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Printable recipe below! Join us as we relive the hard times of the Great Depression and some of the simple recipes those tough folks would have cooked.
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Printable Recipe: https://kentrollins.com/blogs/pork/salt-pork-stew
https://kentrollins.com/blogs/dessert/rice-pudding
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0:00
[Music]
0:08
Back in the 1930s, folks across America
0:11
were facing the hardest times this
0:13
country's ever seen. The Great
0:15
Depression had hit. The Dust Bowl rolled
0:18
through places like Oklahoma and Texas,
0:20
and a hot meal could mean the difference
0:22
between going hungry and holding on. So,
0:25
we're stepping back in time. And believe
0:27
me, them times was hard because I heard
0:29
all them stories from them old-timers
0:30
that went through the dust bowl in the
0:32
depression. And we're fixing two simple
0:34
dishes today that they probably had a
0:36
salt pork stew and for dessert, rice
0:39
pudding.
0:51
[Music]
1:07
[Music]
1:15
In 1929, the stock market crashed and
1:18
money was gone overnight. And in 1932,
1:22
the great drought had hit and the winds
1:24
had blowed and people had been
1:26
overplowing for years and the dust bowl
1:28
was amongst us. Farm wives became some
1:31
of the most resourceful cooks this
1:33
country's ever seen. They had trade
1:35
recipes through letters and newspapers
1:37
like the household search light recipe
1:39
book out of Kansas, sharing ideals for
1:42
stretching every scrap of food.
1:44
Government pamphlets taught families how
1:46
to reuse bacon grease, dry beans for
1:48
storage, and even bull wild weeds like
1:51
lamb quarters just to get a few greens
1:53
on the table. They had a saying back
1:55
then, use it up, wear it out, make it
1:58
do, or do without. And that's exactly
2:01
what they did. It wasn't just food that
2:03
kept them alive. It was the spirit of
2:05
forgiveness and the belief that tomorrow
2:07
night might just be a little better than
2:09
today. Now, I've heard these stories all
2:11
my life from the old-timers that I knew
2:13
that went through the depression and the
2:15
dust bowl. Now, Oklahoma got hit just as
2:18
bad as the Texas, and some of the
2:20
panhandle up there was even worse. But
2:22
these people figured it out. They had
2:24
true grit because that grit not only got
2:26
in their teeth, it got in their heart
2:27
and soul. And supper, while it might be
2:30
anything you could catch or put in the
2:32
pot. Salt pork stew. Now, a lot of y'all
2:35
may not even know what salt pork is.
2:38
Now, it's really just the rind of the
2:39
hog there with a little meat on it that
2:41
was cured in salt. And a lot of people
2:44
back then had smokeous. They cured their
2:46
own meat. So, salt pork might have been
2:48
readily available. And I know on the
2:50
wagon for an old cook, he had a lot of
2:52
salt pork. But start this recipe out.
2:55
And you can use any bean you want. But
2:57
today, we are using limema bean. Now,
3:02
you can get canned beans if you want to
3:04
do this a little quicker and just pour
3:05
them in there. But we soaked these
3:07
limema beans about probably an hour and
3:09
a half. We're going to put them on the
3:10
fire. No seasoning at all because when
3:13
we get the salt pork over there and go
3:15
to cooking it, remember the name salt
3:17
pork. We're going to get some of that
3:19
fat that's rendered down, make a gravy
3:21
and a sauce that goes in this. So there
3:23
will be no seasoning in this itself. If
3:25
you wait, I'll meet you right over at
3:27
the fire.
3:35
salt pork. You can see it looks a lot
3:38
like bacon in a way, but there's a lot
3:41
more rind on this than there is meat. I
3:44
want to get this salt sort of rinsed off
3:45
of it a little. So, I always like to
3:48
give it a quick rinse. It's still going
3:50
to be cured with salt, so there's going
3:52
to be a salty taste, but we're going to
3:54
rinse it off to get some of that off the
3:56
outside edges. And then we're just going
3:58
to chunk it, throw it in a cast iron
4:00
skillet, and render it down.
4:24
Well, carrots in there, onion, red skin
4:28
potatoes. them little beans have got
4:31
about I'd say three4s tender to where we
4:33
want them. Still no seasoning yet. Okay,
4:37
salt pork. We just got to let it cook
4:39
over here and render down cuz we need
4:41
some of that fat that's going to melt
4:43
out of there just so we can make this
4:45
sauce that goes in there cuz we'll drain
4:47
the water off this. The sauce will
4:49
become what is the base and the stock
4:52
for the best soup and stew you ever had.
5:00
[Music]
5:11
perfect doneness here on this salt pork.
5:14
You want it good and crispy. So, we're
5:17
going to get it out of that grease. Use
5:19
you a slotted spoon, whatever you got.
5:21
But we want to make sure all them
5:22
dripping stay in there because that is
5:24
the magic stuff right there. Get them
5:27
all out here on a plate.
5:34
It's pretty, I'll tell you. To me, sort
5:36
of first glance at it, you think them
5:38
fried ters? No, that is fried salt pork
5:41
that is rendered down all these good
5:43
drippings in here. That is going to make
5:46
some of the best sauce you ever seen in
5:48
your life. Going to let that grease cool
5:50
just a bit. Time to make some gravy. You
5:53
want to sift that flour in here.
5:56
Get you a flat spatula because you want
5:58
to mash all that flour in there.
6:02
We sort of get it like we want it. We'll
6:04
take it back over there to the fire to
6:06
where we can cook this down a little.
6:08
Little more flour.
6:11
Get her mashed down in there again. You
6:13
know, most time when you're making
6:15
gravy, and you see me make it a lot,
6:17
canned milk, cream, milk back then. Hey,
6:21
there was a lot of water gravy made
6:23
because old milk cow, she might have
6:25
done passed on during hard times. But
6:27
I'll meet y'all back at the fire cuz
6:29
we're going to thicken this up before we
6:31
add any water to it.
6:34
[Music]
6:41
Got our vegetables going right there.
6:44
Going to make this gravy. Try to put it
6:46
together cuz we got a family to feed.
6:48
We're going to let this get a little
6:50
thicker. Going to add just a tad more
6:53
flour.
6:54
Sifter on in there.
6:59
There we go. Now things is beginning to
7:01
happen a little. Try to knock them lumps
7:04
out of it if you get a chance. As my
7:06
grandmother used to say so many times
7:08
again, it's bad when you got a sift
7:10
gravy and it's got too many lumps in it.
7:13
But back then, I think a lump of gravy
7:16
might have went a long way.
7:18
[Music]
7:24
Well, beginning to thicken up it is.
7:29
So, we're going to add some water. How
7:31
much? I can't give you that amount
7:33
either. just till we can make it work to
7:35
where it's a good sauce.
7:40
And as that cold water hits it, it'll
7:42
begin to lump up if it gets a chance.
7:44
And this has, just keep stirring. I
7:47
ain't never seen a batch we couldn't
7:49
save. Might have to get the cheese
7:51
grater out and run it on there a time or
7:52
two. But hey, we're going to make us
7:54
some gravy. Now, when you're making
7:56
this, remember, we got to pour it over
7:59
all of that. So, we need it to be more
8:03
than a cup full.
8:06
And it's getting a little smoother. Got
8:08
a few lumps in it, but we'll see if we
8:10
can knock them out.
8:14
We're going to keep stirring this. And
8:16
it's about the right thickness. It is.
8:18
We're going to give a little taste right
8:19
here cuz I know it's going to need some
8:21
black pepper.
8:25
I'd eat that every day.
8:28
There's such a unique flavor to me that
8:30
salt pork brings out. And we'll have to
8:32
when we get this mixed together, we'll
8:34
have to add some more water as this is
8:36
cooking. So, this is good. I'm going to
8:39
set this off the fire to where I can
8:41
drain all the water and stuff off them
8:44
beans, and we'll start over.
8:47
Before refrigeration, salt was the
8:49
cowboys and the farmer's best friend.
8:51
Salt pork was cured so heavy with salt
8:53
that it could last for months in a
8:55
cellar or a smokehouse. During the
8:57
depression, butchers would often sell
8:59
trimmings, cheap ends of pork belly, but
9:01
sometimes just rind and fat. And folks
9:04
would stretch that into a stew that'd
9:05
feed a family. Salt pork wasn't new to
9:08
hardship. It was a Civil War ration, a
9:10
staple on sailing ships, and a trail
9:13
provision long before the depression.
9:15
Flyer was currency. Many general stores
9:18
ran barter boards. Folks could trade
9:20
eggs or butter for a sack of flour or
9:22
salt pork. Nothing went to waste. Even
9:25
the pork rind was rendered down for lark
9:27
used for biscuits, soap or lampo.
9:30
[Music]
9:48
Done deal. Salt pork stew. Now, let's
9:52
just go back in time and try to be
9:54
transformed back to this old old
9:56
farmhouse. Dirt blowed all up against
9:59
it. It is three kids, the wife, the
10:02
husband, and they're all sitting there
10:04
overalls, dirty as they can be. And she
10:07
brings this little pot out and sets it
10:09
there of salt pork stew. And you look
10:11
across the table and everything and the
10:13
kids begin to smile and they know they
10:16
have done something good today. Because
10:18
simplicity of what food they had on hand
10:22
to make it taste the best that they
10:23
could in the times that were so hard
10:26
didn't only just fill their stomach, it
10:28
filled their spirit. There was more
10:29
morale. They knew they could make it one
10:31
more day. These people were one of the
10:33
greatest generations that ever lived to
10:35
me and the toughest. Now, I haven't
10:37
never made this or tried it. Got to get
10:40
a carrot in there. One potato.
10:54
The crunch you get from that salt pork.
10:56
And remember, we added no salt to this
10:58
at all. It is right on the money, folks.
11:01
Everything is so good. It's just a
11:04
flavor that I really can't describe as
11:06
well. maybe like bacon grease gravy and
11:11
you add it to your soup. That's what it
11:13
sort of tastes like. But the little
11:14
crunch of the pork rind that's rendered
11:16
down to me, that is solid gold right
11:19
there. Cuz remember, hard times were
11:21
there. There might not have been a lot
11:22
of meat, but salt pork was pretty cheap
11:25
and sometimes readily on hand if they
11:27
had some left. So add it to this, make
11:29
it a meal, they'll bless it, they'll
11:31
make it tomorrow. Now, this is a story
11:33
that my dad relayed to me so many times
11:35
when the dirt would go to blowing after
11:37
I was 15, 16 years old. He said, "I hope
11:39
it don't turn out like the Dust Bowl."
11:41
He said, "Because them days was hard and
11:43
they was long." He said the first time
11:45
they seen one of them old black clouds
11:47
coming up, they thought maybe it was a
11:48
tornado, but he said the cloud just
11:50
rolled and rolled further and further up
11:52
in the sky. And he said it got dark at
11:55
3:00 in the afternoon. And he said it
11:57
wasn't rain. It wasn't a storm. It was
11:59
just a black wall of dirt that come
12:01
rolling in. And it didn't just last one
12:04
day. It went on seemed like forever.
12:07
They lived in it. They scratched out of
12:09
living in it. And they fought it every
12:11
day just to survive. He said his mother
12:13
would come in there late at night and
12:15
put a wet cup towel around him and his
12:17
twin sister's face just to keep the dirt
12:19
off of them. And he said the next
12:21
morning, the cracks in the wall in that
12:23
old bedroom that they were sleeping in,
12:25
you could see the lines of dirt
12:26
perfectly across the sheet that was
12:28
laying on top of them. The dust would
12:30
get so thick that they had light a
12:32
lantern in the house 2 or 3:00 in the
12:34
afternoon. Chickens go to roost in the
12:36
middle of the day. But they never give
12:38
up hope because it wasn't just affecting
12:40
one person or one family. Folks, this
12:43
covered an area forever. This brought
12:45
about something else besides just a dust
12:47
bowl. It brought people together and
12:50
they found out through the grit that was
12:52
in their teeth made grit in their heart
12:55
and it gave them determination to no
12:57
matter what mother nature throws at you,
12:59
we're going to get through this and
13:00
we're going to survive. These people
13:02
truly were the toughest generation of
13:04
folks I ever met in my life. Salt pork
13:06
is finished off. They have licked the
13:08
bowl clean. They have everybody was
13:10
starving. You know, it'd be such a treat
13:13
to have something sweet that we could
13:14
put out there on the table, especially
13:16
for those little young ones gathered
13:18
around with us. And what are we making?
13:20
What are we talking about? It is a rice
13:22
pudding. When the depression hit, the
13:24
government stepped in with something
13:26
called extension service. They sent out
13:28
women known as home demonstration
13:30
agents, traveling teachers, who went
13:33
from town to town, showing folks how to
13:35
make and do with the little that they
13:36
had. They taught women how to can
13:39
vegetables, sew clothes, and cook
13:41
balanced meals out of next to nothing.
13:43
White sauce was one of their biggest
13:45
lessons. It used the cheapest
13:47
ingredients you could find, and it could
13:49
stretch a handful of potatoes or
13:51
leftover greens into supper for the
13:53
whole family. Now, evaporated milk was
13:56
another depression staple. It didn't
13:58
spoil, and you could buy it cheap. In
14:00
1931, a can cost about 10 cents. And a
14:04
lot of folks thought it made food taste
14:05
richer than plain milk. You'd see it in
14:08
everything. Biscuits, mashed potatoes,
14:10
even desserts like rice pudding.
14:15
[Music]
14:20
Well, we simmered that rice for about 25
14:22
minutes, stirring continuously till the
14:24
rice got tender. I brought it over here.
14:26
Going to let it cool just a minute. But
14:28
we need two egg yolks.
14:33
That is a good chicken right there.
14:38
There's one.
14:40
There is two. Now to that, we're going
14:44
to add some brown sugar.
14:46
If it'll come out. There it went.
14:50
Tablespoon of melted butter that is
14:52
cooled cuz we don't want to temper them
14:54
eggs. A little bit of vanilla. I'd say
14:57
about a teaspoon.
14:59
And then we're going to whisk all that
15:01
together.
15:06
So we don't temper this when we mix this
15:08
together. I just want you to get just a
15:10
tad. And I'm going have to do it
15:11
left-handed cuz I need to be stirring
15:13
right-handed. Pour it in here. That'll
15:16
warm them eggs up. That way ain't nobody
15:19
going to bake before they get ready.
15:24
So we got that mixed well.
15:27
Let me get rid of this cuz we're going
15:29
to finish it with this whisk, I think.
15:31
Dump that in there. We're going to take
15:34
it back to the fire,
15:37
let it simmer till it thickens up till
15:39
the desired consistency and call it a
15:41
day.
15:44
Sugar was a luxury. Folks use sorghum,
15:47
molasses, or even a drizzle of syrup
15:49
from canned fruit to sweeten what little
15:51
they had. Rice pudding actually came
15:53
from much older roots. Recipes go back
15:56
to the pioneer days and even further
15:58
across the ocean. But during the
15:59
depression, it become a staple. Rice was
16:02
cheap and kept forever and it filled you
16:04
up. If you had raisins, that was a big
16:07
day. It meant payday or maybe even
16:10
Christmas. Evaporated milk was promoted
16:12
by brands like Pet and Carnation as the
16:15
poor man's cream.
16:28
Well, there you have it. Rice pudding.
16:31
And Shan done put some raisins on there,
16:33
but I'm going to go ahead and eat it cuz
16:34
I do like some rice pudding. Very simple
16:36
again to make it was. But remember,
16:38
don't walk off and leave this. You got
16:40
to sort of constantly stir it to keep
16:41
that milk from scorching and after you
16:44
put the sugar in it to keep that
16:45
scorching as well. So, I'm going to have
16:47
me a bite.
16:53
I am shocked.
16:59
That'll make you run back to the table
17:00
and get another bite. Now, to me, the
17:04
flavor that pops out of that really is
17:06
there is a to me a tapioca pudding taste
17:09
right off the bat, but then you get that
17:11
cinnamon and then them little raisins
17:13
add a little sweetness to it. So, I'm
17:15
sure back then when you'd set this on
17:16
the table, no matter if it was just two
17:18
spoonfuls or what to go around to feed
17:20
everybody, they were very thankful for
17:22
it. They were. Well, we hope y'all
17:24
enjoyed this episode cuz it really does
17:26
bring back a lot of memories for me to
17:28
be able to sort of think back to the
17:30
stories that my dad told me and all them
17:32
old-timers of how rough it was. But
17:34
tough times made very tough people back
17:36
then. It did. And speaking of other
17:38
tough people, I'd like to tip my hat to
17:40
all the service men and women and all
17:42
the veterans that have kept that old
17:43
flag of flying over camp. We commend you
17:45
all. To all the old-timers and all the
17:47
couples that fought through these daily
17:48
battles of dust storms and depression, I
17:51
thank you for the grit you put in my
17:53
heart. I do. Rest of you, get on up in
17:55
here and remember, no matter how hard
17:57
the times are, God is with you. We are
17:59
with you. And it ain't no step for a
18:01
stepper. Big hug I give you today. God
18:04
bless you each and everyone. and I'll
18:06
see you down the depression era supper
18:08
tape.
18:14
Just I will see you down.
18:16
I will see you down the dust. I will see
18:19
you down the depression era.
18:22
What do we call it? Supper table.
18:26
I will see y'all down the depression era
18:28
supper table trail.