Your Heritage in Food

hearlady

hearlady

Homebody
Location
N Carolina
We are spoiled in this country. Because of the transportation industry, migrant workers, and other factors we're able to get about any food anytime of the year.
As we know it wasn't always that way. We ate more regional and in season foods. People ate the same basic meals and kept the same basic pantry staples.

I grew up in New England near the coast. Boiled dinners, Boston baked beans with Brown Bread from a can. Steamed clams, deviled clams baked in big clam shells, clam chowder. Meat pie, Minced meat pie, blueberry and Apple pies. Lobster and lobster rolls, cod, haddock. Salt cod. American chop suey. Fluffernutters. Macintosh apples. Cranberries. Grapenut cereal, grapenut pudding, grapenut ice cream. Deviled ham in hotdog buns. Maypo. Grinders. Root beer. Candied ginger, molasses candy, candied orange peels. FRIED BREAD! Omg bread dough fried and doused in maple syrup. Maple syrup, Maple candy.

I haven't lived in NE in 40 years. These were some the foods I grew up with and crave. What were yours or do you still live in the same place and eat the same foods now?
 

I don't live in the same country but I do eat a little of the same foods from when I was a child...


Our foods were very basic bland fare on the whole..


Lots of stews (which I hated)... hardly any fish unless in came in a Birds' eye frozen packet... Canned Campbells meatballs and Uncle Bens' Rice...


Hearty Barley , Lentil, and bacon soups which were so thick it was said it stuck to your ribs... , Mac & NO cheese...they just added chopped overcooked liver and tomato ketchup..... quite a lot of veggies, mainly cabbage which I always insisted on eating raw while everyone else had it cooked to the death



grey Mince beef...with a thin beef gravy...with potatoes and dumplings..

fried bread occasionally... very little fruit apart from Bananas which we had most days for lunch...and baked apples occasionally...

Hot bread rolls...

Ham Ribs and Cabbage were my favourite, it was the only time I ever ate cabbage cooked...

Haggis...

Home made steak and kidney pie..

My mother was a dreadful cook god rest her soul...and no real idea of good nutrition..

Apple pie and custard... jelly and dream topping.... was just about the only desert we ever got, and then only occasionally..


No snacks were ever allowed or even brought into the house....so always being a hungry kid, my snack was a plain slice of bread with a spread of Tomato ketchup...( we weren't allowed butter that was only for father)

Out of all those foods... I only make home-made soup to this day...
 
I live less than twenty miles from where I grew up and I still enjoy the simple seasonal farm foods that I grew up with.

Both sets of grandparents were born and had started families before mechanical refrigeration was available so they were used to using what was on hand and also eating the same basic foods day after day. I'm thankful for the variety of foods that are available today but I still enjoy many of the basic local foods that you mentioned above.

I miss things like corn fritters with real maple syrup, apple cider and doughnuts, creamed potatoes, fried smelts for breakfast, fried onions and apples, mincemeat pie with sharp cheddar cheese, plain baked beans, boiled dinners, codfish gravy over baked potatoes, biscuits, molasses cookies, gingerbread, cottage pudding with nutmeg sauce.

Mostly I miss things that involve gravy and a steady supply of pie!!!

I don't eat most of the things mentioned and it is probably just as well but I'm glad I grew up with them and with the people that loved me enough to make them for me.
 

Hearlady.... ( ham Ribs, were slightly smoked Pork ribs... but they were bought in large quantities and boiled n HUGE Pots until the meat was falling off...) no sauce or anything...just served on their own with the cabbage , and delicious...
 
hearlady said:
What is cottage pudding with nutmeg sauce? Sounds yummy.
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A cottage pudding is basically a small one egg cake and nutmeg sauce is a simple cornstarch sauce. It was a simple way to fill out a skimpy meal on a cold winter night when you didn't have much to work with. Nutmeg sauce is also nice served over slices of tired old Christmas fruitcake.

Nutmeg sauce:

1/4 to a 1/2cup of sugar
1 T of cornstarch.
1/4 to 1/2 t of ground nutmeg
1 cup boiling water
1/2 to 1t vanilla extract
1 T butter

Mix sugar, cornstarch and nutmeg together in a saucepan, stir in boiling water. Stir over medium heat until the mixture thickens and clears. Remove from heat, add vanilla extract and butter, continue stirring until the butter melts and serve.

COTTAGE PUDDING
2 c. sifted cake flour*
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg, unbeaten
3/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 8 x 8 x 2 inch cake pan. Sift first 3 ingredients together 3 times. In a separate bowl work butter until smooth and creamy; add sugar slowly, continue to work until light. Add egg, beat very well with spoon. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and vanilla. Turn into cake pan; bake in oven for 50 minutes or until done. Cool on wire rack 10-15 minutes before removing from pan.

*Note if cake flour is not available place 2 T cornstarch in the cup and then fill with AP flour. Also you may reduce the AP flour by 2T and not go with the addition of the cornstarch.
 
hearlady said:
I grew up in New England near the coast. Boiled dinners, Boston baked beans with Brown Bread from a can. Steamed clams, deviled clams baked in big clam shells, clam chowder. Meat pie, Minced meat pie, blueberry and Apple pies. Lobster and lobster rolls, cod, haddock. Salt cod. American chop suey. Fluffernutters. Macintosh apples. Cranberries. Grapenut cereal, grapenut pudding, grapenut ice cream. Deviled ham in hotdog buns. Maypo. Grinders. Root beer. Candied ginger, molasses candy, candied orange peels. FRIED BREAD! Omg bread dough fried and doused in maple syrup. Maple syrup, Maple candy.

I haven't lived in NE in 40 years. These were some the foods I grew up with and crave. What were yours or do you still live in the same place and eat the same foods now?
Click to expand...

Everything you mentioned I had. Don't like Boston baked beans, but everything else. You mentioned grinders, gave me a clue where you're from. Oh yes, American chop suey, Date nut bread in a can.

Don't eat Grapenuts anymore, of Fluffernutters although my grandson made one last week.
 
I still eat grape nuts as an ingredient in yogurt parfaits or blueberry/apple crisps.
Molasses cookies remind me of hermits, spicy cookies with raisins. My grandmother was the one who introduced me to candied ginger and molasses candy. It was sort of the foamy part of peanut brittle without the peanuts made with molasses instead of corn syrup.
 
RadishRose, when I lived in Colorado and traveled to New England my suitcase would have at least one white and blue tub of marshmallow cream.
 
My mother was not a good cook, to word it politely, so I think one dish I really liked and haven't tried to make yet was made by one of my aunts: Vla- a/k/a cornstarch pudding.

I've also developed a taste for casseroles and pasta- now that I know what they're supposed to taste like. :playful:

One favorite dish from 'way back': corn fritters. My kids liked them, too, but I haven't thought to make any in years.
 
I live just 50 miles from where I was born in New Jersey. My Mom prepared very plain but tasty food when I was growing up. Some type of meat potatoes and a vegetable. We always had a garden so in the summer we enjoyed all freshly picked vegetables. My Grandparents lived right next door. My Grandma made peach dumplings during peach season and always made enough for us. My Mom made great clam chowder and made enough for them as well. As I remember quite a bit of food was passed from house to house. I guess it was just as easy to make a large amount so both my Mom and Grandma had a day off from cooking once in awhile.
 
hearlady said:
I still eat grape nuts as an ingredient in yogurt parfaits or blueberry/apple crisps.
Molasses cookies remind me of hermits, spicy cookies with raisins. My grandmother was the one who introduced me to candied ginger and molasses candy. It was sort of the foamy part of peanut brittle without the peanuts made with molasses instead of corn syrup.[/QUOTE

Molasses sponge candy has a big following in Western New York, great stuff!!!

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This thread reminded me of a candy that we used to get at the little Planters Peanut Shoppe when we went downtown with our grandmother.

They were called creamed filberts but we always referred to them as mothballs, they had a hard sparkly sugar exterior over a creamy white layer and finally a whole filbert in the center. It was a big treat to go to the Planters store in the winter and see the old brass peanut roasters in action. It was always tough for us to decide which little quarter pound bag of candy or nuts we would get for the bus ride home.

candy.jpg
 
Aunt Bea said:
hearlady said:
I still eat grape nuts as an ingredient in yogurt parfaits or blueberry/apple crisps.
Molasses cookies remind me of hermits, spicy cookies with raisins. My grandmother was the one who introduced me to candied ginger and molasses candy. It was sort of the foamy part of peanut brittle without the peanuts made with molasses instead of corn syrup.[/QUOTE

Molasses sponge candy has a big following in Western New York, great stuff!!!

Click to expand...
Yes Aunt Bea! Loved it, thanks
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I can identify with Hollydolly's post. My mother belonged to what I called the 'Glasgow school of cooking' - and this was probably very unfair to Glaswegians. My father grew a lot of vegetables, and living near the sea, we got quite a lot of fish. Mother cooked it all to death. She also didn't believe in seasoning or herbs - only salt (and vinegar on the chips - that's French Fries to our American friends).

She never poisoned us, but mother was very unimaginative. Tatties & mince, broth that you could stand a spoon in - probably have stood a spade in, and her signature dish of cauliflower boiled till it was a sort of paste! One thing she made - and I quite liked - was pressed Ox tongue.
She didn't have a proper press, so it was a bit soft, but OK. I'm the only one in my family that likes tongue - both Ox and pig.
 
Capt Lightning said:
I can identify with Hollydolly's post. My mother belonged to what I called the 'Glasgow school of cooking' - and this was probably very unfair to Glaswegians. My father grew a lot of vegetables, and living near the sea, we got quite a lot of fish. Mother cooked it all to death. She also didn't believe in seasoning or herbs - only salt (and vinegar on the chips - that's French Fries to our American friends).

She never poisoned us, but mother was very unimaginative. Tatties & mince, broth that you could stand a spoon in - probably have stood a spade in, and her signature dish of cauliflower boiled till it was a sort of paste! One thing she made - and I quite liked - was pressed Ox tongue.
She didn't have a proper press, so it was a bit soft, but OK. I'm the only one in my family that likes tongue - both Ox and pig.
Click to expand...
Yes, our everyday meals were pretty plain and simple and cooked down. My friends parents were from a lot of backgrounds so when I ate at their houses I was able to experience different tastes. I loved big Italian family meals!
 
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