Recipes Of The Damned–Jan. 10, 2000: Mexican Spaghetti
From Specialties of the House: Cook Book of Durum Wheat Main Dishes by Porter-Scarpelli Macaroni Co., 1960.
Specialties of the House is another brochure found at a nearby curiosity shop, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have found it. The booklet’s purpose is to present tested recipes featuring durum wheat spaghetti and macaroni (I don’t think the word “pasta” appears even once in this booklet). So glorious 1960 color photography spotlights dishes like Macaroni Loaf, Chicken Livers Hunter Style with Buttered Noodles Polonaise, and Veal Lasagna. The best part is that the “test kitchens,” while including a few actual reputable restaurants like Damon’s of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and the Parker House of Boston, generally run to institutional kitchens like Evanston Hospital of Evanston, Illinois, and the lunchrooms of the Detroit Public Schools.
Of course this is another case where changes in American culture have altered perceptions. We no longer trust institutions as we did in the years during and just after World War II, and when that increased distrust is combined with the culinary trends of the ’80s and ’90s, recipes offered with pride from the kitchens of the Detroit Public Schools suddenly lose any appeal they might have had. Though, frankly, I have never had anyone tell me of happy experiences eating school food anywhere, at any time.
But I had to feature Mexican Spaghetti because the recipe is just so very, very wrong. Its “Mexican” components appear to be tomato and green pepper; it offers chopped ham, American cheese, and peas, which I have never encountered in any offering at any Mexican restaurant; and the “spaghetti” is more evidently macaroni, which may only be a semantic difference but still doesn’t help. They even get the city of origin wrong, as Purdue University is really located in West Lafayette, Indiana; the inter-town rivalry is not all that strong, but does exist. The final blow is the appearance of the served-up dish, accompanied by a glass of milk, a plate of iceberg lettuce (perhaps there are other salad components out of the photo’s range), and a little straw hat/place card. The casserole is garnished with parsley and a single black olive, as if to hint at what the eater might be missing. (I am aware that the use of black olives in Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking is a matter of dispute, but I think they are more legitimate than American cheese.) Perhaps the dish is more inventive than the Taco Bell system of combining meat, cheese, tomato, and tortillas in different shapes and sequences, but I still have to rank it among the Recipes of the Damned.
Mexican Spaghetti
As prepared by Ruby Clark, Department of Institution Management, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana
Ham and tomatoes are teamed in this colorful, taste-satisfying spaghetti meal.
Ingredients:
2 cups diced cooked smoked ham
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 1/4 cups tomatoes (1 pound-4 ounce can)
8 ounces elbow spaghetti
1 10-ounce package frozen peas, cooked
1 cup grated American cheese
Saute ham in butter or margarine. Add green pepper, seasonings, and tomatoes. Simmer gently about 15 minutes. Cook spaghetti in boiling, salted water until tender. Drain. Add spaghetti, peas and cheese to tomato-ham mixture. Turn mixture into greased 2-quart casserole. Bake in slow oven (325 degrees F) 20 to 25 minutes. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
From Specialties of the House: Cook Book of Durum Wheat Main Dishes by Porter-Scarpelli Macaroni Co., 1960.
Tangents
I’ve been getting an impressive amount of fan mail this week—thank you for writing in! Readers seem to enjoy the fact that the site is “funny and gross,” so I must be doing my job. If your New Year’s Resolutions are to find foods that you will leave on the plate (thus losing weight), I promise to keep helping you meet your goals. And for what it’s worth, nobody has yet written to defend fried pigs’ feet.
