Depression Era recipes..(and others like it)

[The Yakima Kid]

Is it necessary or advisable to cut vent slits in the pocket?

It is suggested that you do cut vent slits to keep it from inflating as much; but I don't. After forgetting to make slits on one occasion, I decided that the vent slits really weren't that necessary, especially if you cook the filling until there is no free liquid.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Today at 6:39 PM


Forget fusion cuisine. This week I dragged out a KrautenSnouten aus Russland recipe and decided to play with some Bessarabian favorites in honor of my father's paternal lineage.

Bessarabian cuisine has some very core precepts. Just as the Inuits have many words for gradations of snow, and the British Islanders have many different words for drunkenness and its degrees, the KrautenSnoutens from Russia have many words for fried dough.

When *you* think of strudel, you think of a nice, tasty pastry with perhaps a fruit filling between the layers. When a Bessarabian descendant thinks of strudel, they think of the original dish which consisted of cutting up and frying potatoes in lard or some other fat, adding a little water, and placing coils of thin sheets of dough on top to absorb the lard and water. I have cousins who love it; personally, I'd rather go out and see what leftovers were on order for the chickens and pigs. There is always room for one more at the trough. The pride of Bessarabian cuisine is something known as a Bluchenda or plachenda, made with pumpkin, sometimes with apples, and today referred to as "Blow Gents" by some of the English-only descendants of the Krauten Snouten. One of various pie doughs was wrapped around a pumpkin and pepper filling and deep fried in the ever present lard. At that point I used to wonder just how edible that old wool blanket on the couch might be. Nothing says wonderful like a lard flavored deep fried peppered pumpkin pie. (I don't mind them done in oil and I actually like the oven baked variant.) I believe some more heretical relatives were caught using a bread type yeasted dough in the oven version.

I decided to make Bierishki, which is the oven baked version of Fleischkuchel. Fleischkuchel consists of a dough heavy in soured cream, wrapped around ground meat or perhaps ham, with perhaps some potato, carrot, or turnip, and sauerkraut. Basically it is a Kalte Ende sort of dish from what I can tell. (Cold Ends - translated badly into English as Cold Duck, it was originally a blend of what was left in the wine glasses and carafes in the tavern at the end of the night, mixed together and drunk by the family and servants of the innkeeper. Who knows what is in it now - but I won't get near it.)

The version I made was pretty tame: wrappers from homemade bread dough, ground beef, onions, and shredded green cabbage with black pepper and garlic. Try it with the red or purple cabbage sometime and you'll learn why green cabbage is traditional. Blue food, anyone? Krauten Snoutens like to cook apples with the darker cabbages as blue food is not considered traditional Bessarabian cuisine.

So, today I decided to try something completely different. First, I mixed up a batch of focaccia dough. Focaccia dough made with the traditional Italian flour gives the baker a sensation akin to that of trying to knead a slug. Slimy, slick, dubious. Into the dough went a generous level of Italian herbs, Oregano, and enough Garlic for an organic farmer to try weaning 1,000 sheep.

Then, into the sauté pan went olive oil and a bag of Trader Joe's fire roasted peppers and onions, a scattering of my homemade dried tomatoes, and a couple of cups of Costco's Kirkland marina sauce. This was topped with national guard cafeteria levels of oregano and garlic, and one pound of exceedingly lean ground beef that had been cooked in the microwave and drained and then ground fine in a food processor - something that would ruin the texture for many dishes, but helps it to mingle thoroughly with the other ingredients. A can of olives from Costco, drained, rinsed, and sliced with the food processor and the meat mixture is has gone into the refrigerator while the Foccacia dough is allowed to do a full rise, in hopes that flattening it down and rolling it out will reduce oven spring.

Then, mozzarella cheese will be finely sliced in the food processor, mixed with a dab of really cheap Kraft parmesan, and mixed thoroughly into the meat mixture. The focaccia dough will be rolled out into what are intended to be 6" - 8" circles, and placed on parchment covered baking sheets and popped into a pre-heated 350 degree F oven for 20 minutes or so.

Nothing like Focaccia Bierishki Pizza for a picnic, right? WRONG. Epic fail. Focaccia dough doesn't have the strength to be lifted after being filled. I decided after managing to make one solitary Bierishki that I was able to lift by cutting out the section of parchment and placing it on the baking sheet that is was perhaps not the best way to go. So I patted the remaining dough out on a pizza pan, put a bunch of filling on it, and baked it as a focaccia with pizza filling. .

**Edited by Staff**

 

[The Yakima Kid]

From: http://spacesandspices-dorrie.blogspot.com/2012/05/bessarabische-huhnerkeulen-und-marias.html

Chicken Legs Bessarabian Style

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Serves 2

2 chicken legs
4 onions, medium size
6 potatoes
1 tsp allspice
4 bay leaves
Oil
Chicken stock
Salt, black pepper, paprika
Some chilli, coarsely ground

Divide chicken legs into 2 parts, season with salt and pepper.
Chop onions. Peel potatoes and cut them in cubes.

Heat oil in a big pan, fry chicken legs on both sides until they are golden. Use medium heat.

Add onions and fry until they are translucent. Add allspice, pepper, paprika and as much chicken stock that the chicken legs are almost covered. Add bay leaves, cover the pan and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes.

Add potatoes and cook for about 40 minutes more. Check a few times if there’s enough liquid, you may have to add some.

Season with salt and pepper and serve. This goes very well with “Marias Milk Salad”.


Maria’s Milk Salad

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Serves 2

1 small lettuce
250 ml soured milk
2 tbsp apple vinegar
Salt
White pepper, freshly ground
2 tbsp chives, chopped


Clean and wash the salad properly, tear into bite-sized pieces. Mix all ingredients for the dressing, add the salad, mix well, and serve.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

More Germans from Russia Recipes - these from the Roll family, who I believe are now in Texas:

Chicken Paprika (Chicken Paprihash)
Ingredients: 1 cut-up chicken, 1-1/2 tsp. paprika,1c chopped green peppers, 12 oz. can tomato sauce, about 2-1/2c water,salt and pepper
Preparation: Brown meat in oil then add all other ingredients. Simmer slowly until meat is done. Make glace per above recipe. After glace are boiled, either add to meat and sauce, or serve separate and put sauce mixture on top of glace.
Chicken Blinna
Filling: 1c chopped onions, 1c chopped greenpeppers, 2c chopped celery, 1 small can sliced mushrooms, salt, 1 large frying chicken
Sauce: 2 cans of either cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup, 1 soup can of milk, 1 tsp. Worcestershiresauce Topping: Parmesan cheese Preparation: Boil chicken in water seasoned with onion and celery. Cool, remove chicken and dice. Sautéchopped onion, celery, green pepper, and mushrooms in butter, then add to chicken and set aside. Mix together soup, milk, and Worcestershire and set aside. Make blinna per above recipe. Place 3 Tbs..filling on each blinna, roll up, and place in baking dish. Pour sauceall over. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake 20-25 minutesat 400 degrees. Serves eight.
Kraut Strudel, Cabbage Burgers (Bierocks)
Use any bread dough recipe or frozen bread dough; let dough raise.
In the meantime, put the following in a large kettle: 1 large chopped (but not fine) head cabbage, 3 lbs. hamburger,1 chopped medium onion, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until cabbage is tender. Drain. After kneading dough, roll out into about 8"circles. Fill dough one at a time with kraut mixture. Pinch edges together to form a half circle. Put into a lightly greased baking pan. Brush beaten egg over each, and let raise again, about 1/2 hour. Bake 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Done when golden brown.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

More Germans from Russia Recipes - these from the Roll family, who I believe are now in Texas:

Chicken Paprika (Chicken Paprihash)
Ingredients: 1 cut-up chicken, 1-1/2 tsp. paprika,1c chopped green peppers, 12 oz. can tomato sauce, about 2-1/2c water,salt and pepper
Preparation: Brown meat in oil then add all other ingredients. Simmer slowly until meat is done. Make glace per above recipe. After glace are boiled, either add to meat and sauce, or serve separate and put sauce mixture on top of glace.

Note that the German recipe involves browning the chicken in fat, and no sour cream.
The Hungarians actually brown the spices, using red pepper flecks instead of chopped green peppers, and canned tomatoes instead of tomato sauce and water and use sour cream.

Hungarian method: from allrecipes.com

• 2 tablespoons bacon grease (or butter or cooking oil - remember the Germans had a thing for saturated fats.)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons paprika

• 1 (2 to 3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces
• 1 cup water
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

To do it the modern Hungarian way:

1. Heat bacon grease in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes and paprika. Stir together and saute until onion is translucent. Add chicken pieces and pour water over all. Cook over medium heat for 1 hour, adding more water if necessary.
2. Stir in tomatoes, reserving liquid. Stir liquid into a medium bowl with flour and sour cream; mix until well blended, then slowly add mixture to chicken, stirring constantly. Cook until mixture is thick.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Some really great sources for cheap recipes are cookbooks and recipes from WWI and WWII. Any college that has, or had, a Home Economics school is sure to have these buried somewhere in the stacks or in storage.

 

[3goodeggs]

My grandmother had a lot of those and my mother threw them out. She was ashamed of having to have lived that way.
Besides, mom was a bag, box, and can cook.
I am a jar of peanut butter and a spoon cook.

 

[Sylviaanne]

My dad used to make what he called "Trash Hash". He probably still makes it, much to my mother's chagrin.

TRASH HASH
1 lb ground beef, browned & drained
Frozen or canned corn, heated
Enough mashed potatoes to feed your family

Mix corn & beef. Put mashed potatoes in center of plate. Cover with the beef/corn mixture. Smother with ketchup. Add salt & pepper to taste. Enjoy!*
*All recipes must end with "Enjoy". It's a culinary law.

This is serious comfort food for me. I'm a foodie, having lived and learned to cook in France... and yet something makes me want to have this for dinner!!

I am copying down some of these recipes hoping they will be easy and GOOD. Some I have already recognized, others like this one are new to me. This one sounds great but I don't think I could SMOTHER it with ketchup. LOL Maybe try a small amount first.

 

[Sylviaanne]

This is a pizza recipe from the town where I went to college. The locals couldn't decide if it was invented in the Depression or during WWII due to the lack of Italian imports. Just bear in mind that it is NASTY and only to be eaten in a dire emergency.

1 pizza crust
1 can tomato soup, mixed with some ketchup and Italian seasoning to make it more like pizza sauce
American cheese
Oscar Meyer bologna, cut into bits

Spread the tomato soup rather thinly on the crust because, honestly, it's nasty and you don't want to have to taste it too much. Layer Processed Pasteurized Cheese Food Product on top. Sprinkle bologna chunks. Bake at 400F till slightly browned, then cut into slices as usual.

This sounds like something kids would like. Maybe change the tomato soup to tomato sauce or tomato paste. I'm gonna let my daughter see this and see if she wants to try it. She works for a pizza place and they make some of the, well, let's just say, I won't eat it. LOL But then my favorite pizza is just cheese or cheese and bell peppers.

 

[Sylviaanne]

okay..heres another one...i dont have all the exact measurments..we kinda do it by eye..

Salmon Wiggle

In a med/large sauce pan add whole milk(the amount you use depends on how much you will be making)...also add 1 can of evaporated milk, about 1/2 stick of butter, salt & pepper to taste.
Use canned salmon(we use the red one..but u can use the pink)...about 3 to 4 cans for a family...de-bone salmon(leaving it in large pieces)...set aside....reserve juice.
Add reserved juice to milk in sauce pan(we use all the juice for more salmon flavor...)
Add flour to milk mixture(while heating )...enough to thicken and make a white sauce..stir till it thickens up.
When its thick enough(white sauce thick)..add de-boned salmon..and drained peas. Serve over saltine crackers..or boiled white potatoes. enjoy!

I'm not sure my family would like this one but it is very close to the Oyster Stew my husband makes. Learned it from his mom.