Recipe Roundup: Disasterville

Yeah, so I made this:

Click to embiggen

In my defense, I did not cover it with creamed corn.  There is, after all, a certain level below which even I will not sink.

I actually thought this might be good.  Tamale loaf?  Check.  Chicken?  Check.  No creamed corn?  Double check.  The recipe actually contains a whole tablespoon of chili powder, which is practically unheard of in 1967.  So why not?, I thought in my desperation to find something--anything--to make for dinner  (I now understand Mom's position that cooking was the easy part, it's figuring out what to make that's the real pain.)

(And right here I almost apologized for the lack of pictures, when in reality I would only have to apologize if there were pictures.)

Anyway.

As I was preparing this, it occurred to me too late that what I was basically making was a pound cake with chicken in it.  I also tossed in some sliced black olives, which ended up looking like raisins, really hammering home that whole chicken cake thing.  In addition, the batter was extremely thin and runny and as I poured it into the loaf pan (vintage Corningware, natch) I thought "This is never going to work."  It wasn't pretty.  And it didn't smell that great either.  I did mix it up in my Pyrex 404, so at least that part was pleasant.

I debated just tossing it and starting over, but hubs pointed out that we'll never know unless we actually try it.  So into the oven it went.

It took a little longer to bake than the recipe indicated, but it actually solidified into a chicken cake Tamale Loaf.  Of course, it stuck to the bottom of the pan, which reeeeeeeallllly didn't help the aesthetics any.

The verdict?  Edible, but just barely.  Certainly not worth making ever again.  I knew right away this was going to need as much help as possible, so I swathed our servings with cheese, salsa, and sour cream, all of which helped to take the curse off the underlying entree.

Always on the lookout for that silver lining, I decided that at the very least, this would serve as a good Bad Example.  At some point in the future, I will likely serve another loser, at which point I will be able to say (I hope) "Well, at least it's not as bad as that Chicken Cake Tamale Loaf..."