HOW TO COOK FIRST WORLD WAR FOOD FROM THE TRENCHES

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“Brown Stew” Home recipes from Mrs Wilkinson, 1889 onwards.​

Ingredients: meat, onions, flour, mixed vegetables, pepper, salt, stock

  1. Bone meat, remove fat, cut into 1oz pieces.
  2. Place 3lb flour, ½oz pepper, ½oz salt in a bowl and mix
  3. Place stock into bottom of cooking vessel and dredge meat in flour
  4. Peel and cut up onions, wash and peel and cut up the mixed vegetables, add onions and vegetables to meat, mix well together and barely cover with stock and place in over to cook
  5. Stir frequently
  6. Time 2½ to 3 hours


“Potato Pie”
Home recipes from Mrs Wilkinson, 1889 onwards.

 

Ingredients: meat, potatoes, onions, pepper, salt, stock

  1. Wash, peel, rewash potatoes, cut large ones into halves lengthways
  2. Bone meat cutting away fat, if meat is lean cover with slices of fat
  3. Place potatoes in tin dish, peel and cut up onions and sprinkle over the potatoes; add 1½oz pepper and 3oz of salt then pour over a little stock or water
  4. Place dish in oven and turn joint at half time, add stock when necessary
  5. Time 15 minutes to each lb of meat

 

“Sea Pie” Home recipes from Mrs Wilkinson, 1889 onwards.

 

Ingredients: meat, stock, potatoes, flour, onions, baking powder, mixed vegetables, dripping, pepper, cold water

  1. Cut meat in cubes, taking excess fat.
  2. Wash, peel, rewash potatoes.
  3. Peel and wash mixed vegetables.
  4. Peel and cut up onions.
  5. Place a small quantity of stock in cooking vessel
  6. Place in meat, mixed vegetables, onions, potatoes on top, season with pepper & salt.
  7. Barely cover with stock then cover with paste made as for meat pie.
  8. Boil for 2½ to 3 hours, or they may be steamed

 

“Curried Cod” Home recipes from Mrs Wilkinson, 1889 onwards.

  1. Clean and cut up cod and cut into 4oz steaks
  2. Place in cooking vessel and cover with water and cook until done, when done strain off water, keeping sufficient of the water that the fish has been boiled in
  3. Place flour, pepper, salt and curry powder in mixing bowl and mix well together
  4. Add sufficient of the water to make into this paste, bring fish stock to the boil
  5. Add thickening, cook for about 30 mins
  6. Pour into dishes over cod and serve hot

 

“Milk Biscuit Pudding” (feeds 100 men) Taken from the Daily Telegraph.

Ingredients: biscuits (15lb), milk (3lb or 3 tins), sugar (5lb), currants (4lb), spice (1 packet), candied peel (4oz)

  1. Soak biscuits until soft, about 3 hours in cold water
  2. Wash and pick over the currants, cut up peel finely
  3. Place biscuits, sugar and currants into baking dishes
  4. Add milk and mix well together with spice & peel and place in oven till cooked.
  5. Time 1 hour.