11 Vintage Recipes That Will Scare Your Grandkids

Aspic might be one of the foods that first comes to mind when you think of "scary" vintage recipes. Just tell your grandkids that you're putting meat in the jello, and there's a good chance they'll be hiding behind their iPad in a flash.

Even some people who like other vintage recipes might be hiding from aspic. There's something about savory jello that can just seem unappealing.

However, for those who enjoy these savory jello dishes, there's truly nothing else quite like it. And, I might point out, if it was good enough for Julia Child, shouldn't it be good enough for the rest of us?

Check out these aspic recipes from yesteryear, and either be afraid... or get out your jello mold. Start with Grandma's Old Fashioned Aspic.

Black Magic Chocolate Cake sounds like a totally not-scary vintage recipe, right? Well, wait until you hear the secret ingredient.

This chocolate cake is made using condensed tomato soup!

You can be sure that your grandkids will be suspicious of anyone putting soup in their chocolate cake. They might even yell, "gross!" when you tell them. But, they'll be singing a different tune once they actually try a slice of this chocolate cake.

Ruth, from Mid-Century Menu, tested this recipe and has more to say about how tasty it is - 

"This cake is one of the biggest surprises we’ve ever had testing. This isn’t just a good cake, but a great cake! We make it regularly in our house. It is also very solid proof of a cooking hypothesis of mine: Chocolate and sugar can cover up the flavor of almost anything, including tomato soup, mashed potatoes, beef fat, chicken fat, sauerkraut and many more strange ingredients from vintage recipes!"

This Great Depression Bologna Casserole is a dish that some will love and some will hate. If you tell your grandkids that the bologna is basically like hot dogs... then you might persuade them to try this vintage recipe. But maybe not.

Like other Depression Era meals, this casserole is made from ingredients that are inexpensive. Home cooks at the time showed incredible creativity in making interesting recipes that were still budget-friendly.

While your grandkids might be unfamiliar with ingredients like canned pork and beans, this casserole is a good opportunity to show them that a hearty dinner can be made with just a few dollars. And if they still can't be persuaded... a peanut butter sandwich is back up plan that's still pretty budget-friendly.

Although we love many of these vintage recipes... this one might be better left in the past. And it's certain to make your grandkids run in the opposite direction.

California Prune Cream Salad is made using a combination of ingredients that were once popular. However, they probably should not be combined in a single dish. Ruth from Mid-Century Menu has more to say about this... interesting recipe.

"California Prune Cream Salad isn’t just awful, it’s also a time capsule of unfortunate salad ingredients from the 1930’s. Mayonnaise, prunes, chili sauce (or ketchup), cottage cheese, gelatin – these were all very trendy salad ingredients and, when mixed together, ended up creating something truly terrible."

There you have it! Here's a vintage recipe that will scare your grandkids (and probably also scare you).

If you disagree and actually love this kind of recipe, be sure to let us know in the comments below!

Let's end on a positive note, shall we?

Ambrosia salad is one vintage recipe that I think we can all agree is delicious. And while the strange texture of it might scare your grandkids at first, they're sure to come around once they try a bite.

Ambrosia salad can trace its roots back to mid-nineteenth-century America, but it didn't start to resemble its modern form until later. Marshamallows became a common addition in the 1930s, gelatin began appearing in the recipe in the 1950s, and by the 1970s whipped topping and other goodies had been added. The fluffy, fruit-filled version that we still enjoy today had been born.

Try one of these tasty ambrosia salad recipes. We hope you and your grandkids can both truly enjoy this vintage recipe. You can even have a little fun if you make the Frog Eye Salad below. The name is sure to get some giggles!