NPR

At Duke University, A Bizarre Tour Through American History And Palates

Through the Rubenstein Test Kitchen project, librarians and staff re-create historical recipes from thousands of cookbooks in the collections. Some dishes are culturally telling ... and comical.
Archivist Amy McDonald invited some co-workers to help her re-create cherries jubilee from a university cookbook. But even with a historical paper trail, there were still things they couldn't figure out, like what to do after it starts flaming. / Jerry Young / Getty Images

Eighteen doughnuts, toasted Brazil nuts, a can of deviled ham, an avocado "pear," and Worcestershire sauce: No, this list doesn't comprise an especially malicious ingredient basket for competitors on the Food Network's Chopped.

Instead, they are the makings for the "Goblin sandwich," a Halloween recipe published in a donut-maker's 1946 cooking pamphlet. The donuts are sliced like bread, and the other ingredients are mixed into a highly seasoned spread.

That theoretically edible but unpalatable recipe will long live in infamy at Duke University's . Jacqueline Reid Wachholz, who directs the library's John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History, made the dish, and wrote in a blog post that, frankly, the ham was "not unlike dog

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