I have become quite a fan of '70s Dinner Party' of late, a Twitter feed (@70s_party) which "celebrates the good, the bad and the downright ugly of retro food", with photos and recipes taken largely from 1970s cookery books. It concentrates on the most unappetising, kitsch and "flamboyantly preposterous" examples - hence the most amusing ones - and I am delighted to say that tinned foods feature quite often in the ingredients.
I wish I had seen this particular example in advance of Shrove Tuesday last week - but pancakes need not (nay, should not) be confined to being eaten on just one day, so I may well give these a go at some point before next year. Fry a few slices of SPAM in a large pan, drop spoonfuls of ready-made batter over each one, flip over, et voila - SPAM cakes!
Apparently a new book based on the Twitter feed is in the offing, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the finished product!
Haha, I recently acquired a book about Soviet Union cuisine, which has equally vile pictures and uses for tinned food.
ReplyDeleteIs that the CCCP Cookbook? I was looking at that a few weeks back in the bookshop and thinking there were a few things I should probably give a try myself, but might not want to - I seem to remember there being a salad made with tinned cod liver or similar, which sounded horrendous!
DeleteCorrect. The book is amazing, and actually very interesting, if you're into cooking or history or both.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine was lmost in tears, as it so reminded her of her childhood full of awful food.
But there are also some interesting original recipes in there, as in "before scarcity really struck"' that I'd really like to try.