Friday, February 25, 2011

Peanut-Ham Spread: Excruciating, or Delectable?

I collect old cooking pamphlets, and the 1950s appetizer publications are chock full of concoctions that read like a passage from de Sade as rewritten by William Burroughs. Naturally, I'm fascinated to know: are some of these woefully misbegotten ingredient combinations somehow alchemized in the mixing, into something scrumptious?

Case in point, Good Housekeeping's 1958 peanut-ham spread:



Those guests look cheerful enough, as they begin their delicate ravaging of the hors d'oeuvres table, don't they? Nothing seems particularly amiss, does it?

I laid out my ingredients, each individual food item much beloved:



I measured and observed, how the impending mixture might be so insulting to the senses as to induce existential nausea:



I mixed, and looked again. Aesthetically unthinkable:



Attempted to plate it, a heaping dose or two on wheat rounds:



Choked it down with the help of ice-cold Dr. Pepper:



THE VERDICT: If you can get past the texture, the taste is, remarkably, quite inoffensive. The appearance and feel of it are quite another matter. I can only use the adjective: malevolent.

I wouldn't serve this to guests, not even if I were to be transported back in time to the 1950s, when, I believe, enough hard liquor flowed at these events to render visitors helpless before the truth of a dubious repast.

However, luckily the same booklet offers some other options, including this:



p.s. a friend suggested Miracle Whip instead--I think I should have gone with that...

17 comments:

  1. Was consuming that vile concoction in response to some sort of dare? Blech.

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  2. I think you are on to something: the peanuts and ham supplied protein to balance the alcohol. I am so glad you made this as I have seen it many times and wondered and never acted on my curiosity.

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  3. I cannot even get my head around the concept of peanut-ham but after a few stiff 50's style cocktails I'm sure I'd say "what-the-hell"!

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  4. The deviled ham looks like dog food. I like the illustration of the Happy White People at a party. Men in thin ties. You should whip up a batch of the Surprise Cheese Whip next. How bad can it be?

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  5. So if you're like me and have no problem with food textures, it would probably be fine! ;-)

    The Blue Ball thing you can keep, though. I can't stand blue cheese OR walnuts.

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  6. Have you read Never Eat Your Heart Out, by Judith Moore? in this memoir, there is a passage in which the author serves dog food as pate on crackers to her foodie friends and they rave about it.

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  7. The combination of mayo and this terrible peanut-butter is a bit much. Like hering in choco sauce. The small cheese balls sound nice - especially in combination with Salzstangen.

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  8. i think i might need something stronger to get that in my mouth...

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  9. But you have to remember what we had been eating during WW2. This in comparison would be delectable and soooo glamorous.

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  10. Pat, now that is an interesting point there.

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  11. Blue Balls...ha!!!

    I collect old recipe brochures and etiquette books, amongst other things, so I'm thrilled with your hands-on experiment.

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  12. I do agree with you about recipes that just look so revolting you don't want to eat the result even if it promises to be finger-lickin' good. Not that ham has passed my lips in 36 years, me being a vegetarian. They say peanut butter goes well with chocolate, though I've never tried it.

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  13. Is it just me, or did that sound quite tasty? I am regressing to state of 1950s mind. I'll buy a hostess trolley next.

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  14. I'd say I can't believe you actually did it, but it's you so I can't say that! Brava!

    I'd try it but I don't think I'd like it.

    (So nice to see the Hellman's jar, though! WHY it's called "Best Foods" out here I don't know!)

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  15. Ah, the 50s, when Spam was considered a main course. How did we survive? Blue Balls? Brrr.

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  16. Hmmm... Putting Blue Balls in one's mouth... I need to ponder that a while.

    Ok, done. Sounds like a cure to me! LOL!

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