Lets Cook Like Its 1983

Aug 24, 2018

The hair was big. The flavors were bigger.

In 1983 Star Wars was ending (or so we thought), KISS showed themselves on television for the first time—without makeup, and Americans were obsessed wrapping every food they could get their hands on in puff pastry.

1983 was also the year Epi's parent company, Conde Nast, acquired Gourmet. So I ducked into the Gourmet archives to find out what people cooked to watch the last episode of MASH. Here's what I found.

1983 Loved Haute Cuisine

Every issue of Gourmet from 1983 features a column called the Paris Journal, and every issue ends with a list of recipes as lofty as the Eiffel Tower: Shrimp cooked in cognac, roast quail with currant glaze, ginger-jellied lamb. Richness was the goal in 1983, in the wallet as well as on the plate.

1983 Loved Pastry Dough

In 1983, people were asking two things: “Do these Ewoks really have to be in Return of the Jedi?” and “Will it Wellington?” An eggy yeasted dough covered everything from spinach feta tarts to the famous beef wellington. Because when you start covering a pork butt with pastry dough, you’ve come a long way, baby.

1983 Loved Couscous

Quinoa in the ‘80s? Gag me with a spoon! But couscous, that traditional Moroccan staple, had its heyday as a health food and salad in 1983 (it was ideally eaten after watching aerobics videos while dressed in pastel sweats).

Source: epicurious.com