I’m looking back at my little wartime recipe book, first published in 1944. Rationing had started in 1940, overseen by the Ministry of Food and it was a way of making sure everyone was treated fairly whatever their status. Everyone had a ration book, which they had to use if they were buying food, and they had to be registered with particular shops and suppliers. Rationed foods included the basics of sugar, meat, fats, bacon and cheese, tinned goods and cereal. Some foods weren’t rationed, but that didn’t necessarily mean there were ample supplies, because of course there was a war on! People were encouraged to grow their own fruit and vegetables and allotments were created in parks and other public spaces. However, game, such as rabbits, weren’t rationed – and here is a recipe from “Cookery To-day and To-morrow”, which reminds me of Mrs Beeton’s famous instruction which she actually never gave!
Baked Rabbit
Skin and clean a young rabbit and cut it into small joints. Wash it well, dry it on a clean cloth and dust it lightly with flour. Place it in a casserole and sprinkle on 2 tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley, 2 small grated onions and a little salt. Pour over a cup of milk and let it simmer gently for 2½ – 3 hours.
If desired, a little chopped bacon or a tablespoonful of barley may also be added.
What strikes me about the recipe is that for our tastes it would be so overcooked! There was no kitchen paper eighty years ago, so drying had to be done with a cloth. We would use more ingredients than grated onion and parsley, a little chopped bacon, a tablespoonful of barley, even allowing for wartime restrictions. Mustard, herbs, stock, pepper are basics which we would use in plain recipes – and I’ve seen some adding vinegar too. My grandma used garlic before the war, so she would certainly have used it I’m sure – she was an ordinary English person from a very poor family so she would have known about cheap ways to add flavour!
The main thing however, is the assumption that the cook would know how to skin, clean and joint a rabbit – I don’t think many people would be able to do that these days!
Lois Elsden 