There was no TV watching during meal time...we didn't have one. There was little or no talking except for please pass the gravy or from Dad, "Sue, eat your okra." Boiled okra was the one thing I could not even look at much less eat. I would wash dishes every night for the next kabillion years to not have to eat that snotty, slimey stuff. Which I did...wash dishes forever...after spewing the slime all over the dinner table.
Mother's kitchen was a Waste Not...PayDay's a Week Away kinda kitchen. She could stretch a 'Fryer' farther than the road from here to Dallas...and that was a long way from our kitchen. Fried Chicken was a Sunday Special with mashed potatoes and cream gravy, corn bread and banana pudding. Every item on that menu was a result of some part of that Stretched Fryer...except for the pudding. If you are from that era of 'Waste Not...Want Not' then you know what I'm talkin' about.
For instance...The Fryer...it was the Whole Chicken...bagged with skin, layers of globby fat and guts...pretty much everything but the head, feet and feathers. I know you are dying to know how I know so much about Fryers. Let's just say, I was the butcher! I can still hear Mama sayin', "Sue, you are butcherin' that Fryer. Pick it up off the floor and hold onto the leg. It's a knife, not a saw...here's a bandaid!"
"layers of globby fat and guts" - you make it sound so attractive! Eeewwww. Parties always end up in the kitchen around here - it's just the way of things :)
ReplyDeleteTasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
Hi Sue .. we were waste not want not too .. but thankfully we were not subjected to 'layers of gobby fat and guts'!! The kitchens always seem to be the gathering places ... though ours weren't that conducive to eating in - we did as a family .. but with guests we'd have spread out ... once my mother moved to Cornwall then .. the kitchen was the gathering place - as too in many homes.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you've still got all your limbs today! And I bet the fryer isn't on the menu too much .. cheers Hilary
"Waste not - want not" was my mother's favorite saying. She also loved okra but never cooked it herself so I managed to avoid that slimy stuff unless someone slipped it into soup.
ReplyDeleteNo okra in our Northeast home. But my mom liked lima beans. Ugh. I had to eat 4. No pushing around the plate or hiding them. Otherwise, our kitchen was a no TV zone too. Conversation lit up the meals.
ReplyDeleteWe had a neighborhood butcher growing up. The chicken was already dead and plucked. I am pretty sure it was gutted but still somewhat whole. I would watch, in fascination, as the butcher cut away the feet and the head. Then the fun started, as the butcher would try to sneak parts on the scale that my Mom didn't want and "Mom" would catch him. All was well at the end, when the cut up chicken would be wrapped in butcher paper. Mom would then make the most delicious dish by putting the skin in a frying pan, with lots of onions. The skin would render out its fat and become so crispy and then there were the onions! And yes, TV during meals was forbidden. Alana - ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDelete