Wartime Wednesdays: From the Victory Kitchen

I'm known for being a bit of a retro-gal. My 1950's kitchen (with original stove, sink and metal cabinets), movies, clothes...and yes, cooking.

I have a nice collection of older cookbooks, plus a hefty shelf of Gourmet magazines, going back to it's inception in 1941!

Adding to the 'retro' shelf, my father-in-law gave me a cookbook: enormous (just under 900 pages!), hard-bound, with which I immediately fell in love.

The Victory Binding of the American Woman's Cook Book: Wartime Edition with Victory Substitutes and Economical Recipes for Delicious Wartime Meals, Published for the Culinary Arts Institute, Copyright 1943.


It's such an amazing book, with ways to stretch your shopping dollars, suggestions for how much dairy, meat, vegetables, etc children and adults should consume, party planning, how to serve a dinner depending on the type, even the proper way to set a table!

And while there are recipes I positively would not touch (stuffed beef hearts, anyone?), the book is filled with all sorts of treasures. I just knew I wanted to try some.

So, what I've decided to do is prepare at least one recipe, and sometimes a full meal, from this book each week.

For the very first Wartime Wednesdays; I made Roast Beef, Horseradish Sauce, Popovers, Franconia Potatoes, Lettuce Wedges with French Dressing, and Dutch Apple Pie.

I only used gadgets available during the early 1940's for this, too.




While making the batter for the popovers, I got to use my very old eggbeater!



Oh, these things were so good...



The recipe called for wrapping the roast with bacon if it wasn't terribly fatty. Matt thought it was so decadent!

Franconia Potatoes were simply peeled potatoes, cooked under the roast, and flavored by the drippings.



Both the Horseradish Sauce and the French Dressing (not shown) were one hundred times better than anything found in a bottle today!




Here I go; attempting another pie.



And hey...look! It came out rather nicely. Unfortunately, Matt wasn't terribly crazy about the crust on this one. But, it's a start.

Oh, and when he'd taken that first bite of the roast, I asked Matt if it was good. In answer, he got up from his chair, hugged me and said "I love you".

I think that means 'yes'.




Tagged with: Food & Drink + Dinner + Potatoes + Beef + Cookbooks + Recipes + Retro + 1940's + Baking + Sauces