PLAIN FOOD AND LEFTOVERS

 

We have about three feet of snow and it is cold. It began piling up week before last and we have had sub-zero weather off and on ever since. Dad keeps a lantern in the cellar “of a nite” and nothing has frozen. – Ina Dobson, February 1936

Hallie wonders: “Now I’m curious about the recipes. Was it mostly, ‘here are your peas, here are your potatoes and here’s your chicken’ or did they make casseroles and soups and such? Did they have an ice box / refrigerator? Could they ever just heat up leftovers for dinner or did they have to cook every night because they couldn’t store the food?”

The short answer is that it was just plain food – meat, potatoes, garden vegetables and berries in season, and homemade bread. If they had leftovers, I’m sure they used them up quickly.

Refrigeration was not available at our farmhouse until Vance (my dad) brought in a propane fridge in the ‘50s and parked it where the water tank sits today. In the old days, the family had a cold house built into the bank off the kitchen porch, which they called the “cellar.” It had sawdust between the walls, and it was cool even in summer but as the above note indicates, things could freeze there in the cold of winter. In 1996, when the pine tree hit the house, it also obliterated the cellar and that was that. It was time for it to go anyway.

So, yes, they had a way to preserve food, though not to today’s standards. Sunday’s pot roast might have been stored in the cellar and served again on Monday. Next, any leftover meat and vegetables could be cut up and warmed in gravy. My mother did this, and I loved it. Or, they might grind up leftover beef roast, potatoes, and onions for a tasty hash, a favorite of mine that I haven’t tasted since childhood and likely won’t again.

Of course, Ina roasted or stewed chicken, and in those days, chickens were smaller than today. Chicken probably wasn’t left over too often, and that was a good thing since it doesn’t keep well. I know that Ina made soup, and this was another means of using leftovers. My dad said homemade soup was better than the canned variety we all know so well. I didn’t agree. If canned soup is an acquired taste, I have acquired it.

I think the main meal was usually at noon, so meal prep took place in the morning, especially in summer. When the farm crew was working, they needed a good midday meal, and then perhaps the family ate leftovers in the evening, but sometimes they were so tired that they just had bread and milk. And it wouldn’t surprise me if during strawberry season they had strawberry shortcake for supper. (I would if I could get away with it.)

Myrtle Dobson

Recipes? I believe that cooking for the homesteading farmwife was less about following a recipe and more about what she learned at her mother’s elbow or through her own experience. I have Ina’s recipe box, and I see that she exchanged recipes for cakes and cookies with her neighbors. It does not contain recipes for casseroles except for those written by Myrtle c. 1950. Frankly, Ina took to the grave the recipes for family favorites, reinforcing my opinion that she wasn’t much into recordkeeping.

Coming soon – Ina’s recipe box