Foods I Miss

[Snip 13]

T bones with a tail

Smuckers candied dill pickle spears

Ham salad, with sweet pickles, in a jar. I don't remember the brand.

We still get t bone with a tail, tutti frutti ice cream and proper pork chops. One reason to love africa, we're way behind..lol!

 

[Zhizara]

Thick steaks!

I'm heartbroken to see all those 1/2" "steaks.

They are good for something though. When cutting up for stew meat, half the work is done for you, and easy to cut up with kitchen shears.

 

[vitauta]

I miss 5 cent chicken wings at the pubs. You can barely get them for under a buck each, now.

i guess i missed those 5 cent wings altogether. today i miss 25 cent chicken wings and happy hour wings that were free.

 

[FrankZ]

I miss the Mount Olive who pickled banana peppers. They were great as a sandwich. And their Hot Mixed too.

 

[Hoot]

Used to get rock candy in a little box like animal crackers used to be packaged in.... rock candy on strings not around much anymore.
Necco used to have a real tart wafer, what happened to those???

I miss the Mount Olive who pickled banana peppers. They were great as a sandwich. And their Hot Mixed too.

Rock Candy is still around, but in a very small box.
Necco wafers are still available around here too.
Mount Olive still makes sliced banana peppers, both hot and mild but I haven't seen whole pickled banana peppers in a long time and their hot mix was discontinued a number of years ago. What a shame too, that was some seriously good stuff.

 

[pacanis]

I remember that rock candy on a string, barely. My one aunt used to make rock candy.
We've got Mount Olive products in the town store. I'm going to see if they have those whole peppers.

 

[vitauta]

turkish taffy, deluxe cake with cherries combination kit, ice cream flavors including lemon and chocolate covered butter almond. there are many original products that i miss, where the recipe has undergone radical changes, but imo never "improved".

 

[FrankZ]

Mount Olive still makes sliced banana peppers, both hot and mild but I haven't seen whole pickled banana peppers in a long time and their hot mix was discontinued a number of years ago. What a shame too, that was some seriously good stuff.

The sliced ones have their uses, I admit, but not for a banana pepper sandwich.

Butter some white bread, lay whole pickled banana peppers on it, eat. YUM.

 

[Alix]

OK, is it a regional thing or what? I buy pork chops all the time. Bone in usually, but occasionally boneless. Costco has amazing pork, and I toss them in brine for about an hour, grill or fry 'em and they rock. Am I missing something? Have they changed and my palate is so uneducated I didn't notice?

I miss weird stuff that they don't make anymore or I can't find. I miss squeeze a snack...heh heh heh, and some of the other Kraft products that have been discontinued. I used to call it "triangle cheese". It was a really old cheese in a wedge shape, made by Kraft, oh man was it good.

Its probably a good thing they stopped making that stuff, I'd have kept eating it all and I KNOW its crappy for me!

 

[Andy M.]

OK, is it a regional thing or what? I buy pork chops all the time. Bone in usually, but occasionally boneless. Costco has amazing pork, and I toss them in brine for about an hour, grill or fry 'em and they rock. Am I missing something? Have they changed and my palate is so uneducated I didn't notice? ...

Alix, I think we are all lamenting the modern pig. The pork industry has bred the fat out of modern pigs to the point where loin meat is very lean and therefore dry. Brining is a must now.

I've stopped buying loin cuts. I now buy pork sirloin, tenderloin and butt.

 

[vitauta]

Alix, I think we are all lamenting the modern pig. The pork industry has bred the fat out of modern pigs to the point where loin meat is very lean and therefore dry. Brining is a must now.

I've stopped buying loin cuts. I now buy pork sirloin, tenderloin and butt.

still on the subject of the modern pig, what is the cause of the decline in bacon quality today? the flavor of bacon today is like a faded memory of the bacon i grew up with. even the rendered fat seems substandard, producing bacon grease that doesn't even look real once it has congealed.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

PDQ eggnog or chocolate beads, Maw Brown Apple Butter, egg yolks that were a deep orange/yellow color with a rich flavor, West Pier cold-cut subamrine sandwich, made with meats from local sausage makers (the restaurant still makes the sandwich, but can't get the same quality of salami, or bologna), whole unpasturized, unhomogenized milk, fresh brook trout from Lake Superior streams, same complaints about fruit as listed by the others, especially peaches, plumbs, and cantalope. Corn is too sweet anymore, and has lost some of that corn flavor from when I was a kid. I miss cotton candy simply because I can't have it anymore. I miss Cracker Jacks, and the original Cadburry Caramello. I miss my mom's home made bread, and her chili, and my mom. I often wish I had been born in the 1930's. Life was less restrictive, and more rich without TV and video games. I miss sling shots, and shooting my bow in the back yard.

I digress.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[betterthanabox]

I miss Hershey's Popcicles, suddenly salad's original pasta salad that had olives in it, I miss soda in the bottle. I really miss water that doesn't taste bad. Where I live now is TERRIBLE!! I miss when food was cheap, and tasted good. I agree with the others, that the quality of produce has gone down hill.

 

[Snip 13]

PDQ Corn is too sweet anymore, and has lost some of that corn flavor from when I was a kid. I miss cotton candy simply because I can't have it anymore. I miss Cracker Jacks, and the original Cadburry Caramello. I miss my mom's home made bread, and her chili, and my mom.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

Hi Weed :P
You've brought back so many memories of my childhood with this post, good and bad. I miss Cadbury Caramello bears, we still get them in Santa's choice packs over Christmas but it's only once a year. Not sure why that is.
I agree, corn doesn't taste the way it used to, even corn porridge doesn't have that smell of freshly cooked corn anymore.
I'm going slightly off topic here but all these things remind me of my Nan, she sadly passed away on this day 11 yrs ago.
Still can't think about her without welling up. She would get up at 5 each morning and make the best slow cooked porridge for us before we went to school. Caramello Bears were her and my favourite, always ate the ears and feet first saving the caramel belly for last . I miss her homemade bread with lashings of homemade butter. You could smell the bread from outside the house!
So many things have changed and food is not appreciated the way it used to be, the rush of modern time has stopped us from living life to the full. The love has been taken out of food, life and so much more!

 

[CWS4322]

I think we are starting to see a shift back--with CSAs, more farmers' markets, locally grown produce in stores, etc. But, at least here in Ontario, the laws have changed about how long meat can age. You can still get eggs with deep orange yolks...but first you have to get the chickens <g>. Supposedly adding flax seed to the chickens diet produces deeper yellow yolks. Locally, people sell eggs for $3/dozen, Last week's flyer had "omega-3" eggs advertised for $2.87, 90 cents off the regular price!

I went out to get the eggs this morning--the two hens had just laid the eggs--both eggs were WARM when I picked them up out of the nest. I used to ride my bike to the farm down the road when I lived in Germany. The farmer would milk the millk from the cow into the jug I'd brought with me. That's fresh milk. No wonder I don't like milk sold in plastic bags...

In Ontario, farmers can't sell milk directly to people unless the milk is for pets. But, trying to find a dairy farmer that will sell you a gallon of milk is tough...I used to get raw milk from my landlord years ago. His son still is in the dairy business...maybe when I move back to the house in the city I'll stop by and see if he'd sell me some milk each week...

 

[Alix]

Alix, I think we are all lamenting the modern pig. The pork industry has bred the fat out of modern pigs to the point where loin meat is very lean and therefore dry. Brining is a must now.

I've stopped buying loin cuts. I now buy pork sirloin, tenderloin and butt.

Ooooooo! Gotcha! Thanks for the explanation Andy. Strangely, we eat more pork now than we ever used to. Its plentiful and tasty.

I think I'm pretty lucky too because we have connections to lots of local farmers here. We get great farm chickens, occasionally buy some 4H beef (if we can find someone to share) and the occasional pig.

 

[merstar]

P whole unpasturized, unhomogenized milk, fresh brook trout from Lake Superior streams, same complaints about fruit as listed by the others, especially peaches, plumbs, and cantalope. Corn is too sweet anymore, and has lost some of that corn flavor from when I was a kid.
Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

Ditto on the milk, cantaloupe (add that to my long-lost honeydews), fresh brook trout, normal tasting corn, etc. I really miss that fresh brook trout!

 

[CWS4322]

I miss fresh Lake Trout. There is a lake near Nestor Falls, Ontario (Crow Lake). My folks' lived in that area for 10 years. That lake is 200 ft. deep in some spots and SUPER clear (not to mention COLD).

I would hop the train and go to my folks around the 15th of July--stay until Labor Day. We used to go to Crow Lake to catch Lake Trout (when we weren't out fishing on Lake of the Woods). It could be hot as hades out, but because of the depth of the lake, it was always cold on the lake...supposedly, the MN mofia has dropped bodies in this lake...but I digress. We'd catch a trout or two, bring it home, clean it, and then wrap the whole fish in foil and BBQ it with lemon, dill, onion stuffed in the cavity...heaven. Next best fresh water fish after walleye. IMO.

ON is offering free fishing licenses between July 1 and 10. I am trying to find my fishing gear (we think it is in the attic of the barn of house #3 which is rented out--hoping the tenants will let me come and get it) and I am twisting the DH's arm to go fishing...sitting still that long doing nothing would be a real test for him. He can't come to the cabin because he'd be bored with "lake life" within 4 hours of the first day. If we do go fishing and catch anything, I'm not sure I remember how to clean fish--my mom always used a scalpel to debone the fish--but she was a surgical nurse. I know I have a scalpel handle and surgical blades around here someplace. At least I do know how to cook it, if we can clean it (provided we'd catch anything I'd want to eat--and I suspect my DH doesn't know how to bait a hook or gut or clean a fish--despite the fact he grew up in the Maritimes)!

 

[kadesma]

I stopped buying supermarket fruit for that reason. peaches and nectarines hard as a rock and tasteless. I remember ripe juicy peaches and hen you bit into them juices would run down your arm. The same goes for plums - hard and sour.

Also agree on the pork and tomato complaints. At least when the farmers' market opens, I'll be able to get good tomatoes.

Andy if you don''t grow your own tomatoes
try the farmers market. I never but never buy any tomatoes except heirlooms when they come into season those vine rippened jobs are awful and not worth the money.no taste, mealy YUK Only others I do buy are romas for making sauce.
kades

 

[Dawgluver]

CWS, you bring back fond memories of my dad and me fishing on Lake of the Woods for hours on the boat. One time we ran out of minnows, and dug out a fish eye for bait. Never saw so many walleye hits on one eyeball. When we tried it again days later, it didn't work.

Years later, baby bro and I went out on the lake and caught some walleyes, filleted them, and had a fish gut fight in the boat. My mom would not let us back in the cabin until we washed off. Imagine that.

The small town where Mom lives used to carry flash-frozen wallleye.