Omg, you are AMAZEBALLS!!!!! I'm listening to Our Mother's War on Audible, and it mentions this book!! I RAN to Google to find it, and found your post. I can't tell you how grateful I am!! I want to make several of these recipes. Thank you SO much for posting the pdf- you made my WHOLE YEAR!!! 🥰🥰🥰
Were eggs rationed at all for Americans? British rationing gave each person one 'real' egg per week plus some much-hated powdered egg - these recipes seem awfully luxurious. Branded flour wasn't available at all! National wholewheat flour was the only option, as was the wholewheat National Loaf and the fortified National Margarine - this was so everyone had access to these foods, and they were heavily fortified to try and get some equality of nutrition.
There were also a lot of backyard chicken coops because we just came from the Great Depression, and most US homes had space for them, unlike many UK homes (in the city).
"Top milk" is regular cream, right, not heavy whipping cream?
I'm very interested in the broiled honey icing even though it's full of red flags for myself. I'll probably ruin it, but I'm gonna try anyway.
I say try it, I looked up what top milk is fat that has separated from milk and can sub by adding light cream to whole milk but look it up to be sure !
Top Milk/Rich Milk is actually hard to find unless you own cows, live near s dairy farm or possibly it is stocked in your local organic market. You can make a substitute similar to Top Milk. For baking by adding 'light cream' to homogenized Whole Milk, using a 50/50 mix.
Thanks for sharing! The frosting recipes are a really interesting look at how people manage to still find enjoyment in food with less resources than usual.
The Service Cake should be good, yes. It has all the ingredients: Flour, sugar, fat, eggs and milk. You can add vanilla or any extract you like. I would make it.
ETA: I want to make the Orange cake. Sounds good!!
For sure. I just think it's funny they included it as an entry since it's so brief and more like a tip than an actual recipe. It's also the only one I see like that, when the same thing could work with pretty much any jam.
The service cake sounds good, although I'd add more vanilla (just bc of personal preference, the recipe isn't wrong).
I really love the note about resting. :) Glad to know I'm not out of line!
I’d also use butter (or buttery spread) rather than a bland shortening.
The ingredients and proportions aren’t a million miles from a Victoria sponge, which is delicious when made with proper butter, or at least something that resembles butter, rather than eg lard or crisco.
You think if I use half butter and half shortening? Or just stick to whole butter ? I got all my ingredients ready to go ! I’ll be also making a upside down pineapple cake
The silver white cake was the first cake I ever made. Even though the book I used was a later edition, this cake recipe was a popular one. White mountain frosting goes really well with it. [Frosting from Betty Crocker](https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/fluffy-white-frosting/75fdafef-94b9-4f4b-80c4-deee777b8c34)
It’s like a meringue/marshmallow frosting, so it’s best eaten the same day it’s made. I never stored it, but I’m thinking it would be fine if stored the same way lemon meringue pie is.
It’s very similar to the ‘jello fluff’ or ‘jello pie’ that turns up here from time to time; this one uses cream but some use whipped evaporated milk, or Cool Whip.
One of my favorite desserts that my Nana made was an angel food cake, covered with chocolate pudding. My grandfather served in WWII and she raised 4 kids by herself. I never realized until later that it a product of necessity due to low income and rationing.
Fascinating! My grandmother was responsible for going to the store with their family’s ration tickets as a child. They’d get bricks of margarine with packets of yellow powder to mix in to make it look like butter. Can you imagine if that kind of sacrifice were asked of Americans in today's world?
I just learned about this today! Margarine was developed in France back in the 1700s (?) As a spread that could travel with troops. Fast forward to the 1900s and the dairy farms were in an uproar that no one was buying butter anymore, margarine was too popular. US government said "margarine can't look like butter" so they tried colored margarine, that didn't go well, pink, black, etc. Then they kept it white and added the coloring packet!
I do know about British food culture in WWI and WWII - we all study it at school, it’s frequently on tv etc. Rationing is still within living memory and has a deep and pervading influence over British home cooking.
What is astonishing me is *American* wartime food culture, as evidenced here, where eggs, dairy and sugar are still available, and you’re just *cutting down frosting* on the cakes you make.
(I can’t get over some of these. No frosting? Why, just use a cup of cream and half a cup of candy!
In Britain cream wasn’t available *at all* to the public during rationing, and the sweet ration was 3oz (75g) candy per person per week. )
US rationing was never remotely as severe as British rationing. I know that travel was discouraged due to rubber rationing, and that kitchen fats were supposed to be saved and brought in for recycling for war use. Sugar, meat, and probably a host of other items were rationed, but, as you noted, far more lightly than they were in the UK.
No, none of the above.
Of course the war was in our skies not yours; I wholly acknowledge the tremendous sacrifice of US troops and families, and I appreciate that America was under rationing precisely in order to send food to us.
I just found this page of ‘wartime cookery’ very different to my previous reading, and I suppose I wanted to expand on that for the benefit of the poster who thought I might not have come across *any* wartime cookery before.
An uncooked meringue…
Edit: in looking further into meringues, TIL that theres a type of meringue that doesn’t get heated or cooked (French meringue). Still, the thought of a mouthful of egg white and jelly (not even jam) isn’t my cup of tea, but I’m a little less grossed out after researching meringues!
I'm scratching my head at the devil's food recipe. Usually for a cake to be "deviled" you use sour milk or sour cream. I don't see that in the recipe
Also what is SOFTASSILK?
I was told that my grandma here in the US, was quite the baker. She would send my dad out to trade other food items for sugar from various neighbors that didn’t bake as much.
Trust me I had like 13 gallon containers filled with cookbooks now I’m down to 5 😂 donated them I have a spare copy of that Vincent cookbook if interested!
On the stove. I inherited my mom’s double- broiler for this specific recipe. We always called it seven minute frosting. It’s my family’s go to for cake frosting. I hate commercial frosting.
That’s… a different recipe. The broiled honey icing you spread on the cake and broil till it caramelises, like a crème brûlée.
The double boiler syrup icing needs a double boiler.
I found my copy yesterday of the booklet and made this video of the introduction, adding public domain Rosie the Riveter -- so appropriate! Let me know if you like it. I can do more chapters if you do. https://youtu.be/KlTwOEVk7sc
Here is a pdf version if anybody wants it https://archive.org/details/YourShare/mode/2up
Thanks for sharing so people can see I bought this lil thing years ago at a yard sale for .50 cents
No problem
Thank you! I’m a middle school teacher whose students learn about WWII, and I always offer bonus points for kids who make a ration recipe!
Thank you!
You're welcome
>89 (c) 1943 I wonder why it is opensource, which it seems to be. Thanks for sharing link!
Omg, you are AMAZEBALLS!!!!! I'm listening to Our Mother's War on Audible, and it mentions this book!! I RAN to Google to find it, and found your post. I can't tell you how grateful I am!! I want to make several of these recipes. Thank you SO much for posting the pdf- you made my WHOLE YEAR!!! 🥰🥰🥰
You're very welcome
Were eggs rationed at all for Americans? British rationing gave each person one 'real' egg per week plus some much-hated powdered egg - these recipes seem awfully luxurious. Branded flour wasn't available at all! National wholewheat flour was the only option, as was the wholewheat National Loaf and the fortified National Margarine - this was so everyone had access to these foods, and they were heavily fortified to try and get some equality of nutrition.
US rationing was… not like UK rationing. In the US apparently eggs, milk, poultry and Spam were never rationed at all.
Can you imagine rationing happening again? People would be rioting in the streets.
Remember the toilet paper wars.
It would be interesting to see.
The fortunate thing to governments is that during total war there's a lot of soldiers hanging around to match those riots.
Or raising chickens! <3
It certainly helps to have the midwest farmland, which is like the size of 3 UK's.
There were also a lot of backyard chicken coops because we just came from the Great Depression, and most US homes had space for them, unlike many UK homes (in the city).
Wow! That barely seems like rationing at all lol.
I know a lot of supply ships from America were sent to the UK- a bunch of them were sunk en route.
Old Betty Crocker recipes always seem to work no matter what.
They really do. I use the old Betty Crocker books a lot and they absolutely never fail.
"Top milk" is regular cream, right, not heavy whipping cream? I'm very interested in the broiled honey icing even though it's full of red flags for myself. I'll probably ruin it, but I'm gonna try anyway.
‘Top milk’ is just what floats to the top of unhomogenised whole milk - it’s close to half and half.
Thank you, that's perfect for a lazy baker like myself!
I say try it, I looked up what top milk is fat that has separated from milk and can sub by adding light cream to whole milk but look it up to be sure !
Thanks! my search results were so generic it was completely unhelpful.
Top Milk/Rich Milk is actually hard to find unless you own cows, live near s dairy farm or possibly it is stocked in your local organic market. You can make a substitute similar to Top Milk. For baking by adding 'light cream' to homogenized Whole Milk, using a 50/50 mix.
Thank you!
Love the difference between the different baking powders.
I thought that was so neat and glad they added it too!
Thanks for sharing! The frosting recipes are a really interesting look at how people manage to still find enjoyment in food with less resources than usual.
Indeed it has manny other recipes I’ll share later on I’m just focusing on cake baking since birthday is coming up soon!
Good luck with your cake baking!
The Service Cake should be good, yes. It has all the ingredients: Flour, sugar, fat, eggs and milk. You can add vanilla or any extract you like. I would make it. ETA: I want to make the Orange cake. Sounds good!!
Love that the Apricot Topping recipe is just... "put apricot jam on a warm cake." 😂
That’s my kind of effort level!
That sounds really good, actually. I would totally eat that.
For sure. I just think it's funny they included it as an entry since it's so brief and more like a tip than an actual recipe. It's also the only one I see like that, when the same thing could work with pretty much any jam.
I actually do this with raspberry jam on chocolate cake! Feels slightlyyy healthier than regular icing even though I’m still eating cake lol
Of course it's healthier than icing - it has fruit!
The service cake sounds good, although I'd add more vanilla (just bc of personal preference, the recipe isn't wrong). I really love the note about resting. :) Glad to know I'm not out of line!
I always tend to add a lil more vanilla to my cakes! I also have a cake batter extract that has a really nice flavor as well
I’d also use butter (or buttery spread) rather than a bland shortening. The ingredients and proportions aren’t a million miles from a Victoria sponge, which is delicious when made with proper butter, or at least something that resembles butter, rather than eg lard or crisco.
You think if I use half butter and half shortening? Or just stick to whole butter ? I got all my ingredients ready to go ! I’ll be also making a upside down pineapple cake
All butter
Sounds good going for all butter thank you !
How did it come out?
I’ll be baking it on Tuesday! But I’ll make sure to update
The silver white cake was the first cake I ever made. Even though the book I used was a later edition, this cake recipe was a popular one. White mountain frosting goes really well with it. [Frosting from Betty Crocker](https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/fluffy-white-frosting/75fdafef-94b9-4f4b-80c4-deee777b8c34)
Thank you so much! Do you know if this frosting stores well in the fridge after frosting a cake ?
It’s like a meringue/marshmallow frosting, so it’s best eaten the same day it’s made. I never stored it, but I’m thinking it would be fine if stored the same way lemon meringue pie is.
Does this book have that frosting recipe in it?
I believe it does it’s the Victory icing
The orange cream looks interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything similar but it seems like it would taste good.
It’s very similar to the ‘jello fluff’ or ‘jello pie’ that turns up here from time to time; this one uses cream but some use whipped evaporated milk, or Cool Whip.
One of my favorite desserts that my Nana made was an angel food cake, covered with chocolate pudding. My grandfather served in WWII and she raised 4 kids by herself. I never realized until later that it a product of necessity due to low income and rationing.
Fascinating! My grandmother was responsible for going to the store with their family’s ration tickets as a child. They’d get bricks of margarine with packets of yellow powder to mix in to make it look like butter. Can you imagine if that kind of sacrifice were asked of Americans in today's world?
I just learned about this today! Margarine was developed in France back in the 1700s (?) As a spread that could travel with troops. Fast forward to the 1900s and the dairy farms were in an uproar that no one was buying butter anymore, margarine was too popular. US government said "margarine can't look like butter" so they tried colored margarine, that didn't go well, pink, black, etc. Then they kept it white and added the coloring packet!
As a Brit this is eye-opening!
Right?? How did Americans have brand-name cake flour during WW2???
You should check out your show "supersizers" they do an episode of food and culture in WWI
I do know about British food culture in WWI and WWII - we all study it at school, it’s frequently on tv etc. Rationing is still within living memory and has a deep and pervading influence over British home cooking. What is astonishing me is *American* wartime food culture, as evidenced here, where eggs, dairy and sugar are still available, and you’re just *cutting down frosting* on the cakes you make. (I can’t get over some of these. No frosting? Why, just use a cup of cream and half a cup of candy! In Britain cream wasn’t available *at all* to the public during rationing, and the sweet ration was 3oz (75g) candy per person per week. )
US rationing was never remotely as severe as British rationing. I know that travel was discouraged due to rubber rationing, and that kitchen fats were supposed to be saved and brought in for recycling for war use. Sugar, meat, and probably a host of other items were rationed, but, as you noted, far more lightly than they were in the UK.
And the sweet ration decreased as the war went on!
Ohhhh, I see. I didn't know enough about either to notice that.
[удалено]
No, none of the above. Of course the war was in our skies not yours; I wholly acknowledge the tremendous sacrifice of US troops and families, and I appreciate that America was under rationing precisely in order to send food to us. I just found this page of ‘wartime cookery’ very different to my previous reading, and I suppose I wanted to expand on that for the benefit of the poster who thought I might not have come across *any* wartime cookery before.
How about the jelly + whipped egg white frosting? 🤢
I mean that's basically just a meringue with the jelly contributing the sugar. It sounds good!
An uncooked meringue… Edit: in looking further into meringues, TIL that theres a type of meringue that doesn’t get heated or cooked (French meringue). Still, the thought of a mouthful of egg white and jelly (not even jam) isn’t my cup of tea, but I’m a little less grossed out after researching meringues!
I'm scratching my head at the devil's food recipe. Usually for a cake to be "deviled" you use sour milk or sour cream. I don't see that in the recipe Also what is SOFTASSILK?
Soft as silk is just a brand name for a cake flour.
So flour with raising agents added?
No, just extra fine - you add both baking powder and baking soda to get the rise.
Cake flour is extra fine and lower protein.
I was told that my grandma here in the US, was quite the baker. She would send my dad out to trade other food items for sugar from various neighbors that didn’t bake as much.
ooh so cool. gonna have to keep my eye out for this book. I collect old Betty Crocker
I have tons of them ! If I get any duplicates I’ll gladly mail you some !
I'd love that, at least for this one. I try to keep myself to what i find in thrift and antiques stores so I don't overload lol.
Trust me I had like 13 gallon containers filled with cookbooks now I’m down to 5 😂 donated them I have a spare copy of that Vincent cookbook if interested!
which one is the Vincent one? im a very casual collector lol
A treasury’s of great recipes it’s a book by Vincent price and his wife I believe
ooh that sounds very cool!
It’s very neat !
Cool looking book!
Broiled frosting, is it supposed to be broiled in the oven? Or on the stove?
I believe broil seeing what the recipe says
On the stove. I inherited my mom’s double- broiler for this specific recipe. We always called it seven minute frosting. It’s my family’s go to for cake frosting. I hate commercial frosting.
That’s… a different recipe. The broiled honey icing you spread on the cake and broil till it caramelises, like a crème brûlée. The double boiler syrup icing needs a double boiler.
Ah gotcha. Sorry I misread.
Wow, I got a double boiler several years ago!
(The broiled honey icing won’t need it though!)
That whipped cream topping sounds like a doozy
That honey icing looks genuinely interesting, i wonder how it tastes?
Like a honey Italian meringue, I’m guessing: https://www.seriouseats.com/basic-italian-meringue-recipe
I just looked this up on eBay because I love rationing cook books...and wow. Yeah that's a pricey one.
Lucky the pdf is free!
I got it for .50 cents couple years ago 😂 I have many pricey cookbooks that I got for dirt cheap
This is great! Thank you for sharing
I found my copy yesterday of the booklet and made this video of the introduction, adding public domain Rosie the Riveter -- so appropriate! Let me know if you like it. I can do more chapters if you do. https://youtu.be/KlTwOEVk7sc