Revived Recipes: Macaroni and Fish from 1927

When I think of seafood and pasta, my mind automatically goes to shrimp with fettuccine noodle tosses in Alfredo sauce. But in 1927, an unnamed reporter featured a seafood recipe - Macaroni and Fish.

I enjoy macaroni, and I enjoy (some) fish, but I never thought of putting them together. It's not exactly a peanut butter and jelly pairing.

Regardless, I figured it would be a fun dish to try as we live in the Coastal Bend and seafood is a part of our lives.

The recipe, from Oct. 5, 1927, did not say what kind of fish to include. It also didn't add any cheese.

The ingredients the original recipe called for included one to two pounds of fish, one to three cups of breadcrumbs, two cups of white sauce and two cups of macaroni broken.

The ingredients I used to modernize it are:

• 2 1/2 pounds of salmon

• 16 oz. of small macaroni elbows

• 16 oz. of large macaroni elbows

• 6 oz. of shaved 3-cheese Italian (Parmesan, Romano and Asiago)

• 1 cup of milk

• 2 tbsps. of flour

• 2 tbsps. of butter

• 2 cups of breadcrumbs

• Salt

• Pepper

• Italian seasoning

• Olive oil

I started off making the white sauce, otherwise known as béchamel sauce. The sauce is one of the "mother sauces" of French cuisine.

In a small saucepan, I melted two tablespoons of butter and add two tablespoons of flour. While mixing it, I slowly poured in the milk. I didn't have a whisk, as mine recently broke, so I used a rubber spatula to stir. I would highly recommend a whisk though as my sauce had some chunks.

Béchamel sauce also has salt and pepper in it, so I sprinkled some while stirring consistently. Once it was smooth enough, I set it aside and started boiling the two bags of macaroni elbows.

In a large pot, I filled it up halfway with hot water and added salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Once the water started to boil, I added the noodles and stirred consistently for 12 minutes. I then drained the noodles, poured some olive oil on top while in the colander (totally up to you though), and set them aside.

Next, I cut up my salmon into smaller chunks so they can cook more thoroughly in the oven. Salmon is a thick fish, so I figured it would be better that way rather than fillets. As well, feel free to use whatever fish you'd like. I just chose salmon because it's really the only fish I enjoy.

Once the fish is diced, I set the oven to 350 degrees and greased up my 9x13 glassware dish with olive oil. The original recipe calls for the macaroni, fish and white sauce to be places in layers. I started with the noodles, then topped with fish and then added the sauce.

I then added a layer of the cheese to have a nice, cheesy center. Then, I repeated the process: noodles, salmon and sauce. Finally, I added the breadcrumbs on top and covered the rest in cheese.

The recipe calls for the dish to be cooked for 30 minutes, but I did it for 25 minutes. Fish cooks quickly, so I figured those five minutes wouldn't hurt.

Once it was ready, I scooped me out a good serving and gladly devoured it.

The fish was not overwhelming at all. The only negative thing I had to say was there was not enough white sauce. Perhaps I didn't make enough.

But in all honesty, the next time I make this I might just by Alfredo sauce because I'm sure that would taste just fine.

I'll gladly admit I had two more servings of the dish after I stopped recording the attached video. And then the following day, I had two servings back to back. I then realized I probably have an addiction to pasta.

Anyway, join me next time on Revived Recipes. We will be making a dessert, but this time it will be for all our chocolate lovers.

John Oliva covers entertainment and community news in South Texas. Contact him at john.oliva@caller.com or X @johnpoliva.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Revived Recipes: Step back in time to 1927 to prepare a seafood dish