A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s • Hacker News Board

Re: A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s

#211

Post by dismantlethesun » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 5:36 PM UTC

Dracophoenix wrote: post #157

dismantlethesun wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why? Speaking as someone from a '3rd world country' [1], the traditional food preparation has been unchanged since the 1920s. The last great change in diet occurred when tomatoes and corn arrived from the America's to W. Africa, then later again when rice became a staple. The US has a fantastical food culture because it's a large country that can natively produce almost every crop, and was historically agrarian.…

>> The US has a fantastical food culture because it's a large country that can natively produce almost every crop, and was historically agrarian. Adding to that, the US food culture always changes to wars, new immigrants, boycott, and government subsidies. Most countries aren't like that, and are significantly more conservative with dietary changes. With all these advantages in the US's favor, why is it that Europe i…

Fantastical means something strange, atypical or weird as if it came from fairy tale.

It's not necessarily good or bad, so I wouldn't call it an advantage.

I didn't realize it could so easily be confused for “fantastic” which has a nice connotation.

Re: A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s

#212

Post by R0b0t1 » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 6:00 PM UTC

kurthr wrote: post #204

R0b0t1 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastics still need a plasticizer, so those BPA-free plastics simply use a chemical like BPA but not studied.

I don't know about PolyCarobonate, but for LDPE and HDPE (and PET) that sounds incorrect. Certainly, chemists are worried about much smaller amounts of contamination (ppb) than humans and they would definitely know (and measure) how much plasticizer was leaching from their bottles. It appears to be almost none: https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/life-science/lab-pla...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A#BPA_substitutes

I know there's wide variety in plastics. Be careful about cherry picking studies that show no harm, you can do it with lead if you really want. The situation isn't as dire, but I think the actual impact on animals is more up in the air than a brief survey of the literature suggests.

Re: A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s

#213

Post by downut » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 6:09 PM UTC

lettergram wrote: post #22

For those curious, I wanted to start making my own salt pork — https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdmPIpQZPRg Effectively it’s pickled pork and can last for a few months. To eat it, you soak it to get as much of the salt out as you can. Good for stews, gravy, etc. It’s what was done pre-refrigeration for meat.

This is a baby step into charcuterie, congratulations. It's a fabulous world. It is actually quite straightforward to make hams, bacon, pastrami, corned beef, cured salmon, and a thousand more delicious things. Main ingredient and technique is salt and time. There is no possibility of comparing the results of those recipes and the US commercial products with the same names. In fact, a lot of US corporate product disgusts me now, which I suppose is a downside of eating the real thing. Especially ham.

If you're curious to learn more (and you should be!) I recommend "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing", by Ruhlman and Polcyn.

I have about worn out that book. Even has fabulous non-meat recipes. I use the smoked ham recipe in the book to convert industrial $2/lb bone-in pork butts into a glorious thing.

Re: A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s

#214

Post by downut » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 6:13 PM UTC

dalbasal wrote: post #143

jotm wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah, so it is! Finally learned the word for that mystery food :D

:) Final tip. The lard or (even better) duck fat used to preserve the meat can indeed be used like butter. But, by far, the best use of the fat is roast potatoes. Parboil peeled (preferably floury) potatoes. Whole or cut works. Àdd fat. Jiggle around in a pot to rough up the outside of the spuds. There is no such thing as too much fat, use it all. Roast until crispy and golden brown... 30 to 90 minutes depending on h…

I made latkes last night, fried in (my) confit fat. The wife sez when the fat was heating up, "smells great already!". And yeah, we scarfed them down.

Re: A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s

#215

Post by MomoXenosaga » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 6:26 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #114

tomjakubowski wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastic jugs let in lots of light, while paper cartons are opaque, which could have an effect. FWIW, I do have a preference, I think milk is best drunk straight from a paper carton (in single servings, milk from the plastic "milk chugs" has always tasted worse to me).

True, but stores generally don't get any natural light in their fridge sections. Over here (NL), most milk is only on shelves for a day, they cart in new batches daily. We err, go through a lot of milk.

Milk is a sacred part of Dutch diet to the point that vegans had to find ways to create plant based milk.

Re: A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s

#216

Post by MomoXenosaga » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 6:35 PM UTC

There is an interesting column in a Dutch newspaper were they interview 100 year old people about their life. It opens up a window to a time when the country wasn't obscenely wealthy. Hard work and poverty ruled the day.

Wasn't until the 1970s when living standards had finally caught up to the US.

Re: A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s

#217

Post by kgr » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 7:02 PM UTC

ufo wrote: post #120

Is milk being on every relief menu a sign that people had a derranged love for milk? Or just the strength of the milk lobby?

I don't think it's because of the milk lobby (which didn't exist until early 1900s according to other posts) because I once browsed a cookbook from the 1800s and noticed that many of the recipes called for an amazing quantity of butter. The recipe for bread, which made two loaves at once, called for 1 pound of butter. Pound Cake also uses a pound of butter.

Re: A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s

#218

Post by aquaticsunset » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 7:33 PM UTC

helpfulmandrill wrote: post #107

Wohlf wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Larger portion sizes, more snacking, much less manual labor. Only the wealthy were obese back then.

But it says that soldiers were fed 4000 to 5000 calories. Sounds pretty hard to exercise enough to burn that off.

Given how soldiers then (and still, largely, now) were young men in their late teens and early 20s... this doesn't sound unreasonable at all. I could sit on the couch and burn that off. Add in setting up camp, digging trenches, hauling heavy equipment through mud and snow? Totally realistic.

Re: A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s

#219

Post by MrDresden » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 8:37 PM UTC

camhart wrote: post #46

I can't stand "normal" milk from the US... the stuff you buy in the plastic cartons. It taste horrid. Milk from Germany? I love it. Milk from Darigold in the paper cartons? I love it. Milk from Darigold in the plastic? Tastes like garbage. Organic milk in a paper carton? Some is good, some taste like garbage. I didn't realize how different milk tastes until I spent some time in Germany. Prior to that I just thought I…

The taste is also highly effected by what the animal is fed. Cows fed on fresh gras will produce the most wonderful flavors in the resulting butters and milk vs those fed with dried gras or feed.

Re: A Square Meal – Foods of the ‘20s and ‘30s

#220

Post by splitstud » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 8:50 PM UTC

fosk wrote: post #76

egypturnash wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s fascinating how much this can change if you find a good source for local stuff. Tomatoes go from uniformly-sized red food pellets to a huge variety of sizes and colors with a lot more flavor to them. I miss having a farmer’s market two blocks from my place with a heirloom tomato specialist showing up regularly.

As a European, food at the farmer’s market is usually cheaper in Europe because we cut the middleman and go straight to the producer. Somehow in the US, it’s more expensive instead because “artisanal”, “organic” and so on. As such, in the US, farmer markets always feel like a scam to me.

No post body was provided.