Railroad Pie (1900) and Flannel Sausage (1890)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Fred Shapiro ("the etymological hawkshaw phrasedick Eli") has revised a
list of electronic databases.  He left off GALILEO, from the State of Georgia's
Digital Library.  Yes, it still sucks and it hasn't been improved in the past
year.
   "Georgia Books" turned up interesting cites for "railroad pie" and
"flannel sausage."

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RAILROAD PIE

   I'd posted on "railroad cake," but not "railroad pie."  There are 49
Google hits.  There is a Making of America-Cornell hit, but that just indicates a
pie eaten on the railroad.  Anything special about this?


(GOOGLE GROUPS)
From: <A HREF="http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=author:dtomenga%40ix.netcom.com+">Donna Tomenga</A> (<A HREF="mailto:dtomenga%40ix.netcom.com">dtomenga at ix.netcom.com</A>)
Subject: Re: 40's foods
Newsgroups: <A HREF="http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=rec.food.historic">rec.food.historic</A>
Date: 1996/03/16

I never see this one that my grandma made. It's called "Railroad Pie"(for
whatever reason). Being farmers of not wealthy circumstances, shewould run low at
the end of the month and would still feed all of thehired hands, plus the big
family. Dinner always "had" to have adessert, so she made this out of
leftover items. It's not fordiabetics, but it's delicious...even if there's any left
over the nextday.

Pie Crust:1-3/4 C white flourAbout 1/2 C lard (or use oil today - 1996)5 T
cold waterPinch of salt

Mix together to form pie crust, cutting in lard (or stirring in oil).Roll out
on floured board for single pie crust (this recipe makes two).Bake in
400-degree oven for a few minutes until browned and crisp

Filling:Sprinkle brown sugar all over bottom of baked pie crust.Put dots of
oleo all over brown sugar.Sprinkle cinnamon all over that (to suit your
taste).Shake water off your fingers all over that (This probably equals about8
teaspoons of water, but you can't drop the teaspoons of water ontothe stuff or
you'll get soggy spots. You must drip/shake it off yourfingers). Put back into oven
and bake for about 20 minutes. It will bevery runny (syrupy) and difficult to
equal out the portions, but the taste is sooooo good. If you let it set, it
will crystallize and beeasier to cut into portions.

Note:  This is NOT  Shoo-Fly pie. It's Railroad Pie, or Brown Sugar Pie, and
it's from Casey, Illinois, made from the 20's through 40's (and, of course, I
still make it from time to time today). - Donna


(GALILEO)
http://www.galileo.usg.edu/cgi-bin/homepage.cgi
Northern Georgia sketches / by Will N. Harden
author: Harben, Will N. (Will Nathaniel), 1858-1919  (Harben?--ed.)
extent: 305 p. ; 18 cm.
publication: Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1900
note: Originally appeared in the Century magazine, Lippincott's magazine, and
other periodicals
Pg. 55:

... busy man. He had traveled three hundred miles, slept [page 55] on the
hard seat of a jolting train, eaten railroad pies and peanuts, and was covered
with the grime of a dusty journey, all to w...

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FLANNEL SAUSAGE

   I'd posted on "flannel cake" (see also DARE), but not "flannel sausage."
The three Google hits are from this same source.


(GALILEO)
http://www.galileo.usg.edu/cgi-bin/homepage.cgi
The new South / by Henry W. Grady ; with a character sketch of Henry W. Grady
by Oliver Dyer
author: Grady, Henry Woodfin, 1850-1889; Dyer, Oliver, 1824-1907
extent: v, 273 p. ; 18 cm.
publication: New York: Robert Bonner's Sons, 1890
note: UGA SOLINET microfilm.
Pg. 15:

... and squeezes pure olive oil out of his cotton seed, against any
down-easter that ever swapped wooden nutmegs for flannel sausage in the valleys of
Vermont. Above all, we know that we have achieved in...