The wonderful foods of the Golden Era

[Fading Fast]

I don't remember ever having serving bowls except at Thanksgiving, and then only at my grandparents' house. Most of our bowls were repurposed containers that originally held various commercial products -- I usually ate my cereal out of a white plastic tub that once contained Cool Whip.

Usually food was served straight from the utensil in which it was cooked, and usually made a resounding SPLAT as it hit the plate. If you wanted seconds, you got up, walked over to the stove, and helped yourself.

All of our "tupperware" growing up were just product containers like Cool Whip (still one of the funniest scenes in all "The Family Guy" episodes - laughing now just thinking about it) washed out and reused. You had to be good at seeing through the cloudy top of margarine containers in my house as they could contain anything, so it took some skill to find the actual margarine.

One of those odd things that happens when you live with someone is you notice the differences in these small things. My girlfriend buys tupperware (not that brand usually, but the containers), which seemed almost exotic to me when we first met. Now, I see the benefits of them - better made, better sealing, all sorts of sizing - but they still feel like a luxury item to me twenty years later. And I'm comfortable that I'd be hiding them were my father ever to come back to life and visit - I can hear his "lecture" about waste, money, the depression in my head.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I still drink out of old peanut butter jars.

 

[Fading Fast]

I still drink out of old peanut butter jars.

Based on the "trendy" thing (might already be passe' if I know about it) of having cocktails in mason jars (I know in the last few years I've seen it in a lot of NYC bars where people half my age drink, so it most be / have been cool), your peanut butter jar could be the next hot thing.

 

[emigran]

here's one Papa Domenic would belt down in winter... often while wearing fingerless gloves while the coal burner would come up... a raw egg in a glass with a shot of brandy... GULP...
He might also take a raw egg with him in the car on the way to work with my two uncles ... tap around the top to the egg lift it up tap another hole in the bottom and... GULP...!!!

 

[Big Joe M]

Hobo soup: Ketchup, hot water and crackers make for a good hot soup when you find yourself in a diner on a cold night and are running low.

 

[vitanola]

All of our "tupperware" growing up were just product containers like Cool Whip (still one of the funniest scenes in all "The Family Guy" episodes - laughing now just thinking about it) washed out and reused. You had to be good at seeing through the cloudy top of margarine containers in my house as they could contain anything, so it took some skill to find the actual margarine.

One of those odd things that happens when you live with someone is you notice the differences in these small things. My girlfriend buys tupperware (not that brand usually, but the containers), which seemed almost exotic to me when we first met. Now, I see the benefits of them - better made, better sealing, all sorts of sizing - but they still feel like a luxury item to me twenty years later. And I'm comfortable that I'd be hiding them were my father ever to come back to life and visit - I can hear his "lecture" about waste, money, the depression in my head.

We still use

glass and enameled steel refrigerator dishes. I have three or four sets from my grandmothers, a couple sets from an aunt, and some garage sale finds. Never bother with tupperware, and the dishes last practically forever.

 

[TimeWarpWife]

We serve hot dogs at the Super Bowl party we host each year at work, and I always buy ten pounds of franks, a big jar of Gulden's mustard, a jar of Cain's Relish, and NO KETCHUP. One of the office people chewed me out about this, and I gave them a withering look of derision. NOBODY I would care to know puts KETCHUP on a HOT DOG.

I guess you don't care to know me because I can't eat a hot dog without ketchup on it. And putting Gulden's mustard instead of French's yellow mustard on a dog is absolute sacrilege in my southern neck of the woods. Seriously, I can't think of one person throughout my 56 years of life who didn't put ketchup on their hot dog. Maybe this is regional, IDK.

 

[Fading Fast]

I guess you don't care to know me because I can't eat a hot dog without ketchup on it. And putting Gulden's mustard instead of French's yellow mustard on a dog is absolute sacrilege in my southern neck of the woods. Seriously, I can't think of one person throughout my 56 years of life who didn't put ketchup on their hot dog. Maybe this is regional, IDK.

Until college (I think), I never saw ketchup on a hotdog; whereas, the big debate growing up was Gulden's vs. French's with all the "right thinking" people choosing Gulden's . My guess, you're right, it's regional or even narrower than that as I went to college in the same state I grew up in.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Our local hot dog stand ("Wasses -- Over Two Million Sold") has a conspicuous sign posted at each of its locations: "EVERYTHING on a hot dog includes MUSTARD, RELISH, and ONIONS. KETCHUP FURNISHED BY REQUEST ONLY."
It's very much a regionalism, I suspect.

Gulden's became very popular in the Northeast in the early years of the 20th Century because it was the only mustard served by Harry M. Stevens Company, which serviced the ballparks in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. That greatly influenced the Northeastern perception of how a hot dog should be properly prepared and served.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Gulden's became very popular in the Northeast in the early years of the 20th Century because it was the only mustard served by Harry M. Stevens Company, which serviced the ballparks in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. That greatly influenced the Northeastern perception of how a hot dog should be properly prepared and served.

This is why I prefer Lizziepedia to Wikipedia - more to-the-point and succinct information.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The big, big difference --- and it's a whoppa -- is over the kind of rolls used. There's the torpedo-shaped "hot dog roll," and there's the New England-style "frankfurter roll," which is like a piece of white bread folded upward to receive the weenie. There is crust on the whole outside of a "hot dog roll" but no crust on the sides of a New England-style roll.

Harry M. Stevens used Ward Baking Company of Brooklyn to bake most of its rolls, but fans in Boston *demanded* a "New England Style" roll and Ward was compelled to provide one for that market. To this day the "New England Style" roll is what you get if you go to a game at Fenway Park. And still with the Gulden's Mustard.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Our local hot dog stand ("Wasses -- Over Two Million Sold") has a conspicuous sign posted at each of its locations: "EVERYTHING on a hot dog includes MUSTARD, RELISH, and ONIONS. KETCHUP FURNISHED BY REQUEST ONLY."
It's very much a regionalism, I suspect.

One local hot dog place in Chicago has a sign that reads: " No Ketchup. Don't even ask."

One "with the works" here will usually earn you tomato slices, small hot peppers, a dill spear, and some celery salt along with the mustard, relish, and onions aforementioned. The mustard is usually French's yellow. Some will have the brown variety.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Italian beef is another local delicacy. Order 'em wet, dry, or "dipped," (au jus/ gravy) and with either sweet or hot peppers. A combo with Italian sausage is another option. And don't forget the fries.

 

[Fading Fast]

The big, big difference --- and it's a whoppa -- is over the kind of rolls used. There's the torpedo-shaped "hot dog roll," and there's the New England-style "frankfurter roll," which is like a piece of white bread folded upward to receive the weenie. There is crust on the whole outside of a "hot dog roll" but no crust on the sides of a New England-style roll.

Harry M. Stevens used Ward Baking Company of Brooklyn to bake most of its rolls, but fans in Boston *demanded* a "New England Style" roll and Ward was compelled to provide one for that market. To this day the "New England Style" roll is what you get if you go to a game at Fenway Park. And still with the Gulden's Mustard.

Also, according to my partly raised in Maine girlfriend, it is the only proper roll for a lobster roll. She is not shy in expressing her dissatisfaction with any other roll serving lobster-roll duty.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The main difference is in the way the rolls are baked. A standard "hot dog roll" is its own mini loaf. New England Style rolls are baked as a long, low loaf which is then sliced into four separate rolls after it's out of the pan. The result is an entirely different texture of bread.

New England Style rolls also lend themselves to grilling on the same griddle where the dogs are prepared. Butter the sides, let them sizzle, and turn them over, and you get a very satisfying crispy crunch.

 

[BlueTrain]

There was an excellent PBS special documentary "America Eats," which was about things like hot dogs, hamburgers, hoagies/subs, and all those other extra special things that really aren't as good when made at home. It was followed up by another program "America Drinks" or something like that, which I didn't find nearly as interesting.

My first introduction to regional foods was when I first heard of something called a pepperoni roll. Nothing fancy, just a roll about the size of a hot dog bun with pepperoni baked inside. I even made them where I worked. Something likek 40 years later, I discovered they were popular in Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia, or or less.

I also suspect many foods and especially drinks had more regional variations in the past, along with voice accents, too. But large chains tend to smooth out ( or bland out) the differences, but many remain.

 

[vitanola]

The big, big difference --- and it's a whoppa -- is over the kind of rolls used. There's the torpedo-shaped "hot dog roll," and there's the New England-style "frankfurter roll," which is like a piece of white bread folded upward to receive the weenie. There is crust on the whole outside of a "hot dog roll" but no crust on the sides of a New England-style roll.

Harry M. Stevens used Ward Baking Company of Brooklyn to bake most of its rolls, but fans in Boston *demanded* a "New England Style" roll and Ward was compelled to provide one for that market. To this day the "New England Style" roll is what you get if you go to a game at Fenway Park. And still with the Gulden's Mustard.

I cannot get the image of Harry Rose singing this song to our own Miss Maine out of my head:

 

[BlueTrain]

Is vinegar still considered an essential thing to always have on the table, right next to the salt and pepper? Everyone I knew did; no one I know now does. One writer (journalist, actually) mentions vinegar and water as his favorite drink even.

It also occurs to me that some of the wonderful, if not memorable, foods of the good old days of our youth were those in the school cafeteria, if your school had a cafeteria. Neither the grade school or junior high school I attended did but the high school did. I at least remember "Salisbury steak" and pigs in a blanket. I really don't remember anything else. Something we never had a home, though, was hamburgers on a bun. Never, ever. In fact, I didn't know anyone else who did, either, and for that matter, nobody had a grill, although a grill is not required.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Malt vinegar is usually available as a condiment in seafood places here -- it's a necessary part of a proper fish-and-chips experience.

We got a school lunch program when I was in the second grade. The first day it was offered, the item served was "Shake-n-Bake Chicken." It was vile. I brown-bagged whenever possible from thereafter.

There were some good items on the school lunch plan, though, and I'd barter for them when they were offered. A school lunch meal was the first time I ever had "French bread," which was a large crusty slice covered in a thick layer of butter. It was the first time I'd ever had bread that wasn't the usual white balloon bread. They also served decent baked beans, although they probably came out of a No. 10 Army surplus can. And there was a bizarre item I've never encountered anywhere else, and nobody has been able to explain to me what it was. It was touted as "Ice Cream," and it had the flavor and the texture of chocolate ice cream, but it wasn't cold. It was served at room temperature, but it had the mouthfeel of something frozen. I don't know if it was some kind of space-age NASA surplus thing or what, but it wasn't pudding and it wasn't chocolate mousse. It was "School Ice Cream," and we were mystified by it.

We did get actual ice cream from time to time, though. Hoodsie cups and "H Bars," which is the New England equivalent of a Good Humor, were served usually right before vacation time, and kids fought for places in the lunch line so as to get them before they ran out.

We didn't have a cafeteria. The food was served from carts wheeled into the corridor, and we lined up with GI-type trays to take what what were given. Usually it was a brown glob, a green glob, and a white glob, with little distinction made from day to day.

 

[Zombie_61]

Y'all are making my hungry.