The "ruskomsnusk" mystery

[struggle4progress]

Granma and Pop fled different parts of Europe during the Great Depression and landed in the US, where they met in an English language class, married, and raised two daughters

Pop died before I was school age, but Granma came to my college graduation and lived a few years beyond that

When I still lived at home, we sometimes ate a dish that was (with some merry good humor) called "ruskomsnusk"

This was a particular baked casserole with macaroni and ground beef and tomato and corn and peppers and celery and some other ingredients

I have always been told that the origins of this family dish were mysterious, and its true name was unknown: Pop apparently learned the recipe from the radio, and "ruskomsnusk" was understood to be his heavily-accented attempt to reproduce the real name of this fine cuisine

The other day, I set out to solve this mystery by typing various phonetic versions of "ruskomsnusk" into a search engine

And with the help of online translation, I eventually discovered "ruskomsnusk" in a foreign dictionary, with the etymological advice that it had originally been the three words "rusk om snusk," which partly translates as "rusk with snusk"

At least one site wanted to translate "rusk with snusk" further as "rust with snuff," though perhaps a more common translation is "hodge podge"

I also found some recipes

There is apparently a traditional "ruskomsnusk" in Jutland, consisting of summer vegetables in a milk broth, perhaps with ham

A standard interpretation of "ruskomsnusk," however, seems to be jumbled left-overs: let's clear out the fridge and make something and eat it

So the pictures I found on line varied widely:










So now I think Pop was just thrilled to hear about "ruskomsnusk" on the radio, and he copied down the "ruskomsnusk" recipe, and served it to his family from time to time because it reminded him of the old country

[elleng]

1. Congrats!

[Snarkoleptic]

2. My mother grew up in the rural-American 50's with very little money.

The had a similar dish called Slumgullion (pronounced Slum - Gull - Yen), which was also a clean-out-the-fridge sort of dish.
I never saw the name written down, so I guessed on the spelling.
It was seldom the same, but always tasty.

[The Polack MSgt]

3. Slumgullion was my Mom's leftover casserole name too

I learned to make rice or noodle casseroles from my Mom and Aunt's back in SW PA and it's been a useful skill when my wife and I were raising kids on an E-4/E-5's salary.

I still make a casserole when my Daughter an SIL or my Son come to visit. Because they want one, not because I'm broke nowadays

[Snarkoleptic]

4. I searched the name and found this gem on M-W.com

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slumgullion

Definition of slumgullion

: a meat stew

Did You Know?

Slumgullion may not sound like the most appetizing name for a dish, but that’s part of its charm. The word’s etymology doesn’t do it any favors: "slumgullion" is believed to be derived from "slum," an old word for "slime," and "gullion," an English dialectical term for "mud" or "cesspool." Most of the earliest recorded usages of "slumgullion," such as in Mark Twain’s Roughing It (1872), refer not to a stew but a beverage. The sense referring to the stew debuted about two decades later, and while there is no consensus on exactly what kinds of ingredients are found in it, that’s the "slumgullion" that lives on today.

[yellowdogintexas]

6. maybe it was like the "bowl of brown" that was sold in the slums of Kings Landing nt

[yellowdogintexas]

5. Mine too!

She also made refrigerator/freezer soup and called it slumgullion too