# Jerry-rigged foods. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612 "2016-07-10T23:42:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [July 12, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/41 "2016-07-12T15:40:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > However, steak tartare was so named for being served with tartar sauce. Interesting story about the history of it [here at the New York Times.](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/dining/the-raw-truth-dont-blame-the-mongols-or-their-horses.html) I had previously only been aware of the “horsemeat under saddles” story. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/42 "2016-07-12T16:07:37Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Interesting story about the history of it [here at the New York Times.](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/dining/the-raw-truth-dont-blame-the-mongols-or-their-horses.html) I had previously only been aware of the “horsemeat under saddles” story. > [@](#): > > The book notes that the meat would have been impregnated with sweat and uneatable by the end of the day. Glad someone figured out the improbability of that story. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/43 "2016-07-12T16:18:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Glad someone figured out the improbability of that story. Yeah, I did always kind of wonder about that… ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/44 "2016-07-12T17:36:46Z")
I always thought it was called Tatar Sauce because it was invented by Genghis Khan’s cook. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/45 "2016-07-13T05:28:25Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > With that understanding, one might say that a jury-rigged food is perhaps a dish made with some well-chosen substitutions, as a matter of necessity. A jerry-built dish is a kind of haphazard experiment. This one could fit in either. I just remembered one of my daughters dishes, her version of Nachos. Put a bunch of corn chips on a plate, smother in BBQ sauce, then grated cheese and microwave til the cheese melts. That’s it. It’s actually surprisingly tasty but I couldn’t agree to call it Nachos ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/46 "2016-07-13T06:41:20Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > \*I was at a NY Dopefest a good 10 years ago when an oldie doper wondered at my use of the word ‘jerry-rigged’. He told me that I must know the word is actually ‘nigger-rigged’. I told him that that was the first time I have ever heard nigger-rigged in my whole entire life. He was dumbfounded. I told him to take a real good look at me and see if he could find a reason why no one would say the word ‘nigger-rigged’ to my face. It’s true. Some people really don’t see color! Hmmm. I’m kind of surprised you haven’t heard the evil version of that phrase. In a similar way, “eeny meeny miny mo, catch a tiger by the toe” is also evil. Were you aware of that one? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/47 "2016-07-13T11:37:04Z")
I grew up in upstate NY in the 70’s-80s and never heard the non-tiger and non-jerry/jury versions of the phrase until the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/48 "2016-07-13T13:40:21Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Hmmm. I’m kind of surprised you haven’t heard the evil version of that phrase. > > In a similar way, “eeny meeny miny mo, catch a tiger by the toe” is also evil. Were you aware of that one? I never heard the ‘tiger’ version of eeny meeny miny mo. ---
**Author:** ![CurrlyD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CurrlyD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurrlyD)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/49 "2016-07-14T02:16:04Z")
Waaaaay back in the late 1950s, as a very small child, I heard the non-tiger version of eeny-meeny. I had never heard that word before so I asked Mom. She told me what it meant, and that it was very bad and I should _never_ say it. She told me that “tiger” was the correct word to use. And Mom was always right. In the mid-1960s I read Robert A. Heinlein’s juvenile SF books, and that’s where I first encountered “jury-rigged.” I didn’t hear the offensive version (or the engineering version) until I was an adult and began work at a manufacturing plant. As for jury-rigged recipes, if you have no chocolate syrup for your ice cream, mix a little water with Nestlé’s Quik. A bit gritty . . . ---
**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:** [July 17, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/50 "2016-07-17T22:32:10Z")
I can’t tell you how badly I want a miniature Kaiser helmet for my wiener dogs! In a broad sense, isn’t _all_ cooking “jerry-rigged food”? \* Meat, veggies, wine = Stew! Meat, other veggies, spices = Spaghetti sauce!\* ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612/51 "2016-07-17T23:45:47Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > What foods do you jerry-rig?\* I grew up with sliced bread as hotdog buns. It will still make a good Pig-in-Blanket or cheese dog if pinned with a toothpick and warmed in a toaster oven. I always heard “jury rigged” as a temporary but workable fix. “Nigger-rig”, “afro-engineering” and “ghetto mechanic” are a whole 'nother lower level of making something work and usually derogatory, sometimes humorous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-rigged-foods/759612.md?page=2)