Still on my quest for disgusting recipes, I came across this post from July this year and it may be the most disgusting so far.
Yes, It’s a Liver Sausage Pineapple
Jul 19th, 2007 by TiffI think I have found the creme de la creme of the vintage recipes. How can I ever find one to top this one in both repulsivesness and straight out scariness?
The centerpiece of this lovely appetizer spread in my 1953 Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook is a Liver Sausage Pineapple. Yes, it is one pound of liver sausage with lemon juice, worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise shaped like a pineapple. The lovely yellow coating on the outside is made out of unflavored gelatin and mayonnaise. You “frost it” with the jello mayo, score it, and stick little olive slices all over it. The recipe says to top “with a real pineapple top for fun!” They also helpfully mention that you should serve hot coffee with this whole spread! Nothing goes better with liver sausage and deviled eggs than a boiling cup of hot coffee! Mmmm mmmm!
Frankly, I am speechless with this one. I guess since it is 1953 and Hawaii statehood was a hot topic, maybe this is a special way of honoring the territory (and maybe tipped the scales to accept statehood?) All I know is this has to taste like a can of Alpo with olive bits.
Martin and I were just discussing why it is that the food of the Eisenhower era is just so disgusting.
My theory is that the cooks of the time grew up in the Depression and during rationing, when even a tiny bit of offal (organ meat for the USAnians) like some tripe, or a couple of bits of liver, was a luxury. My own mother thought the height of decadence was having a pigs trotter or a kipper to herself . When a festive meal was called for, what else would suggest bounty, luxury and hospitality than a lot of offal, suitably decorated for the occasion?
Of course I may be entirely wrong: cooks of the fifties may have just been plain weird.
