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I call it that for lack of a better explanation of the culture in the area where I lived. I lived in an area where there were a lot of folks from Chzeckoslavakia, Poland and the area around those countries, and I simply used the term as an abbreviation for the culture.
Next time, try "Slavic". People will understand what this means.
I never understood "mock apple pie"...apples are and were always inexpensive. Why the need for crackers?
It used to be on the back of the Ritz Cracker Box.
The need was to find a way for people to buy more crackers from Ritz!!!!
If you want a serious collection of prairie recipes, I suggest Jessie Lanphere's Miz Jessie's Gatherin Of Old/Odd/Unusual Recipes. There's even a recipe for roast woodchuck in there.
I have one of my grandma's first cookbooks. One of the 'recipes' is for "Thanksgiving Dinner".
The first step is to, 3 days B4 Thanksgiving, hang the turkey on the north side of the house.
Haha... love it. My mum is a collector of cookbooks... interesting, as she never cooks & dislikes cooking, but that's another tale. She has some that are printed pamphlets, many from 60-yrs ago, some older. Guess the ol' gents just wheeled out the Gutenberg printing press in those days to print off 50 copies of their wives' recipes to sell on the town square for 1-pence. It's fun to read the recipes... most are so old, they say 'cook/bake until done'... no temp, no time, no real instructions, basically it's just a list of ingredients. Apparently, most hoop skirted women were homemakers in those days, so no need to explain when they're cooking from scratch all day long.
I love one recipe from before the turn of the century for Christmas dinner. It appears the writer assumes one lives on a farm. The instructions say to prepare the Christmas venison, 2 pheasants, 6 quail, 1 turkey & 1 boar. A deer & a boar??? A whole deer & a whole boar??? Prepare??? < Screech!!!>
Just as your recipe, it says to begin 3-days in advance. There are no ingredient measurements & I'm curious as to how many people the writer assumes are coming for dinner. That poor woman must have been feeding all the children who lived in all the neighbors' shoes.
That's just the meat... this poor woman must then go on to make pies from scratch, cakes (yes, plural), compote, succotash, condiment jelly. I don't recall the usage now, but it does refer to 'the wife' several times in the recipe... a la 'the wife prepares the pie dough'. I'm hoping she had daughters or cooks to assist.
I'm not that old, but I'm like an old prairie woman... I still make everything from scratch. Thank goodness it's just the 2 of us, so the SO doesn't have to go deer hunting or venture into the woods/jungle to find a wild boar... he's a rather peaceful lad.
One thing that amazes me is the concept of baking breads and cakes with a wood fired stove. My grandmothers did it, and I understand the heat of the fire was judged by testing it with your hand, but then I look at the dial on my oven and set it to 350 degrees and wonder, "How did they do it?"
I never understood "mock apple pie"...apples are and were always inexpensive. Why the need for crackers?
It used to be on the back of the Ritz Cracker Box.
My great aunt gave me this recipe years ago. She said that during the depression they weren't able to get apples so her mother frequently baked this pie.
She also gave me a recipe for "eggless, milkless butterless cake" that was also from the depression.
Been reading the Little House books to my kids this last week by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She mentioned a lot of food items I don't recall ever eating. Mince meat pies? WTF is a mince meat pie? Vinegar pie? Here's a thread to drop your old school (Old Timey) recipes on. Kansas Pioneer Vinegar Pie http://www.heritagerecipes.com/pie-r...negar-pie.htm3
Ah way to stir up a memory. It was two years ago and my g-ma had just passed away at 94. I might add that she had cooked us all a big Sunday dinner that day with fried chicken and homemade banana cake! While I was staying over at her house and taking on the cooking, I had a phone conversation with one of g-ma's friends who said that she'd talked to her the night before and g-ma had mentioned having a hankerin for a mincemeat pie and had even sent my mother to the store for pork neckbones the night before. Neckbones are probably the cheapest cut of meat on the planet and after you cook them for a long time you then have to painstakingly pick all the meat out of the spinal bones. I decided that even if it did seem too late, g-ma was going to get her pie so I cooked the meat and sent mom to the store for raisins and apples and spices and dark rum and set to work. (Mom always got sent to the store because she hated to cook.) I can't give you the recipe b/c I made it up based on what I remembered from g-ma's cooking but it was really good. Then I plated up a big piece of pie and tucked it into g-ma's casket. I swear she smiled.
A few years before that she sent me to an old fashioned butcher to get a hog's head and it was not a pretty sight. About the time she set to work digging out the eyeballs I decided to cut out and thought to myself that it was not likely I'd be trying the souse, but when I went back later the smell lured me in and it was very good. Other family members ate more though b/c they didn't know about the eyeballs.
I cooked the fat down and made lard and all I've got to say is that if you haven't tried homemade lard and cracklins you have not lived and even if they do goop up your arteries they can't be worse for you than store bought snack cakes. G-ma lived to be 94 on high fat stuff but today's generation of junk food eaters and soda drinkers probably won't.
Hardtack and Pemmican. Dont get much more old timely than that.
Various recipes on the internet to be had for you adventurous soles.
It has occurred to me that pemmican and mincemeat have got to be similar and mincemeat would probably make a good survival food, just as native Americans used pemmican. Mincemeat has spices though.
Ah way to stir up a memory. It was two years ago and my g-ma had just passed away at 94. I might add that she had cooked us all a big Sunday dinner that day with fried chicken and homemade banana cake! While I was staying over at her house and taking on the cooking, I had a phone conversation with one of g-ma's friends who said that she'd talked to her the night before and g-ma had mentioned having a hankerin for a mincemeat pie and had even sent my mother to the store for pork neckbones the night before. Neckbones are probably the cheapest cut of meat on the planet and after you cook them for a long time you then have to painstakingly pick all the meat out of the spinal bones. I decided that even if it did seem too late, g-ma was going to get her pie so I cooked the meat and sent mom to the store for raisins and apples and spices and dark rum and set to work. (Mom always got sent to the store because she hated to cook.) I can't give you the recipe b/c I made it up based on what I remembered from g-ma's cooking but it was really good. Then I plated up a big piece of pie and tucked it into g-ma's casket. I swear she smiled.
A few years before that she sent me to an old fashioned butcher to get a hog's head and it was not a pretty sight. About the time she set to work digging out the eyeballs I decided to cut out and thought to myself that it was not likely I'd be trying the souse, but when I went back later the smell lured me in and it was very good. Other family members ate more though b/c they didn't know about the eyeballs.
I cooked the fat down and made lard and all I've got to say is that if you haven't tried homemade lard and cracklins you have not lived and even if they do goop up your arteries they can't be worse for you than store bought snack cakes. G-ma lived to be 94 on high fat stuff but today's generation of junk food eaters and soda drinkers probably won't.
Turkey neck bones make the most delicious broth I've ever had. Several times when I've only had one neck I could resist raising the pot to my mouth and draining it.
Here's a great book I recently discovered. The author grew up in the antebellum South on a place that had the kitchen in a separate building thirty yards from the house. In later life she still believed that hearth cooking with heavy pots and cranes produced the best food but lists recipes for ovens. Some reviewers disparage this work as of historical interest only but the perceptive cook can easily modify recipes, receipts as she calls them, for the modern kitchen with burners and thermostats.
Hog butchering was quite an affair on the old plantations.
Here's another that many reviews disparage but if you're in the mood to deal with a head or other things considered unusual today it's great. Some Mexican grocery stores carry heads or you can just go to a packing plant. Some of this stuff seems mighty good.
The kindle editions of both of these are free. But you can get them without a kindle as you can get a free kindle app on amazon. Just search the kindle category on amazon for the free app for your particular device.
Turkey neck bones make the most delicious broth I've ever had. Several times when I've only had one neck I could resist raising the pot to my mouth and draining it.
Yes! My mum's from eastern Europe & my da' western Europe, so we grew up with mostly hearty peasant food. In my family, us 7 kids would create a stampede to the over when the neck, heart & stomach were coming out of the pan. To this day, that & a turkey wing is all I need... oh & the skin on top... everyone else can have the bird.
Quote:
Scrambled brains and eggs are delicious.
That sounds like the perfect description of me... could never be accused of being awake in the morning. Yesterday, I found my eyeglasses in the d/w & no, I don't imbibe in breakfast cocktails.
One thing that amazes me is the concept of baking breads and cakes with a wood fired stove. My grandmothers did it, and I understand the heat of the fire was judged by testing it with your hand, but then I look at the dial on my oven and set it to 350 degrees and wonder, "How did they do it?"
Hiya Suzy. Nice to see you! Hope you had great holidays!
My mum did the same... coal, cast iron stove. Amazingly, I don't recall anything which was baked or roasted that ever burned. Then again, she spent her life in the kitchen. If we had that much practice, we'd be professional chefs!
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She has some that are printed pamphlets, many from 60-yrs ago, some older. Guess the ol' gents just wheeled out the Gutenberg printing press in those days to print off 50 copies of their wives' recipes to sell on the town square for 1-pence. It's fun to read the recipes... most are so old, they say 'cook/bake until done'... no temp, no time, no real instructions, basically it's just a list of ingredients. Apparently, most hoop skirted women were homemakers in those days, so no need to explain when they're cooking from scratch all day long.
That poor woman must have been feeding all the children who lived in all the neighbors' shoes. 
& no, I don't imbibe in breakfast cocktails. 
