Recipes from the Best of Bridge Era

Many of these old recipes just seem bizarre to us today:

The 'jell-o ring' thing was very show-off-y, though I wonder how much it was really done in home kitchens?

The ham-and-bananas dish, however, is kinda logical but still kinda weird. After all, just about everybody puts a sweet glaze on ham, and ham-steak is often served with a pineapple ring, there's Hawai'ian pizza (also ham+pineapple), and I think even Escoffier proffered a steak-and-banana dish.

And yet... it still looks like somebody put ham in my banana split.

That red fish mould is perhaps the most conventional - I wonder how many of those moulds still exist, perhaps in a box inherited from now deceased parents, along with books like the various Best of Bridge cookbooks. (I tend to hang onto old stuff I appreciate like furniture etc., but cheesy cookbooks went in the tip).

Well. None of these recipes are familiar..maybe because I grew up in Eureka, CA on the west coast in he 50's and 60's

That red fish mould is perhaps the most conventional - I wonder how many of those moulds still exist, perhaps in a box inherited from now deceased parents, along with books like the various Best of Bridge cookbooks. (I tend to hang onto old stuff I appreciate like furniture etc., but cheesy cookbooks went in the tip).

There are a few on Etsy.

[Jenise]

The 'jell-o ring' thing was very show-off-y, though I wonder how much it was really done in home kitchens?

Quite a few, actually. Jello was a hit with consumers, and somewhere along the way some Einstein thought to add things like endive and call it a 'salad'. And salad's good for you, right? Between that, ladies luncheons and the need to bring something to after-church socials, Jello salads were very popular--I note that jello (usually lime) used to show up with regrettable frequency in that abomination known as a salad bar.

As a side note, I had my BIL John over for dinner last weekend and we got to talking about his relationship with food growing up in Georgia. He talked about his hatred for a Georgia specialty known as Tomato Aspic. I wasn't aware that it was a Georgia specialty but a day or so later I started a book set in Georgia wherein Tomato Aspic was mentioned twice before I was even half thru! One of them was set with lime jello. Its probably not popular today, but I'll bet it still occurs.

[Jenise]

Tomato aspic: feast your eyes!

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view ... de=overlay