» Mad Men Food and Drink: Canapes and Cocktails Options

[GraydonCarter]

Along with swinging night clubs came the cocktail. And you can't have a proper cocktail party without Hors d'Oeuvres, the colorful, tasty foods on tiny, crunchy foundations: the canape assortment. It takes ingenuity and an eye for color to make up a set of smart canapes. Add to the platter a few pickles, stuffed olives, bits of well-seasoned vegetables, some wrapped in bacon and grilled, some vegetables or fish tucked in a cornucopia of cheese, and you will have a plate of Hors d'Oeuvres that will make the cocktail hour truly enjoyable.

So darken your smoke filled rooms, open the bottles, shake the ice, put on some Cuban mood music, and let your swinging cocktail party begin.

While we are still standing, remember, unlike then, do not drive while drinking or you'll take little ride up the river!

This thread is for food and drink during and within the episodes.

[unclewiggly]

For inspiration (or perhaps a walk down memory lane):

B-B-Que Tricks

Knudson's Very Best 1958 and Knudson's Best 1959

Party Cake Houses!

and much more at the Gallery of Regrettable Food

[dreamy]

If we're having classic daiquiris tonight, what's the best food accompaniment (I don't think they were doing quesadillas in Scarsdale in those days)?

This post has been edited by dreamy: Sep 6, 2007 @ 5:03 pm.

[GraphicDesigner]

My 800+ page 1952 American Woman cookbook has a total of 5 (5!) recipes for canapés. The other appetizers are fruit juices or soup.
Here's a recipe for cheese and olive canapés.

CHEESE AND OLIVE CANAPÉS

6 portions prepared bread
3 Tablespoons cream chese
Olives stuffed with pimentos
Garnish of red pepper or pickled beet

Spread on the prepared bread a paste made by mixing equal proportions of cream cheese and chopped stuffed olives. Garnish with a quarter inch border of the chopped olives and a star of red pepper or pickled beet in the center of each canapé.

I guess there's always deviled eggs, also.

[Cuff Links]

When I was growing up in the seventies, my mother used to make this dip thing whenever we had "fancy" parties that I always thought was very "50's". It was a layer of cream cheese the size and shape of a plate topped with a layer of egg salad and a layer of caviar on top (usually the supercheap "lumpfish" sold at the local supermarket.) She stopped serving it as she got more health conscious. A few years ago, my roommates and I had a valentines day party and I wanted to make something red so I thought I'd do that dip thing with red caviar (lumpfish). I called my mom to ask for the recipe and she got all weirded out by the memory...like I was asking her how to use a crackpipe. Everything she eats and serves nowadays is low fat or fat free.

[Rinaldo]

I have a couple of canape-type things to contribute, out of the immortal Peg Bracken's Appendix to the I Hate To Cook Book. They're actually tea sandwiches, but I think they have the right yummy period feel about them.

CUCUMBER DILLWICHES

Flatten thin-sliced white bread with a rolling pin (which is a good idea for any tea sandwich) and cut it in rounds with a biscuit cutter. Unless you have square cucumbers.

On each, spread butter. Put a thin slice of peeled cucumber on the butter, sprinkle fresh chopped dill or the dried kind on the cucumber. Then put another buttered bread round on the top. That's all, but they have a very nice ladylike look.

ALMOND CHICKWICHES

Soread bread slices with softened with softened butter. (You cut and trim these later.)

For the filling, mix
1 can minced chicken
1 small jar pimento pieces, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped salted almonds
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon minced chives (or chopped green onion tops)
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
2 or 3 drops angostura bitters, if you like

Spread it on half the bread slices, put the other buttered bread slices on top, trim the crusts, and cut each sandwich into 4 small squares or 4 small triangles.

----

I've actually made the almond chickwiches on occasion, to bring to things like office parties. However unfashionable, they're very tasty. (I've never used the bitters, and I don't bother to trim the crusts.) People usually have trouble figuring out the components, but they all get eaten up.

[MariaMax]

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/knudsen/index.html

I just spent about an hour with Mr Max, looking at these and laughing our asses off! This is the funniest, most disgusting thing I have seen....maybe ever!
Thanks for the link, Unclewiggy!

This post has been edited by MariaMax: Sep 6, 2007 @ 7:54 pm.

[Bitchy McSnappy]

Dips du Jour!

Tonight's menu for enjoying Mad Men with the Widow:
Benedictine Dip & Chips
Kooking With Kraft Shrimp Dip (Finally, a use for those Sea Monkeys)

Tonight's bevs
Bourbon & branch
Proper Martinis

Benedictine
Soften an 8 oz. package of cream cheese (Philly is the best)
1 cucumber grated on a box grater and drained through cheese cloth or tightly woven, clean 12" x 12" square of unbleached fabric (squeezed/drained dry as the Sahara - it's a pain, but maintains the dip's integrity)
1 tsp. onion juice (or to taste)
1 tsp. worchester sauce (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
pinch salt
good shake Frank's hot sauce (to taste) or a pinch of ground white pepper
Mix all ingredients, until combined, in a bowl. Serve in silver chip 'n dip server with ridged chips and rye Melba toast.

Kooking with Kraft Shrimp Dip
Soften an 8 oz. package of cream cheese (Philly is the best)
Drain a 4 oz. can shrimp
1 tsp. onion juice (or to taste)
1 tbs. cocktail/chili sauce or ketchup
Optional: 1 tsp. chopped fresh dill (I really mean "optional" - my Swedish mom loves it, I'm not a fan)
Mix all ingredients, until combined, in a bowl. Serve in a class or ceramic chip 'n dip server with ridged chips and Ritz crackers.

Bourbon & Branch
To taste - or, take a Derby glass and fill to the bottom of the design - usually 1/2" to 1" - with good quality bourbon - I suggest Maker's or Woodford. Add ice (optional) and fill with water.

Proper Martini
Pour dry vermouth in glass, swirl to coat and dump out vermouth. Add chilled gin (keep it in the freezer with the vodka). Add a twist from a lemon rind. Toss in two jumbo pimento-stuffed olives.

Enjoy.

The Widow and I will be on the settee, debating: Don's wife - complete doormat or master manipulator? And, " Girdles, back in the day or a lot like Spanx?

[dreamy]

Is this a cash or open bar?

[A Little Edgy]

My God, man! It's 1960! Where the hell are the rumaki?

[GraydonCarter]

The only drinks last night by name were of the Italian variety, still very popular on the streets of Rome, ordered by Salvatore. Campari is an alcoholic aperitif obtained from the infusion of bitter herbs, aromatic plants and fruit in alcohol and water. Sambuca, the anise-based liquor, was served with Espresso beans after dinner.

[Auntie M]

The authentic 1965 gold bound Souvenir Edition of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book I inherited from my Grandmother has a recipe for "Luau Bites" (aka rumaki, but more festive in its celebration of our 50th state and less "foreign"), Creamy Onion Dip ("Blend 1 1/2 cups dairy sour cream and 2 tablespoons packaged onion soup mix. Stir in 2 ounces blue cheese (crumbled), and 1/3 c chopped walnuts."), a suggestion for Appetizer Skewers with mushrooms, cocktail wieners, green olives, and cubes of American cheese wrapped in bacon, or a Hot Mexican Bean dip which starts with a can of pork and beans and American cheese, continues with 2 kinds of salt, and ends with bacon and potato chips.

None of the beverages has alcohol. Because menfolk were in charge of the bar.

[GraphicDesigner]

I don't remember - what were they drinking at P.J. Clarke's?

[GraydonCarter]

When Ken grabbed Pete's glass for a refill, I figured it was draft beer. But the glasses looked like highball glasses.

[A Little Edgy]

Creamy Onion Dip ("Blend 1 1/2 cups dairy sour cream and 2 tablespoons packaged onion soup mix. Stir in 2 ounces blue cheese (crumbled), and 1/3 c chopped walnuts.")

Now that just sounds too darn good for words. It's practically pure fat, but the combination of blue cheese and walnuts with some salt-onion powder-MSG in a sour cream base actually has me salivating.