Friday, March 25, 2016

REMEMBRANCE OF FOODS PAST



According to today’s daily email sent by the National Day Calendar, today is National Lobster Newburg Day. According to the website, the dish debuted in 1876 at Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York. Lobster Newburg – when was the last time you had that dish? When was the last time you even saw it on a restaurant’s menu? And really, that would be where most of us ever had it – at a restaurant – because it is very rich and pricey and usually not made at home.

Having a “National” day for things like this seems utterly ridiculous to me, but someone somewhere is pushing something, perhaps hoping to make a buck. But it got me to thinking about bygone dishes that I haven’t heard of in years, dishes that you usually saw only on restaurant menus. Things like chicken a la king and Salisbury steak that were restaurant favorites, and even home kitchen things like creamed chipped beef on toast. I see that there are still recipes for this one. I liked it but my husband hated it – he had to eat a lot of it when he was in the army, but he'd hated it even before that. So guess who doesn’t make it any more?



And popovers – remember those? I haven't had one in ages.I tried them once at home – complete failure!

You can find recipes for all of these on line – everything’s on line – but I can’t get a ‘visual’ on a cook thinking “I’ll make some chicken a la king tonight.” There are websites that bring old fashioned recipes up to date, and some of them are great, but Lobster Newburg? 


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