More Economy Recipes from 1938

Back in November I had shared a few recipes from the 1938 Watkins Cook Book. I thought I'd share a few more today from the Economy section of the book. This was a few years after The Depression but before World War II, to give you an idea of the time period. People were still being very careful with their money, and I would imagine many were still recovering.

Beef and Bean Stew

Ingredients:

1 cup red kidney beans or lima beans

1 cup canned tomatoes

1 pound round steak on boneless chuck stewing meat

1 finely cut onion

Pepper

Celery Salt

Onion powder

1 ounce salt pork

Wash beans, soak overnight. Cook the pork until the fat is fried out, then remove. Cut the steak into small pieces, brown well in the pork fat. Add the beans, tomatoes and seasoning. Place in a buttered casserole, cover, cook slowly 3 hours.

My Notes: I would use a little seasoned salt instead of the celery salt and onion powder, or a seasoned pepper. If you don't want to buy salt pork, you can use bacon. If you do, I'd chop it and keep it in the beans instead of discarding like the salt pork. I also like to brown my onion in the fat after or before the meat, then add them to the pot.

You can make this in the crock pot easily. Do the same thing but put it on high for 5 or more hours and that should do it.

Potato Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds potatoes

4 eggs, well beaten

1 scant tbsp. salt

2 tbsp. butter, melted

2 tbsp. dry bread crumbs

1/2 cup flour (more if needed)

2 quarts boiling water

1/4 cup minced parsley

Pare and boil the potatoes and put through a ricer. Stir in the beaten eggs, salt and butter. Add bread crumbs, flour. Blend and form into good sized balls. Roll in flour and toss into salted, boiling water. Cover and boil 12 minutes. Serve around meat platter and sprinkle with minced parsley.

Boiled Ham with Vegetables

Shank end of ham

4-5 small potatoes

1 head cabbage, cut into 4 pieces

3 turnips

3-4 whole carrots, sliced

salt

pepper

celery seed or salt

Place the ham in cold water to start, simmer 1 hour, add seasoning. Add the turnips, cook 15 minutes; add potatoes, cabbage, carrots and cook 30 minutes.

My Notes: I personally would use a leftover ham with the bone-in. I do this when I cook a bone-in ham for Sunday dinner. We eat the one meal, and there is still a lot of ham on the bone. I put it in the crock pot with the vegetables, cover with water, and cook it all day on high. 4-5 hours on high will work too. I serve it in bowls with a little bit of the vegetables with some of the ham in each serving.

Mexican Luncheon Dish

Ingredients:

1 pound lean lamb or other meat

2 tbsp. fat

2 onions

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes

3/4 tsp. chili powder

pepper

hot cooked rice

Brown the meat in hot fat/oil with the onions that have been chopped. Add the tomatoes, seasoning, a little water, and cover. Cook slowly until the meat is tender. Serve with the hot rice.

My notes: I haven't made this but my first thought is to replace part of the tomatoes with salsa. I think it would be good with cubed steak or ground chuck too.

Swiss Steak

Ingredients:

2 inch thick round steak

2 tbsp. bacon fat

2 medium onions, sliced thinly

4 medium carrots diced

1 can tomato soup

3 or 4 potatoes

salt

pepper

Season the steak with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with flour and pound into the steaks. Sear the meat in hot fat, place in roaster, pour over the can of soup and simmer for one hour. Cover the meat with the vegetables. Cover. Cook another hour. Remove the meat and vegetables to a platter. Add a little flour to make a gravy with juices. Serve with gravy.

My Notes: I think I would make this in a large skillet with a lid, rather than a roaster. I also would saute the onions in the skillet with the meat before adding the soup.

Rice is a great pantry staple; we have tips and recipes on OFL:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/rice.html