I Have Random Thoughts
Summer is in full swing and millions of people will soon be traveling along the highways and interstates of our nation. While they travel it will be necessary to stop for meals. More than likely the stops will be at restaurants right off the interstate, most of which are chain restaurants. Menus will be loaded with items promised as "home cooking or better yet country something".
Some of the food will be pretty good and may even resemble "country" cooking a little but make no mistake, the closest to country any will be is the scene along the road leading to the restaurant. My great grandmother was a real country cook. Her pantry was limited, no boxes anywhere. She had a large metal can that held fifty pounds of flour, from which biscuits were made every day. She never consulted a recipe, the information was in her head.
If any "canned" goods were served they came from a jar that SHE canned but most vegetables were fresh when in season. If she made fried chicken, which she did often, it did NOT come in a bucket, nor did she take it out of the refrigerator wrapped in plastic on a Styrofoam tray. Cooks in those days not only cut it up themselves but had to pluck it first.
My mother made chicken fried steak. She did NOT buy it at the supermarket prepared and tenderized, she used round steak and proceeded to pound it like it owed her money, until it was finally tender enough to fry. There was no microwave, crock pot, or steamer, but there was a stove with 4 burners and an oven. On the stove burners you would find an assortment of cast iron skillets or aluminum sauce pans.
Most women of the era were stay at home moms, but that didn't mean they didn't work. They cooked for hungry families from scratch, washed clothes that had to be hung out on the line and scrubbed floors. If there was any spare time, they made clothes, put up food for the winter and taught their kids respect.
I am not sure how we survived. We had no infant car seats for traveling safely, in fact we didn't even have seat belts. The house had no air conditioning, which made it pretty hot when baking bread when it was 102 outside. Maybe that was why kids stayed outside, it was cooler.
Some of the food will be pretty good and may even resemble "country" cooking a little but make no mistake, the closest to country any will be is the scene along the road leading to the restaurant. My great grandmother was a real country cook. Her pantry was limited, no boxes anywhere. She had a large metal can that held fifty pounds of flour, from which biscuits were made every day. She never consulted a recipe, the information was in her head.
If any "canned" goods were served they came from a jar that SHE canned but most vegetables were fresh when in season. If she made fried chicken, which she did often, it did NOT come in a bucket, nor did she take it out of the refrigerator wrapped in plastic on a Styrofoam tray. Cooks in those days not only cut it up themselves but had to pluck it first.
My mother made chicken fried steak. She did NOT buy it at the supermarket prepared and tenderized, she used round steak and proceeded to pound it like it owed her money, until it was finally tender enough to fry. There was no microwave, crock pot, or steamer, but there was a stove with 4 burners and an oven. On the stove burners you would find an assortment of cast iron skillets or aluminum sauce pans.
Most women of the era were stay at home moms, but that didn't mean they didn't work. They cooked for hungry families from scratch, washed clothes that had to be hung out on the line and scrubbed floors. If there was any spare time, they made clothes, put up food for the winter and taught their kids respect.
I am not sure how we survived. We had no infant car seats for traveling safely, in fact we didn't even have seat belts. The house had no air conditioning, which made it pretty hot when baking bread when it was 102 outside. Maybe that was why kids stayed outside, it was cooler.
