HAPPY CANADA DAY!

[spuzzlightyear.livejournal.com]

Because nothing says makes me more proud to be Canadian than Scalloped Potatoes.

Comments

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

It's probably just the print but those potatoes look terrible. They are ORANGE, not golden.

[meezergal.livejournal.com]

Yeah-- I looked carefully to make sure that "Scalloped potatoes like THESE" didn't mean scalloped SWEET potatoes.

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

Yes! That's what I thought at first also. But all those dreadful things they are putting into it, maybe that's why it looks the flouro color of sweet and sour pork.

[missdimple.livejournal.com]

The recipe calls for adding vegetable juices. I suspect the raunchy color is from that. ick.

[bradygirl_12]

Yeah, scalloped potatoes usually look good! One of my dad's favorite dishes. :)

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

"Come on, Madge, get a taste of Bella's scalloped potatoes!"

"Oh, no, Brad, I have to watch my figure, and that looks so greasy!"

"That's true, Madge, with that fat ass of yours, you need to cut down on the starches!"

"Bella, honey, you're right about that! Madge has one sizable derriere! Brad, I bet you always have to be the top, har har!"

"You oughta know, Clayton!...uh...I mean...Madge, you've got a big ass!"

"Excuse me, everyone, I need another martini."

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

I've never tried these. Are they any good?

[meezergal.livejournal.com]

Anything involving powdered milk is usually far from good; it generally borders on "terrible" to "disgusting". In my experience at least. YMMV.

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to imagine what the powedered milk does to the recipe? The "mixed vegetable juices" makes sense...but the others...ggggooogggg

[write-light.livejournal.com]

Well it does what cream should be doing, in a less pleasant way. I think they're just pushing powdered milk, frankly. I would use regular milk in lieu of the liquids + powder. "Vegetable juices" frankly is where I draw the line.

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

It just dawned on me...I was thinking vegetable STOCK. But mixed "juices"? How weird. Are they suggesting pouring V8 over the potatoes? NOW I know why they look orange!

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

That looks like good comfort food to me, but might be a tad too heavy for this time of year. I have never heard of making scalloped potatoes with vegetable juice, but it might be worth a shot. I would use real milk, though. Also, where in the recipe are the "savory herbs" they refer to in the paragraphs? I read that recipe 3 times and did not see any mention of herbs.

[luke-russell.livejournal.com]

There are NO herbs.

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

NO herbs?! THOSE DAMN STINKIN' LYIN' CANDIANS!!! WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO PULL? ;)

But the recipe is pretty typical for 50s cuisine. People had such a morbid fear of seasoning. It must have been part of the Red Scare. Why herbs were associated with communism, I don't know. Nah, it was probably just a holdover from the Depression followed by wartime rationing. Over time, people just developed a taste for flavorless food. That's my theory anyway.

[urbantravels.livejournal.com]

If I recall correctly (it's been years since I've done any research on this), American distaste for highly seasoned food really got going in the Progressive Era and just before. There was a big push for public health measures at the time, and along with all the (well-founded) concern about impure and adulterated food, there was also a notion that too much seasoning was unhealthy.

The huge influx of Southern and Eastern European immigrants starting in the late 1800s and peaking between 1900-1920 represented a cultural threat to previously established white elites, and their habit of actually seasoning their food was rolled up in the general distaste for immigrants - that's why there were, for instance, a million jokes about smelly Italians and smelly garlic. Garlic was a Big Ick for mainstream society for many decades, and wasn't really fully rehabilitated until the 1980s or so.

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I knew that about the garlic, but I wondered about other herbs. Seems like whenever I visit one of these living museum type historical places, they always have herbs growing in the garden. Of course, herbs were also used as medicine and part of the so-called Progressive Era was to do away with traditional medicine, which included herbal therapies. I'm guessing that may have partly led to people eschewing herbs entirely. It's only been until very recently that herbs are becoming mainstream as medicine again.

At least our society has come around about the food. We all know that immigrants have the best food! Well, the ones that know how to cook, anyway. Unfortunately, my hubby brought no culinary skills with him from his homeland and I have had to learn how to cook his native cuisine on my own.