Great Depression Cooking with Clara. Great source of history and

[alfredo]

eating cheap.

http://www.greatdepressioncooking.com/Depression_Cookin...


Watch the Episodes:
http://www.greatdepressioncooking.com/Depression_Cookin...

[Donnachaidh]

1. I still have my grandmother's cookbook from the 1930's

We still enjoyed her *one egg cake* and other recipes from the Depression growing up. It was far healthier than the pre-packaged swill being passed for food nowadays.

[Andy823]

4. I have a lot of recipes from my grandmother also

My goal this year is to put them all in the computer so my wife can find them easier. I also plan on increasing the size of my garden this year and putting up more vegetables and fruit like my grandmothers used to do, and like I used to do some years back. I will need to build some storage space for the canned goods, but that won't be a problem. I had to buy a new freezer last year when the old one gave up on us, and then had to buy a smaller one because we had to buy the new one off the floor because I had a lot of stuff in the one that went out and could not afford to wait to get a larger freezer, although the new one is still pretty big. I will have plenty of room this year though for the extra stuff I plan on freezing!

I hope to get my kids involved in this also so they will have the knowledge to do this when they move out and have a family someday. I helped my grandmother when I was a kid staying with them during the summer.

[Donnachaidh]

8. that's the way to do it.

I learned how to make jams early on, and I have 2 breadmakers that I use for pizza dough and other breads. We have a chest freezer that gets filled up, and it's gotten us through some lean time.

People need to realize that it's to THEIR benefit to know how to make cheap healthy meals. People can survive the lean times if they know the basics. I have several cookbooks from the early twenties and thirties and I have used all of them to feed my family.

We're getting together a potted garden for this summer, because we're in an apartment. I've grown peas and cucumbers in pots in the past, utilizing the posts on our porch as the poles needed to attach the vines to. I don't think it would work for melons or anything weighty, but you can grow food, even in an apartment setting.

[XemaSab]

9. You should check out square foot gardening

We put together a 4x8 square foot garden, and it's grown INSANELY.

12 lettuces, 12 spinach plants, 6 cauliflowers, and 6 collards in 3/4 of the box, asparagus in the remaining 1/4. We're going to be eating collards and lettuce until judgement day.

The best part is you can make it as small or large as you want it. You could probably grow that much or more on the porch.

[alfredo]

15. I used to do that. Now that I don't have a yard I do container gardening.

Swiss Chard grows well in a five gallon tub.

[Donnachaidh]

21. I wish I could do that.

We have a stupid patio that is made up of 4 x 6s -- kind of slatted, so I'm stuck with containers for now. If I had a cement porch I would be doing something like that for sure. Containers aren't bad, if you can train the vines to go up, and set up a double decker pot area. It sure gets green in a hurry.

[XemaSab]

32. Part of the SFG deal

is making your own soil mix.

Equal parts vermiculite, peat, and compost.

You could totally do it in containers.

[BlueGADawg]

47. You can do it....

You simply put a bottom on the "square". When I lived in an apartment before I had a house, I had two 4'x4' square foot gardens on my wood deck. I even had them up on saw horses so I never even had to bend over to work- it was great! I chose 4x4 since the Home Depot would cut a 4x8 sheet of plywood in half for two boxes, and cut my 1x6x8 in half for the 4 foot sides. All I had to do was drill holes and screw it all together. I still use those boxes today, only now they sit on my driveway.

[alfredo]

51. I am thinking of making cascading boxes to go down the side of my

steps out front. One for each step. I will alternate between flowers and vegetables.

[maddezmom]

2. thanks for this link

Watching Egg Drop Soup recipe now.

[XemaSab]

3. K&R

What a neat old lady!

[alfredo]

5. Reminds me of something Laurie Anderson said about her father.

"When my father died we put him in the ground. When my father died it was like a whole library had burned down."

[XemaSab]

10. The pasta with peas recipe...

Turning off the stove to save gas.

That and the story about the bootleggers...

[alfredo]

14. I used to do pasta that way. I love pasta with garlic and salt.

[SoCalDem]

6. One pan meals are great for saving money, and stretch a LONG way..

If you have rice and potatoes you are half way there..

"Chinese" Confetti Rice

Cooked rice

green onions chopped (or plain onions)
diced celery
shredded carrots
frozen peas
diced ham, bacon, or shredded pork (I pressure cook the cheap cuts & pull the meat off the bones..then chop it up)

Saute & carmelize the onions & ham, pork or bacon..

save some of the pan "drippings", toss in the rice & veggies, and cover until they are to the desired crispiness...


THIS feeds an ARMY..and is super cheap..and tasty..

.......................................................

Baked-potato, bacon mash

Bake 5 or 6 potatoes...cool them

fry some bacon, chopped into 1" pieces
remove bacon, and brown some chopped onion

peel & cube the baked potatoes, stir all together and with a spatula, smash the mixture to get a crispy side..flip it and keep crisping it..

yummmy

....................................................

A kid favorite

brown hamburger..add diced onion..brown it too..add cooked macaroni/spaghetti/linguine (whatever pasts you have)

................................................

[alfredo]

13. Pasta bake

A quarter size bundle of spaghetti, cook and place in an oiled skillet. Pour over it a mixture of one egg, onions, garlic, peppers of your choice, milk, salt/pepper, and parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 until done. You can make any variation you want. It's very filling and is tasty hot or cold. I put a bit of Tarragon. You can put marinara sauce on top, or anything else you like. You can cook it on top of the stove with a covered skillet.

[susanna]

17. Yes! I do this one with leftovers from spaghetti/sauce meals.

It's fabulous, and as you said, good hot or cold. Love this dish. I call it "leftover frittata." Now, I know it's not truly a frittata, but it's close enough for me.

[alfredo]

19. That's why I call it Pasta Bake. It's a big step up from living on potatoes

onions, and if I had some: cheese. If I had an egg, I'd add that.

Johnny cakes or as we called them "journey cakes" would hold me over for a few hours, and they were cheap.

[susanna]

24. I guess I've come to believe that it's often more about what you do have...

...than what you do not. There are good things that can be done with very humble ingredients, and they taste so wonderful. I consider myself very lucky in that both grandmothers, my father and my mother were wonderful "scratch" cooks. I learned a lot at their knees, and one of the biggest things I learned was to be creative with what you have. If you can't make a fancy dish in a cookbook? Look at what you have in the fridge, freezer or pantry and go from there. Often you can create something satisfying.

Your recipe - and I'll borrow "pasta bake" to tell other friends, if you don't mind - is exactly that sort of thing. What I love about it is that it feeds people, and it's homestyle cooking; comfort food, if you will. It isn't pretentious, it's just food to feed your body and soul. I love that.

Oh, and I have a whole post somewhere about derivatives from southern biscuits and cornbread, including journey/johnny cakes. I've been making them since I was a small child (family from the south), and still do it today. I may have a quick and/or fry bread primer in my head somewhere. Have you ever made bacon (or, as I've heard it called) Sawmill gravy?

[alfredo]

27. No, but I can taste it in my head. I've made a lot of gravies using

bacon fat. In fact I have a jar of some in the fridge. I have some jowl bacon in the freezer, maybe I will cut a couple slices, chop into small pieces and fry. I can then make the gravy from there. I can put that over shredded bread. Black pepper is a must. It might be good over roasted potatoes. Just don't over do it with the fat. Still, it's all about filling the bellies.

I have a bunch of prickly pears out front. I've never tried cooking cactus. I guess it is as good a time as any.

[susanna]

36. Well, as background...

my recipe for bacon gravy came from my maternal grandmother...oh, and I keep a jar of bacon drippings in the fridge, too (for potatoes or soups).

The gist of it is this: first, when you're done frying some bacon, you save the fat and refrigerate it.

Now, when you want bacon gravy, you put a couple tablespoons of the bacon fat into a hot pan. Then you add a couple tablespoons of flour and make a light roux with the mix. Add a cup (maybe a little more) of milk, whisk it, and you end up with a really tasty gravy (after you've salted and peppered it into submission). If you have some leftover bacon to use, you can chop or crumble it up into the gravy. It's what you might call a frugal sausage gravy. Good over biscuits or eggs. Actually, you can use any kind of meat. The smoke from the bacon fat flavors it all to taste more like bacon.

I made this for my Polish husband for the first time, and he looked at me funny. He tasted it and said, "your grandma was really smart!"

[alfredo]

38. Oh that sounds so good.

[susanna]

18. I made a "cheeseburger casserole" last week.

Had some ground beef that needed cooking; cooked it with some diced onion, added some ketchup, mustard, worcestershire, salt and pepper to a sloppy-joe consistency. Once the meat was cooked through, I mixed it with some leftover mac-and-cheese. Put it into a casserole pan and added shredded cheddar to the top. Let people add pickle or relish at the table if they wanted. It was kind of a whimsical dish (based off an old Bisquick recipe for cheeseburger pie), but my diners told me that it was a keeper. And so it is. Very filling.

It looked a lot like your kid favorite, which is why I replied.

[alfredo]

22. Biscuits and gravy is a good way to use that bit of beef if there's not enough

for the casserole. That "gravy" can be jazzed up with onions, spices and poured over noodles, or a baked potato.

[susanna]

25. Yep - I do that too.

This time, I had leftover mac-and-cheese and thought, I need to use both the beef and M&C that night. 'Twas my inspiration.

[alfredo]

28. Left over brown rice is "Anything Helper."

[susanna]

35. Starches give you so much ground.

It's awesome.

[alfredo]

39. I've cooked brown rice so many times, I can't remember the last failure.

[alfredo]

7. fine cookbook "More With Less"

http://www.worldcommunitycookbook.org/more/index.html

[WolverineDG]

11. Here's a Depression dish from Texas

Spam & pineapple with fried grits.

I saw pasta & peas....I think I'll try that soon.

dg

[alfredo]

12. I had that when I was a kid back in Kentucky.

[KamaAina]

53. Spam AND pineapple?

Is that from West Texas? As in, waaaay West Texas?



The Parker Ranch, pictured, is the largest U.S. ranch not under corporate ownership (as the King Ranch is). And as you can see, it's plenty far west of the Pecos...

[WolverineDG]

54. I'm not sure if the pineapple is from the Depression

or something my grandfather brought back with him from Hawaii. Might have been my uncle as well because he was stationed in Hawaii & other islands in the Pacific during WWII. (Uncle introduced the family to mangos & papayas, & brought seeds for my grandfather to plant.)

dg

[XemaSab]

63. It'd be interesting to know how much WWII changed American cooking and American palates

Even subsequent wars... I have found some Vietnamese restaurants in some out of the way places.

[XemaSab]

16. I just called my grandma who grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, and asked her what they ate

Her mother grew rutabagas, peas, carrots, and corn. No lettuce, no tomatoes.

Her dad grew potatoes.

Occasionally a man would come door to door selling little fish that he caught out of the river. Lake fish was too expensive to buy.

Also her mother would sometimes buy a ten cent soup bone for flavor. Other meat was also too expensive, even hot dogs.

Eggs were used for baking. Her mother baked bread every day.

Sugar was had when they could afford it.

When the blueberries were ripe the whole family would go out and pick blueberries, which her mother would can. Sometimes they would have a blueberry pie. They didn't have any other fruit.

Two quarts of milk were delivered twice a week, and the cream was skimmed off for coffee.

There were 9 of them. 7 kids and 2 adults.

Grandma said that what people ate was based on what ethnicity they were. She was 100% Swedish. Her mother was born in America but her dad came over from Sweden. I told her what Clara in the videos ate and my grandma said they never once had pasta or rice when she was growing up.

She said that her four older brothers joined the CCC and made $30 a month, $24 of which they were required to send home. She said her brothers all gained weight in the CCC.

[alfredo]

20. Clara must be from an Italian family.

My parents were children of the Depression. Dad was 19 when it hit. When his business grew enough to buy a home, he bought a plot in a semi rural area. There we supplemented his salary from his business, with eggs and chickens. For us we had fruit trees and a big productive garden. We had vineyards with Concord grapes. This was dad's survival instincts he honed during the depression.

[DeschutesRiver]

23. I'll tell you what, soup bones are awesome

We started raising our own cattle, which meant that after we slaughtered the first one, I had a bunch of soup bones from it.

I put soup bones, carrots, onion and a couple of potatoes into a roaster pan and cook it all at 425 for a couple of hours (smoking hot - check periodically because you want it roasted, not blackened and toasted). Then I put all of that into a stockpot, with whatever spices I want and water. Cook it one low for hours. Strain the stock; cool the bones and pull off all the meat and put it back into the pot, along with the veggies and some noodles. YUM. My soup bones are meaty enough that this is a meal for DAYS.

[XemaSab]

29. I have learned with the crock pot

that a little flavor goes a long ways.

[DeschutesRiver]

42. My first crockpot was second hand from my mom when I went to college

and I've been cooking with one ever since! My first meal in it back then was scalloped potatoes and ham (from the manual that came with it), and I still make that one today, 33 years later

Recently, I added a pressure cooker to the mix, but I need practice in what is good in a pressure cooker and what is better off cooked some other way. Made one really good meal with it, and the others were kind of a bust. I think it will be a great tool once I get the hang of it.

[XOKCowboy]

34. Roasting bones is part of classic French cooking....

which originated from the poor in France taking the offal that the rich discarded and making it into rich, incredible tasting meals. I've been watching way too much Anthony Bourdain.

[DeschutesRiver]

41. I got the recipe from a french cooking blog!

Prior to that, I'd just tossed unroasted bones in my stock, and was searching for something better because I knew my stock sucked.

I have Bourdain's first book (and I dimly recall that he may have had a discussion re offal origins in that). I like watching him too - he is quirky and bold about food stuff

[alfredo]

50. I might have to take a trip to the butcher today.

[XemaSab]

37. For real:

None of the recipes on Clara's site, and none of the things my grandma talked about sounded that bad...

...but EVERY DAY for 10 years? Screw that.

[WolverineDG]

43. Food's food

people who had something to eat were grateful for it. My mom's family always had something to eat; my dad's, generally only if he & his brothers were able to hunt something that day. Any wonder my dad became a marksman in the Army(or whatever the highest ranking shooter in the military is)?

dg

[XOKCowboy]

26. That took me right back to my Grandma's kitchen except....

both of my grandmothers were farm wives during the Depression and at least had livestock. Hence their meat was salt pork, chicken or beef. Otherwise Clara could be my great aunt.

Thanks for posting this. Happy to recommend.

[alfredo]

30. It's amazing how well we can adapt and survive.

I tell you, Boy Scouts taught me things I still use today. I've fallen back on those lessons several times in my life.

[XOKCowboy]

33. OMG Boy Scouts - Me too

I made Life Scout. We'd moved from the ranch to the city when I was in Junior High (what an archaic term) and the Scouts got me back out in the country. I also use some of those skills today. Thanks for reminding me of that.

[alfredo]

40. I also learned how to roll my own cigarettes on a camping trip.

I still have my manual, a flint and steel, and my mess kit.

[mahina]

31. hulihuli mongoose

yummy.

[bread_and_roses]

44. I grew up eating like this and have no nostalgia for it

I have great admiration for my mother, who kept us all fed on next to nothing, but eating like this will make you fat unless you are a high activity growing child or an adult who expends enormous energy on hard physical labor. None of us were fat, but we ate no snacks, never had things like chips and cookies in the house (except home-made cookies at Christmas and Easter/Halloween candy) drank no soda, never had dessert, and did not drink milk as a beverage (all good habits; I'm grateful for those). This sort of cheap, filling food tends to have dull rather than bright tastes, and as noted above, requires high levels of salt (and pepper, if you like it) to be at all appealing. It is particularly unappetizing in hot weather. When you're hungry, of course, almost anything tastes good and it is good to know how to fill people up on a few dollars if need be. But I can't get enthusiastic over it.

On edit I would note that while the method of making broth from bones above is classic and indeed will make a wonderful broth, it requires enormous amounts of energy and a lots of time. Much of this cooking, in fact, requires a lot of energy (baking casseroles, etc.)

[riverdale]

45. Got milk

How is not drinking milk as a beverage a good thing?

[bread_and_roses]

46. Milk is a food

A liquid form of protein, fat, and carbohydrate in one package - why do you need it while eating a meal composed of other foods high in protein, fat, and carbohydrate? One exception to my statement - we frequently had toast and cocoa for breakfast (home-made cocoa from non-fat dry milk, white sugar, and baking cocoa). The cocoa made up for the lack of protein in toast made from white bread. The margarine provided the fat missing in dry milk. And we ate lots of government cheese (I never heard of yoghurt till I went to college). I don't object to children having milk and certainly not to milk products in food, but the habit of washing down every meal with great gulps of milk is unnecessary and adds unnecessary calories to meals which already contain sufficient nutrition and to diets that already contain sufficient calcium from other milk products, IMHO. Personally, I drink milk when I don't have time to eat - whole milk fills me up and I can keep going a good while on the protein, fat, and sugar it delivers.

[Terran]

52. good points

First thing that occurred to me (trying to lose weight by low-carbing) was that while thus stuff sounds filling, it's also fattening as hell.

[myrna minx]

48. Great thread. Bookmarking to watch the episodes later. n/t

[dgibby]

49. Great thread-thanks!

Does anyone know how long you can keep home canned goods? I've been going through my mom's stuff and found a case of home canned green beans. The date is 1996! Beans look good, liquid is clear, lids are flat and tight. I'd hate to trash them if they're still good, but would hate food poisoning even more!

My mom grew up on a farm during the depression (I still have my grandmother's Good Housekeeping cookbook from then), and was an excellent canner.

FYI, if you Google "sustainable living", you will find a plethora of great sites that cover every imaginable topic for surviving in good times and bad.

[WolverineDG]

55. I've always heard that as long as the seal isn't broken, it's okay

still, I'd ask an expert before experimenting with something from 1996. wow & I thought I had ancient stuff in the pantry.

dg

[Gin]

56. couldn't access the site...got this message

Your Account is Currently Unavailable, Please contact our Support or Billing Department.

[Gin]

57. I googled depression cooking and found the videos...what a great series.

Clara is a natural!

[dgibby]

61. Thanks. They look soooo good, but I'm not ready to die just yet, so will do some more research

before I try them.

[dixiegrrrrl]

58. Link site says "account not available".

[alfredo]

59. Probably overloaded. Look for it on youtube.

[alfredo]

60. Bought a soup bone today. roasted it with vegetables, salt, pepper, garlic,

bay leaf, rosemary, tarragon. When done I took everything out of the pan, added some red wine and scraped up the goodness left in the pan. I cut up the meat from the bone and added it to the soup. I put tomato sauce, water, and bok Choy and cooked it to death. I also added about a half teaspoon of sugar and hot sauce and more cayenne. Delicious.

[XemaSab]

62. I'm eating Pasta with Peas

and it's not bad at all.

[XemaSab]

64. Update: Pasta with Peas is flavorful

but not filling.

I had to eat more pasta with peas later.

I am now out of pasta with peas.

[a la izquierda]

65. I think a lot of the...

recipes with meat can be done vegetarian.

Once I get back to the US, I'm all about that eggdrop soup.

[RedEarth]

66. I just saw a segment on the news about this lady... thanks for posting it