Retro Recipe Favorites – Part 2 - We’re continuing our magical trip back in time

Close your eyes once more and step deeper into the kitchens of the past, where comforting aromas and cherished flavors still linger. Recipes tell a story; they carry the spirit of generations before us while offering warmth, nourishment, and joy to our tables today. In this episode, Gloria shares some beloved flashback recipes from gloriagoodtaste.com, celebrating the creativity, resourcefulness, and delicious traditions of American home cooking.

Visit the Gloria Goodtaste website to view the full stories and available recipes highlighted in this podcast with pictures and additional info to further enjoy this episode.  Go to: https://www.gloriagoodtaste.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hello everyone and welcome back to Food for Body, Mind and Spirit. I'm your host, Gloria Goodaste.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

And I'm Tech Tom, the man of facts, and the co-host of this program. Great to be with you today.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Well, we're continuing our magical trip back in time with Retro Recipe Favorites Part 2. Close your eyes, everyone, and step into the kitchens of the past where comforting aromas and cherished flavors still linger. Recipes, you know, tell a story. They carry the spirit of generations before us while offering warmth, nourishment, and the joy to our tables today. In this episode, we're excited to share some of our beloved flashback recipes from GloriaGoodTaste.com, celebrating the creativity, resourcefulness, and delicious traditions of American home cooking.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Oh yeah, I'm really looking forward to this one.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Let's start at the beginning of the 20th century with one of my favorites, a crispy coconut lazy daisy cake. I love anything that's lazy daisy. In any case, this easy to make beauty features a fluffy vanilla cake topped with a delicious boiled crisp coconut topping.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

And a fun fact, it first appeared in a 1914 Chicago Sunday Tribune from a reader in Waterloo, Iowa. The name Lazy Daisy came from the turn of the century poetry celebrating the fresh, carefree feeling of June. This recipe was first published and advertised with snowdrift shortening, and it appeared in the 1930s and 40s as a convenient cake to bake.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

And you know what I love best about this recipe? When you actually see the cake, it is just that crispy, crispy coconut on top. It's like unforgettable. It's amazing how old this recipe is and how good it is. I mean, that's wonderful. Well, next up is a real crowd pleaser from 1937. The Double Decker Bob's Big Boy Cheeseburger. Alright. This is the original double decker that started it all, folks. Three slices of bun, mayo, lettuce, cheese, two thin patties, and of course the special sauce. If you close your eyes, you put on some of the rock music, you're going to be transported right back into the fun of the 50s and the 60s and the 70s with this recipe.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

That's right. Bob's big boy was the first to serve a double decker back in 1937. Other chains didn't catch on until decades later. I still remember from our first day where I took you at a big boy driving, where the tasted we wanted to taste a big boy burger, and I remember it being delicious with a great sauce. And besides, I loved your company.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Wow. I'm blushing at that one.

unknown 3:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Moving into the 1940s, we have the American chop suey, which is between 1946 and 1950 version. This mild flavorful stir fry brings back the excitement when American cooks first began experimenting with Chinese-inspired dishes right at home.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

During the Depression, the 1933 version was heavily promoted by AMP supermarket ads. It started very simply with just onions and celery and resourceful cooking at its best. I remember my mother cooked her version of this recipe, and I loved it. It was different from everything else we've ever eaten.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

But the funny thing is that that recipe, when we called it chopped suey, really was just had celery in it. Okay. There was nothing celery and some meat. And of course and rice. And rice and a soy sauce. It had soy sauce in in it. But that was it. And we called that Chinese. But we learned to love the ingredients that way. And it is amazing how many people love the original recipe. Absolutely amazing. In any case, from the 1950s, if we're going to travel there, comes one of the decades' most popular recipes called the Super Pot Roast. Alright. Everyone made the super pot roast. Alright. It was made with a new ingredient called Dry Onion Soup Mix. Can you imagine that? New ingredient. It was a go-to because it was so simple to make.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

By the mid-1950s, convenience products like onion soup mix and TV dinners were changing American kitchens. The pot roast was a lifesaver for busy families. Great and a slow cooker. I never had pot roast in our house, but your mother served me my first pot roast dinner, and I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

And that as the absolute truth.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Every single Sunday she would make a pot roast of some kind. And she had a special pot even. When she wasn't making this recipe, she would basically make pot roast in the pot roast pot. And my father, that's all he wanted was the pot roast in the pot roast pot. That pot was so heavy and it had a broken handle even on it, and she refused to get rid of the pot. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

And your father loved to cook after the meal to make his scrumbles or whatever he called them.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

He did. I he would come Sunday night, he would go to the stove and he would mix them up and scrumble them, and somehow they must taste really good. I never ate those with him. Representing the 1960s, we have the much loved Yankee Noodle Cabbage Slaw.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony. He stuck a feather in his and called it macaroni.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

And that's exactly what you have in this recipe. You have nappa cabbage that stays crisps in a tangy dressing, while almonds, sesame seeds, and even bits of pasta that are crunchy at a delightful crunch.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

This one was inspired by a recipe from Judy Furtag in her book, The Toasted Nuts and Noodles give it a significant crunch that makes it so delicious. I remember Bonnie Clark served it at one of our gourmet club dinners, and everyone loved it.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

They did. You know, it was a retro dinner, and she walks in with the salad, and she said, Don't mind if the noodles are not cooked. And everyone looked at it, kind of, oh yeah. But when they tasted it, there was nothing left in the bowl.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

How about that?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

So I would say if you want to bring it, bring Yankee Doodle cabbage sauce. In any case, let's look at another one. And oh, who could ever forget the legendary Tunnel of Fudge Cake from 1966?

SPEAKER_00 8:36

This recipe is from Pillsbury's 17 bake-off contest in 1966 and develops a fudgy tunnel filling inside as it bakes. It took the nation by storm and created a demand for bunt cake pans and brought the magic to the dessert tables.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

It certainly did. Most people never had a bunch pan before that cake.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

They had two pans, but not bun pans.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Not bunt pans, so this was something very new. Well, being in the bake-off myself, this is a fantastic experience, by the way. You can just imagine how excited I was to be a finalist in the 25th Pillsbury Bake Off Cest. That morning, a beautiful breakfast was served before we cooked. Well, energized finalists came bouncing into the room with the company guests, and everyone was there introducing ourselves around the table. And I discovered that Ella Helfitch from Bake Off 17, the actual creator of the Tunnel of Hodge Cut, was sitting right across from me. She humbly shared her own thrilling experience and added that the recipe was not selected as the best of the bake-off. That was a real mistake. She was really a person just like us who just loved to create in her kitchen. I was awed by her words as she told me how happy she was that Pillsbury invited her to attend the bake-off as a guest. It was almost like she didn't realize that her recipe actually changed the culinary world. Pillsbury received more than 200,000 requests immediately for the pan that she used. And H. David Halquist's company went into overtime production to try to fill that. And today, more than 50 million bunt pans have been sold around the world. And this is all because of Ella. How about that? Amazing! That is an amazing story of a person who changes history.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

I know another great recipe story. The seventh 1970s gave us the fun and famous Watergate salad. Now, don't we all love a real life mystery? The Watergate scandal was a cover-up for an illegal act traced to the president of the United States, and he resigned.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Imagine that. Well now think about this. A salad called the Watergate salad is really a dessert in disguise. It's pineapple and nuts are hidden under a cloak of fluffy green pudding and whipped cream. It assumes many different names that you'll find it under pistachio pineapple delight, shut the gate salad, green goop, green fluff, green stuff, or even just plain watergate salad. So no one really knows who it came from, where it came from, or who even invented it.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Our best guess, according to the witnesses' information, is a Chicago food editor renamed it to renew attention to the recipe. Another says that the Watergate hotel chef made it for brunches. Still another says the pistachio was one of Nixon's favorite flavors. That pistachio pudding, pineapple, and whip topping classic.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

I guess it will always remain a mystery.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

But it'll be called the Watergate salad.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

But the salad is really good. But it's really a dessert. In any case, and we can't leave the tat cake without mentioning a carrot cake and a creamsicle cake, both of which started their life with a cake mix. Well, thinking about that, I decided as a tribute that I would create a combination cake called Orange Creamsickle carrot cake. Why not combine them both, right? A playful dessert combining moist carrot cake with bright orange zest and white chocolate and luscious orange butter-rich cream cheese glaze.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

And I loved it. It was really a good dessert. Wow, those retro recipes sent my spirit into high gear. They really capture that fun and colorful area.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

They really do. Each of these recipes shows how home cooks turn simple ingredients into lasting memories. Now, whether you're feeding a family, hosting friends, or treating yourself, these flashback favorites will bring comfort to the body, stories right to your mind, and the happiness, of course, is going to go sky high with your spirit.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

All these recipes are available right now on gloriagoodtaste.com. We encourage everyone to try at least one this week. You'll love it.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Well, thank you for joining us on this nostalgic journey. I hope that today's episode inspires you to explore the flavors of the past and create new beautiful memories around your own table. So don't forget, always put a little good taste in your life.