The Great Depression Poor Man's Meal (Potatoes, Onions, Hot Dogs)

📖 This supper written down with the measures: https://vernasbook.com so you're not guessing at the stove. My printed cookbook ships to your door! Somebody once looked at a skillet of potatoes and hot dogs on your table and said it was not a real supper. You can put that down. This is the Great Depression poor man's meal, made with potatoes, onions, and hot dogs, in one skillet, in about twenty-five minutes. Stay to the end to hear who gave this supper its name, and what one spoonful turns plain water into the sauce. 🥄 WHAT IT COSTS (priced from retail listings this month, so take it as a map and not a promise) • 4 russet potatoes (about 1 1/2 lb) • 1 medium onion • 4 hot dogs • 2 tablespoons oil or bacon grease • 2 tablespoons plain tomato sauce (not ketchup, not paste) • About 1/4 cup water, salt, black pepper Total: about $3.25 for two big plates or three modest ones. 🍲 THE METHOD 1. Peel the potatoes. Cut out soft spots and bad eyes. Cut away any green under the skin and any sprouts, and throw out a potato that tastes bitter. Cut into 1/2-inch cubes and pat dry. 2. Chop the onion fairly small. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet until a cube of potato sizzles. Add the potatoes and onion in one layer. 3. Cover for 8 minutes, then uncover and let them brown, stirring every couple of minutes. 4. Slice the hot dogs into 1/2-inch rounds. Add them around the 12-minute mark and cook about 5 minutes, until they pick up color. 5. Stir in the tomato sauce, pour the water around the edge, cover 5 minutes. Uncover and cook another minute or two if it is too wet. 6. Taste, then add salt and plenty of black pepper. Leftovers: cover within 2 hours, refrigerate 3 to 4 days (USDA leftovers guidance), reheat in a skillet until steaming hot. 🔥 A FEW HONEST WORDS: a hot dog is a salty, processed meat, so I make this a few times a month, not every week, and I add no salt until the end. If you watch your salt, your sugar, or your potassium, ask your doctor how much is right for you. This is a supper for a tight stretch of the month, not a way to live. I am a cook, not a doctor. If this saved you one night of "what is for supper," I would take a subscribe as a personal kindness. It costs you nothing and it helps me keep making these for you. Have a blessed day. -Verna CHAPTERS 0:00 The supper you were embarrassed to serve 0:40 My mother and the thirties 1:14 The sack of potatoes 2:03 Peeling and cubing the potatoes 3:47 The onion and the skillet 5:02 Who named the poor man's meal 5:57 The hot dogs (and the one thing from a store) 7:23 The woman and the row of onions 8:31 The spoonful that makes the sauce 9:32 What to serve, leftovers, and the cost 10:37 A few honest words 10:56 What my mother said 11:20 Your turn #poormansmeal #greatdepressionrecipes #oldfashionedcooking #appalachiancooking