Thriftlady's wartime experiment

rosieben

thriftlady wrote: »

Rosieben these are the books I'm using mainly for baking recipes, but main dishes I'm just doing my own thing really based on what ingredients were available at the time.

Here she is- Dame Margeurite -national treasure and domestic goddess
http://www.celebritychefsuk.com/chefs.asp?id=17

Thanks thriftlady (shouldnt be so lazy and looked for it myself ) .

I have a copy of Marguerite Patten's Century of British Cooking but I think my son has borrowed it. I'll check what recipes are in there for the war years, unless you've already checked

Sarahsaver

I know there was the blackcurrant and orange syrup/juice. Mum and nanna used to collect rosehips and make rosehip syrup which would have been equally good for vitamins AFAIK. I keep remembering things she told me.
DD's granddad could not abide carrots because in WW2 in the RAF he for some reason had LOADS of tinned carrots! Put him off forever after.

Errata

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

As sweets were so rationed, have you thought about making honeycomb? DD2 and I made it last night and it is wonderful (I know it's bad for your teeth, but hey, it's fat free). I used 200g caster sugar, 4tbs golden syrup and 1 heaped tbs of bicarb. I just put the sugar and syrup in a large pan and left on a VERY low heat until the sugar had melted. It is important not to stir at all - just swirl the pan around a few time. When it is bubbling and all melted chuck in the bicarb and swirl again and like magic it froths up. Quickly pour onto an oiled baking sheet or swiss roll tin and leave to cool, before breaking into chunks. It was wonderful - and not too hard either - just like crunchie inside actually. I have to say that these quantities made far too much so if I made it again I would use only 100g sugar and 2tbs syrup and 1dsp of bicarb - I have three tupperwares full of the stuff!! Curshed up it's nice on porridge or mixed into yoghurt.

We call this Cinder Toffee and it's still made for the village fete.

DD's granddad could not abide carrots because in WW2 in the RAF he for some reason had LOADS of tinned carrots! Put him off forever after.

It was suggested that carrots improved eyesight, quite useful for aircrew.
My WW2 RAF relly reckoned it was a big con.

sairy2005

The Ministry of Food liked carrots during the war. The RAF were given them to help them see in the dark. Havent you heard the old joke about never seeing a rabbit with glasses. There was a cartoon character on all the pamphlets which was a carrot (cant remember what he was called) the potato cartoon was Potato Pete and every one was encouraged to eat loads of those as well. They werent rationed.

thriftlady_2

Doctor Carrot who later became Clara Carrot Or it may have been the other way round. The Potato Pete character had a song which was sung by Betty Driver aka Betty Turpin in Coronation St

The savoury mince (mince cooked with carrots and onions, thickened with a little flour and a stock cube with some peas thrown in at the last minute) has gone down a storm, the kids were practically licking their plates. I wonder why I don't cook simple things like this more often -normally I'd spice up mince and make a curry or chilli or bolognese.

Shez

thriftlady wrote: »

The savoury mince (mince cooked with carrots and onions, thickened with a little flour and a stock cube with some peas thrown in at the last minute) has gone down a storm, the kids were practically licking their plates. I wonder why I don't cook simple things like this more often -normally I'd spice up mince and make a curry or chilli or bolognese.

my mum always used to cook this - and i loved it - id forgotton about having it that way too! - like you say we tend to make chilli/bolognese.

catznine - that spice cake looks good! reminds me abit of the manor house cake!

Sarahsaver

My kids loved mince and onions - come to think of it I used to eat in a fairly wartime way when I was a single parent on benefits;) We often had that for Sunday dinner as it was so cheap.

Icemaiden

Right been up in the loft this afternoon (followed the builder to survey leaking roof from yesturday) had a good rumage round in all the forgotten boxes and emerged with a copy of Marguerite Patten's 1,000 favourite recipes, have no idea where this came from and The Victory Cookbook:D

Really enjoying this thread Thriftlady so thank you for starting it:T

Ice
x

Yategirl

I made spice cake tonight... corr it was YUM!!! very morish.. in fact.. we have none left!

this thread has been fascinating! thanks thriftlady

redmandarin

I love this thread - it gets better and better - and your photos are fantastic - thanks!:T

Errata wrote: »

We call this Cinder Toffee and it's still made for the village fete.

Thanks recovering spendaholic and Errata, this brings back happy memories - my nanna taught me how to make cinder toffee when I was a kid. It's exactly the filling you get in a Cadbury's Crunchie (I prefer the 's' in Cadbury's)! When you put the bicarbonate of soda in, it turns a small amount of toffee into a great big panful - I can see why it was a wartime recipe - a great treat for kids and it makes a little go a long way!

Errata wrote: »

It was suggested that carrots improved eyesight, quite useful for aircrew.
My WW2 RAF relly reckoned it was a big con.

Yes, they were right - it was a con! http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/carrots.asp I suppose it had the positive affect of making people grow and eat their own veg, but it was a myth that was started by British Intelligence during the war. They didn't want the Germans to know that they were using radar to detect the bombing raids, so they spread the rumor that they were feeding their pilots carrots to improve their vision! Apparently, so many people believed it (and still do) that some started eating more carrots to help them find their way home during the blackout!