As the country looks to commemorate VE Day 80, Dame Elisabeth Luard recalls the war time shortage of cakes and ale and shares a recipe which made sure nothing went to waste.
War is one sure way of concentrating the mind on essentials. Lord Woolton, immortalised as a cheese-and-vegetable pie, was in charge of making an island-nation self-sufficient in staple foodstuffs. Successful campaigns featured ‘Potato Pete’, a lovable cartoon character, and the Dig For Victory campaign which ensured that every scrap of arable land – gardens, parks and backyards – was turned over to the production of vegetables.
Government-issued recipe books instructed the housewife on the use of dried milk and powdered eggs. Public catering facilities were set up to take the strain on the national larder. Factory workers took their main meal in the canteen, local authorities set up ‘British Restaurants’ – basically state-run feeding-stations, while mobile canteens dished up ‘Blitz Stew’ in quantities to serve a hundred list 100lbs vegetables to 10lbs of meat, the gravy to be thickened with 25 lbs of breadcrumbs and a pound of parsley. All this to be cooked up, in an emergency, in a clean dustbin.
Shall there be now more cakes and ale, The wartime diet was specifically designed to keep the population healthy. The recommended per capita daily intake was set at 3,000 calories (Germany allowed 2,600 for manual workers and far less for those judged unproductive). Wartime cookery had to be economical. Absolutely nothing could be wasted and leftovers had to be used up, while anything which could not be recycled went to feed the hens and pig. Food was considered good for you – and skinning a precious chicken or trimming the fat from meat for the sake of losing a few calories would have been tantamount to treason.
Victory meat loaf
Elisabeth Luard
As a frugal wartime dish from my Edinburgh granny’s household book, the recipe may be a little heavy on the breadcrumbs, but it does include a fresh egg (the allowance was one a week per person). As airman’s wife living in officer’s accommodation, she kept chickens throughout the war years (and long afterwards). The smell of chicken mash – scraps – puffing away on the back of the stove is one of my most enduring childhood memories.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 cup (8 oz/250g) minced pork or sausage-meat
3 cups (8 oz/250g) wholemeal breadcrumbs soaked in cider or milk
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 onions or leeks, skinned and finely chopped
1 (treasured) egg
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon powdered sage
1/4 teaspoon powdered bayleaf
1 teaspoon salt
Method
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Press the mixture into a greased loaf-tin. Bake at 375F/190C/Gas 5 for an hour, basting with more cider or plain water to keep the loaf moist. Serve with baked potatoes and dripping, and home-made mustard – whole grains crushed and mixed with cider or gooseberry juice.