Monday, January 23, 2012

Poor People Food

I grew up pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  We were not very well off with money so we ate a lot of "poor people food".  We raised a large vegetable garden every year.  We always had lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, green onions and green beans.  Shame I did not care much for them in my younger days as I'd love the opportunity to have that kind of fresh food now.

I'm fond of telling people when I was growing up, "If we did not shoot it or raise it we did not eat it for the most part".  That is a small exaggeration but the majority of our food came from my mother's garden or the results of my father's days spent in the woods.  We would have bacon all the time (when we had electricity and a refrigerator) and a beef roast once in a while but the biggest source of animal protein was what my dad killed and brought home.   After about the age of ten I was able to supplement the larder with my own hunting results.  I was never much of a good hunter but I did love being out in the woods by myself.  Of course, I loved being anywhere my parents were not and being by myself.

We had quail, pheasant, grouse, rabbits, ground hogs, rabbits and squirrels.  The fowl portion of this list was quite a rare treat as was most everything except rabbits and squirrels.  Squirrel was the most prominent protein in my diet.  Well, except for bacon.  I loved bacon then and I love bacon now.  I could just about give up meat all together if it were not for bacon.

We would eat squirrel any time of day though my very favorite was for breakfast.   Cook some squirrels up and make gravy over them.  Have a big pan of hot, home made biscuits to sop up the gravy and it was heaven. 

There were a lot of hunters who would not skin out the squirrel heads as they are kind of tedious to clean but that was my very favorite part of the squirrel and my whole family (those who skinned them anyway) always took the trouble to skin out the heads.

Now, there is not much meat on a squirrel head but the amount there is happens to be the best of it all.  There was a little bite on each cheek and pull the bottom jaw off and grab the tongue.  That was great as well.  But the very best part was the brain.  If you put two fingers in the eye sockets and pulled p the whole top of the head would come off and leave the brain undamaged.  Just pop it out and slurp it down.   Some of the best eating in the world.

When we lived in West Van Lear (1961-1967) there was not much hunting opportunity so the only time we really got squirrel was when dad would catch the passenger train down to Patrick and walk from there to my grandparent's house.  Imagine that now!  Man getting on a train carrying a shotgun and two pistols.  My, how times have changed.

But he (or someone) would clean all the squirrels he killed and cut them up and put them in canning jars with salt water for him to bring home.  Even when we had them fresh my mother would generally soak them over night in salt water before cooking them.

I was never much of a good squirrel hunter.  But I generally could scare up a rabbit or two.  If  you get some young squirrels and young rabbits and fry them up together you really can't tell which one is which by the flavor.  Dredge in flour, a little salt and put in hot bacon grease.  Everything tastes better with bacon grease. 

We used it for frying and for seasoning vegetables.  I guess it was mostly beans.  Our kettles (I cannot get used to calling them pots) of beans always had a big hunk of bacon grease and a few strips of bacon in them.  Both green beans and pinto beans (soup beans) were treated this way.  And would have a big pone of cornbread (also made with bacon grease) to eat with them.  Cut up some green onions and have some killed lettuce.... It might kill  me now to eat that but I'd just about kill to get it.

In the Spring I'd go with my mother along the roads as she would look for wild greens to pick for us to eat.  I can't really remember any of them except for young polk.  (Poke Salad)  But I know there were several plants she'd add to her bag.  I did not like any of them as a kid though.   I was a carnivore and did not want anything much that was not meat of one kind or another.  I'd love to be able to try them again now with the way my tastes have changed.

When the garden crops started ripening enough where we could not eat it all fresh my mother and grandmother would spend days picking and canning them.  I got the privilege of chopping cabbage for kraut with a little hand chopper.  What fun.  But when winter came we'd have a cellar full of sauer kraut, tomatoes, pickled beans and various other things as well as a big bin of "Irish" potatoes.  It was pronounced "Arsh" potatoes.  Sometimes we'd have turnips and there were often cans of pickled beets.  Up on the wall of the building by the old bard the back was covered with nails and we'd gather all the mature onions and tie the stems together and hang them over those nails.

And, if you happened to raise hogs the morning after a "hog killing" was one of the best mornings of the year.  If you have not eaten pork that was not walking around the day before you have not really eaten pork.  Fresh tenderloin, chops and eggs with gravy and home made biscuits and home made jams and jellies and apple butter.  Some of the best eating in the world.

Then on Sunday we'd have a fried chicken or chicken and dumplings.  When we lived at Nat's Creek it was kill your own chicken and when that one big, red rooster got turned into chicken and dumplings I was happy as a lark.  I hated that thing.  I was afraid to go out of the house if he was in sight.  When we lived in West Van Lear my dad would give me a dollar to go to Vic Conley's grocery and buy a chicken that cost no more than that.  I'd bring it back and my mother would cut it up and fry it in a big, cast iron skillet.  Best chicken in the world is simple flour dredge in bacon grease and a cast iron skillet.

Fried chicken, greens, garden vegetables and things you kill to toss in the pot.  I see most of the time you find this any more  it is called "Soul Food".  But to me it does not matter what your skin color is that was just "Poor People Food".  I guess mostly poor Southern people but still.  When you did not have a lot of money you ate what would fill your belly be you white, black or purple with yellow polkadots.   Poor people all ate the same things all over the world.  Now, what we ate out of necessity is the kind of food people pay a premium price to have in a restaurant. 

There a lot more memories for me associated with food I had while growing up but I've gone on long enough for today.  I'll delve more deeply into this subject at some later time.

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