It remains one of my favorite comfort foods: dark brown toast with hot milk poured over, a bit of salt and pepper and a pat of butter.
Uncle Jim called it 'graveyard stew' because, he said it was what they fed dying people. In the days before Ensure and such high calorie full nutition drinks were invented, finding suitable foods to tempt a patient was sometimes difficult.
Even now, the sweetness of canned diet supplements are a constant complaint of patients.
I was visiting Mrs. Bessie, who was 94 years old. Her daughter prepared something she called cornmeal gruel. "What does it taste like?" I asked. "Liquid chicken dressing," was the answer and the recipe was simple: a couple spoonfuls of cornmeal stirred into a cup of chicken broth, cook and stir until thickened.
I went home and made gruel for supper, adding poultry seasoning so it would taste more like real chicken dressing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Daddy always made us warm 'milk toast' when we were ailing. He would add a bit of sugar when Mama wasn't looking :)
Rick eats milk toast when he's feeling ill. It would turn my stomach to think of it if I were feeling ill.
MeMo
Putting sugar on milk toast would make me feel ill.
Reminds me of Mama's story about Uncle Jim putting sugar on his egg. Their mother told him he wouldn't like it, and he insisted. He took one bite and said, "Oh, it's just so good I'm going to save it for Sister."
Post a Comment