Forgotten Foods: The Response

I haven't posted anything for a couple months, I know, so why should a relatively innocuous post by Alan David Doane cause me to respond, point by point? I dunno, really. I'm doing some work from home on an otherwise uneventful Easter and wanted to take a break.

So, you'll need to go read Alan's piece on the forgotten foods of his youth he has not passed along to his own household, but I'm going to just make my own comments on his selections.

Rack of lamb with mint jelly - I've never had this in anyone's home that I can recall. The few times I've had it have been at wedding receptions, so I don't think I've given lamb a fair shake yet. I like mint all right but would go along with Alan that mint jelly is repugnant, but my problem would be the consistency and lack of dimension. I think the lamb is probably better served with an herb-filled marinade perhaps incorporating some mint along with garlic and other things. Jelly one gets from a jar has no place atop an entree.

Harvey Wallbanger Cake - I've had liquor-flavored cakes before, not specifically this one. I like the idea of them fine, as whiskey or rum do add good flavor to desserts due to their complex sweetness. I also have a soft spot for antiquated cocktails.

Liver and onions - I'm sure Emeril or someone has a killer recipe. Otherwise I'm not very interested in this, and have never had it. Growing up, I did always enjoy the fried chicken livers my stepdad would make with a fried chicken meal. They just had so much more concentrated flavor than the other chicken pieces. This probably holds true for human flesh as well.

Chipped Beef on Toast - I come from the Midwest, so creamy dishes like this are familiar. However, my mom and I only ever had this as a Stouffer's frozen boil-in-bag entree, and rarely would we have it on toast. More often we would pour it, or Creamed Chicken, over a heated frozen biscuit or toaster-ovened puff pastry cuff, probably made by Pepperidge Farm. Most people like creamy and salty if you get a few drinks in them first.

Codfish - Never had this at home. I've had it plenty in fish and chips, with malt vinegar squirted over it, and cod is a nice if bland fish, which is why you bread it and add vinegar. It doesn't sound like Alan had it fried as a kid, and if not, I can see not being excited about it. I can't see it having a strong flavor unless that's just from starting to rot, or maybe the wood box it came in.

Turkey Soup after Thanksgiving - I don't think I ever had this. Plenty of turkey sandwiches, though. These days I really don't want leftovers. Turkey is really boring. It's a bit better if it's free-range/organic and sufficiently spiced, but still, one meal a year is enough.

Spam - Never. Not a snob about it, though perhaps my mom was. I did always like canned corned beef hash. I think my problem with Spam is that I don't really like ham all that well unless it's accompanied by good cheese. Starbucks has a baguette of ham, brie, honey mustard and dried cherries (yes!) that's delicious heated.

Vienna Sausages - I don't think so. The pale color always threw me off, as it does with the milkier bratwursts. I want a marbley look to my sausage. You can quote me on that.

Beets - No. The closest I've come is crisy vegetable flavored chips, but I think those are still potato with a little beet flavor and color added. The color is great but it always upset me how the beet juice would run and ruin the other items on the plate.

Mincemeat Pie - Never had it, but wouldn't be against having an authentic one in an Irish pub or something. Steak and Kidney Pie isn't bad.

Filet Mignon - Sure, who hasn't? Filet mignon is very good, though as I've gotten older, and fatter, I tend to prefer a New York Strip for the character and flavor of the meat--all that pure, unmarbled meat in the filet isn't going to taste as good as a cut with some fat running through it. I made steak for my son and me Friday night, a real rarity for him, and not something I eat often, either, and it turned out really well and though I had to cut his meat for him, he didn't have any problem chewing it. Many old school steakhouses do still wrap their filets in bacon.

Raw Oysters and Frog Legs - I love oysters, and most seafood. I think they're sexy. I really want to go to New Orleans (I know oyster production is way down since Katrina, but still) or somewhere else with abundant oysters and eat buckets of them with beer. Yum. Frog legs is one of those antiquities from when French cuisine made its biggest influence on the U.S. cooking scene. I've had them maybe twice in my youth, I think once was as a Christmas Eve appetizer. I remember them as being good, and yes, tasting like chicken. So much so that it's hard to see the reason to get them now rather than a bunch of chicken wings. For the record, while I love animals and want to preserve areas where they can thrive, I have little problem with eating them. I mean, I'd draw the line at monkeys, dogs, horses and cats, but even there I'd have to say the reasons are sort of nostalgic, the stigma against them being so strong the food would have to be really remarkable for me to overcome it.

Let me add a couple dishes I enjoyed from my childhood restaurant experiences that you don't see anymore:

Beef Wellington - this is a tenderloin with a kind of mushroom paste smeared over it, wrapped in puff pastry and baked until done. I like beef, mushrooms and pastry, so this one was a hit to me as a kid. I think today the reason you don't see it much is that people want to see the meat they're getting and don't really want it diluted with a layer of buttery pastry around it.

Swiss Steak - Not sure how Swiss this really was. This wasn't a restaurant meal--my stepdad would make it now and then, not on the regular rotation of fried chicken, tacos, meatloaf, etc. (Oddly I can't think of a full week's worth of meals now..what happened?). Swiss steak is round steak beaten with a tenderizing mallet until tender, then simmered with stewed tomatoes and onions until it's a tasty mess. Knowing my stepdad, it no doubt had plenty of garlic salt added. You can extend the meal by serving it over mashed potatoes.

Also, as a kid I once had King Crab legs at a family dinner and from that moment on was a real pain in the ass, ordering that, or lobster, or steak. I hardly ever had grilled cheese or similar kid friendly dare.

Now, as an adult, I've found there are some foods I love that I would never attempt at home. Sushi is #1 in this category. Just the expense alone is prohibitive. I also find a lot of fish grilled at home to be almost inedible compared to restaurant technique. On the other hand, I almost never order tomato-based pasta dishes in restaurants, as I tend to like my own home cooking better there.