Do you want to be happier about where you are in life?
Then I recommend you read the following recipe which will quickly make you incredibly content to be living in the modern world.
The recipe is from The Something-Different Dish, by Marion Harris Neil, Cookery Editor of Ladies’ Home Journal and author of this cookbook, published in 1915, a mere 101 years ago.
[She also wrote The Story of Crisco around this time. But I digress…]
Please keep in mind that a respectable cookbook published this recipe because [presumably?] people were eating things like this.
That they made at home.
Not that long ago.
So considering this reality, might I suggest that when you start to feel down about your life here in 2016, you need to remember that things could be a lot worse.
You could be eating Love In Disguise for dinner tonight. π
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That would make me eat vegetables for sure.
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Kate, I agree. It’s 2016 cuisine for me.
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Break out the burgers!
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Amen, sister!
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How disgusting!
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Beth, well said. *yuck*
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“Forcemeat”? I was afraid to read the rest, but that and the vermicelli would be the only things I’d want to eat from this recipe. Wow. But on the flip side, “waste not, want not” – folks back in the day believed in using as much of something as they could in order to keep the young’ins fed. *shudders at what my grandmother used to eat as a kid*
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Dana, you’re right about why this recipe existed: nothing was wasted. But all I could think when I stumbled on it was “thank goodness I live now!”
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I love that the dish is called love in disguise. Is the disguised love supposed to be the gravy and pastry covered stuffed heart or is it simply the fact that you are technically feeding your family (aka showing your love) but disguising your feelings by preparing that dish?
However – truth be told – I’ve eaten worse sounding cuisine.
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Allie P, I’m giggling here. You raise 2 valid arguments about why this dish is called what it is. I cannot say for sure why Love In Disguise is named like it is, because I’m still hung up on eating a calf’s heart. To me, there is no love to be found anywhere near this recipe. *bleech*
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The name slays me!
I’d eat it. Well, I’d try it. Not cooking it, as I have no clue about heart, or where to buy heart…but if someone who knew what they’re doing offered, I’d have a bite to see how it is. If I recall, I haven’t had beef heart. I don’t eat much meat, so this would never be a fave, but I’d try it.
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joey, I agree about the name. That’s how I got drawn into reading the recipe. You have an adventurous palate! But now that I think about it I’ve had cold sliced beef tongue sandwiches which weren’t so bad. Still, I’ll let you try Love In Disguise, then have you describe it to me. K?
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If I get the chance I will. I didn’t mind tongue either, I actually really like beef cheeks, all tender.
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Beef cheeks? Never heard of that dish, but if you say it’s good then…
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Mm, so good. Tender. Did I mention tender? Almost everywhere it’s too big a serving, but if you ever get to try it as an app, go for it!
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Will do, joey. You’ve intrigued me.
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Love the recipe’s name, Ally Bean. β€
Forcemeat sounds like a recipe for "meatloaf" . . . but the "love in disguise" sounds offal. Even before adopting a vegetarian diet, I doubt I would've clipped this recipe for my files.
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nancy, it’s the name that got me interested enough to read the recipe, which I then pondered for about a minute before deciding that I’m happy to be living where I am in 2016. I mean…. YUCK!
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Hmm… maybe some other time. π
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Bun Karyudo, you don’t want any Love In Disguise? Shocked, I am.
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It was just a little too well disguised for me, I’m afraid. π
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Yes, I hear ‘ya. I like my meals a bit more straightforward. π
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Sounds disgusting but I’m sure they were thankful for it back then. Yup, we’re lucky!
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Carol, exactly. While it turned my stomach, given the choice of starving or living, I’d eat it. Just glad to be alive in 2016.
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I read this recipe and it’s not the ingredients that caught my attention, but the complete lack of cooking instructions. This was a *cook* book?!
What is *almost* ready? Finish by baking … whaaat? What temperature? How long?
It appears that in the days of cooking on wood stoves, instructions were very vague because temperature was always an unknown variable.
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joanne, I noticed the lack of actual cooking details, too. Hadn’t thought about why the details were missing, but I bet you’re right. Temps were extremely variable back then. Smart thinking.
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Thanks .. but it occurred to me as I was writing the comment. On-the-spot inspiration π
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Brilliance happens at the most unexpected moments! π
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I’ll take it π
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Why is this dish called ‘love in disguise?’ Is it a macabre reference to the fact that it contains heart?
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Chez Shea, that’s my guess. I don’t know much about this dish except that the recipe was so weird that it stopped me in my web surfing tracks. So happy to be living in this century.
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Vermicelli are thin noodles, like a spaghetti. So…you cover the heart, which is already covered with ground meat, with noodles, then cover it all with gravy, and THEN serve it…?
But…why!?!?!
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nance, I have no answer to your profound question. I cannot imagine anything about actually eating this dish. In some ways I’m impressed that vermicelli was available over 100 years ago. That fact might be the best thing to come out of this recipe.
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I am now a vegetarian.
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Margaret, I know how you feel!
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I’ll take my forcemeat without the calf’s heart, please. I collect old household/recipe books. Some recipes are great once you figure out things like a “fast” oven, I like the household tips best.
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Zaz, the forcemeat part didn’t look so awful, but I’m still not convinced I’d like this dish. Sadly this cookbook didn’t have any household tips, just some “unique” recipes.
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This doesn’t sound like a good recipe for a fussy eater such as myself… though I like the concept of stuffing forecmeat into something odd until it might be edible…
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I’m not a fussy eater, but would prefer to avoid this recipe forever, if possible. Odd + edible are two words that I don’t think should go together in a my diet.
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I am too scared to google “forcemeat.” I feel like I would get a lot of interesting websites out of that search.
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Sarah, I thought of that, too. Times are different now, in reference to both food preferences and word meanings. π
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My mom tells stories of actually having to cut chickens’ heads off when she was a kid. I think vegetarianism would have been my thing at that point! I was cringing at merely handling raw ribs a few minutes ago!
Stephanie
http://stephie5741.blogspot.com
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Stephanie, oh my! I don’t know if I could even catch/hold a live chicken, let along decapitate it. I’m with you, given that reality, I’d be a vegetarian.
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Hmmm, yep I’ll pass on this recipe. π
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serena, me, too. I’m way too much of a 21st century person to even fathom making this recipe.
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Not for me, although I do remember having heart, tongue, liver, kidneys, tripe, black pudding and chitterlings, when I was a kid. I survived, but would never touch any of these ‘delicacies’ out of choice. π
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anotherday2paradise, it’s not my kind of cuisine, either. I’ve had tongue, liver and kidneys, but heart… that grosses me out.
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π³
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So grateful to be cooking in 2016. Thanks for this important reminder. π
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Kourtney, my first thought when I read this recipe was how much I really love living in 2016. Better food, for sure.
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Thanks goodness I had lunch prior to reading this. ~Tara
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Tara, so I take it that you’re not going to rush out and buy the ingredients for this tasty dish?! *shudder*
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Sounds like my grandma’s cooking π Well, not quite, but I remember well the horrified looks of some of my housemates in England when I described a couple of dishes we cook in Azerbaijan – I won’t shock your readers here, the point is I can relate π
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Gulara, I suspect that my grandparents who grew up on farms would have eaten dishes like this one. No big deal. Funny how we all take what we eat for granted, as if no one else would think it’s awful.
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I’m sure my grandparents would be equally horrified at my diet these days π Too many cakes, not enough meat.
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That’s an excellent point. Back then it was all about meat, wasn’t it? No doubt my grandparents would disapprove of my diet, too. But, I rather like it… π
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Still is π I can write a whole book about our visits to my hometown. My husband is a vegetarian and let’s say… my family’s attempts to befriend him through food are not always successful.
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π
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Hey there, Ally! Since June is the 6th month of the year, Iβm following 6 fun and interesting blogs each day, and youβre one of them! Follow me back if you like at http://www.thatssojacob.wordpress.com and make six new blog friends of your own. Have a great day!
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Hey there! Thanks for stopping by. It’s always fun to meet new bloggers. Clever, yet ambitious idea, to follow 6 blogs/day.
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Yeah I’ll just stay here with my trout while I flinch as my son licks the eye in its socket. Thank you fast food, frozen dinners and calf-heart free living!
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Amen, sister! No calf hearts for me either.
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