The recent news that layoffs have hit the highest level since 1974 sent me back to a subject I broached before the holidays: What did people eat during the Great Depression?

Even a cursory look at the Post-Gazette archives turns up heartbreaking stories of families desperate for sustenance.

Where people did hold it together, it was use up, make due, wear it out -- even if it meant your arteries. No scrap of food was wasted, even things that today would cause us to say, "What the . . . ?" And homemade was de rigueur.

"During the Depression and until the end of World War II, our family enjoyed what my younger brother, Jack, named 'Piggy Butter,' " writes Pat Trapani of Verona.

"My mother took scraps of pork fat, cut them into very small pieces and fried them until they were dark brown and very crispy. She refrigerated all in a tan ceramic jar that had an attached lid. When all had solidified into a white lard mixture with bits of crispy pieces, we spread it on white bread and salt and peppered it. We did not have it often, and it was considered a treat.

"I don't know if the pork scraps were given to us by our generous butcher, Mr. Zalewski, or my mother had to purchase them. I can't imagine her using some of the precious meat ration stamps for them.

"At the end of the war, our family must have enjoyed a period of prosperity, as the Piggy Butter and the ceramic jar never made another appearance. We were the elite who used oleomargarine. It looked like the white mixture until you added an orange pill-like substance and magically had 'butter.'

"When I think of what Piggy Butter did to our arteries, I cringe, but I still remember it as a Depression treat."

No worse than fried pork rinds, I suppose.

Mary Gable Napoli has memories of her grandmother's thrifty approach.

"My mother's family [of Hays] was poor, as most of the country during the Depression, and my grandmother had a couple of frugal dishes that have been handed down through the generations," she writes. "My grandmother would save leftover rice, sprinkle the cold rice with cinnamon and sugar and pour a little milk over it. My mother made this for my children, and they loved it! They always save the leftover rice from Chinese takeout to make this 'dessert.'

"My grandmother's family was English/Welsh/Irish, but she learned to make spaghetti sauce from her Italian neighbors (it was her favorite dish until she died)," she adds. "Until she learned to make sauce, my family would sometimes eat noodles with ketchup.

"Another way to stretch resources was to serve gravy over bread (no meat). My uncles continued to eat 'gravy bread' long after the Depression was over."

Amy Core of Zelienople sent this recipe:

• 2 slices white bread (rye or 12-grain would be better now, she writes)
• Mayonnaise (homemade then; from the jar now)
• Onion rings, sliced thin

Put the onion rings in boiling water just long enough to remove the sharpness and still retain crispness.

Spread mayonnaise on the bread and top with onions.

Enjoy.

-- Amy Core, Zelienople

Sauce note: You can get breath mints at the supermarket checkout.

One last one:

Joyce Prestia of Penn Hills sent a recipe from her late aunt, Angie Laman of Ambridge, who contributed it to a family cookbook, "Recipes Remembered," in 1996. Ms. Laman was 89 then. She called this "my Depression dessert" and said that "my children still reminisce about them."

• 8 slices French toast

Spread your favorite jam (ours is either apricot or my own peach preserves) on each slice, roll like a jelly roll and dust with powdered sugar.

-- Angie Laman

Thanks to everyone who sent along stories, recipes and pamphlets, from several decades, not just the 1930s, proving that cost-conscious cooking is an evergreen pursuit.

Crate, Greentree Road, Scott, has posted its schedule of spring and summer classes. They include basic cooking techniques and knife sharpening. Go to cratecook.com for more.

Beef Cook-off

Entries are being sought for the National Beef Cook-Off to be held in California in September. The theme is, appropriately, Sonoma-style recipes. The contest seeks simple recipes emphasizing taste, health and convenience. Fifteen finalists will compete for a grand prize of $25,000; three category winners will each get $10,000 and three runners up, $5,000 each.

New this year are categories for fast and convenient grilled beef; teens cooking with beef; and lean beef in nutrient-rich one-dish meals.

Go to beefcookoff.org for details and to enter. Deadline is March 31.

Moo.

The Pines Tavern's February Beer Bistro Dinner will feature brews from Meadville's Voodoo Brewery for three dinner seatings, Feb. 25, 26 and 27.

The food-brew pairings are Blackened Shrimp, Creole Cajun Cream, Dirty Rice and Sweet Potato Pommes Frites -- White Magick of Sun Ale; Lightly Breaded and Pan-Fried Catfish over Wilted Arugula with Lemon Gran Met Butter Sauce and Frizzled Leeks -- Gran Met; Warm Dark Chocolate Brownie, Chef-made Caramel Ice Cream, Whipped Sweet Cream and Fresh Mint -- Wynona's Big Brown Ale.

Cost is $33 per person, plus tax and gratuity (or $25-plus for food only). For reservations, 724-625-3252; thepinestavern.com.

Tomaters

A guy who calls himself "The Tomato Man," based in Carmel, Calif., e-mails his Top 10 heirloom varieties for 2009. (He sells seeds, etc.) He says they are Brandywine; Paul Robeson; Aussie; Julia Child; Cherokee Purple; Black Cherry; Kellogg's Breakfast; Gold Medal; Aunt Ginny's Purple; and Carmello.

If you haven't had an heirloom tomato, make this year the year to try them. They will be found at farmers markets and at some local grocery chains. You cannot beat the taste.