Recipes for certain discomfort

"Times are bad."

I've been hearing that line since I was a kid. And I remember something! It's just that the world's gone completely crazy lately. It's not just the times that are bad, it's the people. They're going against each other and don't understand that they need each other more than ever. It's probably going to get worse, and we should prepare for it. This is not scaremongering, but reality.

 

When I was a kid, I used to go to my grandmother's house. She lived in a beautiful village surrounded by woods, in a white house with a garden. She lived through the war. She kept casseroles of leftover fat carefully hidden in her cupboard. She never threw anything away.

I loved it there. A big wood and coal stove, with a saucepan of boiled treacle and a big pot of hot water on it pretty much all the time. Next to it was an old dish sink. One of those pull-out ones. With a big galvanized bench. Romantic as a log. I love remembering those days. The meadows were full of flowers, butterflies, bees, and locusts jumping into your lap every time you walked. Next to the stove was a stove that we all "fought" over. It was the best and most popular place. The room was then dominated by a large wooden table where pretty much everything happened.

 

Recently, I was reminded of my grandmother. She was a great cook and could make incredible treats from very little—ordinary but perfect in flavor and from almost nothing. We used to go to her house pretty much every week. I remember my dad and I were on the bus, guessing what would be good, and we were drooling.

As I was reminiscing, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to put together simple, inexpensive recipes and make a crisis cookbook—just like that—just in case. And because I don't want to give you a pig in a poke, I've personally tried all the recipes.

Politically, it doesn't look like a big hit parade yet, so I'll start now and I'll be thrilled if you help me and add some of your favorite recipes. Maybe your grandmother's. Cheap, good, and economical. Just a recipe for uncertain times that you don't have to dig deep into your pocket for.

 

Old bread is a great ingredient. It can literally do wonders. Sourdough bread is best, of course, but when you're hungry... It's used to thicken sauces, you can use it ground up instead of flour, but it makes a lot of goodies.

And I'll start with probably my childhood favorite.

 

 

Nalámanka

Every morning, my grandmother would fire up the stove, make white coffee out of melta, and gradually break pieces of bread into it and eat them slowly with a spoon. I would sit in my favorite place by the stove, my grandmother would sit on the seat next to the oven, and together we would quietly enjoy this delicacy. Nothing more was needed. Instead of words, just the crackling of the stove. Yummy.

 

 

Bread soup

So I'm going to put this recipe here, quite deliberately, in the most basic version. It tastes very much like potato soup and you can of course add root vegetables, mushrooms, eggs, and sausage, but for our purposes, I'll keep it as simple as possible.

Fry onions in lard, pour water or broth, and add soggy bread, garlic, salt, pepper, and potatoes, which we cook until tender. Dust with flour or add a little roux. Season with marjoram after the boil. Garnish with chopped lovage or parsley on the plate.

 

 

Bread potato pancakes

I'll openly admit that when I read this recipe, I couldn't imagine how it would look and taste, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the result. The taste of the potato pancakes really reminds me a lot. In short, something between a potato pancake and a toast. By the way, they are very edible. Even cold.

Let the bread soak, squeeze out the water, and add eggs, salt, pepper, garlic, and plain flour. Then we proceed as with classic potato pancakes. Bake, fry, baste.

 

 

Bread dumplings

I used to have a vegetarian at home, so we cooked variations on the non-meat theme. I'll mention for example "nesegedin", where I replaced meat with smoked sliced cheese (better in taste than with meat, by the way) or "non-speckled dumplings". I didn't give up and tried to make them out of hard bread. Judge for yourself how they taste.

Let the bread soak, wring out the water, add eggs, salt, pepper, a pinch of mace, diced 30% smoked cheese, and yeast. Let rise, form the dough into balls about 6cm in diameter, and cook in salted water for 7 minutes. Serve with cabbage and fried onions.

 

 

And that's enough for today.

Enjoy it!