Graveyard Stew

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Holly Hermanson calling in.

Hello, Holly, where are you calling from?

Charlottesville, Virginia.

Oh, yay, Charlottesville.

Oh, hi, welcome to the program.

What can we do you for, Holly?

Here is my question.

I am in my mid-40s now, but as a child growing up, whenever my older sister or I experienced an illness, say the flu or strep throat or were just sick for some reason, and as we were coming out of the illness, our mother would give us a special dish of food to rehabilitate.

And now as an adult, I recognize that that dish is milk toast. But growing up, we were always told that it was time for our graveyard stew.

Oh, my.

And a big fuss was not made about the name. I did not know there was anything unusual about graveyard stew. I assumed everybody got that as they were coming out of an illness.

And as an adult, I realized I’ve never, ever heard anybody else use that term. And I’m just curious whether it was something maybe my family made up a few generations ago, the name, or whether indeed it’s the name of a way of preparing milk toast.

Well, now, Holly, tell us how the toast was prepared.

Well, let’s see. You start off with a piece of toast, and you pour some hot milk or warmed milk over it. For some flavor, there was usually butter, salt, and pepper.

And that was given to us to kind of nurse us back to being able to take some fluid or make sure that we could keep it down and get us some nourishment.

And then the next step was to place a poached egg on the center of the toast in the hot milk with the butter. And I still to this day remember how wonderful it always tasted, that first bite of semi-solid, warm, buttery, salty food.

And that’s it. Have you ever heard of it?

You know, I’ve got three or four different recipes I can find right here, and all of them are pretty close to yours. Not everyone adds the egg, though, at the end.

I’ll be darned.

And some people use saltine crackers instead of toast. But yeah, graveyard stew is a thing, as they say.

You’ll find it even in a few specialty dictionaries. And in literature, going back to the late 1800s, people talk about graveyard stew in exactly the way that you used it and learned it, which is it’s something that you eat when you’re sick.

Probably because it’s easy to take down. A soft toast and a poached egg are pretty easy to swallow, right?

Right.

So I think the idea was that it’s something that’s served to people whose next stop is the graveyard.

Exactly.

I had never thought of that as I was pondering why it might be named that. The only thing my little kid’s brain could come up with is that the round egg on the square toast looks a little bit like a tombstone.

Oh, that’s not a bad idea.

That’s what my brain imaged. It never occurred to me that it might be drawing us back from the very edge of the grave.

Yeah, I think that’s it. You know, it’s sort of a little morbid humor.

I mean, it’s interesting that you said that your mother gave it to you when you were on the mend. So it’s sort of this ironic use of it, right?

Yeah.

A few sources recommended as a hangover remedy.

Not a bad idea.

I have a bottle of champagne in my refrigerator. I could test it tomorrow morning.

Do let us know how that works out.

Thank you both so much for your time. I feel delighted to finally solve the mystery for myself.

Thank you both.

Bye, Martha.

Bye, Grant.

Bye-bye.

Thank you.

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