Does the word Poor need rethinking:
 NOT eating Poor as opposed to eating Poorly……                                     

We all have moments of Eating Poorly.. quick snacks, fast food, skipping meals, junk food, soda.. everyone has at least one moment of this.. these are choices. we all make them & often (too often) regret them. - but in our runabout world we Get to make these choices.        ********************************************************************** But we dont have to Eat Poor,  although our choice making is a surprisingly similar set up.... choices are still made - the key is to not make bad ones..- and when there are few choices to Choose from, it can make a significant difference in the Quality of ones eating.

This is not a diatribe about being poor nor is it a condemnation of peoples choices. I am hoping to REMIND people, that even those in harsh circumstance may still  have 'some' choices still available to them. The difficulty I see the most is the lack of Knowledge.

 If I may digress a few moments before I share todays' vintage recipe - My family and I have been in the shoes of many who are considered rock bottom poor. It happened to us on more than one occasion.  I do not brag about that, its a simple statement of fact. ANYONE can end up in that sort of situation. The difference I feel is that i was Lucky. I had knowledge that many around me apparently did not have. this knowledge kept us going and we survived. both of us were raised by family that survived the Great Depression of the 30's and thru the tribulations of the 40's and WWII. From them we learned to cope with and create from what we did have.   Simple things- simple ideas.

 ALL things we 'know' today but many have moved away from.. a truly easy example of what i mean - a medium box of a product like Bisquick is very convenient and versatile but it can cost 5.8 cents an ounce (96oz for $16.52) for one box.. on the other hand to make that same thing from scratch can average..$0.15 per cup  http://penniesandpancakes.blogspot.com/2013/04/homemade-bisquick-mix-010-per-cup.html#.VINcH8k35-w

THESE are the kind of choices we must face when income has become drastically reduced. I feel I can speak to it because I have Done it.. One of the things I noticed the most when we were eating 'poor' was the lack of variety. very often one eats the same thing nearly every day - its a 'safe, known' recipe but I believe that contributes to a state of depression that many end up facing. Also, i was surprised to notice the lack of sweets seemed to add to the problem.. 

 As I have been rediscovering these vintage  depression & war years recipes, I was very interested to note How these things were addressed and SOLVED by the average homemaker. 

 Today's Vintage recipe I believe this was created with these thoughts in mind.. A frugal use of leftovers perhaps….. or the only meat in the house that day. and how to make it 'palatable, different and even rather sweet. Its an Interesting Recipe - Don't let your Modern sensibilities be put off by the name/ingredients,  we have quite enjoyed it.

PORK CAKE:
The Date/Year and Region: America's Cookbook New & Revised Edition 1944

Pork cake recipe

 

trying to mince the pork

fruits & meat chopped fine

baking

finished 'cake'

How Did You Make It:  very close to original recipe with some modifications – the hardest part for me was mincing the salt pork. I had to do it with a less than ultra sharp knife. A small processor would have made it MUCH easier (I did remove the rind as well) – all else was simple.
Time to Complete: approximately an hour – an easy recipe
 
Total Cost:
Most was in my cupboard/ refrigerator except the dried apricots – I already had the salt pork & raisins, molasses --- probably in the $4 range all told if that much—

How Successful Was It?:  Very – but it depends on ones point of view – My friend loves molasses, I like it, but much of the family does not & it Is a strong flavorant – although the amount used was small, It affected people’s response to the ‘cake’. 

 How Accurate Was It  Very accurate  I only substituted one ingredient (apricots for citron -as I had seen suggested on a website) I chose not to use some ingredients called for.

 Further thoughts: several things. 
First this was called a Cake.- from all the family’s point of view it was closer to a fruit cake than any form of cake we usually eat & its cooked in a bread loaf pan.. The ‘cake’ is very dense and moist. As None of us actually like the fruits called for in various fruit cakes we chose Not to include most of them.

The elephant in the room: the PORK. I am a fan of pork & find the meat sweet & pleasant but I did wonder what it would taste like in cake form. The very odd thing about this cake was you cannot actually Taste the pork. Yet its sweet & moist and dense. 

The only complaints about the cake was the molasses taste that some don’t like – even the apricots & raisons were not really noticable as a separate individual taste. The whole thing blended really nicely. – it was delicious plain, butter and cream cheese went well with it. 

If molasses is acceptable to your family I will actually highly recommend this.
It was fast it was easy and a very frugal use of a small amount of protein to enrich ones diet and it satisfies the need for a sweet taste as well.

I got into this whole The Historical Food Fortnightly http://historicalfoodfortnightly.blogspot.com/p/about-historical-food-fortnightly.html only recently so am doing a bit of catch up as well as trying the current challenges. Fun, the emphasis on research and documentation, & the goal  to learn more about historic cooking through experience and trial; will make this whole process INTERESTING to say the least

oh, and their definition of 'historic' is anything prior to 1960.. now i feel just a tad old.. haha!!

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  Challenge 9:  The Frugal Housewife…September 21-October 4

Throughout history, housewives and housekeepers have kept a close eye on their budgets and found creative ways to pinch pennies while providing delicious and nutritious food. Create a dish that interprets one historically-documented method of frugal cooking.

 I feel it fits the catagory really well. I can easily see it as a way to use up left over vegetables with a simple biscuit dough and a gravy to add to a simple frugal meal - perhaps a way of coaxing the 'kids' to eat their veggies by calling it a cake :).

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From:   Upside-Down Vegetable Cake

America's Cookbook New & Revised Edition

cookbook page instructions 

all vegetables in baking pan

started with onions sauted in butter

in 425 oven for 25 min

baked but not on plate yet

right side up on serving plate.

The Date/Year and Region: 

  1944 page 434 = American
How Did You Make It:  

I made the cake batter as per instructions - was more of a biscuit dough although its called a cake - in both texture and taste.  for the Vegetables i used fresh onions and canned peas, carrots corn & lima beans.  I did not make the gravy accompaniment.

Time to Complete: 
Less than one hour, start to finish.

Total Cost:

  everything i used was in my cupboard - probably in the $4 range all told if that much

How Successful Was It?:  
had several compliments on it. I would count it as successful as i personally plan to make it again.
How Accurate Was It? I would say very close though not perfect.
the instructions were somewhat incomplete such as it called for mixed vegetables & then said to arrainge hot seasoned vegetables in greased pan- it did NOT say if they were to be fully cooked or simply sauted or just warmed.. it also does not specify if fresh or canned vegetables were to be used. I did not use celery (i dont like it cooked) but i did add corn. also the instructions failed to say When to add the batter - i made an educated guess it was the last item added.

Also, the recipe called for a mushroom gravy i did not make.
as we had a gravy at the dinner for the meat I didnt bother. it was good without & I think it would go with any preferred gravy.

Further thoughts:several things. 
1st: the batter, because its consistancy & taste were more biscuit dough than cake like i will try a basic bisquick type mix the next attempt.
2nd: the vegetables. I really liked the combination that I made but i felt that the 4cups called for were too much.. it overwhelmed the dish..
3rd: the pan - i used what i had available (a springform) and it was too big for the amount of dough i had. a proper 8x8 would have been better - easier to put on platter too.
 

Round TWO


Challenge 12:  If They’d Had It…  November 2 - November 15
Have you ever looked through a cookbook from another era and been surprised at the modern dishes you find? Have you ever been surprised at just how much they differ from their modern counterparts? Recreate a dish which is still around today, even if it may look a little - or a lot - different!
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 From "The Lily-Wallace New American Cook Book
1943 Edition (first published 1941) page 230 in the Breads chapter.
  MINCEMEAT COFFEE CAKE 

 

In a deep cake pan Melt two tablespoons butter. Sprinkle two tablespoons brown sugar over butter and cover evenly with one cup mincemeat.

 
Over this pour  pour the batter made of the remaining ingredients and bake in a moderately hot oven. (425F) 25 minutes

 

 The Date/Year and Region: 

American/1943

How Did You Make It: As it was a very basic recipe I simply followed the instructions  verbatim

 
Time to Complete: 
Less than two hours, start to finish.

Total Cost:

About $2 for the mincemeat - I had everything else on hand (correction: cost of jar was $5.57 but i only used half of jar- for a cost of $2.85)

How Successful Was It?: Very – easily made and smelled delicious coming out of the oven- and the taste is very pleasant.. (am not a huge mincemeat fan & found it tasty. the cake itself is somewhat dense - a bit like a pound cake rather than a standard airy cake but the butter flavor is very nice. mom has already said she would not mind if I make it again :)

 
How Accurate Is It?: Very Accurate. All the ingredients are pretty much the same as in 1943 – I researched the mincemeat product I used and found the following:  

History of the None Such Mincemeat:

The Merrell-Soule Company, manufacturer and distributor of canned goods, successfully introduced condensed mincemeat under the None Such® brand name for Borden. Merrell-Soule Company was purchased by Borden in the late 1920’s.

And in asking my 78yr old mom of her memories of family making mincemeat dishes when she was a child, she said that her mother always bought her mincemeat from the local market rather than make it from scratch – pretty much as I did tonite.