...where I have root and the fare is liberally seasoned with pith and vinegar.
| The Digital Hausfrau ...where I have root and the fare is liberally seasoned with pith and vinegar. |
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No, not gefilte fish, kishka, or even tongue.
For what reason I can't tell you, there were a wide variety of odd foods that appeared only briefly on the supermarket shelves of my youth. Maybe Buffalo was a test area, I don't know. I do know that, my dad worked many nights, leaving my mom with two little kids to feed. On the nights that dad was home, there was salad, meat, starch, and two vegetables. Maybe a piece of fruit for dessert if we were lucky. On dad free nights? Plenty of fast food (McDonald's, Burger King, and Pizza Hut, of course. But the best by far was the Red Barn) and tv dinners. And, with enough badgering, my mother could be convinced to try any sugary cereal or allegedly time-saving and kid-friendly pre-packaged food product at least once.
Most of these weird food items are lost to us now, left only as strange memories. Really. I can't even find reference to these two on the whole entire internet:
First, Mr. Wonderful's Surprise: The best breakfast cereal ever. It was round puffy balls of cereal, similar to Kix, but available in chocolate and vanilla and made with much, much, much more sugar. But then, the surprise! Each puff was somehow magically sprayed on the inside with a thin coating of pudding! Can you imagine? They fed this to children and then sent them off to school. No wonder Mrs. Ostrander thought I was a pain in the ass. I probably spent the first three periods bouncing off the walls.
Next, I WON'T EAT MY PEAS/BEETS/CARROTS, ETC!: A true miracle of modern technology. I don't know how the fuck they did this but, in order to trick vitamin-averse kids into eating their beta-carotene, the manufacturers somehow turned the vegetables into mash and the injected the purée into seemingly innocuous crinkle-cut french fries. The ersatz potatoes were then either baked or boiled, I forget which. The final product was not so much a golden brown as it was chartreuse, pink, or tangerine. So much for the trickery.
And, ultimately, Libbyland Dinners. There are a couple of freaks still talking about these. Hawked by a bizarro cartoon charatcer named Libby the Kid ("That's Billy spelled sideways!"), this tasty treat was offered in three varieties -- Sundown Supper, Pirate Picnic, and Safari Supper. One was a hamburger, one was fish sticks, and one was hot dogs and baked beans, I think, but I'm not too sure. Some kind of chocolate milk was also included, it seems. All I can say is get a look at the box. It was almost as damaging as those damn monkeys.
Posted by volfie at March 3, 2004 08:05 PMWhat can I say in my defense. I guess you are the Martha of West Simsbury because on those nights of Dad's home you did learn how to cook and prepare a beautiful table with pride. But going out was fun even if it was to fast food joints. I wish I could remember the cereal because there are days now that I could use it but i am off to Starbucks for a Mochachino instead. It does the trick. The TV dinners were the best though. I remember them from my youth.
If you want to make kishka just go to your Hadassah cookbbok and look it up. It is there, both real and, ugh, mock. Of course, we all know gefilte fish comes in a jar but I remember the days your grandmother cooked it and put the bones and skin on top, also ugh, for flavor. Tongue is still a delicacy which I no longer eat because I don't eat meat but it is still delicious to those who enjoy real Jewish deli food.
I amy have fed you weird foods but I love you.
Kishka
Kosher Stuffed Derma (Kishka)
Makes: 6 servings
9 Feet of clean beef casings. (Buy at a Kosher butcher if you can find one)
2 cup flour
1 cup matzo meal (available at local supermarket)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup melted schmaltz (chicken fat) or chopped suet
Wash casings in cold water and cut into 12 inch lengths. Tie one end of
each length tightly with white sewing thread. Turn casings inside-out.
Combine flour, matzo meal, seasonings and schmaltz or suet. Fill each
casing loosely with this stuffing and tie the remaining end. Drop into
rapidly boiling water and boil 10 minutes. Drain. When cool enough to
handle, scrape fat off the casings with the dull edge of a knife. Drop
into rapidly boiling water (about a gallon) to which has been added 1
tablespoon salt and at least 1 teaspoon pepper. Reduce heat and simmer
uncovered for 3 hours. Remove from water. Brown for 1 hour around a roast
or roasting poultry. (You can also refrigerate and then slice pieces about
1 inch thick and fry them--on both sides.)
You hardly need to defend yourself! What do you think I feed my kids when their father isn't around?? And even sometimes when he is -- Andrew and I had chili tonight, but it was Nugget City for the wee people.
Posted by: terry on March 3, 2004 10:43 PMOh, awesome! I couldn't find that at all! i bow to your superior googling powers.
Posted by: terry on March 4, 2004 08:12 AMI remember these as "I HATE CARROTS" and "I HATE PEAS" etc. We loved them. Even if we ate our vegetables anyway.
Posted by: Alan on March 4, 2004 03:24 PMYou could be right about the name, there, Glen. It's a lot of years and a lot of mileage since I actually saw them.
Posted by: terry on March 4, 2004 04:18 PMPlease note the best part of the Mr. Wonderfull's Surprize [sic] box: "VITAMIN CHARGED!" In other words..."round little sugar bombs!"
Posted by: terry on March 4, 2004 04:21 PModd thing is I remember all of thise products you mentioned. I loved the TV dinners with the pop-up carton tops. Buffalo was definitely a test-market city.
Posted by: Alan on March 4, 2004 06:05 PMWow - I never did see either the cereal or the 'I hate (insert veggie here)' things when I was growing up, and I only vaguely remember those Libby dinners.
We did, however, have plenty of olive loaf. And I remember loving Bugles (which made a comeback) and Quisp.
Posted by: Betsy on March 4, 2004 07:50 PMAt one point, there were Swanson tv dinners with a soup "course!" A few ounces of chicken noodle soup in one of the compartments. Combine that with the 8-9 pm Brandy Bunch/Partdridge Family double feature, add a babysitter, and you're in heaven!
Posted by: terry on March 4, 2004 08:08 PMI grew up in Rochester NY, and I remember Mr. Wonderful's Surprise cereal as well. Every once in a while, I'll sit at the computer and randomly "google" things I remember from my youth, and I have never found a reference to that stuff...until now! I was starting to think I made it up!
Posted by: Chris on May 21, 2004 08:01 AM
