Food

I have no idea why this morning the topic of food is on my mind but it is. I usually walk out the door with a couple of apples and a couple of bananas in my hand and that is my food for the day. I fly a desk I don’t need much. This morning I was not able to take my usual as we were out of the apples. So I grabbed the two bananas and off I went. After being at work for an hour or so I needed something. So off I go to the cafeteria and grab a bacon, egg toast sandwich. Well worth the walk, it hit the spot.
It occurred to me that there were good things in my youth, contrary to what might be inferred by my postings. God knows there were many not so good things as evident by the general attitude of the family members.
Food is one of those things that were generally done well. It was not an easy task to cook for a dozen people so meals were prepared “restraint” style. The primary cook for years was my dad. He had meals preparation down to a fine art. He was the person I learned to crack eggs with one had from. He was the one who taught me the importance about having the “right” pan for the job. He had an egg pan that was only used for eggs. It was older than dirt but a dab of butter and you could cook any egg in the world in it. He was the one who told me of the importance of cast iron for cook. The heat was more even in cast iron pans and after being “seasoned” the pans lasted forever. My dad’s meals were simple. His meals were filling. His meals were good. To this day I remember the winter breakfast meals. He would come home from delivering papers or cleaning bar rooms and get the breakfast prep going. Some mornings it would be oatmeal, others it would be cream of wheat, others it would be hot chocolate and English muffins. From my dad I learned that English muffins should be toasted on a griddle, not in a toaster. He would prepare a couple dozen at a time and put them in a big stew pot. At the bottom of the pot was a deep plate placed upside down and water about a half inch deep on the bottom. Water was heated, steam was made, English muffins were always warm and fresh. Mind you we often got “day old” English muffins but you could not tell. The hot cocoa was made from scratch. It started with the Nestle unsweetened cocoa powder, milk, a little vanilla extract and sugar.
His method of cooking was to the untrained eye untrained, low skill. To the trained eye he knew what a teaspoon of this or that looked like. He knew what a cup of this or that looked like. He knew what the right consistence of a mix was to be. He had the official “tools” but he knew well how to use the simple tools. Like a carpenter. The best saw in the hands of an unskilled operator never produces the same results as a simple saw in the hands of a master.
The meals were simple. Macaroni and cheese, from scratch. Scalloped potatoes from scratch, Swiss steak from scratch. Soups and chowders from scratch. The meals required lots of work. I remember peeling 5 then 10, then 20 pounds of potatoes at a time. I remember the big pots with used for the potato salad or the long deep pans used for the scalloped potatoes. We had good meals, often simple but good. During the summer there would be the barbeques fresh corn, on occasion steak, hot dogs and such. Again always good.
My mom did cook on occasion. Spaghetti sauce was her recipe of choice. The amount of time she spent in the kitchen was not as much as my dad’s but as we all got older her time in the kitchen increased and his time decreased. Today she does most of the cooking and has become quite skilled at it as well.
As I commented in a previous posting on this blog meal times we not like those seen on the Walton’s TV show. The issues, emotions and personalities and the food were two different things. The time, effort and genuine concern that meals we good tasting, good for you and there was a good quantity was always apparent. There were things done right in my youth, meal preparation was often one of them.