20 classic recipes from the '50s that no one makes anymore

Despite being an inoffensive way to mix two vegetables, creamed onions and peas have gone by the wayside as a side dish. It could be the cream. It could be the peas. Whatever it is, this recipe just isn’t seen anymore. 

Welsh rarebit, a hot cheese sauce on toast, is still popular in the U.K., but in the United States, it doesn’t have the same panache. It was once a trendy dish, but Americans have since traded cheese sauce for a variety of other toast toppings. 

Grapefruit was once a very popular food in diet culture. Thankfully, we’ve since moved away from eating grapefruit and only grapefruit to achieve our health goals. Unfortunately, that meant letting certain recipes, like broiled grapefruit, go away, too. 

See what we mean about grapefruit having a moment in the 1950s? It was everywhere. People were even making an Alaska version. Similar to a baked Alaska, this dessert was sweet and beloved by some, but it hasn’t kept its popularity throughout the last several decades.  

How aspic ever caught on is beyond comprehension, but it was the talk of the town at dinner parties back in the day. This strange delicacy was made with meat and vegetables set in stock - basically a savory Jell-O. The stuff of nightmares. 

Waldorf salad was invented before the 1950s, but its contents scream that era. Until it closed, this recipe was still available at the Waldorf-Astoria, but its popularity outside those walls had waned, perhaps because people aren’t interested in putting fruit in mayonnaise anymore. 

Deviled eggs are still very much alive and well, but the dish used to be stuffed with interesting foods back in the ‘50s. Peas, tuna, crab — all of these and more could be found inside a deviled egg in that era. 

Lima beans are still around, and casseroles are still around, but the combination of the two didn’t make a lasting impression. But it’s easy to see why. Of all the beans, lima is about the worst type to make a casserole with. 

Many, many 1950s recipes included pineapple slices with cherries in the center. It was the garnish of the decade. Many recipes with the garnish have survived, just sans pineapple. Baked ham is one such recipe. It’s still eaten, just with much less pineapple. 

The last major pop culture reference to ambrosia salad was in Edward Scissorhands, which took place in the past despite having no clear setting. Although it’s fruity and easy to make, ambrosia salad isn’t the cookout menu staple it once was. 

At some point in the past few decades, everyone who cooked in the 1950s threw away their molds. Rather than seeing gelatin, salad greens, mayonnaise, and a bevy of other ingredients in molded form, they’ve just been served in regular form. 

Amandine dishes, garnished with sliced almonds, used to be all the rage. Chicken amandine was quite popular, but green beans and other vegetable dishes were, too. We have since moved on from the practice of garnishing all our foods with almond slices and now reserve the nut for ice cream and other desserts. 

In vintage times, no appetizer was fancier at a party than a cucumber canapé. These little delicacies came in many forms, and each was unique from the last. The combinations were all memorable, but not in the way anyone wanted. 

Not everything needs to be made into a mousse, and thankfully, many people have stopped making salmon mousse. The recipe still makes the rounds on the internet, but it's not served at dinner parties, restaurants, or similar venues anymore. 

Yes, candy used to be made with potatoes. Anyone who's had it would tell you that potato candy doesn't actually taste like potatoes, but as the name suggests, it is made with the root. Classic recipes also contain peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. 

The 1950s were full of spins on crudité, one of which was olive-stuffed celery sticks. It's easy to see why these became popular, though. They were easy to make and assemble, and they had the aesthetic that cooks of that era were after. 

There's chicken salad. There's tuna salad. In the 1950s, there was ham salad. The recipe didn't differ much from its chicken and tuna counterparts, so if you like either of those salad options and are a big fan of ham, you'd probably find this pretty tasty, too. 

Spam is still alive and well, but in the ‘50s, it was everywhere and in everything. One of the most delectable options was Spam bites. Sometimes, they were alone, other times, they were wrapped up. No matter how they came, they were unique. 

Plenty of desserts from the 1950s have become ancient memories. Hawaiian pie, a sweet treat with a graham cracker crust, pineapple, whipped cream, coconut, and a cherry, is hard to come by these days. If you want it, you'll probably have to make it yourself. 

In the 1950s, home cooks loved to make foods into unnatural shapes. One such shape was a log. Meat, vegetables, sauces, and combinations of all three came in logs, and the reason for this is still unknown. The world may never know.