Bread in World War 2 Britain

[Puzzicato]

* Everybody has a cast-iron manual meat mincer, right?

I do. But I don't have a porringer and I don't know what a pugil is!

 

[Land-O-LakesGal]

This thread has me reliving my childhood. This week I have made breakfast using bread like my Mother used to during rationing. Here we go:

'Pobs' - a porridge subsitute using stale bread.
You will need:
- A stale loaf (white or brown);
- A meat mincer;
- A large baking bowl;
- A porringer or large brass saucepan;
- A spoon, wooden, stirring for the use of;
- A pint (.5 litre) of milk (preferably not too sour);
- A pugil of salt.

Break the stale loaf into pieces, feed them into the mincer*, turning the handle (small children are useful for this). Place the crumbs in the baking bowl, add the milk (as much as you have) and water and stir until the consistency seems about right.

Transfer from bowl to saucepan or porringer. Bring up heat (did I mention a stove?). Add salt and keep stirring while simmering until an even consistency is achieved. Serve into eating bowls, leave to cool and stiffen.

Ahhhh - delicious! Not really, but it did at least provide your kids with a breakfast...

* Everybody has a cast-iron manual meat mincer, right?

I know my mom has a cast iron meat mincer that she used to use when I was a kid but I just put it in my food processor (not very vintage of me I know)
But the real question is what is a pugil? And can you post a picture of your porriger?
Don't you think some celebs would catch on to thrift as it is cool to be green these days and thrift is green after all......

 

[H.Johnson]

A pugil is an old measure of a powder (as of salt). A pinch is as much as can be picked up between the thumb and index finger. A pugil is as much as can be picked up between the thumb and first two fingers.

A porringer is a handled pan used for slow cooking soup or porridge on a low source of heat. I don't think we need to detain ourselves in photographing one - they aren't that exciting!

I'm warming to this war-time food bread thread. It's a pleasure to do something practical rather than the theoretical (and often unprovable) historical arguments contained in many WW2 threads. I made bread pie over the week-end, which was a way of producing a pie (meat or fruit) without making pastry* at the same time using up old bread. As British people revived the 19th C practice of 'food from the hedgerow' I used wild blackberries (which are in season at the moment) to fill my bread pie.

You will need:
- A large stale loaf;
- A baking pan (e.g. a square bread pan) of a suitable size;
- A saucepan for heating the filling (e.g. fruit);
- A frying pan for heating the fat;
- A sufficient amount of berries (or meat or fish or whatever) to fill the pie;
- A portion of fat (realistically, avoid used frying fat)**
- An oven of a suitable size.

Slice the crusts off the loaf longways to give the largest possible slices. One will form the base of the pie, on the top. Cut slits in the corners of the pie towards the centre so that it fits into the base of the pan. Place the fat in the frying pan and heat to melt. Place the slit slice in the pan and fry until the fat is absorbed into the bread.

Grease the baking pan with the melted fat. Press the fried slice into the base of the pan. Cut the other slice to the shape of the top of the pie and fry it in the melted fat.

Bring the fruit in the saucepan to heat and simmer until soft (sugar can be added if available 'on ration'). When ready, fill the base. Fit the top and place into the oven. Bake slowly and cook until brown.

Again, this may not suit modern tastes as a desert, in spite of its thriftiness.

* Pastry, of course, requires ingredients (e.g. fat) that were in very short supply. Fat (left over from frying) was collected in public collecting points in some areas and found its way back into the 'food chain' (e.g. it was used as a replacement for butter). The sheer disgust we may feel for spreading someone else's used frying fat on one's bread was overlooked at the time.

** Fat recycled in this way without purification is carcinogenic - a can't recommend its use.