The post World War 2 kitchen

In order to look at post WW2, I felt it would be  useful to look at WW2 UK food in order to compare and contrast. There was a huge use of vegetables.

Lord Woolton, the Minister of Food during WW2 produced this food recipe for his Woolton Pie to feed the Brits healthily. Nowadays it would be welcomed but at the time, the lack of meat was unpopular. The recipe was invented by  Francis Ladry, the chef of the Savoy hotel. There were many versions of this famous UK pie but they always used carrots. It was a  mixture of  vegetables, a sauce and a topping, which could be pastry or mashed potatoes.  

Traditional Woolton Pie

Take 1Ib each of diced potatoes, cauliflower, swedes and carrots;

Three or Four spring onions; One teaspoonful of vegetable extract and one teaspoonful of oatmeal.


 Cook all together for ten minutes with just enough water to cover.

Stir occasionally to prevent the mixture from sticking.

Allow to cool; put into a pie dish, sprinkle with chopped parsley and cover with a crust of potatoes or wholemeal pastry.

Bake in a moderate oven until the pastry is nicely brown and serve hot with brown gravy.

During WW2, the British government believed that as part of war economies, only a cheap cheddar cheese would be available. All milk produced that normally went to make many different kinds of cheeses, went instead to factories to make the cheddar that became known as Government Cheddar Cheese .
The decree banning the production of any cheese but Government Cheddar continued until the end of rationing in 1954. While Government Cheddar helped to get Britain through the war, it also wiped out many  farmhouse and local cheese businesses.  It took the local cheese producers years to recover and some never did.

I decided to look at a few recipes from the late 40's and a few from the early 50's .

Many post war recipes had the phrase Americaine after them because America was a good friend to the UK during WW2 and after.

Herrings Americaine

1 oz margarine

1 chopped onion

2 tomatoes

2 ozs breadcrumbs

1 dried egg reconstituted

seasoning

4 herrings

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Cook the first 6 ingredients together in a pan to bind and make a stuffing.

Put inside the herrings. Cover with margarine wrapping papers and bake in the oven Elec 375F for 25 minutes.

1946 saw fuel cuts and there were severe frosts too which damaged the onion and other vegetable crops. The Brit housewives coped in their own way and this recipe appeared in 1946.  They made their meagre food rations go even further with little veg to be had. This recipe could be reheated or continue cooking later when there was power back on.

Beef and Prune hotpot

 4 ozs prunes soaked for 12 hours in water .

8 ozs  stewing beef cut into strips

stock cube

1 and a 1/2 pounds of thinly sliced potatoes

seasoning.

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Strain the prunes and add stock cube to the water.

Layer the potatoes and onions, then the beef and prunes , then potatoes and onions in a casserole dish . Pour the liquid over and bake for 2 hours on 325F

Whale meat was not rationed and the government were keen for people to try it. In tests most people couldn't distinguish between whalemeat and beef when herbs and seasoning were added.

This prompted the joke on the song "We'll meet again " which changed jokingly to "Whale meat again ".

Dried bananas were readily available and would be soaked and used with lettuce in a salad or soaked and covered in a batter to turn into fritters.

This recipe appeared in 1947.

Banana and Rhubarb Compote

4 dried bananas thickly sliced

7 fl ozs water 2 tbsp. of honey

1lb rhubarb

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soak the bananas for half an hour

Add to a pan with the chopped rhubarb and simmer for about ten minutes.

Serve hot or cold.

The Armed Forces were called in to help deliver and distribute food when the dock workers went on strike in 1948,so, the British housewife made use of corned beef as meat rations were further hit.

Corned beef

Fritters

Slice the corned beef, coat in batter and fry.

Roast

Do not slice the corned beef but brush with melted margarine and roast until hot.

As certain foods came off rations and food became more plentiful again, people started to entertain again. Baking became more adventurous too. Note the egg here in this recipe is not dried!

This bizarrely named recipe appeared in 1952.

Chicken terrapin

1 hard boiled egg

1/2 oz of margarine

2 tsps. of flour

4 tbsps. milk

seasoning

1 oz cooked rice

2 oz cooked chicken

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Heat the butter, flour and milk to make a thick sauce.

Add the chopped egg and other ingredients and heat thoroughly

Place on triangles of toast.

Coronation chicken was invented for the Queen's coronation in 1953. It is a still a firm favourite today. It was a mixture of diced cooked chicken, curry powder, dried apricots, red wine and held together in a light mayonnaise mixture .

Frying become a popular form of cooking when fats were de-rationed and were not considered a health hazard as they are today. Ration books were torn up . In June 1945, the meat markets opened early in anticipation of a rush at the butchers!

I want to pay a tribute to those remarkable women who managed to feed their families on very little and in many ways the families were better fed than in today's high fat, high sugar, fast food lifestyle which is contributing to the western world's obesity.

• 1 lb (455 g) of self-raising flour plus 1 tsp baking powder and baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• 4 ozs (115g) margarine
• 4 ozs (115g) sugar
• 3 saccharin tablets (1 dessertspoonful hot water )
• 14 ozs (400g) currants, sultanas, peel
• ½ pint milk
• ¼ pint of water

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder and baking soda together.
2. Mix the flour mixture, condensed milk, melted butter, essence, and water and beat well.
3. Pour the mixture into a greased and dusted 6 inch diameter round tin.
4. Bake in a hot oven at 200 degrees C (400 degrees F) for 10 minutes.
5. Then reduce the temperature to 150 degrees C (300 degree F) and bake for a further 10 minutes.
6. The cake is ready when it leaves the sides of the tin and is springy to touch.
7. When ready, take out from the oven and leave for 1 minute.
8. Invert the tin over a rack and tap sharply to remove.

Snoek and tomatoes

Ingredients

1 oz cooking fat

8 ozs chopped onions

1lb skinned tomatoes

8 ozs snoek

seasoning to taste

1 tsp sugar

Method

Brown the onions in the fat

Add the tomatoes and cook them gently together

Add the seasoning and the snoek and warm through .

Serve with potatoes.