Cheese & Lentil Savoury
On The Home Front:
Original Wartime Recipes from The Great War
1914 to 1918
1916: What To Do With Cheese
Cheese And Lentil Savoury Recipe
Lentils are a highly nutritious as well as an economical food, and when treated as follows, they are also very delicious. Take eight ounces of cheese, five and a half ounces of lentils, three ounces of breadcrumbs, four ounces of onions, one and a half ounces of fat, parsley, salt and pepper.
Wash the lentils; peel and chop the onions and cook them in a little water with the lentils, stirring occasionally. Have the cheese grated; put it into a basin and when the lentils and onions have nearly finished cooking stir them to the cheese and add the breadcrumbs, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley and pepper and salt.
One of the most fascinating pieces of commissioned work I have undertaken recently was linked to the act of commemoration for all those who fought and lost their lives in The Great War of 1914 to 1918. I was asked to recreate some original recipes from the era and then style them with appropriate props and photograph them. I was sent an extensive list of recipes as sent in to The People’s Friend by their readers of the time, and what a remarkable and interesting list of recipes they were. From Treacle Scones and Vegetable Cutlets to Portuguese Toast (eggs, ham, onion and tomatoes on toast) and Bonza Stew (vegetable stew), the recipes were a poignant and a tangible snapshot of the way we used to cook and eat at the beginning of the twentieth century. The recipes were published in the special edition of The People’s Friend in September of this year, and, as we are in the week of remembrance, I thought it would be interesting to share all the recipes I made for the project today.
Apricot Charlotte
1915: Apricot Charlotte
Soak half a pound of dried apricots all night in just enough cold water to cover them. Next morning add some sugar, and stew until tender. Well butter a pudding bowl, and scatter brown sugar on bottom. Line it thoroughly with bread buttered, and pour apricots in when ready. Press plate on top, and put into oven for half an hour, when it will turn out nice and brown. Serve with sweet sauce and it will be delightful.
In the end, I whittled the list down to six recipes, each one to represent a different course and with some of them using leftovers and ingredients that are not that common today; the recipes I chose to recreate were:
Pea Soup (1914) – made with split peas, onion, carrot and turnip, this soup was very comforting and extremely filling.
Cheese and Lentil Savoury (1916) – this was a spread made with cheese, lentils, breadcrumbs and parsley.
Saturday Pie (1915) – a classic leftovers dish of cold meat, mashed potato, onions and herbs.
An Indian Recipe (1917) – a curry by any other name, this was originally made with rabbit, although I used chicken thighs.
Apricot Charlotte (1915) – a thrifty pudding made with stale bread and dried apricots.
1918 War Cake (1918) – a very thrifty boiled fruit cake made with scant amount of fat (margarine) and no eggs
1918 War Cake
As an extra project, I applied a “time machine” edit to some of my colour photos (in a photo editing programme) so all the black and white images are reproduced as if the photos were taken on a box camera of the era. I styled them with old cutlery, linens and crockery from a similar time period, and served the recipes as suggested in the original recipe. I discovered that most of the recipes that suggested they would feed four people, would in fact feed two to three people nowadays……another indication of how our portion sizes have increased along with our girths. I had to adapt some of them slightly, so where dripping was suggested, I used butter instead, and I used brown bread and white pepper in all the recipes, both which would have been more common at the turn of the century. In the Indian Recipe, I used chicken thighs in place of rabbit, not due to any squeamishness on my part, as I like rabbit, but because I wanted to show that the recipes could be recreated with another ingredient for today’s taste.
An Indian Recipe
1917: An Indian Recipe
Cut a fowl or rabbit in small pieces. Shred onion small and fry in butter. Sprinkle fowl with flour, salt and curry powder, and fry till a nice brown. Then add a pint of stock. Stew slowly to half quantity, and then serve with rice. Slice 3 large Spanish onions very fine, and fry to a pretty light brown. Sprinkle this over the above stewed chicken or rabbit.
I thoroughly enjoyed “test-driving” these 100-year-old recipes, and it made for a very tangible connection with the housewives of the day, as well as making me feel that in some way I had contributed to the First World War’s centenary in a very personal way. I have shared some cooking notes and authentic recipes from WW1 below and I hope you have enjoyed my WW1 project cooking on The Home Front. See you soon with more recipes, travel notes and news, have a relaxing weekend, Karen
Pea Soup
The Mid-Day Meal – Pea Soup
(1914)
Take one pound split peas, a good-sized piece of dripping, a piece of carrot, a piece of turnip, an onion, a little minced parsley, salt and pepper. Wash the peas well, and soak them over night. Put them on to boil with two or three quarts of cold water and the dripping. When the soup comes thoroughly to the boil, put in the onion, neatly cut into pieces. After it has boiled for three hours, strain it, and return it to the pot, adding the pepper and salt, the grated carrot and turnip, and the minced parsley. Let it come again to the boil. Serve a slice of toasted bread cut into squares with the soup.
Saturday Pie
Saturday Pie
(1915)
Butter the bottom and sides of a pie-dish, and spread a layer of mashed potatoes on the bottom. On this put a layer of chopped cold meat, nicely seasoned with pepper and salt, and a little onion and a dusting of herbs. Then arrange another layer of potatoes and meat; add a little thick gravy. Cover the dish with a nice crust, and cook until pastry is done. A.C., Dundee.
Dominic says
such a lovely post and I love the black and white images too. I really love a bit of food history. It’s so great how much we can learn from this generation of recipes. Really sweet post!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Dom! It was a great commission to work on and I am now working on another one with them for Christmas and some more WW1 seasonal treats! Karen
Luca says
Cool
the hungry writer says
What a wonderful post: the pics and the recipes and the project. Thank you!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much for stopping by to leave a comment……I am so pleased you enjoyed the post!
Handmade by Lorna says
A lovely post – when I was home schooling my two girls we did a week on a ration diet and I cooked a few of the above recipes. We made Woolton Pie which is similar to your Saturday pie but is vegetarian. I have also made a similar cake that we call Wartime Raisin Cake that a blogged about several months ago. You are so right about the portion sizes, my hips would be far smaller if I followed the ration diet again. Thank you for sharing your lovely recipes and gorgeous photos.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much for your lovely comments Lorna!
I also lived off rations a year or two ago, my week of rations posts are here:
https://www.lavenderandlovage.com/?s=The+Wartime+Kitchen
As you say, Woolton Pie was a favourite and I also made it, it was surprisingly tasty, as you and your girls may remember!
I’m going to pop over to see your Wartime Raisin Cake later, as it sounds interesting……..
Thanks again for commenting,
Karen
Handmade by Lorna says
Thank you for the link, off to check them out now.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Just off to look at your cake recipe too Lorna! K xx
Jean | DelightfulRepast.com says
Karen, I love reading about this project and looking at the pictures. Just lovely!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Jean, I’m so pleased you enjoyed this post! Karen
Laura says
Having really enjoyed this post, I’m eagerly looking forward to your festive one too. It’s lovely to see and resurrect old recipes and to see the creativity forced on housewives and cooks during such a frugal time. Good job as always Karen!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Laura!
The festive post is very exciting and I cannot wait to share it with you all!
Karen
Jeanette says
Lovely article. I remember asking my Mother how she was able to cut meat so thin & feed so many? She said in the time of war there was little but potatoes & what was hunted that day. She had ten brothers & sisters so meat had to go a long way. Her Father was in both wars.
I am unable to locate Karen’s recipes. The Indian dish, pea soup & Saturday pie. Would someone please point/help me in the correct direction? Thank you, as have been making Karen’s recipes for years. I think I must be not understanding how to see them?
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much Jeanette, by the time you have read this comment you will have received my email in reply to yours, and as you know, there are THREE recipes shared in this post, for Pea Soup, Saturday Pie and War Cake…….I will add the other recipes later on today…….
Yes, your mum was right, cut the meat thin, as well as the bread, and make it stretch for many hungry mouths!
Thanks again for your lovely comments! 🙂
Karen
Judee @ Gluten Free A-Z says
Very informative and interesting post. I love the photography and props and The “time machine” edit made them look so authentic.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Judee……I must admit to having fun sourcing and setting up the shoot with the props and then having a play on the “time machine” in my photo editing programme! Karen
Choclette says
Fabulous post Karen and not so very dissimilar to the sort of food many of us grew up on in the 6Os. We used to eat a lot of rabbit curry too – it was delicious. I understood it was making a come back.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Exactly Choclette! We used to live like this too, mum was very careful with her housekeeping money and meals were much smaller BUT very tasty and filling.
Thanks for your lovely comments!
Karen
Nicola says
What a fantastic post – recipes and pictures look amazing! I love all the props you’ve used too 🙂
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much Nicola! I loved setting it all up, and the recipes were interesting too!
Jacqueline Meldrum says
I like the idea of the lentil savoury. A nice change to the more common cheese savoury and a healthy one too.
Karen Burns-Booth says
The lentil savoury was delicious Jac! And very thrifty too, much healthier!
Heidi Roberts says
People don’t know how lucky ther are today, pop down to the supermarket – no need to be inventive or frugal!
Karen Burns-Booth says
I agree Heidi, we seem to have lost the respect for food that we used to have and it is very humbling to see just how we used to cope and manage on much less than we do today.
June de Silva says
Have enjoyed your recipes for some time & have tried several. Made the fruit cake this weekend. Loved the historical reference & it was so easy to make. Might be frugal but equally tasty! Many thanks!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks June! I am so pleased that you enjoyed the War Cake, as you say, it is easy to make and with fewer ingredients that we may normally use today, so lighter.
Glamorous Glutton says
Fabulous post! It must have been a wonderful project to take part in, but a lot of work too. Great photos, of course. GG
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks GG, it was a great project to work on and although the photos were time consuming, they were fun to style and photograph. Karen
Anne Kim says
What a beautiful concept and resulting post. Everything about this is attractive–the stories, the antique pieces, the photos. What it touched on for me is the myoptic distorted view I sometimes have of the past: the idea that food and recipes we have today are superior to those of the past. Or, pretty much on all topics, we have currently the superior and the best. Thank you for presenting the past in such a lovely manner. Anne
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks very much Anne, glad you enjoyed the post. Karen
Cara says
Karen, I have been loving your series on Wartime recipes ( WW1 and WW2 )and all of your photos are lovely.
Thank you for sharing your time in the kitchen and helping to keep such an important skill alive!
We are able to learn much from the ones who went before us. I am sure we all at one time or another will have need of these recipes and menu plans.
Karen Burns-Booth says
THANKS so much for letting me know Cara, and yes, cooking with very little and during hard times is a lost skill I think! Karen
Stephen Roberts says
Very nice post which has helped me prepare for my Great War event on 1st and 2nd October in Wennington. Thanks for the recipe ideas. All the Best from Stephen
Loll Thorne says
Hello Karen I’m not sure if my previous email got sent to you or lost? I’ve just read that you live near the North York Moors. I am looking for a speaker about food around 1917. The exciting thing is the event is based in Saltburn which you might know is close to Redcar and Middlesbrough. Are you still doing work about the subject?
Karen Burns-Booth says
Hi Loll, yes, I am very happy to do a talk about food from this era…..I’m sorry I must have missed your email, my dad died a few weeks ago and I’ve not been as good as checking and replying to mail, sorry! Please email me again via the contact form at the top of my site. Karen
Maxine O'Reilly says
Hi
My son’s home work is to make ww1 recipe so we thought to do apricot Charlotte from your recipe. Can you let me know roughly what gas mark to cook it at.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Hi Maxine, I estimate that it should be baked for 30 minutes on gas mark 4 or gas mark 5, hope that helps, Karen
Maxine O'Reilly says
Thank you. Ours quiet possibly could have turned out better. Can you let me know measurements so we can try again. Also I couldn’t get dried apricots and I was told that the Ines I bought did not need soaking. I did attempt to stew them but again had to wing it with timings and sugar measurements.
Karen Burns-Booth says
The measurements are hard to remember as I made this 2 years ago based on the original recipe that is shared in my post here. Karen
Edward says
Karen, I stumbled by pure luck onto your blog. I noticed that you have no more comments since 19 January 2017, would that mean you do not being active on this here website? I am found of recipes dating from way back. I like your recipes and will explore more of them. Regards
Edward
Karen Burns-Booth says
HI Edward, I am still sharing recipes and travel stories once or twice a week. It’s just that this post hasn’t been commented on for a wee while! But I am still here! Thanks for your kind comments too, here’s one of my latest posts here: https://www.lavenderandlovage.com/2018/08/preserving-the-season-seedless-blackberry-jam.html
Veronica BOLAND says
Karen, I too have only just found your blog. Do you by any chance have a recipe for the type of loaf which would have been baked at home during WWI. Our village is putting on an exhibition for the centenary of the end of the war and we are having a wartime “tasting” table. I have seen barley flour mentioned but can only get it on line. Would Rye or wholemeal flour have been used. I have made your War Cake and several other recipes but would love to include a bread recipe.
Kind regards.
Veronica
Karen Burns-Booth says
Hello Veronica,
This is a National War loaf recipe that will be suitable:
Recipe: The National Wheatmeal Loaf
Veronica BOLAND says
Thank you so much for this.
Karen Burns-Booth says
My pleasure!
Kay says
My cookbook club is doing a WW1 theme next month. I think I want to make the pea soup mentioned on this page, but what do you suppose “a good-sized piece of dripping” means?
Karen Burns-Booth says
I’d say about 30g (1oz) would be a good sized piece of dripping! Karen
KayH says
Thank you!
Angela Stull says
Lovely article. My small blog LivingMissMarple.com might be of interest.
Elizabeth says
Great Post, I wish they would teach this info. in school.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks – yes it would be such a great topic and very topical.