Cooking/Food/Wine

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Imagine the government telling you how much meat or chicken you could buy, or how much sugar or flour you could have. Strange as it may seem, at one time it actually happened.

During WW II our government had a tremendous fighting force to feed. To ease food shortages at home and discourage hoarding, a food rationing program was devised to help insure that every family would have enough to eat. Today, even in the midst of the War on Terror, such a concept seems extreme – almost unfathomable. "Anna’s Kitchen," gives a glimpse into life on the WW II home front. It is a cookbook and a history lesson in one. More than 180 economical, back-to-basics World War II ration recipes are the focal point but short tales of life on the American home front are interspersed throughout. ISBN: 1-59872-014-7/ 6x9/ paperback/ 179 pages/ spiral bound  

Excerpt
EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup milk
1 3/4 cups sifted flour
3/4 teaspoon soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine chocolate and milk in top of double boiler and cook over rapidly boiling water 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Blend with rotary egg beater; cool.

Sift flour once, measure, add soda, salt, and sugar, and sift together three times. Cream shortening; add flour, vanilla, and chocolate mixture and stir until all flour is dampened. Then beat vigorously 1 minute. Bake in two greased and lightly floured 8-inch layer pans in moderate oven (375º F.) 20 minutes, or until done. Spread frosting between layers and on top of cake.

Cocoa Cake: Substitute 1/3 cup cocoa for chocolate. Sift it with the dry ingredients; add cold milk with vanilla.

BEEF STEW WITH FEATHER DUMPLINGS

1 lb. cubed stewing beef
2 tablespoons fat
3/4 cup diced carrots
3/4 cup diced turnips
8-10 small white onions

Brown 1 pound cubed stewing beef in 2 tablespoons fat. Add 5 cups water and season with salt, pepper bay leaf, thyme and Worcestershire Sauce. Simmer, covered, until meat is nearly tender. Add 3/4 cup each diced carrots and turnips and 8 to 10 small white onions. (Any desired combinations of vegetables and seasonings may be used.) Cook until vegetables are done.

Thicken stew slightly with flour and water paste. Drop feather dumplings on simmering stew, dover tightly, and simmer 14 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

Feather Dumplings

1 cup sifted flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons melted fat

Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder and salt, and sift again. Add milk and fat. Then stir quickly and lightly until a very soft dough is formed. Drip by small spoonfuls on simmering stew, making sure each dumpling rests on meat or vegetables. (Dumplings should not settle in liquid. If necessary, pour off excess gravy, returning it to stew after the dumplings are cooked.) Cover kettle tightly and cook gently 14 minutes. Do not remove cover while dumplings cook. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Note: For the fat, use a little fat skimmed from stew in making these dumplings. It gives extra desired taste.