Food & Drink

[Folly]

Firstly, my sincere apologies if I've missed a similar thread elsewhere.

I wondered who else likes cooking from old recipes.

I often cook from rationed recipes from WWII and just made a batch of chocolate buns which I just love. Despite the amount of golden syrup and sugar in them, they don't actually taste very sweet which is nice.

I also make steamed puddings which my husband just loves but take up to three hours to actually cook. You really need to have your act together to prepare and start cooking these, usually before the main meal is even started which I tend to forget to do!

Also, I always make tea from loose leaf tea, in a tea pot which peeves some people when they come to our house! I offer them tea, they accept, then I disappear to boil the kettle. I return while the kettle is boiling and then disappear again to warm the pot, make the tea and let it brew. I then return to the guests who expect me to return with their tea, but no, they have to wait as I'm doing it properly lol
As most people just boil a kettle and pour it onto a tea bag these days, they can't think what's taking me so long! I have even been prompted before now, "Um .. weren't you making tea?" So then I tell them that I am indeed making tea, disappear again and make them their cup of tea - properly with all the ritual that it should have.

 

[LadyDeWinter]

Tea

Folly, I only use tea bags in the office. When I am at home I use tea leafs and I always fill cold water into the kettle and pour the boiling water over the leafs. For me it tastes much better this way.

I just made a pot of tea for me, hmmmm....

 

[Folly]

Loose leaf tea does taste better, far better.

And lucky you! I miss drinking tea - I have a caffeine intolerance sadly.

 

[Kim_B]

Thought I might post this link I just found while poking around the Internet...not sure if it's been posted before, but it was new to me They have a small list of 1940's recipes, as well as a hairstyle and clothing page, and a page on music and dance...

http://www.ladiesofreenacting.com/WorldWarII.html

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I just got copies of two books on Wartime cooking.

Grandma's Wartime Kitchen and then Grandma's Wartime Baking.

Have not yet tried things out from them, as I am currently kitchenless..(which is why i keep finding cookbooks now....when they are useless).....


Here is the companion website

http://www.grandmaswartimekitchen.com/

 

[Kim_B]

I just got copies of two books on Wartime cooking.

Grandma's Wartime Kitchen and then Grandma's Wartime Baking.

Have not yet tried things out from them, as I am currently kitchenless..(which is why i keep finding cookbooks now....when they are useless).....


Here is the companion website

http://www.grandmaswartimekitchen.com/

Ooh, I shall have to add that to my Amazon.com wish list! Thank you for posting about these!

 

[Folly]

Oooh, thank you both for the links!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

she has -adapted- them...so not for the purist...but still a very good idea of things...It doesn't look like she has made lots of odd changes, and she tells you what is different.

Also filled with stories and anecdotes and posters and things from the time.

I scored the baking one for 4.99 at a discount store....

 

[Folly]

The books I have, use lots of ingredients I have never even heard of. I couldn't even hazard a guess at what to replace them with.

 

[RedPop4]

I'd be a bit more interested in this.Dining by Rail by James Porterfield. It's a history lesson as well as nearly 250 recipes from the dining cars of 48 different rail lines. What I noticed how each company's menu changed depending upon where they were in the trip and what 's available in that particular area.

I'm going to buy this one day, it's a quality addition to any cookery collection.

 

[Elaina]

Most of my recipes are really old. Aunt Bert (I'll spare you the story) was really into cheap, good baked goods. Her Banana Nut Bread is still the best I've ever had, and that was culled in the 20's. The Sugar Cookie recipe is from the 1820's, and we have one for authentic mincemeat from 1629 (Even in old English: it actually says Minsmeat for a partye, serves a ballroom, November 1629). I make a wartime cake, wartime bread, wartime biscuits, wartime pancakes, wartime coffee (not for the faint of heart, or for those that want a good cup of coffee), and quite a few other ones. Not all are wartime, but most of the "Family" recipes are from WWII or before. All of them are the way they were, and aside from the few adjustments I make (like omitting mace from one of them, or leaving out the pinch of arsenic and using a dash of almond extract instead) they're like the were when they were thought of.

 

[fortworthgal]

Almost all of my cooking is either wartime or at least golden era recipes - beef stroganoff, meatloaf, pot roast, chicken a la king, etc. Some evenings we even have SOS, although we have yet to actually eat it out of mess kits at home. lol Grandma's Wartime Kitchen is a good book and it has some really fun recipes, I especially liked the meatloaf-filled baked potatoes. I own several copies of the American Woman cookbook and Joy of Cooking, including 2 war-dated Victory editions of the American Woman one. Those are both good ones to look for, they have a lot of fantastic recipes and sometimes you can find copies at Half Price Books.

To take it even a step further, all of our cookware and serveware is entirely vintage as well. Cookware is flame enameled Descoware and Le Creuset (which is pictured in practically every 40s and 50s cookbook), and we also have some Club and Magnalite. We have about 5 large lidded roasting pans - Le Creuset, Magnalite, Club, and I think a couple of others. Our dishes are Fiesta, with a mix of vintage restaurantware and USQMD-ware, and all our glasses and barware are vintage cut glass, although we do have some modern Duralex Picardie mixed in. They are a 1930s design though, so it still counts. lol For serving and parties I use hammered aluminum pieces, Guardianware, or teak wood pieces I've picked up at estate sales.

 

[MissMissy]

My mother has an old cookbook written by Meta Given (sp?). I believe it's late 40s or early 50s. The first part of the book tells you how to feed your family as in how much and what do they need each day. It also shows you how to plan meals around the seasons and gives sample weekly menus which is helpful when making your shopping list. I really need to bid on one on ebay or I might be forced to swipe my moms, seriously she doesn't even use it!!! Maybe she'll give it to me for Christmas.
I try to feed my family like they did long ago because obesity wasn't such a big problem then, I want my kids to grow up healthy. Basically it means dinner doesn't come from a box or the drive through. I don't always like to stand at the stove cooking but since I'm a stay-at-home mom I figure I have no excuse not to have good, healthy food for my family. I also don't buy packaged goodies like cookies and such, if we want them we have to bake them and work for it! My kids love to help stir and who doesn't love cookie dough??

 

[Folly]

People ate better back in the day. When they aired The 1940's House, they gave the family the health check before and then after and as I recall, they had lost weight while filming but were perfectly healthy.

 

[Gray Ghost]

I love to cook using what the troops had to use during WWII. My father taught me alot of different recipes from that time. He was not a cook, but did spend alot of time on KP for different indiscretions. I cook alot with SPAM. I just love the stuff. I even come up with my own recipes in the spirit of what cookie may have done. I can make a mean pot of SPAM chili. Cook like regular chili but cube the SPAM and dredge it in flour and fry it first then add the rest of your ingredients. I use alot of can goods, such as tomatos, beans and the like, because that would have been more of what our troops would have used. Real good.

Gray Ghost

 

[Miss Dottie]

People ate better back in the day. When they aired The 1940's House, they gave the family the health check before and then after and as I recall, they had lost weight while filming but were perfectly healthy.

Speaking of 1940s House (which I just watched on TV the other night and loved) it seem rather tough to deal with trying to get enough food on the table--something that most people today are lucky enough not to have to deal with.