# Depression Cooking Recipe - Mock Oyster Casserole **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [March 24, 2023, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586 "2023-03-24T11:30:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/1 "2023-03-24T11:30:07Z")
I am baffled, I was discussing what to do with 2 sleeves of stale saltines, and I remembered seeing a depression era recipe where one took saltines and egg and milk, and baked them [I think with chopped cabbage] into a casserole and I wanted to see if I could find it online. All I seem to see is eggplant recipes - in general middle America of the Depression had no idea what an eggplant could possibly be [or at least the pasty white parts of us] so I am somewhat baffled. Anybody else possibly have a source for why I am remembering it as a cracker and cabbage recipe? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/2 "2023-03-24T15:44:20Z")
After a quick look around, it seems there are not a ton of recipes of any kind that combine cabbage and oysters (mock or genuine). There are some for kimchi and a lot with oyster mushrooms, oyster crackers or oyster sauce. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/3 "2023-03-24T16:00:23Z")
Interesting. I’ve seen mock apple pie with Ritz crackers instead of apples (which is some kind of witchcraft, because it works far better than it should), but not the saltines-as-oysters. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/4 "2023-03-24T16:05:47Z")
I’ve seen the mock apple pie as well, so I searched YouTube for mock oyster casserole and didn’t get a hit for that but I did find this about what went into a mock oyster soup. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9s9HhjFmzWg/maxresdefault.jpg "SALSIFY! - An Ugly Root That Was Used To Make Mock Oyster Soup (18th century recipe)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s9HhjFmzWg) ---
**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/5 "2023-03-25T03:05:48Z")
I have had this mock oyster dip made with broccoli. [https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/member-recipe/00514395/mock-oyster-dip](https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/member-recipe/00514395/mock-oyster-dip) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/6 "2023-03-25T03:10:17Z")
I would think the mushrooms more than the broccoli are the substitute for oysters there but … is oyster dip a thing (OK, google shows me that it is)? And if it is, that doesn’t seem like it has much of anything to do with an oyster dip, being a mushroom, broccoli, and cheese dip. Which are all ingredients that go well together, but how in the hell is that supposed to replicate oysters? ---
**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/7 "2023-03-25T19:54:03Z")
On the subject of Saltines and mock seafood, there is a salad I like called Georgia cracker salad which is also called mock shrimp salad. It’s made with Saltines, tomatoes, and mayo. [Mock Shrimp Salad - Hillbilly Housewife](https://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/mock-shrimp-salad.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/8 "2023-03-25T20:34:25Z")
I misunderstood the thread title. Mock Oyster Casserole would certainly depress me. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/9 "2023-03-25T21:39:11Z")
Good casserole, eh? Surprise! The oysters were made of saltines! ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/10 "2023-03-25T22:31:00Z")
Sam Weller in Dickens’ Pickwick Papers says: “Poverty and oysters always seem to go together.” In the 19th century, oysters were sold on the streets – perhaps Britain’s first version of street food – where passersby snacked on them and public house goers bought them with a hefty pint of stout – another cheap alternative form of “sustenance”. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/11 "2023-03-25T22:57:41Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > In the 19th century, oysters were sold on the streets – perhaps Britain’s first version of street food – where passersby snacked on them and public house goers bought them with a hefty pint of stout – another cheap alternative form of “sustenance”. Doesn’t one of the old-timey engravings at the start of _ **Cheers** _ show a black guy in a derby snacking on oysters at a bar? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2023, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depression-cooking-recipe-mock-oyster-casserole/981586/12 "2023-03-26T14:01:52Z")
There are unauthenticated stories of workers in Scotland complaining about being fed too much salmon. I thing there are some similar stories about lobsters in Maine