One thing that struck me about the Pillsbury's Bake Off Main Dish Cookbook (1968) was just how many recipes called for unusually flavored choux pastry. There were so many odd little "puff" recipes that I thought they deserved to have their own little party.
The Filled Parmesan Puffs initially sound pretty good, flavoring the pastry puffs with cornmeal, cayenne pepper, and the titular cheese.
The pickle-y tuna salad filling sounds decidedly less great to me, but even for people who are less skeptical about tuna salad, I suspect the addition of canned shoestring potatoes will make it seem kind of odd.
Parmesan also shows up in the Parmesan Puff Chops...
This time, though, the Parm-and-onion seasoned pastry is baked right on top of the pork chops. I imagine chops crowned with a crisp, cheesy crown taste just fine, but it seems like it would be pretty confusing to dig around under a layer of pastry trying to find the pork chops.
If you want veggie-flavored puffs, the Onion Corn Puffs feature onion soup mix and cornmeal in the pastry.
Plus, the chicken salad filling adds celery, carrots, pimiento, and green pepper to the party.
If you're not so into veggies, the Chicken Devil Puffs might be more your speed.
The "devil" comes from deviled ham right in the choux pastry, which added to the creamy chicken filling makes these the meat-lovers' version of cream puffs, I guess?
And finally, since no post is complete without a misguided use of canned pineapple, we have Hawaiian Tuna Puffs, featuring soy-sauce-flavored puffs...
...and a pineapple-and-water-chestnut-laced tuna salad filling. It's one of the purest distillations of trying to be midwest-fancy I've seen in ages. It's also a reminder that real people apparently make cream puffs at home once in a while... or at least they used to. I'm perfectly content to watch contestants on Food Network shows try to make ugly-sweater-themed croquembouche in 10 minutes and say that's as close as I'm going to get to making the pastry. The '60s were a very different era.
What makes people think that pineapple goes with everything? Contrary to popular belief, it's not flavorless like zucchini. Pineapple cannot blend into savory dishes unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people like sweet-n-savory, so I think that's the deal. I'm just a weirdo who wants sweet for dessert only-- not in every goddamn thing-- and you're a weirdo who just doesn't like sweet.
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