The Classic '50s Fish Dish That No One Seems To Eat Anymore
Think of an old-school fish dish, and tuna casserole likely comes to mind. Yet while this nearly century-old favorite continues to appear in kitchens, its lesser-famed cousin — the fish loaf — has slipped into obscurity. Most popular during the 1950s, the dish relies on a template common to the era: It's a one-pot meal, incorporating a premade element (oftentimes canned soup), a starch (usually breadcrumbs), and a protein — the fish.
As with other dishes popular in mid-century America, the recipes come with fuss-free variability, suiting both personal preferences and available ingredients. In line with the convenience-driven trends of the time, canned fish is a popular candidate — especially salmon, but also tuna. Fresh white fish, cooked and flaked apart, also surfaces in fish loaf recipes. Breadcrumbs mixed with eggs bind the loaf together, while a can of tomato soup, cream, milk, or simply butter adds moisture to the mix. Employed seasonings range from a dash of parsley to a more aromatic pepper-Worcestershire sauce combo.
@jaynenicoletti 100 Year Old Tuna Recipe Welcome to my new weekly series dropping every chewsday: WTF IS THAT?!? FROM THE PAST where I try an over 100 year old recipe. TUNA FISH LOAF 1 pound can tuna 2 eggs 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup water ½ lemon (juice) ¼ teaspoon celery salt Speck cayenne 1 cup bread crumbs Mix all ingredients together well. Pack in bread tin and bake in a moderate oven. Turn out on a platter and serve with white sauce to which chopped parsley has been added. Time in oven, 45 minutes. Temperature, 300°. WHITE SAUCE (Thin) 2 cups milk 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons flour ½ teaspoon salt *The Modern Priscilla was an American magazine that ran from 1887 to 1930. In the Modern Priscilla Cook Book, published in 1924, every one of its one thousand recipes was tested. #vintage #retro #retrorecipes #oldrecipe #tuna #tunafish #tunarecipe #tunaloaf @erica
All components are mixed together, then baked, firming up the fish loaf in the oven — a showcase of hands-off 1950s food trends at their best. Flipped out of a pan, sliced up, and served alongside a gravy, cream, or tomato sauce, it's a family-friendly food seeped in old-timey charm.
A variety of fish loaf recipes date back to the 1920s
The fish loaf submerges and resurfaces throughout the 20th century, without a unifying history. Its composition recalls the Eastern European Jewish gefilte fish, which utilizes ground white fish mixed with eggs and matzo meal, although it's unclear if such a dish inspired the loaf.
One of the earliest published fish loaf recipes dates to a 1920 cookbook titled "A New Snowdrift." This recipe showcases the dish in foundational form, mixing together fish, eggs, breadcrumbs, and seasonings. It then took a few decades for canned fish to appear in recipes, until shelf-stable tuna became popular amidst World War II, serving as a practical protein source alongside canned soups. Such a preference for ingredients continued into the 1950s; a fish loaf recipe calling for canned fish and soup appeared in a 1950 Campbell's "Easy Ways to Good Meals" cookbook.
All the while, white fish still flaked apart into loaf recipes, too. A 1948 recipe ad published in Ladies' Home Journal calls for mixing white-flaked fish with noodles, canned cream of mushroom soup, tomato sauce, cheese, eggs, and aromatics. It's an intriguing build that recalls a tuna casserole combined with mac and cheese, only with added pizzazz. Ultimately, though, beef became more widely popular than fish, and seafaring proteins went out of fashion. And so, the meatloaf became America's favorite dinner — while for many, a fish loaf no longer even rings a bell.