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The Treasury of White Trash Cooking
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308 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 27, 2022
I've had The Treasury Of White Trash Cooking for quite awhile. I bought it just because the title grabbed my attention and my curiosity. I actually made a couple of the cake and Jello recipes in it. They were like some of the things Mom made when I was a kid in the 1960s (green lime jello with either fruit cocktail, cottage cheese, or shredded carrots), and they were actually quite good! The book evoked a lot of childhood memories.
I have also sat down and read the stories; some of them made me laugh out loud, and some I found over-the-top.
If you're over 50 and grew up in the sticks like I did, you'll find some of these recipes familiar, some interesting, some creative, some still practical, and a few that are downright gross (I won't eat another plate of plain macaroni and tomatoes to this day).
Whether you just read the stories or make some of the recipes, The Treasury Of White Trash Cooking is still worth getting, because you get a glimpse into rural, low-income America; particularly in the Deep South. It wasn't fine dining but we didn't go hungry.
Jeff Foxworthy's standup comic shtick: "You Might Be A Redneck" comes to mind.
Don't get this book thinking it's healthy cooking by today's standards, because much of it isn't.
It's Old-Timey, no frills, simple food, when people cooked with butter, sugar, molasses, peanut butter, marshmallow creme, Real Lime & Real Lemon juice, corn syrup, condensed/evaporated milk, lard, bacon grease, and vegetable shortening through the middle of the 20th century. We never heard of Ramen noodles back then, or we'd have been eating them with Saltine crackers at least twice a week at suppertime.
I wouldn't call those meals "White Trash". These meals were simple, plain, inexpensive, and incorporated yesterday's left-overs with whatever else was at hand. Nothing went to waste. We made do with what we had when we had it.
Those were days when we still used scalding pots, pressure cookers, root cellars, canned and home-cured beef, ham, and bacon. Nearly everything that had a face was fried up in cast iron skillets. When you had company over, a tablecloth was spread over the ironing board and it was placed into service as a buffet or side table.
These recipes were from the era of when self-rising flour and Jello had just become available. The book is worth some of the cookie, cake, & Jello recipes, because with them you could become a star of the next potluck.
I have also sat down and read the stories; some of them made me laugh out loud, and some I found over-the-top.
If you're over 50 and grew up in the sticks like I did, you'll find some of these recipes familiar, some interesting, some creative, some still practical, and a few that are downright gross (I won't eat another plate of plain macaroni and tomatoes to this day).
Whether you just read the stories or make some of the recipes, The Treasury Of White Trash Cooking is still worth getting, because you get a glimpse into rural, low-income America; particularly in the Deep South. It wasn't fine dining but we didn't go hungry.
Jeff Foxworthy's standup comic shtick: "You Might Be A Redneck" comes to mind.
Don't get this book thinking it's healthy cooking by today's standards, because much of it isn't.
It's Old-Timey, no frills, simple food, when people cooked with butter, sugar, molasses, peanut butter, marshmallow creme, Real Lime & Real Lemon juice, corn syrup, condensed/evaporated milk, lard, bacon grease, and vegetable shortening through the middle of the 20th century. We never heard of Ramen noodles back then, or we'd have been eating them with Saltine crackers at least twice a week at suppertime.
I wouldn't call those meals "White Trash". These meals were simple, plain, inexpensive, and incorporated yesterday's left-overs with whatever else was at hand. Nothing went to waste. We made do with what we had when we had it.
Those were days when we still used scalding pots, pressure cookers, root cellars, canned and home-cured beef, ham, and bacon. Nearly everything that had a face was fried up in cast iron skillets. When you had company over, a tablecloth was spread over the ironing board and it was placed into service as a buffet or side table.
These recipes were from the era of when self-rising flour and Jello had just become available. The book is worth some of the cookie, cake, & Jello recipes, because with them you could become a star of the next potluck.
January 9, 2023
Chock full of excellent recipes.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews