Forget Emeril and the rest of the TV chefs. The best cooks in the universe are grandmas. At least my grandma was. She could make a meal out of the simplest ingredients fit for a king. Grandma has been gone for over 40 years now and my own mother isn't able to communicate well enough to tell me what cooking was like in the Great Depression. I can only assume that most of the ingredients were inexpensive, easily found and required minimal refrigeration. Hum, sounds like fresh, seasonal and local weren't new ideas to that crowd.
Since my step-buddy came to live here, "we" have consumed more groceries than I ever imagined possible. I raised two slim petite girls. They would eat just about anything, but not much of it.
Enter an eighteen year old, six-foot-plus muscular male and my views on food and cooking were turned upside down. No longer will a chicken make two dinners for three. And leftovers? Consumed before midnight unless the hands off message is strongly made.
Our food budget was suffering and frankly, I am tired of cooking. There had to be an easier, cheaper way to fill the void that is living in the back bedroom.
Since Mom and Grandma can't help, I pulled out my copy of the Magic Chef Cookbook from 1934. What a treasure. I bought it because it was old and nostalgic. I never really intended to COOK anything.
Anyway, after giving it a quick look, I realized that there isn't an ingredient in this book that I can't get at the corner market. And the recipes look just like what Grandma made.
I will warn you right now that Julie and Julia are in no danger of losing their place in blogdom or the movies.
I started out with Scalloped Potatoes. Simple. Easy. Available. And best of all, really delicious.
P.S. The rest of the potatoes were GONE before the dishes were done.
What is your favorite granny recipe??
4 comments:
Oh Curly girl, your damn stove top is
too clean! Can you post the recipe?
yes. having raised a son i've literally seen "licking the plate clean" -- of course not encouraged, but done anyway. LOL.
my grandma (who was born 1900) made old fashioned, wholesome, tasty, home-grown, good-for-you food. plus, the ingredients were more pure, so their flavors were more intense and interesting.
scalloped pototoes 'BAM' -- gone! as emeril would say. *wink*
You are on to something girl! I've went back to what Mom called "staple cooking," beans and cornbread, hearty potato dishes and rice. Rice is our friend to stretch a buck! Come over to GrannyMountain for a visit...
My little nephew Aaron is starting to eat his weight in food a day! What a great idea to pull out some great vintage cookbooks and get back to basics! I never knew my grandma's, but my mom and aunt sure could cook up a storm, never using a recipe! Thanks for visiting me and commenting, so I could find you!
Post a Comment