Dinner and a Classic Movie: Arroz con Pollo and ‘Anchors Aweigh’

Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, and Gene Kelly from "Anchors Aweigh" (1945), a perfect classic film to pair with a home-cooked meal. (Public Domain)

“Dinner and a movie” is a time-honored custom. You can make this the basis for a cozy evening at home by pairing a home-cooked meal with a classic film. For a fun twist on the idea, why not make that meal a vintage recipe inspired by the film?

My favorite way to discover new dishes is to try old recipes. Whether they’re in old cookbooks, magazines, or newspapers, real recipes from the 1930s to ‘50s give us a much more accurate, uncomplicated view of how people lived and ate in the mid-20th century than any modern “vintage-inspired” cookbook.

If you want to try your own throwback movie meal, all you have to do is choose a classic film that features a meal (there are a lot of them!), and then cook a similar meal from a recipe printed around the time the film was made. The first meal I tried was arroz con pollo with refried beans, warm tortillas, and buñelos for dessert, inspired by “Anchors Aweigh” (1945).

Planning the Meal

“Anchors Aweigh” is a breathtaking MGM musical starring young Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Kathryn Grayson, and famous pianist José Iturbi. Set during World War II, this Technicolor extravaganza takes place during two sailors’ (Sinatra and Kelly) leave in Southern California. Their new friend, Susan Abbott (Grayson), brings them to her favorite eatery in Los Angeles, a Mexican restaurant on the historic Olvera Street. Several scenes take place at this restaurant throughout this film, which is not surprising, since producer Joe Pasternak loved to cook and prominently featured food in many of his movies.

Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly in the 1945 film "Anchors Aweigh." (Public Domain)

It isn’t often when you can find an actual recipe from a restaurant in a film, but I was able to do so with this film. “The Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes From Famous Eating Places,” a cute little Simon and Schuster book compiled in 1950 by Nancy Kennedy, features one recipe each from dozens of famous restaurants around the country.

(Tiffany Brannan)

One of the restaurants is Café Caliente on Olvera Street, which was located at 20 Olvera Street. This location, a beautiful space that originally housed a large dance floor, has been occupied by the El Paseo Inn since 1953. (Note that the address has been changed to 11 Olvera Street.) The spacious setting and history of live music there make it clear that this is the restaurant the film characters visit, whether or not the scene was actually filmed at Olvera Street, which is hard to determine. Thus, although we only hear of their eating enchiladas and some kind of soup, they easily could have enjoyed the dish listed in the recipe book, “Arroz con Pollo a la Española en Casserole.”

Olvera Street in Los Angeles, Calif. depicted on a postcard issued between 1930–1945. (Boston Public Library/CC by 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Arroz con pollo, “rice with chicken,” is a traditional meal in a pot that originated either in Spain or Puerto Rico. Each Latin-American country has its own variations on the dish. Although this recipe was technically from a Mexican restaurant, it called for saffron, as customary in Spain.

Though arroz con pollo is a complete meal on its own, we decided to accompany it with some traditional Mexican staples. We heated refried beans and served them with lightly browned flour tortillas, both of which we warmed on the stove. We rounded out the meal with some chips and salsa. As our beverage, we prepared homemade sparkling strawberry lemonade, a zingy non-alcoholic drink that looks like a margarita. A piña colada, margarita, or some other kind of blended drink, with or without alcohol, would also complement the meal nicely.

Arroz con pollo is a traditional Latin American dish with countless variations. (Ravsky/Shutterstock)

No dinner is complete without dessert, so we selected another recipe from “The Ford Treasury” for our sweet treat. Conveniently, on the page opposite Café Caliente’s listing is one for another Mexican restaurant, the Padua Hills Restaurant, located in nearby Claremont, California. The non-profit Padua Hills Institute included a dinner theater, which was dedicated to celebrating the region’s Mexican heritage. Although the theater closed in the 1980s, it’s available to rent for special occasions through Padua Weddings. The recipe listed for this restaurant is the Mexican dessert buñuelos, which we decided to make.

Buñuelos, sweet Mexican fritters, are a beloved dessert.(Guajillo studio/Shutterstock)

Making the Recipes

The Ford Treasury is almost more of a travel book than a cookbook, so its recipes are not the most detailed; we had to conjecture, reason, and sometimes guess what was meant by the brief instructions. The entries for these two restaurants, including the complete ingredient lists and instructions, are as follows:

Café Caliente

20 Olvera Street, Los Angeles, California

Built on the site of the winery in California, this café is famous for its Spanish food. Try their enchiladas, tacos, or chili. Open for lunch and dinner every day except Tuesday.

Arroz con Pollo a la Española en Casserole

• 2 strips bacon, squared
• Small piece of chorizo
• 2 broilers, jointed
• 2 cups rice
• 1 pimento, cut into small squares
• 1/4 cup cooked peas
• Pinch of Spanish saffron
• Salt to taste

Fry bacon and chorizo in a casserole dish until brown. Add chicken and rice and braise for 5 minutes. Add pimento, peas, saffron, and enough water to cover the above ingredients by 1/2 inch.

Cover and cook in a 400-degree-F oven for 25 minutes. Spanish dishes are best when served piping hot.

Our Thoughts

When buying the ingredients for arroz con pollo, we decided to use white rice, since the type of rice isn’t specified. A broiler is a young chicken, weighing under 4 1/2 pounds. Since two such chickens for two cups of rice seemed like a lot, we decided to use just one broiler. We cut the meat off the chicken’s carcass, removing it from the bones and cutting it into small chunks.

The recipe calls for a pimento, which is a mild and sweet red pepper, but we couldn’t find one, so we used a mini red bell pepper instead. We used frozen peas as the cooked peas, although canned peas would also work. The recipe calls for Spanish saffron, but any saffron sold in whole threads is sufficient; this is an expensive spice, but only a few threads are needed.

Be sure to include enough salt in the seasoning, since the chicken and rice are quite bland. Use more chorizo or a spicier brand if you want more flavor and heat.

The original recipe said to braise the chicken and rice for five minutes, but this term is confusing, since braising suggests a longer cooking time. We just started the cooking process with the fat from the bacon and chorizo. We cooked all the ingredients in a pan on the stove before transferring them to the casserole dish, but you can cook everything on the stove in the casserole dish as instructed, or you can use a larger dish, which is a must if you plan on using two broilers.

Padua Hills Restaurant

Padua Hills, Claremont, California

The Padua Hills Institute, a non-profit organization, encourages interest in the early culture of the region. It includes a theater and restaurant. Open for lunch and dinner, except Mondays and the last two weeks in September.

Buñuelos

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup melted butter or oleo
• 3 cups sifted flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Oil or shortening for deep-frying
• Sugar
• Cinnamon

Beat eggs; add milk and melted butter. Sift dry ingredients into this to make a soft dough easily handled without sticking.

Make into walnut-size balls, then roll on a lightly floured board into a large circle like a tortilla or very thin pancake. Fry in deep fat until golden brown.

Drain and sprinkle with sugar mixed with ground stick cinnamon.

At Christmas, serve buñuelos broken into a soup bowl and covered with thin syrup, made by boiling 2 cups brown sugar in 2 cups water flavored with 1 stick cinnamon and 1 whole clove.

Our Thoughts

You can either use a rolling pin or your hands to flatten out the dough. You can make them as large or small as you like and can even form them into different shapes to suit the occasion; I easily shaped one into a heart.

For the frying, we decided to use Wesson cooking oil, but any kind of oil you would use to deep fry is fine. A lighter oil is better, and be sure to get it nice and hot before you put the dough in so that your buñuelos cook quickly and don’t come out greasy. Cook them one at a time, turning them over with tongs once they start to get brown. After soaking up the extra oil with paper towels, I coated both sides with cinnamon sugar, rubbing it in so the dough would absorb the flavor.

You can serve buñuelos many ways, such as tearing them up into small sweet chips, eating them plain, or serving them with the spicy syrup described in the book. We decided to use them as the basis for a sundae and served them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of warm dark chocolate, which we melted in a double-boiler. You could use other flavors of ice cream and different toppings; feel free to get creative! The recipe yields a large amount of dough, so you could easily cut the recipe in half for fewer portions.

The author's buñuelos, served with ice cream. (Tiffany Brannan)

A Delicious Conclusion

There’s always an element of adventure when you recreate a vintage recipe, since you never can be sure how it will appeal to our modern palates. My mother and I agreed that this meal was a success! As soon as we took the lid off the casserole dish, it struck me as looking very old-fashioned. It was also uncomplicated, wholesome, nutritious, and delicious!

The chicken was very tender and moist, as was the rice. It was pleasantly mild with an unusual smoky flavor from the well-browned bacon and chorizo. The peas and pepper added freshness. The beans and tortillas were the perfect accompaniment, providing contrasting textures and flavors. The chips and salsa rounded out our Mexican fiesta, but this casserole is a well-rounded meal in itself.

The buñuelos were also a big hit. They are a pleasantly light alternative to typically greasier churros. They tasted amazing with the ice cream and chocolate, but I would enjoy eating one by itself. I would love to try making that cinnamon and clove syrup.

Since the restaurant in “Anchors Aweigh” is very likely supposed to be the Café Caliente, it’s no wonder that the main characters keep coming back. If the food is anything like these two dishes we recreated, it’s delicious!

Whether or not you decide to serve beans and tortillas on the side, be sure to pair these dishes with the delectable MGM musical from 1945, either during your meal or as an after-dinner treat. This meal is perfect for a romantic evening, family dinner, or movie night to share with friends.