A bunch of the most delicious recipes sort of invented themselves by pure necessity, you know. When people ran low on certain ingredients, they just scraped together whatever was hiding in their larders, so they could still serve bread or maybe cake on the table. Meanwhile, inventive wartime cooks mixed up their ration supplies with a bit of imagination and somehow made meals that were actually tasty, and each tiny scrap of food stretched as far as possible, somehow. These are a few of the best dishes that came out of hardship and are now basically go-to favorites.
Egg drop soup
In 1930s America, families found eggs to be a pretty valuable source of protein since meat was too expensive for many. Egg drop soup, which is a simple twist on a Chinese recipe, almost sounds fancy, but chefs prized it for being easy and fairly inexpensive. So, cooks made it a staple in both regular homes and soup kitchens during the Great Depression, kind of quietly everywhere. The soup starts with potatoes and onions, cooks them until gently browned, just to build up flavour, then chefs add water and seasonings to make a broth. After the potatoes soften and sort of fall apart, cooks crack in eggs and lightly scramble them, which gives the soup its body and texture. And even nearly a hundred years later, it still feels soothing and satisfying, the same way.
Liver mush
Livermush has a pretty aptly descriptive kind of name, since it’s basically pig livers, snouts, and ears, along with cornmeal and a mix of spices—all mushed up together kind of messily. It’s also deeply woven into North Carolinian culture, and most times, cooks fry it and serve it as a breakfast side, or people eat it cold right between slices of bread, no fuss. Historians think it likely began with German settlers who traveled through the Appalachians back in the 1700s. During the Great Depression, people even called livermush the “poor man’s pâté,” as a stand-in for meat that was simply tougher to afford.
Funeral potatoes
Funeral potatoes is this kind of comforting casserole style dish that came out of the Mormon communities in Utah and yeah Mormon women mostly put it together, and then they served it to grieving families after funerals, sort of like a quiet help. It ’s full of those comfort food main stays—potatoes, soup, sour cream, butter, and cheese—and then they finish it with a crunchy cornflake layer. The whole lineup of ingredients really worked out during World War II too, because they stayed useful for a long time and they were easy to keep on hand, especially in a culture where having a well-stocked pantry was kind of expected, always.
The poor man’s meal
During the Great Depression, hot dogs and potatoes were relatively plentiful, and they also kept pretty well, so they turned into everyday staples in a lot of dishes that came from plain old necessity across the USA. The poor man’s supper was simple, still tasty and filling really; it usually consisted of fried potatoes and onions, and then sliced hot dogs on top. It’s a bit like breakfast hash ideas, which people still eat and yeah people still crave them today.
Cape Cod turkey
The name is probably not a giveaway at all. Cape Cod turkey doesn’t have that much as a turkey thigh, or even a little scrap of white meat. It’s really salt cod in a creamy sauce, and then someone tops it with boiled eggs and potatoes, kinda simple. The origin of the name isn’t known for certain, though one widely told theory says they served it around Thanksgiving, when early New England settlers had not much to work with besides fish and such.
Wacky cake
Also known less breezily as a “chocolate Depression cake,” the wacky cake came from a total shortage of the usual baking essentials like butter and eggs, but somehow this odd sort of solution actually works. The dry mix (flour, sugar, baking soda, and, if you’ve got it, cocoa powder) goes straight into the pan, then you pour vegetable oil and vinegar into little wells. The baking soda and vinegar sort of “meet” while it’s in the oven, helping the whole thing puff up and bake up nicely. Now, since vegan recipes are showing up everywhere, this cake doesn’t feel quite so wacky anymore, not really.
City chicken
Chicken cost way more in the early years of the 20th century, and people talked about it like it was kinda fancy luxury meat. So it’s maybe not too surprising that city chicken, the kind that folks in town loved, especially urban workers in cities like Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Louisville, contains absolutely no chicken at all. You get cubes of pork (or sometimes veal) on skewers, and then someone fries or bakes them, so you end up with this straightforward, filling bite. It kind of slipped out of favour, naturally, once chicken became more widely available.
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