There was a time when Americans would spend hours preparing certain dishes, but now, you’ll struggle to find anyone making them the old-fashioned way.
The dumplings that took all afternoon
You won’t find a more comforting meal than a bowl of homemade chicken and dumplings. The thing is, making it the old-fashioned Southern way is hardly a quick job, and it involves a lot of work.
You start by boiling an entire chicken for the broth. Then, you have to pull the meat off the bones and make the dumplings. A lot of people used to make the dough from scratch.
All of this took a long time, and that’s why a lot of modern recipes stick to using rotisserie chicken and refrigerated biscuit dough instead.
The Christmas dessert that wouldn’t cook
Six hours is a long time to cook, but that’s exactly how long you have to wait when making traditional plum pudding. It’s not like you can just leave it to cook, either. No, you have to keep checking the water to make sure the plum mixture is boiling properly.
Plum pudding is an old British Christmas favorite that managed to make its way onto American holiday tables. Once you mix all the ingredients together, you have to let it boil for between four and six hours. No wonder people would rather buy a ready-made pudding.
Maryland’s forgotten chicken dinner
Fried chicken seems like a relatively straightforward meal today. It wasn’t always that way. Chicken Maryland is one of the earlier forms, and it could get quite elaborate. You had to coat the chicken in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs before you fried it.
That was just the start, though. You also had to prepare cream gravy and, depending on which version you made, you would also have to make bacon and fried bananas. It was all so much work that many Americans have decided to buy their chicken at a drive-thru.
Thanksgiving’s extra baking project
It’s no secret that making Thanksgiving dinner is a lot of work. It only becomes more difficult when you have to bake bread for the stuffing. That’s exactly how American families used to make it, and they’d start by mixing the bread dough. They would then wait for it to rise.
Once it was done, they’d bake the loaves and cut the whole thing into cubes. They weren’t finished there, however, as they would have to dry the cubes to stop them from becoming too mushy. All in all, it was a lot of effort for something you can just get now in a box.
The fish with a surprise inside
Some older recipes called for cooks to stuff an entire fish before baking it, and it’s no surprise that people stopped doing it. There was just so much stuff involved. For starters, you needed to clean the fish by removing its scales and internal organs.
Then you had to pack the seasoned bread filling inside the cavity while also securing the fish. The stuffing would come out otherwise. It didn’t get any easier once you started serving, either, as you had to work around the bones to remove the portions of fish. It was a lot.
The Louisiana pot that demanded attention
One of the main reasons making a traditional seafood gumbo can take up an afternoon is because of the roux. You have to stir it carefully while cooking. Fail to do so, or walk away at the wrong moment, and you’d end up burning your roux. Then you’d have to start again.
Some versions involve continually stirring the mixture for 20 minutes. That’s only one part of it, too, as you’ve also got to get the vegetables, stock, and crabs. Don’t forget the 90 minutes of simmering, either.
The cake that started with a coconut
You’d think that making a coconut cake would be fairly easy. It’s anything but. If you want to make it from scratch, you have to start by cracking open an actual coconut and peeling it. Grating comes next.
Making the cake layers isn’t much easier, as they have to be baked in separate pans, and then you have to make the filling and frosting. Let’s not even get started on stacking it all neatly. To nobody’s surprise, packaged coconut cake has become the go-to option in America.
The chicken with no bones left
There’s no denying that chicken galantine sure does look impressive on a dinner table, although getting it on the table is another matter entirely. It’s not for the impatient. You begin by removing the bones from an entire chicken while making sure to keep the skin and the meat intact.
That alone is quite the task, but then comes the meat filling. You have to roll it inside the chicken and secure it all in a neat shape. Some versions take it to the next level by poaching and chilling the dish before serving. Yes, that means you don’t even get a hot chicken dinner.
The soup that began with a calf’s head
It’s strange to think mock turtle soup used to be a popular American dish because it’s kind of disgusting. No, it doesn’t include any turtle. You actually begin by cleaning and boiling a calf’s head. Then you can remove the meat.
You need to make a rich broth afterward using all kinds of seasonings, and you also have to prepare the vegetables. It’s actually normal to simmer and strain the whole thing several times. The effort just doesn’t seem worth it, and that’s why many Americans avoid it entirely.
The Pennsylvania Dutch dinner with stitches
Hog maw is a special take on casserole because it requires stitching. Yes, really. It’s a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty that involves a cook filling a cleaned pig’s stomach with ingredients. That part is easy enough.
But once you’re done, you have to sew the stomach shut to make sure nothing comes out while it’s cooking. Leaving it open would completely ruin the dish. Today, most Americans aren’t looking to do needlework while they’re cooking, so they don’t bother making hog maw.
The casserole that needed every pan
Chicken tetrazzini is another kind of challenging casserole. Some of the older recipes tell you to cook the chicken and shred it into pieces, then boil spaghetti and sauté the mushrooms. All of that takes place before you’re ready to bake.
You have to make the creamy sauce separately. Once that’s done, you can finally put everything into a baking dish with a topping of cheese or breadcrumbs. The shortcut today is to use leftover chicken and canned soup because, well, it’s a lot easier.
The Christmas stew with a messy beginning
Christmas dinner was a lot fishier in the past for many American households. That’s because it involved eating oyster stew. The dish was a genuine holiday tradition in parts of the South and Midwest, and many families would make it using milk or cream, butter, and oysters.
The hard part comes with the oysters. You have to pry open every single shell and collect the liquid inside to use for the broth, which could take ages. Some people do still eat the dish, sure, but they’ll stick to pre-shucked oysters instead.
The dessert that might melt before dinner
There’s no way of making Baked Alaska in a simple way. Essentially, it’s a layer of cake topped with ice cream, covered in meringue, and briefly placed in a hot oven to brown the outside. That last part is particularly difficult.
You have to make sure the dessert doesn’t end up cooking or getting burnt. The preparation isn’t much easier, though. The dish has to go through several rounds of freezing, and it’s quite a lot of fuss when you could just serve some ice cream.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
