9 Old-School Cookout Foods That Dominated The '70s

Times have changed, huh? Cookouts are, and likely always will be, the kind of event that combines outside cooking with pre-made options, but in the last couple of decades, things have arguably veered slightly more towards the latter. It's now all too easy to simply swing by your local Dollar Tree and grab some cookout foods, rather than make them yourself. It wasn't always this way, though, folks. Back in the day, people worked hard on their cookout dishes and combined classic flavors with more than a hint of flair to make foods that would entertain the masses.

This has never been as obvious as in the 1970s. A decade when food was perhaps at its kitschiest, '70s cookout foods were the ultimate combination of showstopping appearance and convenient at-home preparation. Some of these timeless dishes, like deviled eggs, have certainly appeared in other eras, but enjoyed their heyday during the decade of disco. Others, like beer brats and shish kebabs, arguably rose to prominence during the '70s and went on to remain staples for years to come. These cookout foods weren't afraid to incorporate prepackaged ingredients, but they always felt homely and comfortable. Here are some of our favorites.

Very few foods have the somewhat dubious distinction of being named after a political scandal, but the Watergate salad is one of them. Well, maybe: While the salad (which isn't really a salad) bears the name of the infamous complex that was implicated in President Nixon's downfall, stories vary considerably on where it actually came from. Some say it was invented at the Watergate Hotel in 1976 and served during brunch, while others say the dish got its name from the nuts in it, referring to the arguably unique personalities involved in the event. However it came to be called Watergate salad, though, this is undeniably a '70s invention that was somewhat left in the decade.

One look at its ingredients list confirms its '70s feel. The Watergate salad is, in fact, a pistachio-marshmallow pudding studded with canned pineapple and walnuts, finished with a crown of whipped topping. A 1970s cookout staple, it was specifically popular during the latter half of the decade, after Jell-O's instant pistachio pudding was released in 1975. Now, it feels way more like a relic of a different time, but its vivid green appearance remains iconic to this day.

Is there anything more '70s than a deviled egg? We're not sure there is. Sure, deviled eggs have been around for thousands of years and can be traced back to ancient Rome, but they somehow reached their cultural peak about a half-century ago, particularly as a finger food, potluck dish, and cookout staple. They were especially popular in the South, where they would often be served on special plates with indents for each egg half around the outside. As tastes got more extravagant, so would the accompaniments and the recipes themselves.

That was the beauty of a deviled egg: While, in their simplest form, they were a mixture of mayo, egg yolk, and paprika, you could jazz up your deviled eggs by adding extra ingredients like spices, herbs, sauces, and garnishes. They were also ideal for passing around social functions, thanks to their portability, although their egg-based nature also made them a little riskier to serve at hotter cookouts. The deviled egg is still around, but it now has a whiff of retro about it. It's a shame, as they're still pretty tasty.

It's fair to say that ingredients and options were slightly more limited for most home cooks back in the 1970s than they are today. The ability to find ingredients to make dishes from all over the world at local stores just wasn't as established, and so people had to find different ways to transform everyday ingredients into something spectacular. The seven-layer salad is a good example of this.

This salad consists of pretty standard ingredients, like lettuce, tomatoes, peas, onions, carrots, Cheddar, and bacon (what was included would vary from person to person), but the twist was that each ingredient was layered up in a big, clear bowl. It looked impressive, if a little old-school, but you didn't have to work too hard to find ingredients you wouldn't normally have.

The seven-layer salad was especially popular in the South and Midwest, where it would frequently be served at cookouts, as well as potlucks, birthdays, funerals, weddings, and everything in between. It was hearty, relatively easy to put together, and appealing to pretty much everyone. Its heartiness was perhaps its downfall, though: As tastes evolved towards lighter salads, those seven layers slightly lost their appeal. Now, seeing one is a real novelty.

Wisconsin food, specifically Milwaukee food, was having a moment in the 1970s. More and more people were waking up to the food scene in the state, and to the dishes and items popular there, but less so elsewhere. Enter beer brats. Bratwurst has a long history in the United States, and particularly in Wisconsin, having arrived there with German immigrants to the area, and when they debuted at the Milwaukee County Stadium in 1954, they were cemented as a local favorite. 20 years or so later, they were suddenly everywhere, having firmly found their place in people's homes and on their grills.

What made beer brats such a cookout staple was their key ingredient: Beer. Not only could you make them at home with a couple of the bottles of beer that you bought for your friends, but their flavor profile meant that they paired perfectly with what everyone was drinking. They were also just a bit more exciting than regular wieners. Beer brats are still around, especially in the Midwest and Northeast, but the '70s were a golden moment for these malty, slightly sweet sausages.

If you had to name a party food that encapsulated the 1970s, it would likely be the cheese ball. The most retro of edible items, these were slightly more commonly seen at dinner parties during the decade, but they'd show up at tailgates, cookouts, and pretty much anywhere else you could think of. Although cheese balls had been around for decades before, it was in the '70s that they truly came into their own, with home cooks getting ever more ambitious with their recipes and toppings. It was also during this decade that people truly embraced the visual appeal of a cheese ball, and they started to look pretty incredible.

This is all the more impressive considering what a cheese ball actually is — which, as its name suggests, is a ball of cheese. It would typically be made by mixing shredded Cheddar, cream cheese, and flavorings like garlic powder or hot sauce, before being covered in chopped nuts or herbs. Then, they were placed in the center of the table and served with crackers and crudités. They were communal, fun, and playful, but as with so many foods, eventually they lost their appeal. Now, they feel like a throwback.

Shish kebabs were one of the cookout foods that everyone was making during the 1970s. A Turkish and Middle Eastern dish, recipes for shish kebabs started to appear in cookbooks more widely during the early part of the decade, and they remained popular for a good few years. They had actually been around for a while before that, though: These kebabs started appearing in the United States as early as the '40s in various forms, before becoming more firmly established as time went on.

For home cooks in the 1970s, shish kebabs had a lot of positives. They felt different, and more interesting than the standard burgers and sausages served at every cookout. They were also a great way to use less-expensive cuts of meat, or to bulk out portions — shish kebabs alternate chunks of beef or lamb with vegetables like zucchini, onion, and tomatoes, so they felt both substantial and resourceful (and a little bit healthy, too). Shish kebabs can still be found everywhere, and they're naturally a staple of Turkish restaurants, but as a cookout food, they're perhaps less popular than they used to be.

Few dishes have the evergreen appeal of an all-American macaroni salad. That was as true back in the 1970s as it is today. Macaroni salads were a key dish during '70s cookouts, where they were a versatile, easy-to-make, reliably tasty dish that almost everybody had their own recipe for. Some of these recipes would take things to the extreme, with macaroni salads sometimes combined with savory jellies and served as a showstopper. Honestly, what could be more '70s than that?

Most of the time, though, macaroni salads were a fairly simple affair, and recipes haven't changed much to this day. Typically, they combine macaroni with a mayonnaise and sour cream dressing spiked with vinegar and a few choice flavorings, with crunchy vegetables like celery and onion bringing a pop of texture. The creaminess served as the perfect accompaniment to heavy, savory meats, and their bulkiness kept people full long into the night. Unlike other '70s cookout foods, macaroni salads haven't really gone anywhere. Somehow, they still feel nostalgic, though.

Ribs have been a cookout favorite for as long as anyone can remember, but there was clearly something in the air in the 1970s around spare ribs. Towards the end of the 1960s and the start of the '70s, recipes for spare ribs with soy glazes started to show up in cookbooks, and duly made it to grills around the country. The appeal of these ribs, and the Hawaiian and/or Chinese-inspired flavors that they often came with, can be somewhat attributed to the boom in tiki bar culture during the 1960s. The rise of the popular chain Trader Vic's, and the food served there, gradually started to affect people's at-home tastes.

Thus, spare ribs started to boom in popularity. Alongside the increasing appeal of flavors that they naturally worked so well with, they were also fairly cost-effective, and were a great way to serve loads of people while only cooking one piece of food at a time. Like many other '70s favorites, spare ribs didn't really go away, but nowadays, you're definitely less likely to see them than other cuts of meat.

Let's spare a thought for another dish that calls itself a "salad," but is pretty far from what you think it'd be. This time, it's the Ambrosia salad, a cookout dish that had a burst of popularity in the '70s (and which was also a Christmas food staple for a lot of folks in the South). Ambrosia salad is ostensibly a fruit salad, but any connotations of healthiness that come with that will quickly be forgotten when you see what else is in it. While recipes vary, Ambrosia salad typically includes canned fruits, like pineapple or peaches, combined with mini marshmallows, whipped cream or marshmallow whip, shredded coconut, and chopped nuts.

Needless to say, this can be a pretty heavy dish, but it also worked particularly well at a cookout, where bright, sweet, creamy flavors often reign supreme. Like the similar Watergate salad, though, the Ambrosia salad wasn't built to last forever. People eventually started to lean towards different desserts, and perhaps those made without such a reliance on processed foods. Ambrosia salads began to lose their grip, and after a while, they became very retro.