Dad's Home Cooking

The picture is from 1957, outside of our house on Della Street in Springfield, MO. The back door leads into the kitchen. Of course my Dad spent time in the kitchen. Sometimes he would even cook. It wasn't something he did on a regular basis but he did have some "favorite" recipes he would cook from time to time. Some that I remember and want to share with you include - beef stroganoff, clam chowder and chili. He would also whip up a batch of scrambled eggs from time to time as well. He probably cooked other things but these are ones I remember.
For Beef stroganoff Dad would slice strips of beef, brown them in the skillet with some flour and butter. He would add this to a pot (this was before crock pots were famous) along with noodles, sour cream and mushrooms. He would allow this to simmer for a while on the stove. He would use the wide egg noodles and it seems like he may have used home made noodles. I'm not sure of the amounts, time cooked, etc. I mainly remember that it tasted good.
Another of his recipes was Clam Chowder. This was mainly a winter time meal. Dad would mix a can of whole clams with milk, butter, seasoning and let it simmer for a while. This was always served with oyster crackers. Chili was another dish that Dad would fix, but it didn't usually attract as much attention.
It seemed that most of Dad's cooking took place on Saturdays or Sundays, usually the evening meal. I remember one particular dish that Dad fixed on a Saturday evening when we lived in Riverton, Illinois. Dad was doing some grocery shopping one Saturday afternoon and I happened to be with him. The meat case/counter was in back of the store and Dad spotted some pork? beef? brains and got in a discussion with the meat clerk about them. As the clerk wrapped them up I remember saying something like, Yuk! I'll never eat those things. That evening for supper we had scrambled eggs as the "main" course. Knowing that Dad had fixed the eggs I commented, Gee, these eggs are pretty good. Dad replied, got those brains in them.
Because of that meal I have a lot of extra memory. (OH please!) Okay, but I do have memories of Dad cooking and from time to time have tried to duplicate some of his recipes. Just like my Dad, most of my cooking is done by the seat of my pants; add a little this, try that, see if it works, can't hurt, if it's not good I won't make it again, if it is good I'll probably never be able to duplicate it.
Some of my favorite recipes include those that Dad made (except the brains) along with Pork Steak (Brandy's fav) Toll House Pie (family fav) and Pecan Pie (my fav). Whenever you come to visit you might get something I make, but you'll never get any brains. -30-