PacificSD - Pacific San Diego Magazine

taste
D I N I N G O U T
Reprinted from MAD MEN: The
Illustrated World, b y D y n a M o e ,
b y a r r a n g e m e n t w i t h P e r i g e e , a
m e m b e r o f P e n g u i n G r o u p ( U S A )
Inc., © 2010
what’s cooking
cocktail
SmokingRoomOnly
Relive the excesses of Mid-Century America
with a Mad Men dinner party
By Catharine L. Kaufman
Had your fill of veganism, smoke-free clubs
and carbon footprint consciousness?
Transport your dinner guests to the heady,
high stakes world of Sterling Cooper Draper
Pryce, the ad agency portrayed in AMC’s
hit series, Mad Men.
While awaiting the next installment of the series, aspiring
“Mad Men” (and women) can re-create the era’s elegant and
dissonant cocktail culture in the comfort their own homes.
Setting the scene
Planning to broach that promotion with your
boss? Dress that dining table with a damask
cloth, tapered candlesticks, fine china, sterling
service and cut-crystal wine goblets. Fixing
a spread for the local bridge biddies or the
hubby’s poker club? Go the casual route with a
’60s-style buffet or TV dinners.
The Mad Menu
Utz chips and Appe-“teasers”
Kick off your get-together with ad rep Pete
Campbell’s appetizer of sour cream onion
dip served in a kitschy ceramic chip-and-dip
bowl like the one he and petulant partner
Trudy received as a wedding gift. Utz Potato
Chips, one of Sterling Cooper’s clients, pair
nicely with the dip. First produced in 1921,
the classic chips can still be purchased at
utzsnacks.com.
Other era-appropriate hors d’oeuvres
include pigs in a blanket, devilled ham
canopies, sweet and sour meatballs, cocktail
shrimp and Japanese rumaki, which chainsmoking
homemaker Betty Draper served
as part of her international “trip around the
world” dinner menu.
Salmonella, cirrhosis and other modern
myths
In one episode, the agency bosses and their
wives share a Caesar salad prepared tableside
by their waiter. The classic Caesar recipe
calls for a coddled egg (boiled in the shell,
gently for a minute—de rigueur in the
’60s). To avoid foodborne illness and messy
litigation, substitute a couple tablespoons of
fancy mayonnaise.
Joan Holloway’s wild mushroom puff
pastry
Whip up these savory tarts with Joan, the
full-figured, saucy queen of stenographers, in
mind. A recipe can be found at allrecipes.com
or epicurious.com. Frozen puff pastry dough
can be purchased in the freezer section of finer
supermarkets. Serve them solo or alongside a
well-done hunk of beef.
Madison Avenue meat eaters
In honor of beefcake boss Don Draper
and the clogged arteries of partner Roger
Sterling, serve carnivorous dishes of the ’50s
and ’60s such as flaming steak Diane, beef
stroganoff, Swiss steak, Beef Wellington or
stuffed pork chops.
Fowl play
Paying tribute to Pete Campbell’s
meltdown, in which he chucked Trudy’s
roast chicken out the balcony window, serve
chicken Florentine, chicken Divan, coq au
vin or Long Island duck in Port wine.
Just desserts
Mad Men adulteress, Bobbie Barrett, and
(Continued on Page 62)
60 pacificsandiego.com { March 2011}