Dishes that were once popular but hard to find now

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
Remember the ubiquitous jello molds that were popular in the 1960s? I wonder why they fell out of favor. Most weren't very good but that didn't stop people from making them or serving them at parties.

Wilted spinach salad is another dish that disappeared. There was a quick fondue craze a few decades ago. I'm sure most kids think fondue means melted chocolate.

What are some other dishes that did a Houdini?
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
My grandmother use to make something with left over pie crust, she mashed it all together rolled it out and put cinnamon and sugar on it. I loved it, no idea if it was something that she just made or what but I haven't had it since she died in 1986.
 

digitallest

New Member
My grandmother use to make something with left over pie crust, she mashed it all together rolled it out and put cinnamon and sugar on it. I loved it, no idea if it was something that she just made or what but I haven't had it since she died in 1986.

We do that in my family! Our home-made crust is too good to toss out, so if I just don't have a fresh peach or two for a small cobbler, I do cinnamon and sugar. I learned it from my mom, who got it from gramma. It reminds me of being a kid and so excited about pie.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
My grandmother used to make Depression candy - it's leftover mashed potatoes mixed with powdered sugar and pattied out. My cousins and I only liked it because it was a novelty. I tried to make it for my kids once and they thought it was gross.

Remember when Ritz cracker Mock Apple Pie was all the rage?

And all celery sticks were stuffed with squeeze cheeze or peanut butter.

Welsh rabbit, which I wouldn't touch even though it's just cheese on toast.

And Poke Cake, where you bake a cake, then poke holes in it and pour liquid jello over the top, then refrigerate until it gels and frost it with Cool Whip.

This was before Food TV, when we all learned to cook.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
And when everyone in America owned a glass punch bowl with the cups that had hooks so you could hang them around the edge of the bowl.
 

acommondisaster

Active Member
My grandmother used to make Depression candy - it's leftover mashed potatoes mixed with powdered sugar and pattied out. My cousins and I only liked it because it was a novelty. I tried to make it for my kids once and they thought it was gross.

Remember when Ritz cracker Mock Apple Pie was all the rage?

And all celery sticks were stuffed with squeeze cheeze or peanut butter.

Welsh rabbit, which I wouldn't touch even though it's just cheese on toast.

And Poke Cake, where you bake a cake, then poke holes in it and pour liquid jello over the top, then refrigerate until it gels and frost it with Cool Whip.

This was before Food TV, when we all learned to cook.

My husband's family calls a mashed potato candy "Flitch" - they make it around Christmas and it's wildly popular, though their version sounds a little different than yours - it is made into pinwheels with a layer of peanut butter. http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/potato-peanut-butter-pinwheels/

My DIL makes "ants on a log" - celery filled with peanut butter (or cream cheese) with raisins lined up on top for her kids - they love it.

I think the thing that I feel has disappeared are the multitude of casseroles my mother (and all the neighborhood moms) used to whip up. My husband won't go near any of them (alas), except for our personal favorite - potato chip and tuna casserole.
 

acommondisaster

Active Member
We do that in my family! Our home-made crust is too good to toss out, so if I just don't have a fresh peach or two for a small cobbler, I do cinnamon and sugar. I learned it from my mom, who got it from gramma. It reminds me of being a kid and so excited about pie.

My mom made the best pie crust ever - and I always looked forward to the trimmings with cinnamon and sugar.
 

Bobwhite

Active Member
My grandmother use to make something with left over pie crust, she mashed it all together rolled it out and put cinnamon and sugar on it. I loved it, no idea if it was something that she just made or what but I haven't had it since she died in 1986.

My grandmother did the same thing. Thinking back on it, they weren't very good. I just loved my grandmother. She died in 1985, five days short of her 99th birthday.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
We do that in my family! Our home-made crust is too good to toss out, so if I just don't have a fresh peach or two for a small cobbler, I do cinnamon and sugar. I learned it from my mom, who got it from gramma. It reminds me of being a kid and so excited about pie.

As a kid I liked this better than the pie. Kind of funny because grandma was one hell of a cook and baker.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
I remember in the 80's something in our neighborhood called friendship cake. You started with a base that was passed on from the previous person, you made your cake with it and passed it on to the next person.

If I remember correctly my mom broke the chain.
 

PrchJrkr

Long Haired Country Boy
Ad Free Experience
Patron
I remember in the 80's something in our neighborhood called friendship cake. You started with a base that was passed on from the previous person, you made your cake with it and passed it on to the next person.

If I remember correctly my mom broke the chain.

Friendship Cake as I recall. Used to love the stuff. Haven't seen it in a while. Thank your mom for breaking the chain and depriving us of its moist and delicious goodness.
 
I remember in the 80's something in our neighborhood called friendship cake. You started with a base that was passed on from the previous person, you made your cake with it and passed it on to the next person.

If I remember correctly my mom broke the chain.
That was usually a sourdough starter, and after it expanded, you'd give a portion of the starter dough to someone, who would add more flour and stuff to it, and repeat the process.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
That was usually a sourdough starter, and after it expanded, you'd give a portion of the starter dough to someone, who would add more flour and stuff to it, and repeat the process.

I had one that my first mother-in-law gave me from starter that originated with her grandmother. My mom came to visit, saw this festering goo in the back of my refrigerator, and threw it out. :lol:

That chit made some excellent bread.
 

digitallest

New Member
I remember in the 80's something in our neighborhood called friendship cake. You started with a base that was passed on from the previous person, you made your cake with it and passed it on to the next person.

If I remember correctly my mom broke the chain.

Omg. What a blast from the past my mom finally broke the chain, too, when the cake starter found us again, 6 weeks after we had ditched some on her friend, and we decided maybe people should not eat that.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Remember the ubiquitous jello molds that were popular in the 1960s? I wonder why they fell out of favor. Most weren't very good but that didn't stop people from making them or serving them at parties.

Wilted spinach salad is another dish that disappeared. There was a quick fondue craze a few decades ago. I'm sure most kids think fondue means melted chocolate.

What are some other dishes that did a Houdini?



Coworkers dragged me the Melting Pot on a recent road trip. Not pleased was I.
 

happyazz

Skiing in the clouds
My grandmother use to make something with left over pie crust, she mashed it all together rolled it out and put cinnamon and sugar on it. I loved it, no idea if it was something that she just made or what but I haven't had it since she died in 1986.

We call them "Pie Crust Cookies".
 

Bird Dog

Bird Dog
PREMO Member
Remember the ubiquitous jello molds that were popular in the 1960s? I wonder why they fell out of favor. Most weren't very good but that didn't stop people from making them or serving them at parties.

Wilted spinach salad is another dish that disappeared. There was a quick fondue craze a few decades ago. I'm sure most kids think fondue means melted chocolate.

What are some other dishes that did a Houdini?

Deviled crab
Shad Roe (in the Spring)
Terrapin soup
 
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