HUNGRY GERALD

When HG was growing up in The Bronx during the Great Depression, nothing was ever wasted. All left over vegetables and their peelings, etc. went into an improvised soup that HG’s mom enriched with meat and chicken scraps and their flavorful bones. Left over fish was chopped with onions and celery (plus Hellman’s Mayonnaise) to become fish salad. Stale challah (egg bread) was used for very good French toast. Stale rye and pumpernickel (White bread of the Wonder and Silvercup variety had no place in Mom’s kitchen) got the roller pin treatment to make breadcrumbs (no food processors in those days). Fruit past its prime was mixed with dried prunes and cinnamon. Then stewed into an acceptable dessert fruit compote. Little HG looked forward to Mom’s treatment of left over boiled (or mashed) potatoes. They were mixed with fried onion and beaten eggs, formed into pancakes, fried to a crisp and devoured (happily) with sour cream and black pepper. Last night, BSK made smashed potatoes — boiled Prince Edward Island potatoes chopped roughly with scallions and hot chicken broth. On this rainy afternoon, HG found the left overs in the fridge. Mixed them with a beaten egg. Formed them into little patties and fried them in corn oil. Dusted them with sea salt and smoked pepper. Greek yogurt accompanied. HG was a kid again.

Following yesterday’s posting, Hungry Gerald followers have expressed curiosity about the cuisine in the tiny, cramped, non-air conditioned Rockaway rooming house occupied by HG’s family during the steamy summers of the Great Depression. Sour cream (smetenya, HG’s Mom called it, harking back to her Belorussian roots), was the basic foodstuff. Big spoonfuls were mixed into Mom’s cold and flavorful beet borscht and sorrel soup (schav). Main dish at many dinners was simply a bowl of boiled potatoes with sour cream. The family also ate bowls of sour cream with chopped radishes, scallions and cucumbers. Sour cream adorned Mom’s blintzes (crepes stuffed with pot cheese or peppery mashed potatoes). Sour cream was served with kasha varneshkes (buckwheat groats and butterfly pasta). Best of all were bowls of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries adorned with sour cream. Meat didn’t play a big role in the Rockaway diet (except for salami and eggs in a pancake style). Lots of fried flounder. Mom dipped the fish in beaten egg and rolled them in bread crumbs before popping them into an pan of sizzling Crisco. This was served with Mueller’s Spaghetti and Mom’s very rudimentary tomato sauce (HG loved it). Tuna and sardine salads were basics. A truck manned by a Long Island farmer pulled up on the Rockaway block daily loaded with fresh tomatoes, lettuce and seasonal vegetables. Fortunately, he always had a load of just picked corn and HG managed to eat a ton of it dripping with butter. The drink was always beer fetched at the beginning of dinner from Reidy’s Saloon on the corner (in later years, HG had an Abie’s Irish Rose romance with the proprietor’s lovely daughter). Yes, HG (at the age of six) drank beer with his elders. It was considered a healthy drink unlike the sugary sodas that were not allowed on the HG table. HG had a joyous errand at the end of dinner. It was his job to get a quart of ice cream (35 cents) at Barney’s Ice Cream Parlor. This was hand churned deliciousness that Barney scooped into a container. HG had to race back home with the ice cream before it melted. Anticipation gave the little fellow winged feet.