Saturday 10 November 2018

Eating for Victory! - Vintage Recipe 1



When Britain entered the Second World War against Germany, Britain knew they would need to change how they grew, distributed and consumed food or they would surely starve.  Having learned in the First World War how easily the ships they depended on for food imports could be destroyed.  In 1939 the Ministry of Food was created and in September 1939 national food rationing was instituted.  This ensured every Britain received their fair share.  These recipes were created by the Ministry of food to help housewives stretch, pinch, and use up every last drop or morsel of food available.  Nothing went to waste.  Everyone, from soldiers to housewives, the elderly to the smallest child, were fighting fit.  Everyone was in the fight.  Eating for victory!  


What to make for dinner? Isn't that always the question?!  I find  it a difficult question to answer in the present day when we have a large selection of choices.  We can even choose from a plethora of ready-meals.  We don't even need to set foot in the kitchen if we don't want to.  Now imagine you're living on war time rations.  What do you make now?


Thankfully the Ministry of Food created leaflets for all housewives to cope with just such a problem!  Whole weekly menus were created to take the guess work out of daily meals.  Many recipes, cooking methods, baking instructions and even how to create preserves were printed in these pamphlets.  Michael O'Mara Books Limited has compiled many of these leaflets in a wonderful book titled "Eating for Victory: Healthy Home Front Cooking on War Rations".  From the book I choose this midday meal.  It seemed easy enough to make.  It didn't take much time.  And I had the ingredients. (This pretty much sums up my decisions making process:  Do I have the time?  Do I have the means?) So I got started...



Fish and Potato Pancake
This recipe is from "Eating for Victory: Healthy Home Front Cooking on War Rations" by Michael O'Mara Books Limited (ISBN 978-1-84317-264-2)

Ingredients:
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
1/2 oz. dripping or fat (I used some saved beef fat)
3/4 lb potatoes, cooked and sliced
1 lb cod or any white fish, cooked and flaked
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp salt
pepper
chopped parsley


Preparation:
Fry the onion in the dripping or fat until tender.  Add the potatoes and fish and fry until brown.  Sprinkle over the vinegar, salt, pepper and parsley.  Serve hot.



What my kids thought: they didn't really like it.  As expected.  The dish is heavy on onion and light on spice.  My kids did not enjoy the flavor of the dish and it did it go well with ketchup.  They tried.  But even my daughter who eats almost everything didn't want to finish it all.



What the adults thought: we liked it.  My husband and I ate all ours (and the kids'!).  I was surprised the "pancakes" were actually fried potato medallions, but I really enjoyed the fish.  It was flaked so you didn't get a huge mouthful of fish in each bite, but it had a crisp to it.  And it went really well the potatoes.  Of course!  Fish and chips is a natural combo!  This is like a one-pan throw-it-all-together kinda version of fish and chips.


In conclusion, my husband and I would eat this again.  It was tasty.  BUT. There was a fair amount of prep before hand.  Such as having the fish and potatoes already cooked.  I'm assuming this meal is actually meant to be a way to use up leftover fish or leftover potatoes.  That would save time on those steps.  I can see how during war time this meal would stretch the fish by accompanying it with the potato "pancakes".  However I would rather eat the potatoes on their own (as baked, mashed or as fries) and stretch the fish using batter or some other means.  So all told, we will likely not eat this, or make this, again.  I still had fun.  And I'm still very excited to try the next Vintage Recipe!

-Andrea

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