Hello All! Welcome to this week’s Mid-Century Menu!  This week, we have a fun recipe that was sent by Andrea for our recent Worst Mid-Century Recipe Contest.  Even those this recipe was beaten by some disgusting baddies, it STILL is quite the sight to behold.  And I mean, this thing is a sight!

Andrea writes:

I present the Better Homes and Gardens Barbecue Cookbook, copyright 1965.

Surprisingly, the majority of this cookbook is not that bad. Although there is an odd theme throughout of “hobo” and “powwow” recipes. Hobo seems to = plain, and I am not sure what they were getting at with powwow, LOL.

 Anyway, there were two recipes that definitely leaped out as being a wee bit scary.

I present the Cheese Frankfurter loaf, complete with picture. I am not sure what is going on with the ingredient combo in the sauce. However, I do like how they specified that things should be at a jaunty angle!

 

*Ruth’s note – I LOVE those onion and relish jars!

I tried to find a lovely dessert for you and Tom to sample from the same book, however barbecuing doesn’t lead to a lot of dessert choices, it seems. However, I did find this lovely beverage for you to have with your meal …

Pineapple Mallowade has left me both curious and repulsed at the same time … I fail to see how this is going to have a drinkable texture, acckkk!!

 Anyway, here’s my *delicious* (snicker) entry … it is a good thing that Tom’s iron stomach has been proven in the past! 🙂

 -Andrea

PS – My tiki fabric finally came in, and is up on my store website. Go check it out!

Ha ha, Andrea! This is great. I have to say, those hot dogs look pretty jaunty.  Tom and I couldn’t wait to try this crazy set of recipes out. Wow.

Wow. Lots of ingredients for this one!

Melting marshmallows for the “Mallowade”.  I love it when they make words up.

I had a mix of mini and jumbo toasting marshmallows lying around, and this was a good way to use them all up!

Welllllllllllll…maybe not a good way, but it was a way to use them up.

Mmmmm…melted.

Mixed melted marshmallows,  (check THAT out!) pineapple juice and lemon juice.  It was a little thick, but not too bad.  I was interested to see what it would congeal to in the fridge.

The hot dog sauce. Yum!

After it had simmered.  At this point, it wasn’t looking too bad.  But it smelled pretty strange.

Loaf cut and starting to get crammed with cheese.  And yes, I DID measure between cuts, thank you very much!

Cheese!

Gooping sauce in between slices.  This is where I got a little scared.  I HATE bread that is all soggy with sauce, and I started to get a little nervous about the ability of this bread to take the sauce and not turn into a mess.

Those are some freaking jaunty hot dogs, let me tell you.  Look at them, jaunting about at certain angles!

Improving the jaunt to hot dog ratio.

Covered with more cheese, for extra goodness.

Mmmm, mmm!  A tall, frosty glass of cool, refreshing Pineapple Mallowade!

I forced Tom to drink it first.

It was good!  And yes, he is on the phone while I am trying to take his picture!

Actually, the Mallowade was liquid and not a congealed mess, but it was incredibly sweet, even with the addition of ginger ale.  I added more ginger ale than the recipe called for to temper the sweetness of my drink.  Tom added rum to his and loved it. He then proceeded to drink the ENTRIE pitcher, with extra rum, of course.

It is hard to explain what Mallowade tasted like.  Marshmallow, pineapple and…something. My mom used to make a dessert made of instant pistachio pudding, canned pineapple, marshmallows and Cool Whip.  We called this mess “Bunny Salad” because it was usually made at Easter, when marshmallows were sold in little bunny shapes.  This drink tasted like Bunny Salad.  It was sweet, slightly thick, sweet, pineapple-y and sweet.  Did I mention it was sweet?

The hot dogs, super hot and steamy and straight off the grill.  If you are ever crazy enough to make this, make sure to watch them closely.  We let them get a little too hot and bubbly, and blackened one side.  I made Tom eat that side.

Crunchy!

“What do you think?  Is it hot-dog tastic?”

“What is in this sauce?  It is disgusting.”

I took a bite.  It wasn’t too bad.  Surprisingly, the cut-loaf method actually WORKED, and each section made it’s own little bun. So you could pulled pre-bunned hot dogs straight from the loaf.  It was pretty cool.  The hot dogs and the cheese were good, but the sauce could have been left off. It tasted like sloppy joe sauce, and not really something that I would pair with hot dogs. I didn’t think it was a gross as Tom did, but it still wasn’t quite right.

The Verdict:  Good.  The sliced loaf idea actually worked pretty well, and it was something I would be willing to try at a real party.  However, I am going to sub the “sauce” with chili, and make a chili-cheese dog loaf. That would be yummy. The Pineapple Mallowade was very sweet, but not bad.  Tom loved it with rum.

Thanks for the hilarious recipes, Andrea!  We give you a jaunty wave, a jaunty salute, and a jaunty hot dog. 🙂