Monday, January 18, 2021

What Were They Thinking?


I discovered this little booklet tucked inside an old cookbook. Frozen puff pastry has always been something I enjoy cooking with--we had Turkey Wellington for Thanksgiving and I still have a package of puff pastry in the freezer--so I leafed through, looking for inspiration. The elegant presentation on the cover led me to expect some high class gourmet fare.

Mile high  chicken pie? Count me in! But sweetbreads? Not something I've ever even tasted--nor seen for sale.  And what's in the rest of the directions--canned chicken a la king and canned carrots? Oh, my--this must be a recipe from the Fifties. I should have realized it wasn't for me anyway with only one clove of garlic.

The sausage and oyster croustades sounded interesting--then I saw that the sausage called for was canned Vienna sausage. Canned oysters aren't a deal breaker for me--if they're smoked oysters--but gravy from a package is.

I love looking through old cookbooks and seeing how tastes and skills change over the years.  My grandmother's recipes often involved gelatin and almost never garlic. She cooked from scratch for the most part. And vegetables were cooked into submission. My mother's repertoire was pretty daring for the Fifties--Coq au Vin! Bouef a la Mode! Lasagne! (light on the garlic though.) But even she couldn't escape the canned cream of mushroom soup that figured in many a casserole.

Today, I think, there's a good emphasis of fresh vegetables--kale, anyone? I find myself tossing it into many a dish. The pandemic has given lots a folks a renewed interest in cooking. and the internet puts a myriad of recipes--ethic and otherwise--at our fingertips.

I think I'll look there for something ethnic to do with that package of puff pastry in the freezer. 


 

6 comments:

Anvilcloud said...

Not being a veggie fan, I go for cooked. Please roast the carrots until they begin to turn black and no loner taste like carrots.

Vicki Lane said...

I, on the other hand, have never much liked cooked carrots but happily eat them raw.

Barbara Rogers said...

Can't wait to hear what you concoct with your puff pastry...and ya'll can send me any carrots, but the kale must be presented with a bunch of other stuff so I don't notice it. I got a packaged salad mix the other day, with cabbage, white and purple, shredded, and tiny shreds of kale and shredded carrots, and it came with Avocado Ranch dressing...I ate one serving, then left the rest to settle like a slaw, because that's what it really comes out to be! Lunch today!

Amelia said...

I make beef Wellington for Christmas Eve every year and have gotten in the habit of using the left over puff pastry (and now, additionally purchased puff pastry!) to make “grown up pop tarts” for a mid morning snack on Christmas morning. I put rosemary ham, Swiss cheese, and spicy mustard in them this year. They’re a very popular savory break after the cinnamon rolls! (We bailed on the Ambrosia sometime in college, but not the mimosas!) I particularly like that I can make them on the 24th and just leave them in the fridge ready to roll for the next day!

Thérèse said...

We'll see what you come up with. If you can't find anything you can always roll over it slightly, spread some grated swiss cheese on half of it, fold it back, apply egg wash and cut in any shapes you want. Ideal to complement a soup or to serve as appetizer.

Vicki Lane said...

Amelia and Therese--those sound great!