Happy April 19! It's the vampires' least favorite holiday: Garlic Day. You can always just braid some into a comely necklace, or you could make one of these snacks from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook (edited by Dorothy B. Marsh, 1963) to nosh during your next vampire movie marathon.
Of course, popcorn is the snack most people immediately associate with movies.
The garlicky popcorn recipe sounds like a logistical nightmare. Cooks are supposed to heat packaged popcorn with butter and sliced garlic-- then fish all the garlic slices out! Seems like it would be so much easier just to use garlic salt on finished popcorn... You might argue that that wouldn't make for much of a recipe, but it's not like this is much of a recipe either!
There's also a reminder that packaged snack foods tended to be much plainer back in the 1960s. If you wanted garlic-flavored chips, it was a do-it-yourself affair.
I imagine that enclosing a quart of potato chips with a few half-cloves of garlic wouldn't accomplish much more than making them a bit stale (and shaking and turning the container would break them into smaller pieces).
And when I was perusing the index, I also saw a garlic chip recipe. I wondered how that was different from garlic-flavored potato chips. The answer: Garlic Chips are much weirder and more labor-intensive!
Garlic chips are a variation on Brazil-nut chips-- meaning that Brazil nuts need to be turned into chips! Apparently simply flavoring heated Brazil nuts with garlic salt and some other seasonings would not be sufficient. First, the Brazil nuts had to be simmered, drained, cut into thin lengthwise slices, spread into a shallow pan, and dotted with butter before they could be flavored and toasted. And then they would likely be roundly rejected by the kids, who would want to know where the potato chips were anyway. Their friends don't have to put up with pretending sliced Brazil nuts are chips! And then they'd learn that the potato chips had been sealed in a container with garlic halves and shaken into potato shards. And then maybe they'd go see if the neighbor kids would share their after-school snacks. Finally, mom could have a few moments of Garlic Day peace... (Is it a fair trade-off for all the time spent making Brazil nut chips? Only the cook can say.)
Or make garlic butter for the popcorn? Make garlic dip for your chips (and peanuts)?
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to figure out why someone so desperately needs Brazil nut chips. If you have problems with nightshades, have sweet potato chips. I'm not sure if white sweet potatoes taste different than the orange ones, but there are other options that could give you a larger chip for a lot less money.
Yes-- Brazil nut chips just seem like a lot of pointless effort. There's nothing wrong with eating nuts as a snack. Why would they need to be chip-ified, especially if they're not likely to scratch the chip itch anyway?
DeleteI was wondering if they sold slivered Brazil nuts like they do slivered almonds. I know that would be far too easy for these cookbooks.
DeleteI don't know if I can handle an entire half-teaspoon of garlic salt on my chips.
ReplyDeleteI know I couldn't, but as we all know, I'm a delicate little flower. XD
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