[Sca-cooks] OOP: Query on Steak Smothered In Onions...

Kathleen A Roberts karobert at unm.edu
Fri Aug 25 09:11:26 PDT 2006


On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 11:42:05 -0400
  "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" 
<adamantius.magister at verizon.net> wrote:

> Yes, but this is exactly what I think I've been looking 
>for. They may  
> have been interesting, but there's a good chance a WWII 
>army cook  
> would at least know (if not always be able to practice 
>in an  
> industrial setting) 

oh, no experience, no culinary training, just the guy that 
did the cooking for the rest of the soldiers in camp.
  
> Thick? Thin? Pounded? Flour? Not that I'm being 
>obsessive here or  
> anything...
> 

relatively thin.  we used to get these almost 10" x 12" x 
(looks at ruler) 1/2" slabs of round from the 
grocer/butcher.  i remember a lot of surface but not a lot 
of height.

no pounding or breading.  (that was what was done to what 
we called swiss steak... same way of cooking only with 
some crushed tomatoes thrown in)  oh, and paprika with the 
s and p.  we put paprika in everything!

he cut it into about 4 or 5 pieces before he fried it.

> 
> So, in theory, there's no gravy to speak of, other than 
>the softened  
> onions and a little bit of juice, eh?

exactly.  how much juice depended on whether it was for 
sammiches (lots of juice) or plate use.
i used to put my onions on top of the mashed potatoes as 
well.

> I used to love canned peas when I was a kid; 

we only used canned anything... or fresh.  frozen veg 
didn't come into our house until mid late 70s, alto TV 
dinners were popular mid 60's and especially after my mom 
died. just easier until i learned how to cook.

> 
> My pleasure. It's probably the fact that I don't have 
>any strong  
> memories of this from my own childhood, 

i remember a lot.  a rather eclectic mix of depression 
mentality, ethnic (hungarian/german), simple food and 
tradition (you HAD to have such and such at a certain 
holiday).  never really learned to cook at mom's side, 
just stuff i picked up watching and absorbing.

i remember being awestuck when i saw my aunt slice 2 hot 
dogs partially down the middle, fry them in a pan, and 
place them on sliced bread like a sandwich.  i had always 
thought they had to be boilded (or grilled at crab feasts) 
and either put on a bun or you wrapped the piece of bread 
around the whole single dog.  it was like divine 
revelation! 8)

and this legacy is why i am getting such a kick out of 
'dining on asphalt'.

cailte
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which 
sustained him through temporary periods of joy."
W. B. Yeats
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathleen Roberts
University of New Mexico
Office of Freshman Admissions
Administrative Asst. III
505-925-9590


More information about the Sca-cooks mailing list