Cooking From Scratch

Only the older generation will remember life before fast foods and the availability of prepared frozen dinners from the local grocery. You may even remember the days when in order to have fresh fried chicken the mother or grandmother would make a trip to the backyard chicken house, catch a chicken, and wring its neck off to prepare that chicken for the Sunday dinner or evening supper. It was a process that was not pleasant to watch!

The process went like this: catch a chicken, wring the neck off, pick the feathers off, and singe the leftover quills over an open fire (the smell was not pleasant). Next she would remove the innards, but save the heart, liver, and gizzard to cook along with the rest of the chicken. There was a thorough washing before the final cutting up of the chicken to prepare for cooking.

Now it was time to fry the chicken. It was then seasoned and rolled in flour. The available oil for cooking was probably lard or Crisco. There was never a better flavor than Crisco for frying, but in today’s world Crisco is not “healthy” for us!

That process of having fried chicken for dinner was not a simple procedure, but the mother or grandmother made it look easy and quick - in today’s world that would seem impossible.

During my growing up years, there were no fast food places. We had a couple of small cafes, or you could go to Evan’s Grocery on Main Street and pick up containers of food from their daily, fresh cooked foods. In the 1950’s, of course the famous No-D-Lay Restaurant was the place to see friends, and eat the best food in north Texas! People came from all around north Texas to eat at the No-D-Lay!

I have cooked since I was a teenage girl. I cooked from scratch, cooking basic foods. I could even make an angel food cake from scratch, but of course I use the box mix these days! And, because of the availability of some decent frozen foods, I take advantage of some of them.

I haven’t cooked a “fresh, whole” chicken in many years. I rely on the frozen breast tenders in the frozen section at our local grocery. I can do anything with them such as frying, baking, adding to a casserole, or as in this fried rice dish— made from “scratch.”