Depression cooking: Frugal and fulfilling

Recently, as cost-saving measures have forced more and more families to cut back on their food expenditures, "Depression cooking" has found fresh relevance. All too often, however, thrifty home chefs confuse the emotion with the era, and seem to come to the conclusion that reduced finances must equate to culinary suffering.

This could not be further from the truth. As any student of history will attest, some of the best -- and most popular -- culinary masterpieces came from meager times and downtrodden places. After all, while it is not hard to make a delicious meal out of beef tenderloin, coaxing a culinary masterpiece out of a bony shank or a simple plate of biscuits is both more difficult and more emotionally satisfying.