[Sca-cooks] Other economy meals OT OOP (was Re: Regional names for common egg dish)

[Nick Sasso]

The mentions a couple of times of depression era economy dishes brought
back a very vivid gustatory memory of a dish we called simply "Clays".
It is painfully simple and tasty, and so obviously a meal to feed 6
people in Post WWII USA on a house cleaners' income.  I'm only 35, but
my Grandmother would serve it to us when we visited, and my dad and his
brother would demand it every visit.  His other siblings hate it (not an
uncommon polarity with poverty food).

It is made by making buckwheat mush:  roughly 3 to one water to coarse
buckwheat flour (salt the water, please).  Boil water and stir in the
flour like a fiend until you get something the consistency of half dried
spackle.  Still moist, but thick enough to cut into dumplings/wads in a
bowl.  You gotta have the right flour grind . . . not too fine.

The 'sauce' is made thus:  render a pound of small diced bacon over
medium heat until crisp.  Add one half gallon +/- whole milk and
salt/pepper to taste.  Pour this over the dumplings and let stand a few
minutes to absorb slightly.  Serve on a plate with bread as sops.  The
BEST part is the goo and small bits left at the bottom of the bowl/pan.
Talk about a heart stopper . . . .all fat and carbs.  Mmmmmm.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius"
<adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 06, 2002 1:57 PM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Regional names for common egg dish

Thus sprach Adamantius:
So far, we've got Toad In The [A] Hole, Bunny In The Hole, Eggs In
the Hole, Eggs in a Basket, Eggs In A Frame, Square Eggs, and a
plethora of other cutesy names for a virtually identical dish. Oh,
and then there's Eggs In A Hat, which is the same thing, with a slice
of cheese and ham added near the end of the process... in addition to
the names provided by the kind people of this list.