Mito Monday #2: Noodle Mania

Home-made noodles drying.

I have a certain fondness for homemade noodles.

When I was little, I used to stay over at Grandma and Grandpa's a lot (Fleeces near Roundhead, Hardin County, Ohio). One of the things Grandma and I would do together was make noodles. I don't remember her having chickens for eggs but I know she did earlier in her life; the farm women of her generation generated income by selling eggs and also butter if there was a milk cow. The chicken house was out beyond the apple orchard, and northwest of the house.

Grandma Claribel and Grandpa Ira heading to the Hardin County Fair about 1922. 

(Sorry it's crooked!)

My noodle-making days with Grandma was in preparation for the Hardin County Fair, for lunch. It was served under the grandstand, always on the western side. I can't remember who had the eastern side but I think it was one of the school band groups.

We always served beef and noodles, chicken and noodles, sloppy joe sandwiches, chicken sandwiches and best of all - home made pies, among other things. I believe it was in conjunction with the Lawrence Valley Grange, a farm-related family-based organization which is fading into obscurity. It could have been for church though, I'm kind of fuzzy on that.

Lunch was served cafeteria-style and when I became old enough, I helped in the kitchen. That was until I started dating. Then that was that lol.

I made some noodles with Mom when I was growing up but it was messy work and messes made her nervous. Me using a knife also made her nervous and I'm not aware of noodle machines in the 1960s in rural America.

Making the noodles in 2020 the same way I did with Mom in the 1970s, by hand, with a paring knife, on the breadboard one of my brothers made for me back in the late 1970s. Mom and Grandma used newspaper (!) with the flour on it because it was easy to wrap up and throw away when finished.

We did have chickens and eggs, as long as I was at home (we also butchered the chickens assembly-line style but that's yet another story!) We used egg yolk only, and added enough flour to make into a dough with a bit of water added, and a teaspoon of salt for every 4-6 eggs. I personally use milk. Grandma probably put some butter in hers because she put butter in everything and was an awesome cook.

Grandma always made angel food cake when we made noodles because angel food cake only takes egg whites, and the noodles only take egg yolks, a nice combo. Mom took to buying noodles after I left home because they were cheap and not messy. Plus we had a lot of Amish in the area who liked to make and sell them and Mom was very good at Supporting Local long before it became A Thing.

Noodles drying on one of Mom's clothing racks. Consequently I have four racks, two I bought at auctions when I had my herbal soap company on which to hang herbs to dry, and Mom's two from her estate. She never had a clothes dryer, instead hanging all laundry on the clothesline outdoors when weather permitted, or in the house when not.

This rack of noodles drying was made with 12 eggs. At the end of the day, I divied up the noodles and put them in zip-lock bags and stuck them in the freezer. I don't remember Mom ever making food in large batches but she was cooking large meals three times a day for sometimes up to ten people, depending on how many neighborhood boys were around during haying season. Lunch and dinner (called dinner and supper in rural areas) were part of their pay.

Like many farm women, my mother and grandmother rarely used a recipe for day-to-day cooking and while I have some of Mom's recipes and various cookbooks handed down through the family or collected on my own, I generally just read a recipe off of my phone.

Things have sooooo changed, haven't they!