Checking out the menu for the Fifth Sunday from the 1913 version of 52 Sunday Dinners and it does not appeal. Looking back at January, however, there's a corn chowder recipe that would hit the spot on this cold, grey, snowy day.
(Let it snow. The water table needs it after the drought this summer).
This part of Illinois had a heavy influx of New England settlers. Unable to get fresh clams for a favorite soup, they weren't ready to give up chowder.
Corn Chowder
2 cups cooked corn cut from cob OR
1 can of corn
1 cup salt pork cubes
1 cup potatoes cut in cubes
1/2 onion sliced
3 cups water
2 cups scalded milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
2/3 cup cracker crumbs
Salt, pepper.
Cut salt pork in one-fourth inch cubes and try out in a frying pan; add onion and cook until yellow. Pare and cut potatoes in one-half inch cubes, parboil five minutes. Add to onion, with corn and water; cover and cook twenty minutes or until potatoes are soft. melt butter in a sauce-pan, add flour, stir to a smooth paste, pour some of the milk on slowly, stirring constantly. Combine mixtures; add crums and seasonings. Serve for dinner in cups or in small "nappies."
There are a number of puzzlers in this recipe, not the least of which is -- what do you do with the rest of the scalded milk?
Oh my, this is a blast from the past! This is the corn chowder my mother made EVERY Friday for supper (no meat on Fridays!). With the "extra" milk, you soak the chowder crackers (crumbs) in it until they are soft. Then you add everything to the pot and heat it up. The crackers were those thick, salt-free crackers that are traditional to New England. I think the Vermont Country Store (which is online now) still carries them.
ReplyDeleteWe called those crackers "jaw breakers". Civil War buffs call them hardtack. In any case, they need a good soaking before eating.
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