War Time Cookery - A Fascinating and Authentic Glimpse in to the Past
A few weeks ago, my mother gave me a small pamphlet she had found in an old box when she was rummaging in a junk cupboard in her house. She assumes it was my Gran's. It is dated 1940 and was issued by the National Food Campaign, published by Lewis's in Manchester. It is essentially advice to the British consumer on how to save on fuel and food by cooking sensibly with the most readily available ingredients in order to help the War Effort.
I thanked her and later stuck it on one of my paperwork piles to read later and forgot about it. I've just come across it again. It's fascinating and is in incredibly good condition!
Some of the suggested tactics would raise a few eyebrows today. It advocates never throwing out the poaching water from vegetables. It suggests cooking all courses of a meal in the one pot in different layers. All fat from all meats should be reserved and used at a later time as cooking fat. Ingredients to consider using in cooking include cow heels, calf heads, sheep heads and any fresh bones.
Wow - it's hard to appreciate the sacrifices that were made barely seventy years ago for the greater good. I'm going to try some of the ideas included in the pamphlet. Tripe and Liver Hot-Pot sounds right up my street!
Anyone have anything similarly authentic from yesteryear?
