps inspired by images of suckling pig garnished with pineapple, ham salad in a pineapple shell was a dinner party specialty.
Shepherd's Pie
Just like a traditional shepherd's pie, this dish is made of ground beef and potato, but lent an Arctic flair with this unusual igloo shape.
Festive Party Towers
On the left, we have the fruitcake tower, calling to mind the shape of the Christmas tree just in time for the holiday, while on the right, we have a pillar of shrimp-and-olive canapés perfect for cocktail hour.
Do you remember eating any of these meals back in the day?
Let us know your favorite midcentury classic, and don't forget to SHARE on Facebook!
