Fading Favorites - Dishes now out of style

Fading favorites..these were once on menus and popular but have fallen out of favor.

Duck a L'orange, trout almondine, clams casino, salisbury steak, beef stroganoff, veal cordon bleu, sole veronique, consomme madrilene, coquille st. jacques, crab louie, abalone meuniere.

Slide show and article

http://www.kitchendaily.com/read/fading ... nk3%26pLid%3

Steak Diane.
I thought that was very hoity-toity back in the (late) 70's.

toria wrote:Fading favorites..these were once on menus and popular but have fallen out of favor.

Duck a L'orange, trout almondine, clams casino, salisbury steak, beef stroganoff, veal cordon bleu, sole veronique, consomme madrilene, coquille st. jacques, crab louie, abalone meuniere.

Slide show and article

http://www.kitchendaily.com/read/fading ... nk3%26pLid%3

I dunno, if you watch Top Chef, you'll see lots of ironic-quotes-containing versions of Clams Casino, Stroganoff, etc., and a nearly-bumped-off-the-show version of chicken cordon bleu.

I'd throw down a couple dozen clams casino right now.

Shrimp wiggle.

I still like salisbury steak now and then.

I've duck with various fruit glazes/sauces (raspberry, pomegranate, cherry, etc.), but never orange. I'd never really thought about it until now, because I prefer it without any sort of sweet sauce. I think Cordon Bleu died once Wendy's started serving it.

Mold.

Salisbury Steak is still on the menu at my sons' school - much to their chagrin. For them, it never was in style!

Davooda

If salisbury steak is made well, it can be good if not, its dreadful. Sometimes they call it chopped steak but as I recall salisbury steak has a kind of gravy.

I do love chicken or veal cordon blue. Love it. Clams casino, the only way I would ever eat a clam. Shrimp wiggle??

This brings back many memories. When I owned my restaurant in the 70's, four of these dishes were our most popular items, the duck, the trout, the veal and the St. Jacques. What's funny is that the other side of the menu included 3 or 4 vegetarian items including Moussaka, Wok fried vegetables and a french onion soup made with miso instead of beef stock. The duck was $7.95 and the St. Jacques $8.50, the highest priced item offered. Entrees included a choice of soup (made from scratch!), or a salad (home made dressings!) and a small loaf of honey whole wheat bread (the recipe was from the Moosewood cookbook no less). I guess this is what happens when you mix 60's hippies with fine dining.

Sorry, but I'm cracking up thinking about this. For a while our poor service staff had to wear Hobbit like blouses and shirts and they looked like earth tone pirates. That was awful but soon replaced by second hand bowling shirts (before Ed Debevic's I might add). A mixed drink was $1.60 and a 6 ounce glass of beer was only 15 cents; you could get drunk on a dollar. When we raised the price to 25 cents, people complained. Wine was served in a carafe, what else. I'm happy to report we did not have candles in Chianti bottles but there was always a hint of patchouli in the air. And, can you imagine, we did not have a TV in the bar area but no one ever complained.

cilantro wrote:Mold.

But I love blue cheese!

Hi,

I have never seen Shrimp Wiggle or ever attempted to make it myself.

Maybe I read about it in a Jane and Michael Stern book. I knew it as a one-pot meal made in a chafing dish over sterno. The setting was a college dorm room with a young lady making it to impress an young man. What is there not to like about creamed shrimp and peas over toast or crackers?

If any of the lore about this is correct, many a man was hooked from such a dish.

I found a newspaper clipping from The Freelance Star of Fredricksburg, Virginia from February 13, 1968 indicating there were recipes for Shrimp Wiggle as early as 1898 in Fannie Farmer's Chafing Dish Possibilities.

Maybe it is about time I gave it a shot.

Regards,

How bad could anything with shrimp be? I would say to give it a whirl.

A couple more dishes that seem to be out. Green goddess dressing was all the rage now you never hear about it. Also beef wellington. Quite the elegant dish back in the day. Not so now. Brandy ice....baked alaska....cherries jubilee....

PS Here is a recipe link for shrimp wiggle. It sounds easy. and guess what...this recipe has velveeta cheese in it.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Shrimp-Wiggle

(although the commenters say way too much milk so that needs to be cut down. I think I would use one c. half and half.)

toria wrote:How bad could anything with shrimp be? I would say to give it a whirl.

A couple more dishes that seem to be out. Green goddess dressing was all the rage now you never hear about it. Also beef wellington. Quite the elegant dish back in the day. Not so know. Brandy ice....baked alaska....cherries jubilee....

Green Goddess is still proudly served as the house dressing at Myron & Phil's, which has a new menu and has taken a turn for the better, BTW.

Myron & Phil
3900 W Devon
Linconwood, IL

HI,

I bought taragon recently with the intentions of making Green Goddess dressing.

In 1977 during my first visit to Paris, the local McDonalds had what I identified as Green Goddess dressing instead of the secret sauce on the Big Mac. I went this McD's because I had read in the Herald Tribune that McD-USA was taking them to court to strip them of their franchise. The French McD's during this era were rogue enterprises who exchanged ingredients. I wanted to see this for myself. They were stripped of their franchise, then changed their name to something suggesting McD's but not.

In Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen where professional chef's compete to win a restaurant. Beef Wellington has been on the menu from the get-go. It is frequently a bone of contention, because it requires skill and careful timing to get it right. I'm sure none of those chef's want to see another Beef Wellington after going through this competition.

Another salad dressing that fell off the rotation is Catalina, which was likely bumped by Ranch. I made some from scratch last year and found it quite delicious. I made it only to avoid a trip to the store to buy a bottle I might not use anytime soon. I was impressed enough to make it again.

A dressing I occasionally make, though I don't particularly like: Thousand Island. I guess all that chopped pickle relish suggests islands? Loved it as a kid, not so much now.

Regards,

I've got a bottle of Amy's Naturals "Lite Goddess" dressing from Whole Foods in my fridge right now. I love it, but don't know why they call it Goddess. It's vegan--no anchovy.

Chow mein. Jell-o molds?

Anything in aspic.

Molten chocolate cake. Not that I miss it.

toria wrote:How bad could anything with shrimp be? I would say to give it a whirl.

A couple more dishes that seem to be out. Green goddess dressing was all the rage now you never hear about it. Also beef wellington. Quite the elegant dish back in the day. Not so now. Brandy ice....baked alaska....cherries jubilee....

PS Here is a recipe link for shrimp wiggle. It sounds easy. and guess what...this recipe has velveeta cheese in it.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Shrimp-Wiggle

(although the commenters say way too much milk so that needs to be cut down. I think I would use one c. half and half.)

HI,

I will get all purist with my shrimp wiggle: light cream sauce, shrimp, peas and toast!

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I have never seen Shrimp Wiggle or ever attempted to make it myself.

Maybe I read about it in a Jane and Michael Stern book. I knew it as a one-pot meal made in a chafing dish over sterno. The setting was a college dorm room with a young lady making it to impress an young man. What is there not to like about creamed shrimp and peas over toast or crackers?

If any of the lore about this is correct, many a man was hooked from such a dish.

I found a newspaper clipping from The Freelance Star of Fredricksburg, Virginia from February 13, 1968 indicating there were recipes for Shrimp Wiggle as early as 1898 in Fannie Farmer's Chafing Dish Possibilities.

Maybe it is about time I gave it a shot.

Regards,

In James Beard’s masterful American Cookery, originally published in 1972, Shrimp Wiggle is creamed shrimp with petit pois (small peas). He comments:

"For many years this [Shrimp Wiggle] was in the repertoire of every coed with a chafing dish and every girl who had a beau to cook for."

I too have always loved the name of the dish, although I’ve never made it. I do have a chafing dish inherited from an aunt, however. Perhaps I should give it a whirl. Or a wiggle.

Beard has a recipe (in the James Beard Cookbook) for another passé dish with an intriguing name--Welsh Rarebit, also a favorite apparently of “coeds” or sorority sisters (I was a coed once but not a sorority sis) because of ease of makeshift cooking in a chafing dish. It’s melted cheese with beer or ale, butter, egg, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Like Shrimp Wiggle, it’s then eaten over toast, which is also easy to prepare without a real stove.

I like the idea of shrimp wiggle and I would try it. I think I would put it over rice, noodles or chow mein noodles but that is just me. I do love the name but it kind of creeps me out. I was thinking the shrimp wiggle when you make it. Or maybe it was the coed wiggling when she served it to a beau?

Creamy Garlic Dressing: has anyone seen this outside of a diner or pizzeria?

Its been overtaken by ranch. I still love it though. there was a thread on here I think that might have discussed how to make it. I think it is made with sour cream and a little mayo and fresh garlic. Perhaps Myron and Phil also has creamy garlic dressing too.

Some of these dishes are too good to forget. Maybe there should be a revival of some of them.

toria wrote:...these were once on menus and popular but have fallen out of favor ...
Duck a L'orange, trout almondine, clams casino, salisbury steak, beef stroganoff, veal cordon bleu, sole veronique, consomme madrilene, coquille st. jacques, crab louie, abalone meuniere.

Speaking of foods that are and are not currently in fashion (at least, here in the US), I can't help noticing that most of the dishes on this list are French.

Not that I don't love them (the ones I've tried, that is, which is to say, I have no opinion on consomme madrilene and abalone meuniere), and those of that kissing (or should I say intermarried?) cousin of French cuisine, czarist Russian cuisine, to which I attribute (rightly or wrongly) another of my favorites, beef stroganoff, not to mention veal/chicken cordon bleu's cousin, chicken Kiev. Mmm, mmm, mmm, love them all.

Now I'm drifting off into nostalgia, thinking wistfully of my all-time favorite Stouffer's offering, noodles Romanoff, sadly, discontinued. Someone here on LTH was kind enough to track down and post a recipe for it for me. Whoever you were, thank you again.

I love tarragon and have been meaning to try Green Goddess dressing but so far haven't. It's on my try-to-make-that list.

I like Catalina dressing too. And French. And Russian.

Welsh rarebit/rabbit, I gather, is a pretty commonly whipped-up crave-satisfier for at least certain generations of Brits. In that sense, like, but better than, beans on toast. Welsh rarebit's on my try-to-make-that list too.

Mmm noodles romanoff. Now I love that. Also chicken kiev. I recall when this used to be a very elegant dish and people would ooh and ahh when it was correctly made and the butter spurted out on to their plates. I say fie on all the new cuisine. Out with the new, in with the old!!! Perhaps they will do a Czarist Russian theme at Next...they could have all the greats there on the menu and everyone could dress up in fur hats. Must do it in the winter though.

chgoeditor wrote:Chow mein. Jell-o molds?

I love chow mein; it's one of the first things I learned to cook. I've made it regularly ever since I learned I could buy the noodles uptown.

Toria, if you are interested, here is the link to the noodles romanoff recipe that Geo (thank you again!) found for me.

My picky eater is fond of those occasional Omaha Steak package deals ($40 for, if not $150 worth of food, at least, much more than $40's worth), and I must say, OS makes a very good chicken Kiev, much, much better than those $1 grocery store versions. Not a good buy at the regular price but definitely a good buy when part of a package sale.

Does anyone else feel like this should be the next LTH event - the retro revival pot luck?