New York City Hash Houses
Restaurant on Hester Street in the Bowery, 1935, Courtesy of The New York Public Library
Sources from the WPA’s America Eats Project are largely housed in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. but some remain archived at the local level around the country. They are an incredible wealth for studying and writing food history. A story in the New York City municipal archives talked about “hash houses” on lower Third Avenue Located in southern Manhattan, an area historically known as the Bowery that had eateries with menus and prices that catered to the city’s poorest residents.
Brunswick Stew Recipe
Ingredients
1 chicken
6 ears of corn
1 pint butter beans
6 large tomatoes chopped fine
¼ cup onion chopped fine
salt-and-pepper
Directions
Cut up one chicken, preferably a good fat hen, cover with cold water, season with salt and pepper, and cook slowly until about half done. Add six ears of green corn, splitting through the kernels, one pint butter beans and six large tomatoes chopped fine. A little onion may be added if desired. Cook until the vegetables are thoroughly done, but very slowly, so as to avoid burning. Add strips of pastry for dumplings and cook five minutes.
Rufus Estes, Good Things to Eat, As Suggested By Rufus Estes: A Collection of Practical Recipes for Preparing Meats, Game, Fowl, Fish, Puddings, Pastries, etc. (Chicago, Published by the author, 1911)
Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie
