Monday, October 25, 2010

Cooking! Old-school.

During my Exciting Weekend Away, which you didn't know about because I was totally incognito or something, I ended up briefly mentioning a cookbook my old flatmate used to have, entitled Be Bold With Bananas! I can't remember if it actually had the ! but if it didn't it totally should have, because the whole book was dedicated to making interesting, banana-related taste abominations.

So when my grandmother came around this afternoon with a whole bunch of old cookbooks I decided to have a quick look through them as weird culinary adventures were on my mind, and here is a bit of what I found:

'Upside Down Pineapple Mince Loaf' - Presumably a savoury take on the upside-down pineapple cake? Pineapple features a lot more than it should in all old cooking books: see also Pineapple Meat Rolls, Delicious Pineapple (appears to consist of pineapple, malt biscuits, and butter) and a dish which I did not catch the name of but appears to be pineapple rings with a sausage shoved through the middle. Yum.

"Select a large and beautiful pineapple" - This instruction makes sense once you realise that the basic thread of the recipe is "hollow out the fruit/vegetable, mix insides with cheese/fish paste/fruit/cheese, refill shell." Apparently back in the day when you couldn't quite decide how to cook something, you just hollowed it out then filled it back up. With itself. And cheese.

Grapefruit Fluff -
Wow. How appealing.

Flippettey Flop - Appears to be made of eggs behaving in this manner. Submitted by M. Cunningham, who also contributed the recipe for Bobbity Bobs, a dish which stars balls of sausage meat. In broth. Bobbity bobbing.

Stuffed Cold Meat Casserole - Come on, dish. You can't be everything to everyone.

"The caramel will sizzle, harden, and look very odd." Oh! Well, in that case I won't be worried, I'll just make something else. Perhaps the Simple Meal for 25, although part of me worries that it's too good to be true.

"It is rarely a good idea to keep banana salads hanging about." - Is it often a good idea to make banana salads in the first place? I think not.

"This way of cooking bananas brings out their quality of aromatic richness that remains hidden and unsuspected in the huge bananas of modern commerce when eaten raw." - "Wilbur sighed in quiet desperation. Once more, his artistic dreams had been trampled by the huge bananas of modern commerce."

"Season the grouse inside [...] and cover the breasts with bacon." - I consider this to be a Nostradamus-esque premonition warning us of the advent of Lady Gaga.

"Fruit can be the duck's amiable companion.."

And that was where I stopped reading and reached for the bottle of fizzy wine.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to own a cook book called 'Microwave Miracles'. It was rather old. It gave instructions for roasting a chicken in the microwave. I'm pretty sure that's a crime against nature/cookery/microwave use.

Philip Dodd said...

Trampled by the huge bananas of modern commerce. Genius. I've only been awake for 5 minutes and you've made me laugh already.

Jane said...

Shoot, back at the computer, I've just realised, I've spent about 2 hours completely absorbed by FLUFF thanks to this post.

I even made a batch of cupcakes (with marshmallow FLUFF frosting). I bet you wouldn't imagine a short sentence about grapefruit fluff would have such long reaching (I'm in the US) consequences, would you;)

Anonymous said...

I'm new here, but: The "huge bananas of modern commerce" is one of the most wonderful things I've read in ages. It definitely evoked a guffaw.

Sueann said...

Ha! Ha! Ahhhhhh....the wonders of old cookbooks! Sausage stuffed pineapple?? I don't think so...it even sounds obscene!!
And grapefruit fluff...seriously! What were they thinking.
These books are written by women who have entirely too much time on their hands!!!!! Ha!
Hugs
SueAnn
PS I am with you...throw out the cookbooks and hit the wine!!

IT IS ALLY said...

Raquel - You're so right. Also, that's a gross misuse of the word 'miracle.'

Philip - That's what I'm here for! It's such a ridiculous phrase.

Jane - Hahaha! I had no idea of the havoc it would wreak on your afternoon... hope the cupcakes were delicious!

stofnsara - Thank you! Welcome, and please stay. It makes me feel loved.

SueAnn - Trust me, it looks more obscene than it sounds - I'll chuck a picture up to show you. Maybe I should write a cookbook... about wine. Haha

Phil said...

May I recommend as a main: 'wine salad' for your cookbook. I generally deconstruct it - starting with Pinot Gris, then Chardonnay, Pinot Noir ...and then it gets a tad random