Homefront cooking

FAMILIES were torn apart by the Second World War. The men were fighting in foreign fields, women such as the Aycliffe Angels were working long hours in factories, and children had been evacuated to safety in distant parts of the country.

But at Christmas, despite the absence of loved ones and the strictures of rationing, the country did its best to celebrate as usual.

AS the war progressed, rationing, especially of food, became more onerous, causing people to change the habits of a lifetime.

Once-inexpensive foodstuffs such as eggs, butter, sugar and most meats were available only in small quantities and with ration coupons.

When people ran out of items, they substituted others or did without, creating a vast array of novel, if short-lived, recipes as they did so.

How many readers still remember mock turkey, mock goose, Mrs Peek’s puddings, wartime mincemeat, mock marzipan or “emergency cream”?

The greatest efforts to simulate normality were made at Christmas and for weddings with scarce ingredients being stockpiled for weeks or months.

One way to save on household groceries was for members of the family to have an occasional meal away from home, possibly at a works’ canteen or at a British Restaurant, of which there were about 2,000 across the country, where a good meal needed no ration coupons.

One diner recalled: “The queue was long, but the food was extremely good – sausage, mash and gravy, followed by a stodgy pudding and custard.

This helped to stretch the coupons as only money had to be produced for the food.

“I think we paid about a shilling (5p) for the meal and one or two pence for the cup of tea.”

These restaurants were created as part of a government scheme and were overseen by Local Food Committees that were responsible to the Ministry of Food.

Clean and well-run, their interiors were rather like works canteens.

Les Alexander remembers: “We had a British Restaurant in my home town of Seaham.

The meals were good and wholesome, but nothing fancy.

“One of the problems faced by the management was that some people felt that the cutlery was better than what they had at home and considerable quantities of knives, forks and spoons went Awol.

“The Seaham Food Central Committee had to provide staff to see that no eating irons were taken home.”

Frank Mee, of Norton, started an apprenticeship in Stockton as the war was drawing to a close and went daily with his friends to the Alma Street British Restaurant where “the ladies behind the bar were very heavy-handed when we fresh-faced lads arrived each day”.

He recalls that the restaurant continued to operate for some time after hostilities came to an end, and that he never needed an afternoon snack after eating one of its puddings with custard.

Ida Smith also lived in Seaham during the war and served in a shop there.

Talking to Bob Abley for his book about Ferryhill at war, she explained that her customers were entitled to two ounces of butter, two ounces of lard, four ounces of margarine and four ounces of bacon a week. A jar of jam and a quarter of tea were dispensed once a month.

There were other foods available but the British Restaurants must have been a godsend at times.

George Chapman told how there were no meals available at Ferryhill’s Broom School, so, if he had persuaded his parents to part with 10d (4p), he walked to the British Restaurant, next to the Catholic church, along Dean Road.

“I could get a three-course meal, as much as I could eat,” he said.

“Mrs Greenwell worked there and always asked if I wanted any more. We got soup, dinner and a sweet.”

Throughout the war, magazines, newspapers and radio provided a wealth of recipes, helpful hints and suggestions as to how to make food go further.

As Christmas approached, increasingly ingenious ideas appeared, such as these two recipes, approved by the Ministry of Food and issued in November 1943 by the Margarine Cookery Service.

A warning on the leaflet cautioned that under no circumstances should the pudding be made before December 1 and that while cob or hazel nuts did not need to be peeled, walnut skin, being bitter, should be removed.

Christmas Pudding to Serve 8 People

Ingredients
2oz currants or prunes
1 level tsp mixed spice
2 tbsp dried egg
rind of orange, if available
pinch of salt
milk to mix
1/4lb self-raising flour
1/4lb margarine
2oz breadcrumbs
2oz chopped nuts (if available)
1/4lb sugar
1/4lb raisins
2oz sultanas

Method
Clean all the dried fruit. Chop the nuts finely. Sieve the flour, dried egg and salt into a basin.

Add the dried fruit, nuts, breadcrumbs, sugar, spice and grated orange rind and mix all together. Melt the margarine and pour over the dry ingredients and stir well. Add a very little milk so that the mixture is moist all through but quite stiff. Give a final stir, and pour into a well-greased basin.

Cover with greaseproof paper and a pudding cloth, and steam for two hours. When the pudding is cold, remove pudding cloth and greaseproof, and recover with clean dry greaseproof and another pudding cloth: this helps the pudding to keep well. Store in a dry place. Before serving, steam again for two hours.

Christmas Cake for 10 Portions

Ingredients
2 tbsps dried egg
1/2 level tsp mixed spice
10 tbsps milk to mix
pinch of salt
8oz self-raising flour
3oz margarine
3oz sugar
8oz mixed fruit (sultanas, currants, raisins or prunes)

Method
Sieve flour, dried egg, spice and salt into a basin.

Clean the currants and sultanas, and stone and chop the raisins or prunes (prunes should be soaked in cold water overnight).

Cream the margarine and sugar together, and beat well.

Add a little milk and sieved flour mixture alternately, a little at a time of each, until all the ten tablespoonfuls milk and flour have been beaten in.

Add the dried fruit, and give the mixture a final stir.

Line a cake tin with greaseproof paper and brush over with melted margarine and pour in the mixture.

Bake one hour in a moderate oven (Gas Mark 4), then 1 1/2 hours in a very slow oven (Gas Mark 1).

VARIOUS options for the main course were available.

The lucky few might still find a turkey, goose, duck, chicken or a joint of meat, while others had to fabricate and lots of options were available, some involving sausage, which in those days was required to contain only three per cent meat and, like offal, could be purchased without ration coupons.

High on the list of options were Mock Goose and Mock Turkey, for which there seem to have been countless recipes.

For Mock Goose

Ingredients
150g (6oz) split red lentils
275ml (1/2 pint) water
15ml (1 tablespoon) lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Stuffing
1 large onion, chopped
50g (2oz) wholemeal fresh breadcrumbs
15ml (1 tbls) fresh sage, chopped

Method
Cook the lentils in the water until all the water has been absorbed.

Add lemon juice and season. Then make the stuffing.

Saute the onion in a little water or vegetable stock for ten minutes. Drain, and add to the breadcrumbs. Mix in the chopped sage and mix well.

Put half the lentil mixture into an ovenproof dish, spread the stuffing on top, then top off with the remaining lentils.

Put in a moderate oven until the top is crisp and golden.

Mock Turkey

Ingredients
1 loaf bread (can be stale)
1 quart milk
1 carrot, grated
1 onion, minced or finely chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 dash of pepper
1lb sausage meat
1 tsp seasoning

Method
Remove crust from loaf of bread; tear apart and moisten with milk.

Add meat, chopped vegetables and seasoning.

Mix together well and place in a buttered baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours.

TWO recipes that survived after the war in Crook, County Durham, were for crow pie and rabbity-chicken pudding.

Do you remember eating anything “different” at a wartime Christmas meal? In today’s affluent society, have we forgotten, do you think, any culinary treasures from those days of enforced hardship?

As a matter of interest, did your family stand while listening to the King’s Christmas broadcast on the wireless?

In December 1944, the last wartime Christmas message from the Archbishop of York reflected and encouraged the growing optimism in the country.

He said: “This is the sixth Christmas of the war. But it will be happier for most of us than the preceding five. With quiet confidence we see the end in sight.”

The end of hostilities, most certainly – but not of rationing.

It lingered until 1954.