If you’ve been to The Ministry of Food exhibition, you’ll know that the British housewife had a vital role to play in the war effort; that she, too, could help the country to victory…by virtue of what she put on the dinner table. ‘Medals for you, Madam’ said the Ministry of Food in response to what was happening on the wartime hobs of Britain, but all this talk of victory and medals has turned our minds from a simple family meal into serious food for thought…
Patriotic Snacks for Essential World Cup Viewing.
What we need is to capture a little bit of that 1940s spirit on today’s home front. We too can ‘make a second front’ – a line of resistance behind Johnson, Terry, King and Cole to stop anyone shooting at Green. Let’s rally behind the boys abroad by showing that we too are serious about victory, and if that means eating for England, then so be it!
What better way to add some patriotic flavour than by trying out the very meals that lined the stomachs of wartime Britons. Don’t worry, we know Woolton Pie isn’t going to cut it for a night in front of the footie, but we think munching on sausage rolls, flapjacks and chocolate and beetroot brownies sounds rather yummy (as well as being positively patriotic!).
But our favourite recipe a la war is egg and bacon tart, which sounds, rather spectacularly, like a fry-up in pastry! Win-win! Here goes:
10½ oz shortcrust pastry*
1 tablespoon olive oil
5½ oz smoked bacon rashers, chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
10½ fl oz double cream*
3 eggs, beaten
4 whole eggs
salt and freshly ground pepper
*If you are keen to be true to the authentic taste of the 1940s, use potato for the pastry (made by substituting grated raw potato for some of the flour – surprisingly un-potato like, apparently) and milk instead of cream. Or try this original wartime pastry recipe.
Method – Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 8in tart tin with the pastry. Cover with baking paper, fill with baking beans and bake blind in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes until pale gold. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes to dry out. Meanwhile heat the oil in a frying pan and add the bacon and onion. Fry for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft and the bacon crisp. Spoon the mixture into the pastry-lined tart tin. Add the cream to the beaten eggs, season with salt and pepper and pour over the bacon. Crack the four whole eggs into the mixture and bake for 20 minutes until cooked through.
Let’s hope this is a recipe for success – of course, beating eggs isn’t going to fool anyone that England can actually win, but it might put us in a cracking mood, and that’s surely half the battle. So, tell us how you get on whipping up your nosh for the nation, whether it be our egg and bacon tart or something improvised from your own larder.
The recipes for all the wartime eats mentioned here (except Woolton Pie, but there’s a modern alternative called Not Lord Woolton’s Pie) can be found in Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall’s The Ministry of Food – Thrifty Wartime Ways to Feed Your Family Today, which accompanies the exhibition and is available from the Online Shop.
Tags: cooking, football, Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall, Kitchen, snacks, World Cup
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