*Compiled by Rita Van Amber, originally published in 1986 and Twenty-First Printing in October, 1992.
I remember we ate a lot of potato soup and potato pancakes, The potato soup sometimes was made with water, and dried mushrooms were used to give it more body. Another food that stretched our menu was "cracklings." This was the leftover fat after lard was rendered. They were slightly salted and put into a container for future use. These would then be put in the oven to heat thoroughly and would be served with rye bread or boiled potatoes. The cracklings would sometimes be mixed with flour and baked on a cookie sheet to be eaten as a bread substitute.
Told by: Marie Larson, Rice Lake, WI
"On Water Street in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, was a place called the Brown Derby where they served chicken. They precooked the chicken upstairs and if you climbed the outside stairs at the right time, you could buy the broth the chicken was cooked in. the cost was 5 cents a quart and you brought your own container.
At home noodles were being rolled out. If the quantity called for two eggs and you had only one the extra could be substituted with one egg shell full of water. This mad a good filling meal."
Told by Mrs. Douglas Whinnery, Eau Claire, WI
The neighbor was not so fortunate. A nickel was hard to come by. So the broth had no meat juice or bone in it. A spoon of lard added to seasoned water was the base for her soup.
I worked as a meat department manager from 1928 to 1972 at the Hillmans Pure Foods, one of the largest in Chicago at that time. For thirty-give years I worked as a fireman and a fireman cook. In one of my recipes I used chicken feet. The nails would be cut off and the fat scalded to remove the skin. This would make the best soup with no fat. Also, to make clam chowder, Boston- or New England-style, we would take calf or beef brains, put them in salt water to remove the membrane, and cut them fine to the size of clams. You would never know the difference. My mother would use flour and sugar sacks from the baker to make dresses and shirts.
Told by: William P. Burger
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