I thought MY old recipes were bad, and that many of MY pictures here on the blog were terrible, but these, whoa, these far surpass my issues. (Did you see my post from the other day: A peek at my recipe box before I was a real foodie freak?)
The one pictured above: Ham and bananas hollandaise — yikes!
And here's another especially scary one, called Lobster Relish:
See the rest here, and let me know which is your… favorite?
By the way, as the first couple of commenters noted below, it's interesting that they seemed to use more gelatin in their foods back then, maybe they knew how good it was for them?! If you want a good-for-you grass-fed gelatin to add to your recipes, we love this one.
Kathryn Hicks says
Found the recipes ‘interesting’ – but have to admit to 2 of them (or variations) are very popular with me – bacon and bananas; but not the hollandaise: I really enjoy fried bacon with fried banana for breakfast., and the baked salmon – made fresh, skin on and stuffed with a light herbed stuffing mix was a family favourite in my childhood and very tasty – nice cold too.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Kathryn Hicks — I love bananas fried in bacon grease too! 🙂
Robin says
haha, I ran across this site a few weeks ago and literally laughed until I cried (and I can’t actually remember the last time that has happened!). What makes it priceless are the comments below each picture, and the further I got down the list, the funnier it got. I mean, seriously, what is up with squishing everything into a loaf??? Spam and limas??? and that really awful shrimp-mash-what-in-the-world??? So.freaking.funny. Oh yeah, and the banana candle, rofl!!!
Anna says
Thanks for a laugh! This was great!
Tiffany says
Hey Kelly – for some reason the link is not working today – or is it just me?
Susan says
Me, too! When I click on the link, it says, “page not found”
KitchenKop says
Tiffany & Susan,
I think I fixed it now!
Kelly
Laura Miller says
Can people please tell me some different ways they put gelatin into their food besides homemade jello and marshmallows. Trying to figure out EASY ways to incorporate. Thanks so much!
KitchenKop says
You can add it to soups and sauces. 🙂
Kelly
Lori says
Back in August of 1974 my great grandma came to visit and my step-mom made an odd Jell-O creation that sounds gross, but was delicious! It was orange Jell-o with grated carrots and grated Cheddar in it. I was almost 15 at the time and I really enjoyed it. A very odd, but delicious dessert.
I have a lot of old cook books (over 900) and I can tell you there are a lot of these hideous desserts such as the Ham and Bananas Hollandaise. I think the writers were just trying to find recipes to put out for the food editors, otherwise, I can’t imagine why they would come up with some of the awful creations they came up with! But they can be fun to read. There are also many good recipes, too.
My dad had a collection of recipe cards that came from a gas station in the very early 70’s and I now have them. Years ago, I made the spaghetti recipe on one of the cards. It was quite bizarre sounding as it had cinnamon and cloves in it, but I thought maybe the taste would be transformed. Wrong!!! It was the most awful stuff I’d ever made! Maybe if you were from the Middle East and used to eating cinnamon and cloves in all of your savory foods it would be okay, but for Western palates it was just awful. The entire thing went in the trash as no one would eat it as it was awful tasting.
I have a 1934 Jell-o cook pamphlet and it has some strange concoctions in it. Many people ate Aspics back in the day (foods made with unflavored gelatin), they were very popular up until sometime in the 1960’s when they began to fall from favor. I think perhaps those who grew up eating Aspics would still enjoy them, but those of us who did not, we find them strange. I think they have a lot to offer as far as nutrition goes if we can get used to eating them again. Aspics are savory and not sweet, made with broths and vegetables. Even many pf the early Knox gelatin recipes for sweet desserts were made with real fruit juices and fruits and not with a lot of sugar.
Sarah says
I used to work with home health care as an aid as well as in a nursing home for a few years. It seemed like many people viewed salads with jello/gelatin as part of the main meal and not dessert. One woman I took care of was always putting vegetables into her jello. I wonder if that had anything to do with a knowlege of gelatin being a valuable source of nutrition and this being one way to get more of it in the diet besides soups and stews. As time passed and it became messed up with sugars and dyes it shifted to more of a dessert. Or did the increase of gelatin salads possibly have to do with rationing during World War II? Or it may just be that jello is fun!!
KitchenKop says
Hmmm, that’s a good question, Sarah. I think I’ll add a link in the post to a good-for-you gelatin!
Kelly
Christine says
Well, they definitely ate more gelatin than we do! That’s good at least!
KitchenKop says
You’re right, Christine, I hadn’t thought of it like that!
Kelly
Suzy Spears says
Perfection Salad. No. No.