I wish I had found this illustration in time for my previous post!
One hundred and one years ago times were hard, food was scarce, bread and flour were in particularly short supply and people were being reminded that every scrap of food brought into the country came at the risk of many men's lives and must be valued accordingly.
The December 1917 issue of Home Cookery came up with lots of helpful advice and recipes. It was all given in the form of cosy chats with friends and family.
"Something good to eat" is a form of practical Christmas present which is always appreciated. Try the following suggestions for dainties which will give real pleasure to your friends.
"Something good to eat" is a form of practical Christmas present which is always appreciated. Try the following suggestions for dainties which will give real pleasure to your friends.
We have such a lot of relations and friends, you see, and we've always been in the habit of exchanging Christmas gifts. When times weren't so hard as they are now it was less difficult to decide, but, as it is, the problem has been acute.
"Let's stop asking what we can give and ask what they want. What do you suppose Aunt Nellie would welcome more than anything else this Christmas?"
"Sugar" said mother, thinking of Aunt Nellie's growing girls and boys, and the difficulty she met in trying to get sweet things for them.
"I'll tell you what we can get," interrupted Mary eagerly. Cake!" Why not send one of those topping cakes of yours that take next to no sugar? It would be such a boon to Aunt Nellie to have that item taken off her Christmas preparations."
"Yes, it would," agreed mother, "and I could put in a jar of apricot jam. That's the next best thing to sugar."
"We could send grandma some chicken jelly." put in Elsie. "Yours is so much nicer than the bought kind, and I'm sure she'd enjoy it more than bought knick knacks."
That started the ball rolling - what bachelor girl in lonely 'digs' wouldn't welcome a tiny home-made pudding or a pat of country butter? Many a town-dweller would be more grateful for a nice fresh cabbage or a few carrots and turnips than for the very newest best-seller. The mother of a big family would regard a good substantial cake as a veritable fairy godmother offering.
We may smile at the way this is written, or giggle at the thought of being given a cabbage for Christmas, but after reading of all the shortages and struggles during the 14-18 war, I can also see just how these gifts could have brought happiness to both the recipient and the giver.
At this point I am so tempted to launch into a comparison with Christmas 2018-style, but I won't. Did I just hear a big sigh of relief?
Chicken Jelly
A good present for an invalid or old person.
Skin and cut in pieces an old fowl (You may take the toughest old rooster you like for this purpose.) Break the bones and put them in a covered earthenware jar with a few peppercorns, a good pinch of salt, and the rind of a lemon.
Cover closely and simmer for seven hours, adding more water from time to time, as required. Strain off the liquor and cool. Decorate a mould with slices of hard-boiled egg, pour the jelly into it and allow it to set.
The chicken that is left will do quite nicely for mince. Of course all the best nourishment will be gone from it into the jelly, but you make up by adding gravy or stock.
A Dainty Little Cake
This will please a person who is fond of delicate fare.
1 egg and
Its weight in margarine, flour and ground rice
1 heaped tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of strong coffee/coffee essence
1 teaspoonful of baking powder
Cream the margarine and sugar, beat in the egg and afterwards the flour, rice and baking powder. Melt the honey in the coffee.
Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ones, making a fairly stiff dough.
Bake in a tin lined with greased paper in a fairly hot oven.
War Christmas Cake
(Far nicer than the old-fashioned Christmas cakes.)
Half a pound of barley flour
Quarter pound of regulation flour
Quarter pound of chopped dates
Quarter pound of stoned raisins
Quarter pound of currants
Six ounces of margarine
The rind of 3 lemons, grated
The rind of 2 oranges, grated
2oz of brown sugar
1 teaspoonful of ginger
One breakfast cup of sour milk
One dessertspoonful of baking powder
Put the fruit into a saucepan of cold water and just bring it to the boil. Drain well, and dry on a plate in the oven for a few minutes.
Melt the margarine in the milk. Sift the baking powder, spice and sugar into the flour.
Mix all the materials together, and beat them with a wooden spoon for five minutes. Put the mixture into a tin lined with greased paper, and bake in a brisk oven till it is risen and slightly browned.
Then move it to a cooler place and continue baking till a skewer, when put into the thickest part of the cake, comes away clean.
This makes a splendid cake; just the thing to give as a present to a family of boys and girls.
The final article in the magazine:
My Dear Readers,
For three Christmases now we have made our preparations thoughtfully and economically. And now this fourth Christmas since since war began, we are asked to be still more careful. We are not asked to go short of things, but to remember that all foodstuffs are precious and that in wasting even a crust, or an odd left-over of pudding, we are throwing away something for which human life has been risked. Furthermore, to bring more food for another meal that scrap might have helped to go further men are again risking their lives......
In this number you will find practical advice on choosing and cooking and making the most of Christmas good things, for the home circle, the children, Tommy in camp or abroad, the invalid - for everybody, in fact.
The magazine is printed on flimsy, poor quality, war-time paper. Plain, simple, absolutely packed with economical recipes, hints, tips and exhortations to use every bit of food. It is a very dull and worthy offering compared to those high gloss magazines of today, which are filled with wonderful photographs of dishes prepared with more ingredients than they could have dreamed of, back in 1917, and yet it is so much more interesting. Times of need v times of plenty. So much to read between the lines.
There is much more that I wanted to say, but time has run away with me and, anyway, this is a blog, an amusement, not a lecture hall!
Enjoy your weekend.
(NB to any of my children who may read this - I may be old, but I do not want a pot of chicken jelly, nor do I want knick-knacks. Thank you. xxx)
Enjoy your weekend.
(NB to any of my children who may read this - I may be old, but I do not want a pot of chicken jelly, nor do I want knick-knacks. Thank you. xxx)
Love the illustration. I won't be trying any of the recipes. Things have gone from one extreme to the other with so many people now living off takeaways and so much waste.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could let you have a read of the magazines, Susan. Portions must have been much smaller than those deemed 'normal' these days, lists of ingredients were meagre in comparison to the long lists that even a simple modern recipe demands. They are fascinating reading.
DeleteWhat a lovely post. I think the Christmas Cake sounds quite nice, with all that lovely citrus zest in it, and not too heavy on the dried fruit. I imagine the barley flour might make it a little . . . solid . . . though!
ReplyDeleteWhilst I shan't be giving anyone a cabbage for Christmas, I always make jam or jelly or chutney as Christmas gifts, and am busy making up little baskets of useful edible bits for my kids. I may get to make choccies if I have time . . .
Baskets of edible bits make a wonderful gift - especially if they contain home made choccies, too! Lots of the recipes are vegetarian, I intend to try out some of them - many more are for meat eaters - tripe, trotters, brains, and heads, with lots of 'mock this' and 'mock that'. The magazine was published once a month, at a cost of 2d. I can only imagine how eagerly it was read as people tried to feed hungry families on very little, especially when they couldn't even fill the corners with extra slices of bread and butter/marge.
DeleteI can only echo your comment at the end, Chicken jelly sounds discusting though I suppose it could be used as stock. That was some find the arrival, we forget it was only 100 years ago. Face it rationing from WWII only stopped when we were born. I feel we have forgotten what Christmas is about, it has become too comertialised
ReplyDeleteThe magazines give a little insight into the tough times those people left at home faced. There are also lots of items about making cakes and treats which could be posted to 'Tommy' as they called the soldiers who were away at war. Absolutely right, Bill, it is all far too commercialised and the way people put themselves into debt as they spend, spend, spend, does not lead to happiness or joy.
DeleteA cabbage maybe not, but jars of pickled red cabbage and beetroot feature in my gifts for neighbours this year.
ReplyDeleteRed cabbage and pickled beetroot are wonderful gifts and such beautiful colours for the season. I hope the seas calm down before your holiday - or are you flying?
DeleteThis book illustrates how we did Christmas on the ranch in Wyoming, except for the chicken jelly...lol... Thanks for bringing a flood of memories back to my ever forgetful mind.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that it brought back memories, wyomingheart - happy ones, I hope. Sounds like the tough old rooster was safe at your place then!! Isn't it amazing, all the memories which are in our brains, locked away, until something unlocks the door and they really do come flooding back so strongly that you wonder how you could have forgotten them.
DeleteI did a post on Pearl Harbor, in my blog..... Not my usual 'chirpy' "stuff", of course.
ReplyDeleteYou do a service, especially to the young folks, in reminding all, of the deprivations of the World Wars. And how strong people, at home, dealt with them.
Those who really remember, are dying off. Those who served, are in their 90's, if still alive. My husband and I were children, but we are in our 80's. Logic shows, that those who remember first hand, are few.
So it is up to the descendants, to keep the memory of life lived then, alive. And this is a noble task.
Thank you.
As you say, they were incredibly difficult times, for those at home as well as those who were serving their country, both showed courage and strength, wow. Most of my reading is of an historical nature, novels rarely hold my attention these days. I must have missed your Pearl Harbor post, but I will pop over later to have a read.x
DeleteWhat an interesting post, good to be reminded of years gone by. I remember ration books from when I was A kid. My grandparents lived through the times in your post but I know supplies were also short in WWll hence the need for rationing.
ReplyDeleteHello maureenlthompson - and thank you for stopping by. I'm glad you found it interesting, it all fascinates me, hence the post, but I try not to get too deeply into it and bore everyone. Honest!
DeleteYou just resurrected a sixty odd year old memory--Boston Baked Bread. Molasses, several kinds of flour, baking soda and sour milk, and raisins! Baked in an emptied can. I made these at Christmas for my grandmother and great grandmother. And us, of course. When cool (enough), open the bottom of the can and push out the loaf.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds sufficiently intriguing for me to have a go at baking it, Joanne! You knew your great grandmother - goodness. You obviously have good genes. I'm sorry to say that our family all seem to fall off the perch relatively young - I had better get out there and enjoy myself!!
DeleteIn a quite moment I try to imagine how folk these days would cope with the food situation as experienced in WW2. I recall being given MY OWN sweet coupons that had to last a whole month and if I spent those coupons too fast I had to wait a whole month before I tasted another toffee.
ReplyDeleteHello Valerie, that sounds like a good way to learn to manage things...as a child I think I would have had a long wait after gobbling down my full ration. My older brother would have paced himself, calculated how many sweeties he could eat per day and would have stuck to that. I was a greedy little thing!
DeleteWhat a great post! I also enjoyed the wonderful comments that followed. (I am tempted to try the Boston Baked Bread.) My mother talked about the rationing of food during WWII, but because of her hard work and resourcefulness I'm sure the family fared well. Also, no pot of chicken jelly for me, either! :~)
ReplyDeleteHello Chip Butter, I thought of you when I was reading those magazines. I am sure that I heard the voice of Florence White in some of those recipes and articles. They were all written anonymously, but I do know that she earned her crust, at that time, by writing for papers and publications. I'd like to think so, anyway.
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