Hi, Everyone!! Welcome to another great Mid-Century Menu. This week Tom and I decided to go back to one of the basics of mid-century cooking. But not gelatin. We aren’t feeling crazy enough this week to go that far. We decided to pick a tamer basic. Spam.
*Muted cheering*
I know! Exciting, isn’t it??
Anyway, this week’s pick comes from the the Casserole Cookbook, which was published in 1968 by Favorite Recipes Press. This sucker has 500 casserole recipes in it, to assist the American homemaker in preparing nourishing meals for her family. That’s what it says. And then, they print recipes like this:
No offense, Dorothia, but holy cow, this is healthy? I suppose it is by mid-century standards. It contains meat, beans, fruit and bread. But goodness. I bet I can guess what happened to dear Dorothia. And her husband.
But enough of that. On with the cooking!
You can see the kitten’s cage in the background, but not a kitten in sight. That is because they are all swarming around my ankles, wanted to get picked up. Or maybe trying to get some Spam. Well, one of those things.
The onions, sauteing in butter.
Beans! And lots of them.
Spam slices and pineapple slices. A match made in heaven. Or something.
The “glaze” for the Spam: mustard, brown sugar and pineapple juice.
The first casserole layer goes down, the bean mixture.
The Spam “tree”.
Pineapple slices.
The “glaze”. Kind of looks like a can of beans sneezed on the casserole.
Finally, and bizarrely, biscuits. Yum. Love that triple-bleached goodness!
The lazy casserole, fresh from the oven.
“Looks awesome!”
I rolled my eyes, “Shut up, Tom.”
“No, really. I am excited about this.”
And here he is, cramming in the first mouthful.
“So, does it taste like you expected?”
He nodded, “Pretty much. Tastes like Spam and beans.”
I took a bite, he was right. Overall, it tasted like Spam and beans. Pretty non-offensive, if you can stomach a good helping of Spam. The bottoms of the rolls were kind of gooey, but that is what you get when you try to bake them over beans.
“You know,” Tom munched away happily, “you should call this ‘Apocalypse Casserole’ on the blog. Because I am pretty sure this is what they will be eating after society falls. No refrigeration for any of this stuff.”
“What about the biscuits?”
“Eh, I am sure they really don’t need to be refrigerated either.”
The Verdict: Spam and beans. It was edible, but not healthy at all.
‘Apocalypse Casserole’ 🙂 he he he!!! Oh Tom, you are such a card – we love ya! When you had the cut Spam pieces all laid out on top of the beans I thought ‘That kinda looks like a ribcage’ – but maybe we are better off sticking with your tree. 😉 Glad that it wasn’t too horrible tasting.
I’m off to get my Apocalypse supplies now!
yuck! i could just about handle it under the pineapple went in, just can’t imagine that combination
“Apocalypse Casserole” – Classic! I might need to put some of these items in our emergency pantry instead of all of that Veg-All that I keep buying on sale. This looks more festive somehow and I just know that since I don’t like Veg-All now, I’m sure as heck not going to like it during the Apocalypse.
I just love the idea of you cooking with kittens at your feet. Except for the soggy biscuits, the whole thing sounds so quaint!
This is an old family favorite for us, excepting the biscuits which apparently we voted off the island long ago. Newcomers to the family are so far batting 50-50 – spouse Deb hates it, brother-in-law Tim (who directed me to this entry) loves it.
Woo hoo, apocalypse casserole!
(Actually, I think the cooking mutes the Spam and lets the other flavors come through more clearly.)