Bobby Hicks‘ new “Retro Recipes: Vintage Dishes with a Modern Twist” is a feat of culinary time travel. He takes readers back to the 1800s with recipes like lightning cake and lobster thermidor, then all the way through the 1960s with gelatin rainbow cake and boeuf bourguignon.
Along the way, he hits every decade in between, with appetizers, breads, poultry, fish, baked goods and more. Some mouthwatering, and others, like a drink called beef fizz, perhaps best confined to the footnotes of history.
Hicks’ deep dive into food history includes interesting backstories for the recipes he’s chosen and, thankfully, some innovative updates.
He joins host Robin Young to talk about the book and how it came to be.
By Bobby Hicks
Hotdish
American cooking is truly remarkable. As a nation, we are a melting pot of numerous nationalities and cultures that have shaped our identity. Over the decades, we have refined meals introduced to us through immigration, such as Italian, Mexican, and various European dishes, adapting them to our own tastes. Among these, one of the most quintessentially American meals is the casserole, with Midwest Hotdish standing out as a favorite, which was popularized by Germanic and Eastern European descendants as a type of communal goulash for potlucks and gatherings.
Hotdish was first featured in a printed church cookbook in 1930, but it eventually became a staple in many homes during the Great Depression. This was due to its convenience, as it could be quickly made with canned vegetables, cream of mushroom soup, and a protein. Over the years, the classic recipe evolved from using pasta to incorporating the now-popular tater tot crust, making it one of the most craveable casseroles I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying. This recipe captures everything that makes a Midwest hotdish special, but with an even better twist.
Makes 6 servings.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds (900g) ground beef
- 1 white onion, finely diced
- 2 celery stalks, finely diced
- 1 carrot, finely diced
- 2 pounds (900g) mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
- ¼ cup (10g) fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons (28g) butter, unsalted
- 2 tablespoons (16g) AP flour
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk
- 1 cup (240ml) Chicken Stock (page 000)
- 1 ½ cups (175g) cheddar cheese, freshly grated
- 1 cup (150g) frozen peas
- 1 cup (150g) frozen corn
- 1 2-pound (900g) bag of frozen tater tots
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. Begin by preheating your oven to 400ºF/200ºC. Add a small amount of oil to a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or pot and brown your ground beef, cooking until most liquid is absorbed. Transfer to a bowl and add your carrot, celery and onion. Saute until tender and translucent for about 15 minutes over medium heat.
2. Add your cleaned and quartered mushrooms and begin to cook with the other vegetables until the liquid has evaporated and they begin to brown slightly. Return your beef to the pot along with your frozen peas and frozen corn and continue to cook over medium-low heat, while you make your sauce supreme.
3. In a small sauce pot, add your butter and flour, after the butter has melted. Cook for several minutes to remove the raw taste of the flour or until it begins to take on a pale tan color. Add your cold milk and chicken stock and increase the heat to medium-high, whisking constantly until your sauce begins to thicken and can coat the back of a spoon. Season with salt and pepper and add your fresh thyme leaves.
4. Add the sauce to the browned meat mixture and mix to incorporate. Top the entire Dutch oven or casserole dish with your freshly grated cheddar cheese and then add uniform layers of tater tots until the surface is covered.
5. Bake, uncovered, in your preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the tater tots are brown, bubbling and fully cooked.
Tuna noodle casserole
One of the most iconic casseroles from the 1950s is undoubtedly Tuna Noodle Casserole. It was a staple at every potluck, church garage sale, or funeral, making an appearance almost everywhere. What’s not to love? This dish is hot, creamy, and flavorful, made from inexpensive ingredients that can be frozen and reheated at any time!
There are countless variations of this recipe, reflecting the preferences of those who made it. However, I believe my version, which uses Sauce Normande instead of canned Cream of Mushroom soup, elevates the dish.
Makes 6 servings.
Ingredients
Casserole:
- 6 ounces (170g) egg noodles, cooked al dente per package
- 2 (5 oz) cans white albacore tuna, water-packed, drained (reserve for sauce)
- 1 strip thick-cut bacon, finely diced (optional)
- 2 shallots, finely diced
- 1 celery stalk, finely diced
- 1 cup (150g) frozen peas
- ½ cup (50g) white cheddar, freshly grated
- 1 cup (50g) panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons (28g) butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
Sauce Normande:
- 3 tablespoons (42g) butter
- 3 tablespoons (24g) AP flour
- 1 ½ cups (360ml) chicken stock (page 000)
- Residual water from Tuna can
- 1 pound (450g) mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) lemon juice, fresh
- 1 tablespoon (3g) fresh thyme, finely chopped
- ¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish:
- Parmesan, freshly grated
- Parsley, finely chopped
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF/175ºC. Drain the water from your can of tuna, but reserve for the sauce. Empty into a mixing bowl and shred with forks.
2. Saute your bacon bits over medium heat until the fat has rendered and they are crispy and browned. Reserve the cooked bacon in a small bowl and cook your shallots and celery in the bacon fat left in the pan until tender and soft. Transfer to the bowl with the bacon bits.
3. Return the saute pan to the burner, add your butter and melt over medium heat. When melted, add the breadcrumbs and gently toast until golden brown. Reserve in a separate bowl.
4. In a medium sauce pot, melt your butter and add your flour, cooking for several minutes until your roux becomes a pale tan color and bubbles. Add your stock and the reserved liquid from your canned tuna. Increase the heat to medium-high, whisking until the sauce begins to thicken. Add your mushrooms, lemon juice, fresh thyme leaves, heavy cream, and cayenne and season to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce until the sauce can coat the back of a spoon and remove from heat. Do not strain or remove mushrooms.
5. In a large bowl mix together your noodles, tuna, frozen peas, white cheddar, sauteed vegetables, and bacon, along with enough of your Sauce Normande to coat everything before transferring to a large casserole dish. Top the casserole with your toasted bread crumbs and bake in your preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until bubbling and hot. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley and serve hot, family-style.
Lightning cake
The Lightning Cake was an incredibly popular dessert that was commonly employed for the unexpected guest that would arrive. Believed to come from the German Blitzkuchen, meaning Lightning Cake, it was first mentioned in cookbooks in the 1800s, eventually finding its way to American cookbooks in the 1940s. The cake found itself most popular during the 1960s after it was published in a Betty Crocker cookbook as “Blitz Torte.”
I have seen variations that use the egg whites to make a meringue that would cover the top, but the version I fell in love with was from the Fannie Farmer cookbook, which additionally offered the delicious “Lazy Daisy” topping of Butterscotch and coconut. Not only is this a quick and easy one-bowl recipe, but the flavors make this cake so good that it disappears faster than a flash of lightning.
Makes 8 servings.
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla paste
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- 1 cup (120g) cake flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon (4g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2.5g) salt
- ½ cup (120ml) milk, hot
- 1 tablespoon (14g) butter, unsalted
For the Lazy Daisy topping:
- 3 tablespoons (42g) butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons (36g) brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream
- ½ cup (35g) coconut flakes, sweetened
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Beat together your eggs and vanilla paste, adding ¼ of the sugar at a time, whisking until fully incorporated.
2. Sift together your cake flour, baking powder, and salt and heat your milk with your butter. Combine your ingredients together and pour into a baking pan that has been buttered and floured. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the middle.
3. While the cake is baking, combine all the ingredients together for the topping and reserve to the side. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Without removing from the pan, add the Lazy Daisy topping and place under a broiler for several minutes to rapidly caramelize the sugars. Be mindful not to burn the cake by rotating the cake every minute or so, to allow even cooking, until it’s finished.
4. Allow to cool completely before turning the cake out of the pan. Serve warm.
Excerpted from “Retro Recipes.” Copyright (c) 2026 by Bobby Hicks. Used with permission of the publisher, The Countryman Press, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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