World War Recipes

My grandaughter gave me a book as a present. It's a collection of the War Time Recipes. It's full of tips and suggestions for making the family rations go further. Food was rationed in the War Years and every family had ration books of stamps. Food was scarce and shops were almost empty. If it was rumoured that a shop had food, people would flock there. When you bought an item, a stamp or a number of stamps was taken by the shopkeeper. If you had no stamps left, you had no food. Frugality was the name of the game and parents did all kinds of things to get enough food for their children, and eke out the ration book. Backyards were dug up and vegetables planted. Men without backyards had allotments, or pieces of land rented from the local council to grow vegetables on, some men set traps to catch rabbits, others fished in the rivers and the sea.

This was the ration for an adult for a week.

Bacon and Ham 4 ounces

Meat To the value of 1shilling and two pence. (6pence today)

offal sometimes formed part of the meat ration

Butter 2 ounces

Cheese 2ounces

margarine 4 ounces

Cooking Fat 4 ounces

Milk 3 pints, sometimes dropping to 2 pints.

Sugar 8 ounces

Preserves (jams) 1 pound every 2 months

Tea 2 ounces

Eggs 1 a week if available, but dropping to 1 every 2 weeks

Dried eggs 1 packet every 4 weeks

Babies and young children, expectant mothers and nursing mothers had free orange juice and cod liver oil from Welfare Clinics, as well as priority milk.

Indulge yoursef with these treats now

Reading through the book I was struck by the ingenuity of people and the lengths they would go to make a meal.

Here's one recipe that I was amazed at.

Steak and vegetable Ragout:

Cooking time 2 and a half hours. 4 helpings

1 pound of root vegetables

a little fat

1 pound of stewing steak in one piece

1 cup of dried, soaked peas or beans

salt and pepper

water

Prepare and fry the vegetables in a little fat. Fry the meat on both sides lightly.

Cut some of the meat into little pieces, leaving a good part of the meat whole.

Place it all in a saucepan with the peas or beans, seasoning and water. Simmer gently for 2 hours. Take out the large piece of meat and serve the rest as a stew. The main piece of meat can be sliced and warmed in gravy for other meals.

Can you imagine keeping the biggest part of the meat for another meal, or meals?

Here's one where you could use all the meat, but the pastry was half potato.

Pastry:

4 ounces of flour with a pinch of salt. (Substitute oatmeal if no flour)

Rub in 2 ounces of fat

Add 4 ounces of mashed potato

Mix thoroughly then add a little water and roll out.

Use as shortcrust pastry.

Beef Olive Pie

For the stuffing:

6 oz stale bread soaked in water then squeezed dry

2 tablespoons chopped suet or ¾ oz melted fat

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped, mixed herbs

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

4 tablespoons chopped onions

2 teaspoons lemon juice

For the filling:

1 lb stewing steak

½ oz meat dripping

¾ oz flour

¾ pint water or stock

1 teaspoon salt

pinch of pepper

gravy browning

Potato pastry

Mix the ingredients for the stuffing together.

Cut the meat into thin slices about 3 x 4 inches.

Spread a little stuffing on each slice of meat and roll up neatly.

Make the remainder of the stuffing into little balls.

Pack the beef olives and the balls into a pie dish.

Melt the dripping in a pan, add the flour and cook for a few minutes.

Add the water or stock and bring to the boil, stirring all the time.

Simmer for 5 minutes.

Season and colour with gravy browning.

Pour the gravy into the pie dish, over the beef.

Roll out the pastry and cover the pie dish.

Bake in a moderate oven for 1½ hours.

War years recipes certainly brought out people's inventive streak.