A cooking show featuring a 94 year old woman making recipes she lived on in the great depression. [xpost from Cooking]
youtube.com/show/greatdepressioncooking
youtube.comPosted Mar 27, 2012, 9:56 AM UTC
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youtube.comMy grandpa was born in 1923. After he died we were cleaning out his house and he had an entire room in his basement dedicated to storing nuts. There were walnuts, acrons, hickory nuts, you name it. Bushel after bushel full of these nuts. He got into the habit during the great depression and it never left. We decided to take them out to his old homestead in Iowa and plant a bunch. That was about 3 years ago, and I don't think my family's been out in that 40 to see if any have taken.
He also canned everything, and always always always ate the marrow out of chicken bones. It's neat how there are some habits you will never lose.
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I really do wonder what marrow tastes like.
And perhaps more importantly: what its caloric content is.
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Just taste it, it's good. I taught my daughters to crack chicken bones for the marrow. We're like cavemen!
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ほんとですか？？
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Not sure about chicken bone marrow, but pork bone marrow is delicious! It's very rich and fatty though so I can't eat too much of it. But it melts in your mouth and can be pretty flavorful if seasoned correctly.
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I always check Wolfram when I have questions like this.
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Yeah she has been around for a few years now. I love her and her recipes are really great. I make the poormans meal a lot. Her stories are great too. She's bonafide!!!
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she has been around for a few years now
A few!?!? Try 94! She's an adorable old woman. :3
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LOL...... yeah, gotcha, I just meant on the interwebs with her videos for a few years. her book is cool too. I bought copies for my mom and my daughter last year for xmas. She is really funny too....
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Good idea... I think I'll do that for mother's day! :O
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The original thread. I considered posting this to Budgetfood as well, but I figured I'd drop it in here first.
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This is awesome, thank you.
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Intrigued, I am.
Anyone care to post a sample recipe for those poor unfortunate working souls without youtube priveleges?
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Dandelion Salad: pick enough dandelions from your yard (or on your way home from working at the Twinkie factory) to fill a salad bowl. Cut off the wilted leaves and roots, which will take a while, leaving you with just the fresh leaves. Soak for an hour to remove the dirt, then rinse twice more. [Side note: she dumps the water down the drain; I would imagine it's more economical to re-use this water in your garden or on house plants.] Dress with lemon juice, oilive oil, and salt. She doesn't like pepper in her salads, but some people add that as well.
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Save the roots, roast them, and have a cup of dandilion coffee! Take the wilted leaves and make a tea from them for a relaxing effect.
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My grandma ate mayo sandwiches every single day for every meal. They were REALLLLY poor.
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That's disgusting.
Resourceful and disgusting. Just like my Oma's Mouldy Jam Cake.
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Sounds....delicious. But I might have you beat. I was raised on depression era cooking (I'm 32) and my family has always been poor. One popular dish was stewed tomatoes over saltine crackers or white bread. Pour on a little sugar to cut the acid taste. That was it, that was the meal.
Of course we had shit on a shingle, rainbow trout (fried in skin, not filet'd or anything so you ended up eating as many bones as you did flesh). I dislike any kind of fish or seafood to this day. Didn't like it back then, either. Pickled pigs feet, turkey pom poms, oh, and we ate our spaghetti on top of a heaping mound of mashed potatoes. It stretches much further when you do that.
We also had some delicious stuff, too. My grandma could really cook. Knowing her, I'm sure most of the dishes we disliked were more to punish us for something we didn't know we did than anything else. She was as good at punishment as she was at cooking.
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Oh man, you brought back some memories. My dad was out of work (liver and heart problems) when I was a child. He had a trout line set up in a local bayou and our meals consisted of a LOT of fish. Up until a few years ago, I'm 43 now, I hated fish of any kind. Just started trying some a few years back. Still not my favorite.
Longest I've been completely without food was about 7 days when we had none at all except for a couple of slices of bread in the middle of that week. I appreciate every meal now, even if it's just ramen noodles.
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I used to go about three or 4 days, early in my bachelor days. Worst part, I had deer out in my backyard, but no gun. Once ate gruel for about a week and a half straight. That sucked. Just about 1/2 cup a day, and add water for the next one.
I can't say I appreciate every meal, but I get angry with myself for not making a meal with the extra effort to make it good. Once I learned how to make a stir-fry, I felt stupid for all of those times eating shit food with little to no money. I make sure I have a healthy supply of rice and oil.
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I made tomato sauce once, and didn't know about the sugar to cut the acid taste. I was able to place that it was an acid taste and tried to think of how to eliminate it... BOOM, a base! So I added a tsp of baking soda and it cleared it up pretty well.
Probably my proudest cooking moment.
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My grandfather had mustard sandwiches... must have been downmarket from mayo sandwiches.
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I still eat mustard sandwiches now and again. I like them :)
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I'm so poor, I make those now. My dad made me ketchup sandwiches as a kid, I would say those are fairly unappetizing.
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I love her!! She's the cutest.
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What a sweet lady! I'm def gonna make some Italian Ice this Summer.
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I love how telling people your age always seems relevant when its <10 or >90. But still, awesome lady :P
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Oh, man, what a cute little old Italian lady. Thanks for posting this video, I'll watch the rest of the series. What a find!
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It's weird how nowadays people feel poor if they cannot afford a pizza, but those days, people would eat tulip bulbs if they had to (as did Audrey Hepburn at one point). I can't really see anyone I know digging up a tulip bulb, even if they were starving.
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I've seen her videos before and they make me very happy every time. She reminds me of my Mémé.
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Video unavailable for some odd reason.
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I am in love with this woman. Thanks for sharing!
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mmmm fried dirt
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"We're having a dust bowl for dinner!"
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Totally testing out that peppers and eggs sandwich with the homemade bread.
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I make dandelion salads all the time, but I don't pull out the whole plant. I just pull out the nice leaves. Leave the plant there so it keeps putting out more leaves, crazy 94-year-old lady!
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The pizza video really hit home for me. My family is partially Sicilian and that pizza is exactly like something we make regularly. Fresh tomato sauce, slices of mozzarella, basil, and especially anchovies. Its weird to think that people didn't like Italian food at one point, but I think people forget that when European immigrants came to America they were extremely impoverished.
Also I hope I'm as healthy as Clara is if I reach 94! I think its great that she can tell her stories and share them with people on Youtube.
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Spoiler:
So she's telling a story about how she used to roller skate to work (Twinkie factory) and bring a knife with her. I'm all like "aha! it used to be as dangerous back then..."
Nope.
She cut dandelions for dinner on the way home. Fucking dandelions for dinner. Hardcore woman there.
Dandelion leaves are delicious and healthy. Many supermarkets carry them.
A dandelion! Must be the last one of the season!
My great grandmother used to make dandelion salad and sometimes dandelion wine. It's a pretty common thing.
Dandelion greens are a staple and super tasty green in Pugliese (Italy's bootheel) cuisine.