Dishes So Awful We Had to Make Them

I always have to laugh at the reactions when people discover the awful recipes of the 1950s and 60s. At the time, many women stayed home with their time-saving appliances and and used that spare time to save the money they didn't make in the workplace. Industry helped by publishing new and bizarre recipes that would stretch a family's budget and sell newfangled food products like Spam and Jell-O. Behold, the Pickle-stretcher Salad.

"The Pickle Stretcher Salad gave me the most visceral reaction I have ever had to a food-like item. I love olives, dill pickles and just about anything limey, but combining the three left me with a shiver that wouldn't stop traveling my spine. One bite, and I'm sure I will never, ever forget the texture of slime and crunchy, the taste of ammonia and acid."

The pickle salad was chosen as an example here because it was the most appetizing picture in the post. Read about twenty such recipes and the reaction they get from modern diners. Link -via Digg

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Why don't you try making the Portal cake??

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Vintage recipes like these are a hobby of mine, especially gelatin recipes! I've made a few videos where I cook and try the results. You can find more vintage recipes shared here: http://community.livejournal.com/vintage_recipes/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1028252536876637412&hl=en#

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2201409339020721008&hl=en#

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2685001807404068335&hl=en#

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8053494515423177111&hl=en#

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=978213822797607258&hl=en#

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1093259313549463356&hl=en#

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Thanks so much for the shout-out! I'm Robin, and I spent a year doing the Throwback of the House project, making a recipe a week. I had a great time doing it, believe it or not. Mostly because it's fun to watch my husband spit out compound butter with anchovy paste while screaming, "Why the fuck do you hate people?!"

Since I had a 350-word limit on each piece, I didn't get to go as in-depth on the history of why in the hell such foods ever existed. The culinary history of the last half of the 20th century reads like a terrifying comedy.

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My mom used to make a jellied (Jell-O) salad at every function when I was little. It consisted of Jell-O in a citrus flavor mixed with cottage cheese to make it opaque and then had veggies shaved and contained within.

It looked like congealed puke, but oddly enough, it was always requested.