What foods you don't ever want to see on your plate?

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Many practices are marketing successes. (We can thank Hallmark for several!) However, once they are adopted by a population and are then handed down from generation to generation - especially by word of mouth or practice - the practice becomes a "tradition" by definition. I've not run into this casserole anywhere else besides the USA (thankfully as I don't like most casseroles.) However, it WILL be on the table at Thanksgiving if I visit many a relative.

My mother reminds me yearly that I should have a red carnation (or poppy) pinned on me for Mother's Day and I am sure that she will visit me after she is gone if I do not have a white carnation pinned on me for that day. I suppose that I can thank a war-torn country, Julia Howe, and the florist industry for a life time of flower-wearing on the second Sunday in May. Without one, I shudder to think what may one day land on my plate. :ermm:


 
it wouldn't be the day after thanksgiving if my leftover turkey, stuffing, and gravy sandwich didn't have some jellied pureed abomination on it. :chef:
 
...Let's turn this into a real traditional food by losing the dependence on brand name products. I'm not willing to call anything a tradition as long as I have to buy products from one manufacturer. Instead I'd call that a marketing department success story.

So, using that logic, you wouldn't buy a Butterball turkey, you'd have to go hunt your own? No Ocean Spray cranberries, grow your own?
 
So, using that logic, you wouldn't buy a Butterball turkey, you'd have to go hunt your own? No Ocean Spray cranberries, grow your own?
I think Greg was talking more about using bottom shelf products instead of always picking from the top shelf.

The first time I made my own cranberry sauce, I was floored at how easy it was and how really good it was. I was used to the jellied crap from a can.
 
I think Greg was talking more about using bottom shelf products instead of always picking from the top shelf.

The first time I made my own cranberry sauce, I was floored at how easy it was and how really good it was. I was used to the jellied crap from a can.

I make my own too but still enjoy the canned.
 
I agree with Andy and BT! Some days I feel like crap and some days I don't.

As far as the GB casserole being an American tradition, I think based on the definition of tradition, it has arrived.

Tradition - A belief, custom, story, or practice (etc.) handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth or demonstration.
 
I don't know if it's exactly something that qualifies something as a "tradition," but GBC is at least something you can mention, and nearly everyone will say, "Oh, yeah. That." and will mean the canned soup/canned fired onions variety.

What else is there like that?
 
See...GBC causing problems again...;)

i'm not talking about eating weird creatures or things that can make you sick, but a real foodie will at least try something at least once that other people like them normally eat. and if it's made by someone you trust who says their version is good, maybe try something twice.

I completely agree. Once I've declared that I don't like something, I've always made it a point to try it again later down the road to see if my tastes have changed. I tried green beans again at my office Christmas party a few weeks ago....yeah, still dont like them but who's to say I won't like them when I'm 75? Always try it again.
 
Gourmet Greg said:
So how can we make this recipe without buying brand name products? How do you make French's onions without getting it out of a can? Let's turn this into a real traditional food by losing the dependence on brand name products. I'm not willing to call anything a tradition as long as I have to buy products from one manufacturer. Instead I'd call that a marketing department success story.

Trader Joe's sells all of the components for gbc (all natural of course, their brand). Most stores also sell store brands of most of the components, I've even seen the onions in store brands other than Trader Joe's.

I've never made it, I don't like it, but for many it is a traditional dish on their holiday table.
 
GBC is readily fabricated from basic ingredients. If you can make cream of mushroom soup from scratch and fry up some onion rings, GBC is not that far away.

While that would taste really good, it wouldn't be the traditional recipe so it wouldn't be authentic. :rolleyes:
 
GBC is readily fabricated from basic ingredients. If you can make cream of mushroom soup from scratch and fry up some onion rings, GBC is not that far away.

While that would taste really good, it wouldn't be the traditional recipe so it wouldn't be authentic. :rolleyes:

funny little twist of fate, that--huh?:)
 
So, using that logic, you wouldn't buy a Butterball turkey, you'd have to go hunt your own? No Ocean Spray cranberries, grow your own?
I think Greg was talking more about using bottom shelf products instead of always picking from the top shelf

No, see below.

GBC is readily fabricated from basic ingredients. If you can make cream of mushroom soup from scratch and fry up some onion rings, GBC is not that far away.

While that would taste really good, it wouldn't be the traditional recipe so it wouldn't be authentic. :rolleyes:

I was talking about making it from basic ingredients, frizzle your own potatoes, add the various components that the canned soup provides but add them individually, preferably from fresh ingredients. I don't know what goes in cream of mushroom soup off the top of my head, but instead I'd add sauteed mushrooms to my casserole, chicken stock, cream, whatever else it takes.

I'm just stating my own opinion about this stuff. I don't expect any but a few forum members will agree, maybe none at all, but I'll accept that.

The first time I made my own cranberry sauce, I was floored at how easy it was and how really good it was. I was used to the jellied crap from a can.

I used to use the canned cranberry stuff until I bought real cranberries and made my own. BTW I use half the sugar ordinarily recommended for cranberries.

I don't like the gelatinous stuff out of the can any more but I'll use it if I'm preparing just a small amount of turkey, like a roasted turkey thigh, because it makes no sense to prepare a pound of cranberries for just one serving.
 
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greg, you have been shooting out a delightful spray of smart, informative and (wryly) humorous posts at us dcers daily. often, i'm in agreement with your views, though not as much in this particular thread as elsewhere. please, you should not be surprised nor dismayed that some people will be disagreeing with your opinions or ideas from time to time. i follow your posts with great interest, greg--just keep 'em coming! :)
 
Earlier I wondered what else was like GBC. Then I remembered tuna noodle casserole. The rational behind Campbell's GBC wasn't to promote their own way of making what was already a staple. It was purely an attempt to develop a recipe that would call for their products, theirs and the beans, that were probably in every cupboard.

TNC was attractive as a promotion to makers of tuna, noodles, and, of course, Campbell's, as well as the President of the United States. TNC was one of the "Meatless Monday" dishes in the late 40's when Truman asked that food be conserved on account of dire shortages in Europe and the effects on U.S. food prices. And TNC was arguably even more of a success than GBC. GBC was associated with holiday meals. TNC was an everyday regular. If you grew up in the 50's in the U.S., you probably ate more TNC than GBC.

(Truman's speech actually called for a Meatless Tuesday, but he apparently couldn't overcome the memory of Meatless Monday during WWI. I don't know how Chickenless/Eggless Thursday worked out, but it wasn't hard to get restaurants to not offer bread and butter except by request.)
 
greg, you have been shooting out a delightful spray of smart, informative and (wryly) humorous posts at us dcers daily. often, i'm in agreement with your views, though not as much in this particular thread as elsewhere. please, you should not be surprised nor dismayed that some people will be disagreeing with your opinions or ideas from time to time. i follow your posts with great interest, greg--just keep 'em coming! :)

Thank you. I participate in the forum because I want to have interesting discussions on cooking. Sometimes cooking is a matter of opinion, in fact probably more often than not. I don't expect my opinion to be any more or less valuable than the opinion of anybody else. Sometimes anybody including myself finds themselves on the wrong side of the majority opinion. There's not much one can do except grin and bear it.

Earlier I wondered what else was like GBC. Then I remembered tuna noodle casserole. The rational behind Campbell's GBC wasn't to promote their own way of making what was already a staple. It was purely an attempt to develop a recipe that would call for their products, theirs and the beans, that were probably in every cupboard.

I see the GBC as an effort to encourage use of Campbell soup and French's onion rings. There's nothing dishonest in that. My own vision of cooking is recipes that are cooked from scratch using basic ingredients, fresh if possible. I don't feel like I've completely mastered a recipe until I can cook it without resorting to brand name already cooked ingredients. I'm sure I'm in the minority on feeling that way. It's just how I individualize my own cooking.

My goal is to come up with recipes like I see in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child or Joy of Cooking by Rombauer and Becker. I don't see them quoting brand name ingredients in their books. I aim to emulate them.


Tuna casserole! Yech! That's something I never want to see on my plate, anything made from canned tuna. I'll accept tuna salad sandwiches but only if there's no alternative. Fresh tuna is fine with me, cooked or raw, I just don't like canned tuna. Perhaps it's because tuna sandwiches showed up so often in my brown bag lunches in grade school.
 
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:LOL: TNC was one thing my grade school cafeteria made well, and we all loved it!

I now know what's for dinner tonight! I make a pretty good one. (oxymoron?)
 
Greg, I enjoy your posts though we will sometimes disagree. No harm in that. People disagree with me on a regular basis (even though I'm always right).

The GBC recipe was developed in Campbell's kitchen to sell products. It's what became of it afterwards that's important to our discussion.

That said, I almost never use canned soup as an ingredient (or as soup for that matter). I prefer to start from scratch. I stopped eating tuna casserole when I divorced.

I don't think it's a foodie sin to use a convenience food from time to time.
 
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My goal is to come up with recipes like I see in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child or Joy of Cooking by Rombauer and Becker. I don't see them quoting brand name ingredients in their books. I aim to emulate them.

I understand completely; me too. I will make an exception for stuff like Worcestershire sauce. It was one of the reasons I have made ketchup. Oh my, homemade ketchup is sooooo much better than the store bought stuff.


Tuna casserole! Yech! That's something I never want to see on my plate, anything made from canned tuna. I'll accept tuna salad sandwiches but only if there's no alternative. Fresh tuna is fine with me, cooked or raw, I just don't like canned tuna. Perhaps it's because tuna sandwiches showed up so often in my brown bag lunches in grade school.

I have never tried tuna casserole. I can't stand the smell of it.
 
:LOL: TNC was one thing my grade school cafeteria made well, and we all loved it!

I now know what's for dinner tonight! I make a pretty good one. (oxymoron?)


I always think of my sister when I make that. It was the only thing she could cook when we were kids. I still make it in the winter time and I have to buy a snack size bag of potato chips for the topping. It is more about the memories for me than anything else. I wish my sister had been a lobster fisherman or a cattle rancher! :LOL:
 
i've only had cold elbow macaroni and tuna twice in my life and liked it both times.

one was on a skiing trip, the other time backpacking. both times i was so hungry that i would have eaten a shoe, so the tuna mac was delicious.

is the tuna noodle casserole that we're talking about the same thing? is it served hot or cold?
 
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