In these long winter months, warm, filling food is just what the doctor ordered. The Ministry of Food were well aware of the importance of keeping Britain ‘fighting fit’ and full of energy, so much so that they devised a rather cheerful chappy called Potato Pete to encourage the eating of energy-rich potatoes.
Potatoes were easy to grow in the British climate, cheap to buy and provided valuable vitamin C in the absence of summer fruit. Potatoes were also used in wartime to replace fat and flour in puddings and cakes, and potato water was used as a base for soup or to thicken soups.
Potato Pete would be pleased to know that potatoes are still cheap and plentiful, and his recipe for fish cake will not only make your fish go further but will also leave you feeling as packed-full of energy as Potato Pete himself!
Potato and Fish Cake
4oz flaked cooked fish
8oz mashed potatoes
1 teaspoon finely-chopped parsley
salt and pepper
½ teacupful thick white sauce
frying fat – optionalMethod – Flake the fish free of bone into a basin. Add the hot mashed potato, parsley, salt, pepper, add the sauce, form into a firm square and set aside to cool. Shape into six or eight round even-sized portions, coat with flour and water batter, drain and toss in dried breadcrumbs, patting them on well. Fry in smoking hot fat on both sides until golden brown, or bake in the oven.
What’s your favourite potato-themed recipe? If anyone attempts the above recipe, be sure to report back and let us know how it went!
Of course, you don’t need to do much to potatoes to make them taste great, as this man in a wartime ‘Food Flash’ is discovering…
My favourite potato recipe has got to be onion, bacon and potato hotpot which I’ve been cooking for years. It comes from the Pauper’s Cookbook by Jocasta Innes and is real frugal food It would consume the bacon ration pretty quickly (4-8oz of bacon for four helpings) unfortunately, but, oh, it’s so delicious.
Potato Pete also has a recipe for potato pie which sounds similar, but alas, without the bacon! He suggests cooking mixed vegetables in beef or vegetable stock and covering with sliced potatoes.
i hope you enjoy my recent post about potatoes – from the soil straight to the table
http://organicallycooked.blogspot.com/2010/03/french-fries.html
Those chips look amazing
Chips were a luxury in wartime because they used up so much fat. Potato Pete recommends frying left-over cooked potatoes (they need less fat to cook) in dripping as an alternative but only ‘if you must!’. Do you have anything in store for the rest of your potato crop?
potatoes form the starch basis in a greek meal, they are usually used to accompany meat – they are also a good fasting food during the lent period, and a good source of energy for people observing the strict greek orthodox fast – since they are versatile, they can be adapted in many meals
frying potatoes do use up a lot of fat, but in crete, olive oil has always been plentiful , except during WWII when the food supply of the greek citizens was requisitioned for military use – i have another post about food in crete during WWII: http://organicallycooked.blogspot.com/2010/02/war.html)
there is also a little video of a farmer digging up the potatoes from the ground
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Well, you don’t need to encourage me because I actually love potatoes. By the way, I like the recipe, thanks.
Thanks! I’m just learning how to cook.
Fish pies of any sort (but in particular smoked haddock and leek pie) is definitely my favourite use of potatoes.
Changing the subject slightly. I am currently trying to research the use of onions during WWII. A park in Edinburgh was dug up during the Dig for Victory campaign by Land Girls and was planted with onions. When harvested the onions were given out to hospitals. I was wondering whether anyone knows if this was for medicinal use or simply to improve the taste of the hospital food?
Hi Elise,
You stumped us with this one, so we consulted with IWM Historian Terry Charman, who said that while onions do have medicinal properties, it may just be a case of improving the taste of food. However, he also suggested getting in contact with hospitals in Edinburgh and seeing if they have records dating back to the war – they may contain information about their use of onions. Good luck, and let us know what you find out!
Thank you Jesse and Terry,
I had a suspicion that it might only be to improve taste. I hadn’t thought of contacting the hospitals, so that will be my next line of enquiry. I’ll keep you posted with my findings!
these recipes seem very tastey
, i like the idea of chips in dripping they sound yummy!! Bacon with potatoes sound yumy , i will ask my mum to make them for me and my family 
i will try to make the chips one day !!!! rofl lol poppy