The Old-School 1940s Spaghetti Recipe That We Hope No One Actually Ate
Many old-school pasta dishes are no longer eaten, and for good reason. A so-called Irish-Italian spaghetti dating from the 1930s is made with an unappealing mixture of canned mushroom and tomato soups, while slumgullion, aka American goulash, was a depressing dish that people ate during the Great Depression. Another unappealing entree that dates to 1940 was something called spaghetti Aquitania. Although there was a luxury liner called the R.M.S. Aquitania that was sailing up through 1939, the dubious dish that bears its name doesn't seem to have been the type of thing that would have appeared on its menu.
Spaghetti Aquitania seems to have originated with a cookbook entitled "Caruso Recipes for Spaghetti, Elbow Macaroni, and Egg Noodles" that was published by the Atlantic Macaroni Company in an attempt to promote its product. We're not sure why a lumpy-looking beige loaf concocted of noodles mixed with bread crumbs, carrots, cottage cheese, eggs, and pimentos was expected to be any good. Even a garnish of chopped nuts couldn't save the dish. The recipe only seems to have appeared in print one more time, in a 1949 edition of a publication entitled "Holland's: The Magazine of the South."
So did anyone ever eat spaghetti Aquitania? Well, at least two people have done so. The two hosts of a YouTube show called Glen and Friends Cooking prepared and consumed it during a 2022 episode, and although neither one of them hated it, they weren't terribly excited about it, either. Bland comfort food was how they categorized it — somewhat similar to macaroni and cheese, but made with a less flavorful dairy product.
Baked pasta dishes that are better than spaghetti Aquitania
No one seems to be calling for a revival of Spaghetti Aquitania, and it's unlikely to be appearing on the menu of your local hipster bistro anytime soon. There are, however, other baked pasta dishes that have found their way into numerous recipe books and blogs. Among these is baked spaghetti. Baked spaghetti, which may date back to the late 19th or early 20th century, typically consists of noodles and sauce, maybe some meat, bound together with ricotta or eggs and baked in a casserole or pie pan. If you use the latter, you get to call it spaghetti pie.
Lasagna, which originated in medieval times, is also a type of baked pasta dish, and some people even make it with cottage cheese (although you really shouldn't). There's also baked ziti, a dish with Renaissance roots, as well as stuffed shells (possibly 18th or 19th century), manicotti (early 20th century), and yes, even baked macaroni and cheese (popularized, but not invented by, Thomas Jefferson). With all of these far superior options, is it any wonder spaghetti Aquitania never caught on?