TV Dinner Day: History of TV Dinners & Retro Ads

I shouldn't be surprised, but I was, to find out that there is a TV Dinner Day on the Food Holiday list.  TV Dinners became popular in the 1950s. After a busy day, families would put frozen dinners (they were individually packaged) in the oven, and out would come a full meal of 2 to 4 courses. Traditionally these were eaten on TV trays in front of the TV where the family would sit on the sofa or chairs and watch their favorite TV shows together.

This was not the case in my family. We ate as a family, fresh food prepared by my grandmother, mother, or one of my aunts. Dinner time was when the family gathered and discussed school, work, politics, art, music. We were not allowed to watch TV during dinner. Perish the Thought! Oh how I envied the children in the ads and commercials. I was a TV junkie. Still am. I must reveal, though, that I have never eaten a TV Dinner. Never. Frozen TV Dinners wouldn't have been in our freezer, even if someone 'dropped by' as it says in one of the ads below. The food on our table was always expandable to accommodate the numerous people who might and did stop by at dinner time. My grandmother was good at stretching everything. She didn't have to rely on a frozen prepackaged dinner.

The term TV dinner is a trademark originally used for a brand of packaged meal developed in 1953 by C.A. Swanson & Sons (the name in full was TV Brand Frozen Dinner). The original Swanson's TV Dinner came in an aluminum tray and was heated in the oven. It was an individual portion. TV dinners required very little preparation and contained all the elements for a single-serving meal. A TV dinner usually consisted of a cut of meat, usually beef or chicken; a vegetable, such as peas, carrots, corn, or potatoes; and sometimes a dessert.

Because this is a chocolate blog, I want to let you know that occasionally TV Dinners had a brownie or chocolate pudding for dessert. More likely they didn't.

So in honor of TV Dinner Day, here are several Retro Ads. Always fun to see. Be sure to scroll down and watch the Retro TV Ad!

TV DINNER BUTTERMILK BROWNIES: National TV Dinner Day!

Today is National TV Dinner Day. When I was growing up, the idea of eating in front of a TV was a totally foreign concept for my family. We weren't allowed to have TV dinners for so many reasons.  I saw them advertised on TV and in the magazines, but dinner was a sacred time for our family. We ate promptly at 5:30. (I learned later that that was really early for dinner.) From 5:30-6:00 no one answered the phone (landline!); everyone was at the table. My mother insisted that my father, a pediatrician, call his 'exchange' and sign out for the half hour. It was 'family' time, a time to discuss the day, to relate to each other. 

Also, the concept of using frozen ingredients was alien to my Mother. My mother shopped daily for fresh meat, fish, and bread. I know we had a freezer in the utility room when I was little and in the garage later, but that was for meat or fish she might need in an emergency. So there were absolutely no TV Dinners at our house.

Even if TV dinners had been allowed at our home, I would have been the only one who wanted to eat dinner off a tray in front of the TV. My father might have wanted to watch Westerns or Cop shows, but they weren't on at 5:30. My sister would have loved to bring a book to the table, but that, too, was banned. It was family time -- time to talk about the highlights and problems of the day.

But today is National TV Dinner Day, so I thought I'd post a bit of history. Swanson TV Dinners were introduced in the U.S. in 1953. Seven years later, the company stopped calling them TV dinners because they didn't want to discourage people from eating their meals anytime. The generic title TV Dinners, though, did not disappear.

The original TV dinners were on foil trays with foil wrapping and little sections delineated in the tray for different foods. You just heated the entire tray in the oven. O.K. you're saying why not the microwave? Because there weren't any microwaves at that time. The TV dinner --heat and serve-- was new and innovative.

According to Wikipedia, the first Swanson-brand TV Dinner produced in the United States was a Thanksgiving meal of turkey, cornbread dressing, frozen peas and sweet potatoes packaged in a tray like those used at the time for airline food service. The trays proved to be useful: the entire dinner could be removed from the outer packaging as a unit; the aluminum tray could be heated directly in the oven without any extra dishes; and one could eat the meal directly from the same tray. The product was cooked for 25 minutes at 425°F and fit nicely on a TV tray table. The original TV Dinner sold for 98 cents, and had a production estimate of 5,000 dinners for the first year. Swanson far exceeded its expectations, and ended up selling more than 10 million of these dinners in the first year of production. 

FYI: The early TV dinners did not have dessert, but that changed in 1960 and sometimes there was an Apple Brown Betty, chocolate pudding, or a brownie.

Other brands followed suit, but not for awhile. There were Swanson TV Dinners and Bird's Eye TV Dinners. Now, of course, we have lots of prepared meals that can be nuked in the microwave or baked in the oven. It's all about convenience. On the commercial side, Marie Callendar, Claim Jumpers, Banquet, Stouffers, Heatlhy Choice, Lean Cuisine and Hungry Man (Swansons) sell full dinners, but I've never tried them. It's just not the same. There was something so futuristic about the TV Dinner in the tiny foil tray that intrigued me.

This recipe for TV Dinner Buttermilk Brownies is reminiscent of the TV Dinner Brownie on the tray. These Brownies are cake-like with icing, so they might not be my brownie of choice, but they're tasty. Here's a Blast from the Past!

TV DINNER BUTTERMILK BROWNIES

 Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup unsweetened DARK cocoa
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup unsweetened DARK cocoa
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Directions
In saucepan, bring butter, cocoa, and water to a boil. Cool.
In large mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, and salt.
Pour cocoa mixture over dry ingredients; mix well.
Combine buttermilk and baking soda; add to batter along with eggs, vanilla.
Mix until well combined.
Pour into greased 15 x 10 x1 greased and floured baking pan.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Frosting: Melt butter, cocoa and buttermilk in a saucepan. Stir in sugar, vanilla and salt. Spread over warm brownies.

BRANDY ALEXANDER CHEESECAKE: Brandy Alexander Day!

Brideshead Revisited: Brandy Alexander

Today is Brandy Alexander Day. A Brandy Alexander is a cocktail made with brandy, chocolate liqueur, and cream. 

There are many rumors about its origins. Some sources say it was created at the time of the London wedding of Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles in 1922. Drama critic and Algonquin Round Table member Alexander Woollcott claimed that it was named after him. Other sources say it was named after the Russian Tsar Alexander. According to historian Barry Popik, Troy Alexander, a bartender at Rector's, a New York City restaurant, created the drink in order to serve a white drink at a dinner celebrating Phoebe Snow, a character in a popular advertising campaign in the early 20th century.

I've posted many recipes for Brandy Alexanders - - cocktails, brownies and Brandy Alexander Pie, but today I'm posting a recipe for Brandy Alexander Cheesecake. Be sure to scroll down. And for the TV addicts out there, here's a list of the Brandy Alexander as it appeared on different TV series. This list is a bit dated, so I'd appreciate any updates!

The Brandy Alexander on Television 

The character Raj Koothrappali orders a brandy Alexander in "The Hofstadter Isotope" episode of The Big Bang Theory, after being mocked for ordering first a grasshopper and then a chocolate Martini.
In season one episode nine of Cheers, while Carla is in charge of the bar, she is asked to make a brandy Alexander.
In the Fantasy Island episode entitled "Anniversary," Cap Truman (Jim Backus) rushes outside with his butler to greet Tom (Ronny Cox) and Toni Elgin (Lucie Arnaz) with brandy Alexanders, just as he had done eight years before, the day before their wedding.
In season one episode eleven of Mad Men, Peggy Olson expresses disappointment with her Brandy Alexander while on a blind date.
The drink was included as the Cocktail Moment on the 29 March 2013 episode of The Rachel Maddow Show.
Lance White's hypnotist friend in "Nice Guys Finish Dead", an episode of The Rockford Files, is named after the drink.
In the pilot episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mary Richards asks for a Brandy Alexander at her first job interview.
In season four episode twenty-three of Chuck, "Big Mike" orders a Brandy Alexander at a wedding rehearsal dinner.
In episode one of Brideshead Revisited, Anthony Blanche orders four Brandy Alexanders in a bar: two for himself and two for Charles Ryder.
In season one episode three of Dilbert, Lena Olsen asks Dilbert to make a "Triple Brandy Alexander with an Easter Island sunset chaser" as a way of keeping him occupied while she searches his house.
In season three, episode 16 of Three's Company, a woman orders a brandy Alexander from Mr Roper. He responds, "You don't want to drink that junk. Try some bourbon. It's fresh."
In season four, episode five of American Horror Story, the Strongman Del (Michael Chiklis) orders two Brandy Alexanders at a gay bar for his paramour Andy (played by Matt Bomer).
In the Season 2 episode of Lou Grant, called "Schools," Lou asks the bartender for a "malt." When the bartender admits to not knowing how to make a malt, Lou asks, "Do you know how to make a brandy Alexander? Just leave out the brandy and give us the Alexander!"
In the TV movies "A Town Without Christmas" and "When Angels Come to Town," the Brandy Alexander is the preferred drink of the angel Max (Peter Falk).

Brandy Alexander Cheesecake
recipe adapted from Southern Living

Ingredients
1 (10-ounce) box chocolate graham crackers, crushed (about 2 1/4 cups)
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp sugar, divided
4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
4 large eggs, at room temperature
4 Tbsp Brandy, divided 4 tablespoons Kahlua, divided (you can use Creme de Cacao instead)
1 (16 ounces) container sour cream

Optional: Garnishes: blackberries, currants, raspberries, strawberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 325°. Stir together crushed graham crackers, butter, and 1 Tbsp sugar. Press mixture on bottom and halfway up sides of 9-inch springform pan. Freeze 10 minutes.
Beat cream cheese, 1- 1/4 cups sugar, and cornstarch at medium speed with electric mixer 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating at low speed just until yellow disappears after each addition. Add 3 Tbsp brandy and 3 Tbsp Kahlua, and beat just until blended. Pour into prepared crust.
Bake at 325° for 1 hour or just until center is almost set.
During last 2 minutes of baking, stir together sour cream and remaining 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp brandy, and 1 Tbsp Kahlua (or crème de cacao).
Spread sour cream mixture over cheesecake. Bake at 325° for 8 more minutes.
Remove cheesecake from oven; gently run a knife along outer edge of cheesecake, and cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 1 1/2 hours).
Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours.
Remove sides of springform pan, and place cheesecake on serving plate.
Garnish, if desired.

TV Dinner Day: History & Retro Ads

I shouldn't be surprised, but I was, to find out that there is a TV Dinner Day on the Food Holiday list.  TV Dinners became popular in the 1950s. After a busy day, families would put frozen dinners (they were individually packaged) in the oven, and out would come a full meal of 2 to 4 courses. Traditionally these were eaten on TV trays in front of the TV where the family would sit on the sofa or chairs and watch their favorite TV shows together.

This was not the case in my family. We ate as a family, fresh food prepared by my grandmother, mother, one of my aunts, or the help. Yes, we had help. Dinner time was when the family gathered and discussed school, work, politics, art, music. We were not allowed to watch TV during dinner. Perish the Thought! Oh how I envied the children in the ads and commercials. I was a TV junkie. Still am. I must reveal, though, that I have never eaten a TV Dinner. Never. Frozen TV Dinners wouldn't have been in our freezer, even if someone 'dropped by' as it says in one of the ads below. The food on our table was always expandable to accommodate the numerous people who might and did stop by at dinner time. My grandmother was good at stretching everything. She didn't have to rely on a frozen prepackaged dinner.

The term TV dinner is a trademark originally used for a brand of packaged meal developed in 1953 by C.A. Swanson & Sons (the name in full was TV Brand Frozen Dinner). The original Swanson's TV Dinner came in an aluminum tray and was heated in the oven. It was an individual portion. TV dinners required very little preparation and contained all the elements for a single-serving meal. A TV dinner usually consisted of a cut of meat, usually beef or chicken; a vegetable, such as peas, carrots, corn, or potatoes; and sometimes a dessert.

Because this is a chocolate blog, I want to let you know that occasionally TV Dinners had a brownie  or chocolate pudding for dessert. More likely they didn't.

So in honor of TV Dinner Day, here are several Retro Ads. Always fun to see. Be sure to scroll down and watch the Retro TV Ad!

National TV Dinner Day: Retro Ads & History

You shouldn't be surprised to learn that there is a TV Dinner Day on the Food Holiday list.  TV Dinners became popular in the 1950s. After a busy day, families would put frozen dinners (they were individually packaged) in the oven, and out would come a full meal of 2 to 4 courses. Traditionally these were eaten on TV trays in front of the TV where the family would sit on the sofa or chairs and watch their favorite TV shows together.

This was not the case in my family. We ate as a family, fresh food prepared by my grandmother, mother, one of my aunts, or the help. Yes, we had help. Dinner time was when the family gathered and discussed school, work, politics, art, literature, music. We were not allowed to watch TV during dinner. Perish the Thought! Oh how I envied the children in the ads and commercials. I was a TV junkie, and the only one in my family. And, although I loved TV,  I must reveal,  that I have never eaten a TV Dinner. Never. They wouldn't have been in our freezer, even if someone 'dropped by' as it says in one of the ads below. The food on our table was always expandable to accommodate the numerous people who might and did stop in at dinner time. My grandmother was good at stretching everything. She didn't have to rely on a frozen prepackaged dinner.

The term TV dinner is a trademark originally used for a brand of packaged meal developed in 1953 by C.A. Swanson & Sons (the name in full was TV Brand Frozen Dinner). The original Swanson's TV Dinner came in an aluminum tray and was heated in the oven. It was an individual portion. TV dinners required very little preparation and contained all the elements for a single-serving meal. A TV dinner usually consisted of a cut of meat, usually beef or chicken; a vegetable, such as peas, carrots, corn, or potatoes; and sometimes a dessert.

Because this is a chocolate blog, I want to let you know that occasionally TV Dinners had a brownie  or chocolate pudding for dessert. More likely they didn't. Here's a recipe for TV Dinner Buttermilk Brownies.

So in honor of TV Dinner Day, here are several Retro Ads. Always fun to see. Be sure to scroll down and watch the Retro TV Ad!

BRANDY ALEXANDER PIE: National Brandy Alexander Day

Today is National Brandy Alexander Day. A Brandy Alexander is a sweet, brandy-based cocktail that became very popular in the early 20th century. It was supposedly created for the wedding of Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood and Viscount Lascelles, in London, in 1922.  The Brandy Alexander is based on an earlier, gin-based cocktail called simply an “Alexander.”

From the Brandyalexander website comes the history that Movie Stars have consumed Brandy Alexanders on sets of movies and TV shows and during celebratory events throughout  the last century.  Among the famous drink calls are by Jack Lemon in Days of Wine and Roses. In one scene Lee Remick receives a Brandy Alexander and is impressed with the chocolate flavor, yet smooth taste of the drink. In the pilot of the Mary Tyler Moore show, Mary asks for a Brandy Alexander when asked if she would like a drink at her job interview, and Peggy on a blind date in an episode of Mad Men, Indian Summer orders a Brandy Alexander. 

So for this exciting alcoholic Food Holiday, break out the Brandy and Creme de Cacao! 

Check out my 2011 post for a recipe for the Brandy Alexander and for Brandy Alexander Brownies

.

Brandy Alexander Pie
from the New York Times Magazine, January 18, 1970

Ingredients
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup cognac
1/4 cup creme de cacao
2 cups heavy cream, whipped
Pie Crust: I substitute a 10 inch chocolate wafer crust for the graham cracker crust in the original recipe, but that's your choice
Chocolate curls for garnish

Directions
1. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in saucepan. Add 1/3 cup of sugar, salt and egg yolks. Stir to blend.
2. Heat over low heat while stirring until gelatin dissolves and mixture thickens. Do not boil.
3. Remove from heat, and stir in cognac and creme de cacao. Chill until mixture starts to mound slightly.
4. Beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually beat in remaining sugar and fold into thickened mixture. Fold in 1 cup of whipped cream. Turn into crust. Chill several hours or over night.
5. Garnish with remaining cream and chocolate curls.

BRANDY ALEXANDER CHEESECAKE: National Brandy Alexander Day!

Brideshead Revisited: Brandy Alexander

Today is Brandy Alexander Day. A Brandy Alexander is a cocktail made with brandy, chocolate liqueur, and cream. 

There are many rumors about its origins. Some sources say it was created at the time of the London wedding of Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles in 1922. Drama critic and Algonquin Round Table member Alexander Woollcott claimed that it was named after him. Other sources say it was named after the Russian Tsar Alexander. According to historian Barry Popik, Troy Alexander, a bartender at Rector's, a New York City restaurant, created the drink in order to serve a white drink at a dinner celebrating Phoebe Snow, a character in a popular advertising campaign in the early 20th century.

I've posted many recipes for Brandy Alexanders--cocktails, brownies and Brandy Alexander Pie, but today I'm posting a recipe for Brandy Alexander Cheesecake. Be sure to scroll down. And for the TV addicts out there, here's a list of the Brandy Alexander as it appeared on different TV series.

The Brandy Alexander on Television (from Wikipedia)

The character Raj Koothrappali orders a brandy Alexander in "The Hofstadter Isotope" episode of The Big Bang Theory, after being mocked for ordering first a grasshopper and then a chocolate Martini.
In season one episode nine of Cheers, while Carla is in charge of the bar, she is asked to make a brandy Alexander.
In the Fantasy Island episode entitled "Anniversary," Cap Truman (Jim Backus) rushes outside with his butler to greet Tom (Ronny Cox) and Toni Elgin (Lucie Arnaz) with brandy Alexanders, just as he had done eight years before, the day before their wedding.
In season one episode eleven of Mad Men, Peggy Olson expresses disappointment with her Brandy Alexander while on a blind date.
The drink was included as the Cocktail Moment on the 29 March 2013 episode of The Rachel Maddow Show.
Lance White's hypnotist friend in "Nice Guys Finish Dead", an episode of The Rockford Files, is named after the drink.
In the pilot episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mary Richards asks for a brandy Alexander at her first job interview.
In season four episode twenty-three of Chuck, "Big Mike" orders a Brandy Alexander at a wedding rehearsal dinner.
In episode one of Brideshead Revisited, Anthony Blanche orders four Brandy Alexanders in a bar: two for himself and two for Charles Ryder.
In season one episode three of Dilbert, Lena Olsen asks Dilbert to make a "Triple Brandy Alexander with an Easter Island sunset chaser" as a way of keeping him occupied while she searches his house.
In season three, episode 16 of Three's Company, a woman orders a brandy Alexander from Mr Roper. He responds, "You don't want to drink that junk. Try some bourbon. It's fresh."
In season four, episode five of American Horror Story, the Strongman Del (Michael Chiklis) orders two Brandy Alexanders at a gay bar for his paramour Andy (played by Matt Bomer).
In the Season 2 episode of Lou Grant, called "Schools", Lou asks the bartender for a "malt." When the bartender admits to not knowing how to make a malt, Lou asks, "Do you know how to make a brandy Alexander? Just leave out the brandy and give us the Alexander!"
In the TV movies "A Town Without Christmas" and "When Angels Come to Town", the Brandy Alexander is the preferred drink of the angel Max (Peter Falk).

Brandy Alexander Cheesecake
recipe adapted from Southern Living

Ingredients
1 (10-ounce) box chocolate graham crackers, crushed (about 2 1/4 cups)
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp sugar, divided
4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
4 large eggs, at room temperature
4 Tbsp Brandy, divided 4 tablespoons Kahlua, divided (you can use Creme de Cacao instead)
1 (16 ounces) container sour cream
Optional: Garnishes: blackberries, currants, raspberries, strawberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 325°. Stir together crushed graham crackers, butter, and 1 Tbsp sugar. Press mixture on bottom and halfway up sides of 9-inch springform pan. Freeze 10 minutes.
Beat cream cheese, 1 1/4 cups sugar, and cornstarch at medium speed with electric mixer 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating at low speed just until yellow disappears after each addition. Add 3 Tbsp brandy and 3 Tbsp Kahlua, and beat just until blended. Pour into prepared crust.
Bake at 325° for 1 hour or just until center is almost set.
During last 2 minutes of baking, stir together sour cream and remaining 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp brandy, and 1 Tbsp Kahlua (or crème de cacao).
Spread sour cream mixture over cheesecake. Bake at 325° for 8 more minutes.
Remove cheesecake from oven; gently run a knife along outer edge of cheesecake, and cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 1 1/2 hours).
Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours.
Remove sides of springform pan, and place cheesecake on serving plate.
Garnish, if desired.

TV DINNERS DAY: Retro Ads & History

I shouldn't be surprised, but I was, to find out that there is a TV Dinner Day on the Food Holiday list.  TV Dinners became popular in the 1950s. After a busy day, families would put frozen dinners (they were individually packaged) in the oven, and out would come a full meal of 2 to 4 courses. Traditionally these were eaten on TV trays in front of the TV where the family would sit on the sofa or chairs and watch their favorite TV shows together.

This was not the case in my family. We ate as a family, fresh food prepared by my grandmother, mother, one of my aunts, or the help. Yes, we had help. Dinner time was when the family gathered and discussed school, work, politics, art, literature, music. We were not allowed to watch TV during dinner. Perish the Thought! Oh how I envied the children in the ads and commercials. I was a TV junkie. Still am. I must reveal, though, that I have never eaten a TV Dinner. Never. They wouldn't have been in our freezer, even if someone 'dropped by' as it says in one of the ads below. The food on our table was always expandable to accommodate the numerous people who might and did stop in at dinner time. My grandmother was good at stretching everything. She didn't have to rely on a frozen prepackaged dinner.

The term TV dinner is a trademark originally used for a brand of packaged meal developed in 1953 by C.A. Swanson & Sons (the name in full was TV Brand Frozen Dinner). The original Swanson's TV Dinner came in an aluminum tray and was heated in the oven. It was an individual portion. TV dinners required very little preparation and contained all the elements for a single-serving meal. A TV dinner usually consisted of a cut of meat, usually beef or chicken; a vegetable, such as peas, carrots, corn, or potatoes; and sometimes a dessert.

Because this is a chocolate blog, I want to let you know that occasionally TV Dinners had a brownie  or chocolate pudding for dessert. More likely they didn't.

So in honor of TV Dinner Day, here are several Retro Ads. Always fun to see. Be sure to scroll down and watch the Retro TV Ad!

PATRICK WILLIAMS: R.I.P.

From FilmMusicReporter and Variety:

Patrick Williams (1939-2018)

Patrick Williams, who was best-known for his Emmy-winning television music but who was also a renowned and Grammy-winning big-band jazz leader and arranger, died Wednesday morning of complications from cancer at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 79.

The composer scored numerous features, TV shows, and television movies over a five decade-spanning career. Among his feature film credits are John Water’s 1990 comedy Cry-Baby, the 1992 drama The Cutting Edge, Robert Zemeckis’ Used Cars, Richard Donner’s 1982 film The Toy,  and Richard Lester’s Cuba. He received an Academy Award nomination for his music adaptation for Peter Yates’ 1979 movie Breaking Away. His TV scoring credits include The Streets of San Francisco, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show and Columbo. Williams received 4 Emmy Awards (for Lou Grant, The Princess and the Cabbie, 1992’s Jewels and a song for 2000’s Yesterday’s Children) and 22 Emmy nominations. He also was honored with two Grammy Awards (and 19 Grammy nomination) and BMI’s Richard Kirk Award.

HT: J. Kingson Pierce

TV Dinner Day: Retro TV Dinner Buttermilk Brownies

Today is National TV Dinner Day. When I was growing up, the idea of eating in front of a TV was a foreign concept to my family. We weren't allowed to have TV dinners for so many reasons.  I saw them advertised on TV and in the magazines, but dinner was a sacred time for our family. We ate promptly at 5:30. (I learned later that that was really early for dinner.) From 5:30-6:00 no one answered the phone; everyone was at the table. My father, a pediatrician, had to call his 'exchange' and sign out for the half hour. My mother insisted.

And, as far as frozen ingredients in a TV Dinner? Not the best. My mother shopped every day for fresh meat, fish, and bread. I know we had a freezer in the utility room when I was little and in the garage later, but that was for meat or fish she purchased fresh. No TV Dinners at our house.

Event if TV dinners had been allowed at our home, I would have been the only one who wanted to eat dinner off a tray in front of the TV. My father might have wanted to watch Westerns or Cop shows, but they weren't on at 5:30, anyway. My sister would have loved to bring a book to dinner, but that, too, was banned. It was family time -- a time to talk about the highlights and problems of the day.

But today is National TV Dinner Day, so I thought I'd post a bit of history. Swanson TV Dinners were introduced in the U.S. in 1953. Seven years later, the company stopped calling them TV dinners because they didn't want to discourage people from eating their meals anytime. The generic title TV Dinners, though, did not disappear.

The original TV dinners were on foil trays with foil wrapping and little sections delineated in the tray for different foods. You just heated the entire tray in the oven. O.K. you're saying why not the microwave? Because there weren't any microwaves at that time. The TV dinner--heat and serve-- was new and innovative.

According to Wikipedia, the first Swanson-brand TV Dinner produced in the United States was a Thanksgiving meal of turkey, cornbread dressing, frozen peas and sweet potatoes packaged in a tray like those used at the time for airline food service. The trays proved to be useful: the entire dinner could be removed from the outer packaging as a unit; the aluminum tray could be heated directly in the oven without any extra dishes; and one could eat the meal directly from the same tray. The product was cooked for 25 minutes at 425°F and fit nicely on a TV tray table. The original TV Dinner sold for 98 cents, and had a production estimate of 5,000 dinners for the first year. Swanson far exceeded its expectations, and ended up selling more than 10 million of these dinners in the first year of production. 


FYI: The early TV dinners did not have dessert, but that changed in 1960 and sometimes there was an Apple Brown Betty, chocolate pudding, or a brownie.

Other brands followed suit, but not for awhile. There were Swanson TV Dinners and Bird's Eye TV Dinners. Now, of course, we have lots of prepared meals that can be nuked in the microwave or baked in the oven. It's all about convenience. On the commercial side, Marie Callendar, Claim Jumpers, Banquet, Stouffers, Heatlhy Choice, Lean Cuisine and Hungry Man (Swansons) sell full dinners, but I've never tried them. It's just not the same. There was something so futuristic about the TV Dinner in the tiny foil tray that intrigued me.

This recipe for TV Dinner Buttermilk Brownies is reminiscent of the TV Dinner Brownie on the tray. These Brownies are cake-like with icing, so they might not be my brownie of choice, but they're tasty. Here's a blast from the past.

TV DINNER BUTTERMILK BROWNIES

 Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup unsweetened DARK cocoa
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup unsweetened DARK cocoa
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Directions
In saucepan, bring butter, cocoa, and water to a boil. Cool.
In large mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, and salt.
Pour cocoa mixture over dry ingredients; mix well.
Combine buttermilk and baking soda; add to batter along with eggs, vanilla.
Mix until well combined.
Pour into greased 15 x 10 x1 greased and floured baking pan.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Frosting: Melt butter, cocoa and buttermilk in a saucepan. Stir in sugar, vanilla and salt. Spread over warm brownies.