Popular treats
These are some of the recipes my Grandmother used to feed her husband and seven children during the
second world war in England. There was little fruit, scarcely any sugar, few eggs meat or
butter, and nearly all foods were rationed. Families were encouraged to "Dig For Victory," which meant to
grow as much food as possible themselves. Consequently many a flower garden found itself
turned over to potatoes, carrots and onions in a desperate attempt to fill up the ever hungry
children's stomachs.
Women were told that food was their munition of war. The Ministry of Food and women's magazines of the day
gave basic nutritional advice and suggested substitutes such as mashed potato for flour, sour
milk for cheese, grated vegetables for fruit and whipped margarine with vanilla instead of cream.
But the housewife of the 1940s had to be very creative with what little food they had queued
for with ration books in hand. Here are some of the meals they cooked up.
Woolton Pie
This recipe was created by the Chef of the Savoy hotel and named after Lord Woolton, head of the
Ministry Of Food.
Ingredients:
1 lb diced potatoes
1 lb cauliflower
1 lb diced carrots
1 lb diced swede
3 spring onions
1 teaspoon vegetable extract
1 tablespoon oatmeal
A little chopped parsley
Method:
Cook everything together with just enough water to
cover, stirring often to prevent it sticking to
the pan. Let the mixture cool.
Spoon into a pie dish, sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Cover with a crust of potatoes or wholemeal pastry.
Bake in a moderate oven until golden brown.
Serve hot with gravy.
Sausage and Sultana Casserole
Ingredients:
1 lb sausages
1 large onion
2 oz sultanas
1 sour apple
Pinch of mixed herbs
Stock
Salt
Method:
Chop up and fry the onion.
Fry the sausages.
Cover with stock.
Add sultanas, herbs, salt.
Place in oven and cook slowly for 35-40 minutes.
Carrot Fudge
Ingredients:
Carrots
Gelatine
Orange essence
Method:
Finely grate carrots and cook four tablespoons full in just enough water to cover for 10 minutes.
Add flavouring with orange essence, grated orange rind or orange squash/cordial.
Melt a leaf of gelatine. Add gelatine to mixture. Cook quickly for a few minutes stirring all the
time. Spoon into a flat dish. Leave to set.
Cut into cubes.
Vegetable Roll with Potato Pastry
Ingredients for pastry:
4 oz mashed and sieved potato
1/2 teaspoon of salt
8 oz plain flour
3 oz fat
2 tablespoons of baking powder
Method:
Sieve dry ingredients together.Rub fat into flour and gently mix in
potato. Add just enough water to make a fairly dry dough. Knead well.
Ingredients for filling:
1 1/2 cups of any mixed boiled vegetables, diced
1 pint thick gravy
Salt and pepper
A little chopped parsley
Method:
Take 1/2lb of potato pastry and roll out on a floured board.
Moisten the vegetable mixture with a little of the gravy. Spread vegetables on to pastry leaving 1 inch all
the way round. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Roll up and seal well at the edges so that gravy cannot seep out.
Place on a well greased baking tin with the seal underneath. Brush with milk.
Bake in a moderately hot oven for 35-45 minutes.
Health Bread
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb self-raising flour
1 teacup sugar
1 breakfast cup syrup
1 egg
1 breakfast cup of raisins with stones removed
1 breakfast cup of milk
Pinch of salt
Method:
Mix together the sugar, flour, salt and raisins. Beat the egg and add it to the milk and syrup.
Mix all the ingredients together. Bake in two well greased loaf tins in a moderate oven for approximately
1 1/2 hours.
Slice thinly after a couple of days and serve with butter or margarine. Will keep for a month in a tin.
Sugarless Apple Dessert
Ingredients:
Cooking apples
Condensed milk
Orange juice
Nuts or grated chocolate
Method:
Grate raw cooking apple.
Whip together with the condensed milk.
Add a little orange juice.
Arrange in dishes with nuts or grated chocolate on top.
Sausage Pancake
Ingredients:
1 lb small sausages
4 oz flour
1/2 pint milk
1/2 oz custard powder
Salt and pepper
Method:
Mix together the custard powder and the flour, then mix with some of the milk to a smooth batter.
Beat well for five minutes, stir in the rest of the milk. Season with salt and pepper and leave
to one side.
Fry the sausages, remove from pan and keep hot. Pour off some of the fat and save, leaving enough
in the pan to fry the first pancake. Brown the pancake lightly on both sides and roll
up with the sausage inside. Keep warm.
Add some of the saved fat to the frying pan and add more batter for a second pancake.
Continue until all the batter is gone. Serve very hot with fried tomatoes.
Honey Cakes
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 ounces margarine
2 teaspoons honey
6 oz self rising flour
1 level teaspoon cinnamon
Method:
Beat sugar and margarine until a soft cream consistency. Sieve flour and cinnamon then add to mixture.
Mix with a wooden spoon until it binds together, then knead with your fingers until you have a
soft dough.
Break off a piece of the dough and roll it between
your floured palms into a ball.
Place on to a lightly greased baking tray.
Flatten slightly.
Repeat until you have used up all the dough, when
you should have about sixteen delicious honey cakes.
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Wartime Recipes : A Collection of Recipes from the War Years
Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats (A 30-Minute Meal Cookbook)
About the author:
Colleen Moulding is a freelance writer from England where she has had many features on
parenting, childcare, travel, the Internet and many more subjects published in national
magazines and newspapers. She has also published a variety of women's and children's fiction.
Her work frequently appears at many sites on the Internet and at her own site for women and children
All That Women Want.com a magazine, Web guide and resource for women everywhere.
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