The Mid-Century Menu

So, I really enjoyed doing the 2014 recipe round up, so I decided to bust the 2013 out of the archives for you guys. Danger – The Following Post Includes: SPAM, baby pictures, alcohol, bacon, pickles and mid-century awesomeness. 2013 was a pretty crazy year for Mid-Century Menu! We tested about 75 vintage recipes, most of them gelatin and not enough of them cocktails. We took about 3000 pictures of food, spent hundreds of hours editing and writing and in the end our blog tripled it’s viewership. Which is a pretty good year, I...

Well, it’s 2015 and it’s time to break out a whole new year of drinks. So we thought we’d start with a layered drink. This is Brandy Scaffa!   “So, how is it?” “Whew! Hhhhhot.” The Verdict: Strong From The Tasting Notes – This is a strong drink. It starts off a bit like a Manhattan and then becomes sweeter as you hit the chartreuse/maraschino layer. Not bad, but honestly I would rather drink straight chartreuse or a B&B. « Previous Top 5 Worst Tested Vintage Recipes From 2014   Next » Recipe...

Oh guys, here it is! This is the worst stuff Tom and I made this year. Some of it was edible, some was only borderline bad, and some of it was gross. And I think for the first time EVER we had more good recipes than bad during the year here at Mid-Century Menu.  I can only attribute that to the fact that if I make something horrible now I have to make two dinners so that we have something to feed our daughter. And making two dinners can get old real quick. But no worries, I have pledged to be less lazy in 2015, so get ready to see some...

Happy New Year, Everyone! It’s been a long, crazy year here on Mid-Century Menu. We’ve eaten a lot of food, good and bad, and so I decided to sift through the archives and pull out the best recipes that we tried in 2014. Unsurprisingly, all of these are desserts! Mrs. Kahn’s Banana Sour Cream Cake The Verdict: Good From The Tasting Notes - The cake was good, and with the topping it tasted like a cross between a coffee cake and a banana bread. The crumb was soft and moist with a good texture. It was sweet, but not too sweet. But...

So, who is ready to party? Well…it’s not us. We are staying in tonight, but to make up for that we are still going to whip up some fun vintage drinks! Since I was digging through the archives anyway, I thought I would bring you the top drinks from 2014 from Vintage Cocktail Fridays. Some of these are truly cocktails, and some are after-dinner drinks, but they have all passed the Tom test and are ready for you to mix up and enjoy with your guests! Missionary’s Curacao, 1972 The Verdict: Very Nice From The Tasting Notes - Tasty....

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! Today we are making a cocktail that is pretty much just vermouth. This is Green Room! “How is it?” “Tastes like vermouth.” The Verdict: Vermouth From The Tasting Notes - Truthfully, we thought this would be horrible, but it ended up not being bad. It was drinkable and not too strong. However, it mostly just tasted like vermouth. The curacao flavor comes in a bit in the end, but this almost tastes like drinking straight vermouth. So, probably wouldn’t recommend this one unless you really...

This week we are posting a recipe that we know is an old favorite! This is Never-Fail Fudge! This recipe is a variation on the typical marshmallow/marshmallow fluff fudge recipe that most housewives had in their recipe box. Kraft’s “Fantasy Fudge” is probably the most well-known marshmallow fudge recipe. What’s different about this recipe is that it uses less sugar and milk chocolate (or sweet baking chocolate) instead of just the regular semi-sweet chocolate. I originally hadn’t planned to make any fudge that required boiling...

My favorite time of the year is here! I thought I would gather up a bunch of good vintage cookie recipes to help with your holiday baking! Bonus recipe at the end: Vintage Fruitcake! Oh, and if you are going to make only one of these cookies, try the Chocolate-Filled Snowballs. They are awesome! 1. Annie’s Cookies The Verdict: These cookies are GREAT! From Tom’s Tasting Notes: Fantastic aroma and nice and soft. Tastes like carrot cake without the carrots. Good with strong flavors and the fruit and nuts are a great combination. 2....

Need to take an easy appetizer to that potluck holiday party? Try a fancier twist on a classic: Avocado Deviled Eggs. « Previous Cacao Eggnog, 1965 – Vintage Holiday Cocktail Friday   Next » 12 Vintage Christmas Cookies For Your Holiday Plate! ...