This is the second recipe we've tried from the awesome Betty Crocker rationing cookbook. It's a meat and potatoes meal, literally. Whereas tradition (at least in this country) is to serve scalloped potatoes with ham, this recipe highlights the use of bologna instead. At eight red ration points per pound bologna was a more thrifty choice than ham, which on our handy dandy chart comes in at 12 red points a pound.
Oh, and apparently it's Irish, according to "O'" and misspelled Italian locale in the title. This makes it international and exotic.
Here's a recap of the recipe...
1. In an 8" x 8" buttered casserole dish, alternately layer 2 cups thinly sliced potatoes and 1 1/2 cups cubed or sliced bologna with a flour mixture (6 TB flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper).
2. Dot with 3 TB bacon fat (according to the recipe) OR 2 TB butter (what we did).
3. Pour 2 cups milk over contents of casserole dish.
4. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Yes, this recipe serves to further reinforce my opinion that most rationing recipes can be
reduced to "Random Ingredient in White Sauce."
How did it taste? Well, it tasted like a basic scalloped dish but, I have to admit, it wasn't nearly as satisfying with the bologna as it would have been with the ham. Eowyn, in true form, asked for extra helpings of the potatoes but didn't want to eat more than the obligatory bite of the bologna. Sissy ate the bologna but didn't want to eat more than the obligatory bite of potato. I tell you, it's like Jack Sprat and his wife with those two.
An attempt to get Sissy to admit the dinner wasn't too bad didn't go quite as intended. When asked if the dinner was a thumbs up or down she replied with an even shake of the fist.
TMOTH asked her where, on a scale of 1 to 10, the meal placed.
"On a scale from one to ten," she clarified, "It's a zero."
Oh, and apparently it's Irish, according to "O'" and misspelled Italian locale in the title. This makes it international and exotic.
Here's a recap of the recipe...
1. In an 8" x 8" buttered casserole dish, alternately layer 2 cups thinly sliced potatoes and 1 1/2 cups cubed or sliced bologna with a flour mixture (6 TB flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper).
2. Dot with 3 TB bacon fat (according to the recipe) OR 2 TB butter (what we did).
3. Pour 2 cups milk over contents of casserole dish.
4. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Yes, this recipe serves to further reinforce my opinion that most rationing recipes can be
reduced to "Random Ingredient in White Sauce."How did it taste? Well, it tasted like a basic scalloped dish but, I have to admit, it wasn't nearly as satisfying with the bologna as it would have been with the ham. Eowyn, in true form, asked for extra helpings of the potatoes but didn't want to eat more than the obligatory bite of the bologna. Sissy ate the bologna but didn't want to eat more than the obligatory bite of potato. I tell you, it's like Jack Sprat and his wife with those two.
An attempt to get Sissy to admit the dinner wasn't too bad didn't go quite as intended. When asked if the dinner was a thumbs up or down she replied with an even shake of the fist.
TMOTH asked her where, on a scale of 1 to 10, the meal placed.
"On a scale from one to ten," she clarified, "It's a zero."
"Really?" TMOTH questioned. "This is really a zero? I thought zero would be like eating cold dog poop. This is like eating cold dog poop?"
There were chuckles, but Sissy never did fully answer the question.
Maybe we should have her try beans in a white sauce...I wonder how that would rate?
Maybe we should have her try beans in a white sauce...I wonder how that would rate?
--Rational Mama
Watch out folks ----- closing down sale coming to a butcher near you! The UN is plugging away unmercifully to get us all signed onto a global contract of reducing CO2. Crazy really when you consider we are a carbon based life form! Now we learn we are all to become global vegetarians...
ReplyDeletehttp://just-me-in-t.blogspot.com/2010/08/here-we-go-meatless-to-save-planet.html
This doesn't really appeal to me but it seems your observation of random food in white sauce is quite accurate, lol!
ReplyDeleteAround here bologna used to be called poor mans steak or roast (depending on if you fried it by the slice or baked a whole chunk of it). Nowadays it's more expensive than steak/roast/other meat around here for some odd reason and is a luxury! It's amazing how things change over time :). Sad thing is I still see poor people always buying it when they could get more nourishing and satisfying meat for less.
Carla - it's not quite a luxury here, but I can remember being a kid and bologna was cheap so it was what our poor single-mom household ate often. When I was shopping for this recipe I was surprised at how expensive it's gotten!
ReplyDeleteI love baloney - and that's how we always spelled/said it, too, like in the Oscar Mayer song. Fried baloney with mayo on white bread - YUM! LOL
ReplyDeleteI think I'd just make plain scalloped potatoes and then serve fried baloney on the side.
My grandfather used to fry it and then make gravy, which I thought was weird, but not as gross as Baloney Stew. *shudder*
I agree that it's become very expensive.
I agree with the idea of making scalloped potatoes and putting the fried baloney on the side. Baloney stew? Shudder, indeed.
ReplyDelete