Recipe Request: Vintage cocktail party munchies

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vegaslounge
vegaslounge Posts: 122 Member
in Recipes
Every year for roughly the last 10 years, my parents have thrown a Spring get-together at their house for friends and coworkers. With the recent passing of my mother (who organized it all), I didn't know if Dad was going to continue the tradition.

The other night while walking the dogs...

Dad: "So I'd like to have some people over in March, I was thinking maybe a 1950s cocktail party theme. Would you be interes–"
Me: "OH HELL YES I SO HAVE THIS. Also I ordered a new pair of shoes for the party while you were talking, mind letting me know when they arrive?"

There are two things you must know: I love mid-century Americana, and throwing dinner parties. To say this is right up my alley is putting it lightly.

Since there will probably be ~25 people over, the idea is to spread out food for guests to pick what they like, mill about the house and mingle. So, lots and lots of finger food. I'll probably spend $25 on toothpicks alone. I'm going to use truly vintage recipes where I can, but if there's a "modern interpretation" that (honestly) sounds like it will taste better, I'll use that.

SO, intrepid MFPals, does anyone have a recipe in this vein, or even just a suggestion, that I absolutely MUST have on my menu? I'm a vegetarian but don't mind making meat dishes (and since Swedish meatballs and bacon-wrapped everything was pretty ubiquitous, I have to include them). I'm a little leery about shellfish/fresh seafood as I never cooked or even ate it when I was a carnivore and have no idea how to safely prepare it.

My potential menu thus far:

MAINS:

Stuffed mushrooms
Individual cheese/nut balls
Deviled eggs
Cheese straws
Cream cheese wontons
Swedish meatballs
Bacon-wrapped dates/figs
Caesar salad skewers

DESSERTS:

Pineapple upside-down cake
Bourbon balls (Hey, I live in the South)
Some kind of cookie

Yeah, it already seems like a lot but I'm casting my net wide to winnow it down...and also, like I said, I love hosting dinner parties. I have been known to take two days off from work (the day of and the day prior) just so everything is perfect.

As a centerpiece I am making a truly vintage fish salad in aspic– I know I said I was leery about seafood, but no recipe for this calls for anything that isn't in a can. I don't expect anyone to actually eat it, but you see one in nearly every retro cookbook, we have a copper fish mold in the attic, and the opportunity is only going to present itself so often.

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Thank you all so much!

~VL

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Replies

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
    edited January 2018
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    My fav vintage finger food is thinly sliced salami layered with cream cheese (6-8 slices) and then cut into triangle wedges with toothpicks holding the stacks. So gross and retro and delicious.

    Your menu looks awesome. I'm a dinner party thrower too ;)
  • Kelkat405
    Kelkat405 Posts: 166 Member
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    Fondue! Totally 50’s retro
  • Kelkat405
    Kelkat405 Posts: 166 Member
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    Also Ambrosia
  • nickssweetheart
    nickssweetheart Posts: 874 Member
    edited January 2018
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    You must order this cookbook right away. It's only $2.77 from Amazon and is an amazing read and really fun and full of 1950s era "company" food.

    Twelve Company Dinners

    It has no reviews, but here's one from a blogger:

    http://cookbookoftheday.blogspot.com/2010/01/twelve-company-dinners.html

    It has my mother's famous cheesecake recipe in addition to other gems, but I can not enough how much fun it is to read through if you're interested in the time period.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,988 Member
    edited January 2018
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    pimento cheese? or a cheese ball (rolled in nuts)?

    ETA:
    Whoops - sorry, just reread the OP and saw you had cheese/nut balls.
    Mini quiches?
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,900 Member
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    Don't forget the crackers for the mold!
    Little shortbread cookies for one of the desserts. Another southern tradition!
  • JodehFoster
    JodehFoster Posts: 419 Member
    edited January 2018
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    I don't know how simple you make your bacon wrapped dates, but I stuff mine w/ goat cheese & drizzle with a chocolate balsamic glaze when they come out of the oven.

    Sounds like a blast!
  • vegaslounge
    vegaslounge Posts: 122 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    Mini quiches?

    Working on my menu and mini-quiche is making the cut. I have a *killer* Bisquik quiche recipe from my grandmother's Eisenhower-era collection and it would be great in little pastry cups.

    This menu is a modern dieter's nightmare, lol. I'm surprised the entire American adult population didn't drop dead of coronary heart failure by 1967. No wonder a hippie anthem was "don't trust anyone over 30", they were clearly reanimated corpses due to all the cream cheese-based hors d'oeuvres of the previous decade.

    ~VL

  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    volovants ...but I think they were 70s ? :smiley:
  • AngryViking1970
    AngryViking1970 Posts: 2,847 Member
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    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    My fav vintage finger food is thinly sliced salami layered with cream cheese (6-8 slices) and then cut into triangle wedges with toothpicks holding the stacks. So gross and retro and delicious.

    Your menu looks awesome. I'm a dinner party thrower too ;)

    My grandmother would make a similar app with sliced dried beef; we called them "beef rollups". So good. Us grandkids would crowd around that dish like we were summoning a delicious salty demon.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    I doubt it's from the 50s but one of our favorite old school appetizers that my MIL used to make and my husband still requests are "party rye pizzas".

    Basically it is pork sausage cooked and then mixed with velveeta, ketchup, garlic salt and fennel seed until its kind of a thick paste. You then spread that on the cocktail rye bread and bake for about 10 min till the bread is toasty. They are the first thing to go at the Super Bowl party!

    Also another old school one would be the bisquick, sausage and cheese balls - can't remember the other ingredients but you mix bag all together and roll them in balls and bake - brings back tons of memories for me of childhood events where these were present.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Oh and I'm sorry for the loss of your mom but so happy you and your dad are carrying on the traditions!
  • luluinca
    luluinca Posts: 2,899 Member
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    I was born in 1950 and one of the favorites at all of my parents' parties (and they threw a lot of them) was Rumaki. Chicken liver and water chestnut wrapped in Bacon and broiled. I can't tell you how many of those were absolutely devoured at our house. Might be too similar to your bacon wrapped dates though and I'm not sure anyone eats liver anymore...........never could get myself to eat one of these.
  • laur357
    laur357 Posts: 896 Member
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    Definitely salami rolled with cream cheese (or stacked as mentioned above)! Celery-Lime Jello Salad. Actually, please put everything in gelatin and post pictures.
  • JodehFoster
    JodehFoster Posts: 419 Member
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    I'm a sucker for a good tuna noodle casserole too. Would mini chicken pot pies fit in well? Maybe indiviual pies in mini muffin tins (chicken pot tarts? lol).
  • canadjineh
    canadjineh Posts: 5,396 Member
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    laur357 wrote: »
    Definitely salami rolled with cream cheese (or stacked as mentioned above)! Celery-Lime Jello Salad. Actually, please put everything in gelatin and post pictures.

    Popular jello molds included olives (actually a fave of mine) IMG_0179_thumb.jpg

    midcenturymenu.com/category/cocktail-party/
  • lkpducky
    lkpducky Posts: 16,820 Member
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    What, you're not inviting all of us over? :p:D
  • vegaslounge
    vegaslounge Posts: 122 Member
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    lkpducky wrote: »
    What, you're not inviting all of us over? :p:D

    Live in my little pocket of SE Georgia? Come on over. And wear your finest mid-century garb ;)

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