The wonderful foods of the Golden Era

[Bamaboots]

You could always try this:https://www.diatomaceousearth.com/diatomaceous-earth-human/, I've used it in my gardens for pest control.

 

[ChiTownScion]

No squiggly white icing on top? And Twinkies and Snowballs rounded out the Hostess triumvirate.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The white squiggle was a postwar innovation, added in 1950.

 

[Fading Fast]

Make it a mustard sandwich for mine. A generous layering of Gulden's between three slices of white bread is a favorite bedtime snack.

Is bread and butter - something I eat regularly - any different in spirit? Also, what he heck, I'll just admit it: I make sandwiches out of leftover rice or pasta.

So, yes, in today's carbohydrates are horrible world (something I clearly don't subscribe to), I'll microwave up some leftover pasta or rice, put some butter on a roll, throw the rice or pasta on the roll and have a sandwich I thoroughly enjoy.

As to the sugar on bread sandwich, I've never had that, but have had cinnamon sugar toast (toast, butter, sugar, cinnamon) - doesn't seem that far off to me.

While I eat chicken (regularly), red meat (occasionally and less each year) and fish (rarely), many times, I prefer what are all versions of shadow sandwiches - butter / condiments / carbohydrates on bread.

 

[BlueTrain]

Oh, the sugar on bread wasn't a sandwich, just a topping, same as bread and butter. A certain German restaurant that we sometimes patronize (Old Europe in Washington, D.C., next to Pearson's Liquor Store) will put Schmalz (schmaltz) on the table as a spread. It's sort of an acquired taste but real German bread, some of them, also has a rather strong taste. Schmalz is basically fat but I guess that's all butter is, too. I have no idea what margarine is. And judging from what I read on packaging, some spreads that you buy in the grocery store are margarine substitutes, which is ironic. Pretty much all tastes the same.

I once asked in a Chinese restaurant if there was such a thing as bread in China but I didn't get a straight answer. A Korean friend and coworker said there is a kind of rice cake that she made sound like something not worth eating. In fact, she described it as looking and tasting like ceiling tile, even though I doubt she had ever tasted ceiling tile. At a Korean wedding of one of my nephews last fall (Pyebaek), the party favors consisted of little cakes. They weren't rice cakes but they were awful tasting. I assume they were meant to be eaten.

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ Sincerely not picking your words apart, but I eat bread and butter both ways - as a topping as you note and as a sandwich with the butter between two slices of bread. It's interesting, while the components are the same, there is a different experience eating it as a topping versus a filling. As a topping, it feels less substantial, but as a filling (as a sandwich), it feels more meal-like to me.

 

[BlueTrain]

The sugar on bread thing is something I saw in a movie, not something I've ever seen anyone do. But one of my cousins would eat a mayonnaise sandwich. I do like lots of mayonnaise on sandwiches but even so, that's not enough for me.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, the sugar on bread wasn't a sandwich, just a topping, same as bread and butter. A certain German restaurant that we sometimes patronize (Old Europe in Washington, D.C., next to Pearson's Liquor Store) will put Schmalz (schmaltz) on the table as a spread. It's sort of an acquired taste but real German bread, some of them, also has a rather strong taste. Schmalz is basically fat but I guess that's all butter is, too. I have no idea what margarine is. And judging from what I read on packaging, some spreads that you buy in the grocery store are margarine substitutes, which is ironic. Pretty much all tastes the same.

Schmaltz is, specifically, congealed *chicken* fat -- and it can be overwhelming if you aren't prepared for it. But if you are, it makes a superior sandwich. It's especially good spread thinly on matzo.

When I was growing up, the waterfront neighborhood where all the poultry processing factories were located, and where great smelly blobs of congealed chicken fat were pumped into the harbor, was called "Schmaltzville."

 

[BlueTrain]

It's interesting that the word also means sentimental art or music. Norman Rockwell and Lawrence Welk.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Bratkartoffeln, fried in Schmalz, the "real" thing.

 

[PeterGunnLives]

I like the fine dining of past decades... i.e. Steak Diane flambeed table-side, Lobster Thermidor, table-side Caesar salad, prime rib roast carved and served from an art deco style chrome cart, flaming meat on skewers that look like swords, bananas foster flambeed table-side, flaming Spanish Coffee cocktails, and the like. And the waiters have to be wearing bow ties.

One of my hobbies is seeking out decades-old places that still serve things like these when I'm traveling here and there.

 

[Haversack]

PeterGunnLives wrote: "table-side Caesar salad, prime rib roast carved and served from an art deco style chrome cart"

You are familiar with The House of Prime Rib on Van Ness in San Francisco? You described it to a tee. Also, Bix on Gold off of Jackson Square does a good table side Bananas Foster. And the Iron Gate on El Camino Real in Belmont specializes in all sorts of flambeed dishes.

 

[PeterGunnLives]

PeterGunnLives wrote: "table-side Caesar salad, prime rib roast carved and served from an art deco style chrome cart"

You are familiar with The House of Prime Rib on Van Ness in San Francisco? You described it to a tee. Also, Bix on Gold off of Jackson Square does a good table side Bananas Foster. And the Iron Gate on El Camino Real in Belmont specializes in all sorts of flambeed dishes.

Oh yes, the one time I went to the House of Prime Rib, I neglected to get a reservation ahead of time, so there would have been about a two-hour wait for a party of one. So I just had a drink in the waiting area, took in the atmosphere, paid my tab and left.

But unlike other patrons having drinks in the waiting area, they didn't bring me any complementary nuts... probably because they knew I wasn't staying for dinner. Oh well.

 

[BlueTrain]

We had dinner last Friday with friends. As an appetizer, the man ordered fried brie. Like many other independent restaurants in the area, many of their menu items are what I would call Southern coastal but that doesn't include fried French brie. He's far more adventurous than I am when it comes to eating.

 

[Fading Fast]

I like the fine dining of past decades... i.e. Steak Diane flambeed table-side, Lobster Thermidor, table-side Caesar salad, prime rib roast carved and served from an art deco style chrome cart, flaming meat on skewers that look like swords, bananas foster flambeed table-side, flaming Spanish Coffee cocktails, and the like. And the waiters have to be wearing bow ties.

One of my hobbies is seeking out decades-old places that still serve things like these when I'm traveling here and there.

By the time I was old enough and able to occasionally afford a nice restaurant, most of the world you are describing was gone, but occasionally, I'd wind up in an old elegant restaurant (usually looking a little tired) and loved all the pomp and ceremony of table-side preparation.

To be fair, it was a novelty for me, so I'm not sure if I'd love it as a "real thing," but I enjoyed it the few times I encountered it. In particular, anything with flames was fun - as was all the brouhaha and commotion that occurred around making a Caesar salad table side. You can capture some of that experience again today when, in some places, they make the guacamole fresh table side.

Another great way to experience all of that is in old movies. Every once in awhile in an old movie, the characters will be in an upscaled restaurant and all the things you describe (right down to flaming this or that) will go on.

Another thing I notice in those old movies is how there was almost a chain of command where a formally dressed and serious host would walk you to your table and properly had you off to an equally serious waiter who would hand you a menu. Occasionally, the waiter would bark orders to what I guess where water boys or "helpers" or something, but there was more than a bit of military orderliness to it all. Certainly none of this "hi, I'm Jane and I'll be your waitress this evening" stuff going on.

Probably all just cultural stuff that changes and evolves, but clearly a different standard in those days at those types of restaurants.

 

[green papaya]

Some people put ketchup on everything and, sometimes, even catsup.

And by the way, my wife says "to-mah-to" instead of "to-may-to." Old Virginia accent.

ketchup goes good on spaghetti if it needs more sauce

 

[BlueTrain]

That's what the Ketchup Advisory Board recommends.

 

[green papaya]

Growing up in Newark NJ in the 50's we were served quite a lot of similar fare to you all.

My Dad always talked about his favorite breakfast: either lots of Graham Crackers or Uneeda Biscuits crushed up with coffee poured over.... also Depression-ish.

And it was a tomato pie night in the summer when Mom would make the dough and for odd-shaped thin crusted delights garnished with fresh basil from the yard.

the crushed graham crackers or biscuits with coffee poured over sounds a lot like the stuff a Civil War soldier would have eaten, but they would have used HARD TACK or stale bread crumbs mixed with their coffee.

I heard they also use to make dough balls with flour and boil them in water to make a dumpling, another way to cook without an oven.

 

[BlueTrain]

And then there is "chittlins."

 

[green papaya]

And then there is "chittlins."

I like to eat chitlins , the market has a deli that sells them, and they ask if you want them cut up into bite sized pieces, they go great with a serving of rice to balance it out

they also have ham hocks, pig's ears, pig's snouts

a place called 99 RANCH MARKET