Like a Day in August 1942

Well, not quite.

Catching up on some magazines, I read an article in my university alumni's summer issue about meal planning during WWII.  In addition to information about Meta Given and The Modern Family Cook Book and her meal planning and "diet pattern" (this from the days when "diet" meant "how you eat overall" and wasn't automatically a slimming plan), it includes a sample menu for a day in August.

I decided it looked interesting, and wanted to try using it for a day's meal planning.  Not wanting to wait until August, I decided to use what I have on hand.  In addition to these accommodations, I don't drink either coffee or milk, the two beverages listed, so you'll see glasses of cold tea (I don't like ice in it at home, as it dilutes the drink unnecessarily, and I have a pitcher in the refrigerator) with the meals.

The next problem was that at least one meal includes a cooked item for which I need a recipe - which cookbook to choose?

After a quick perusal of my cookbooks of approximately that era, I decided The Joy of Cooking made the most sense as a homemaker might have received a copy as a bride, and would still be using it.  I have a facsimile of the 1931 edition, so that's close enough.  I found a YouTuber who used the 1943 edition, which might be closer given the dates in the article, but the recipes she made require ingredients I don't have and the ones I need doesn't appear to be things that would change much in 10-11 years.

Breakfast does not need recipes:

• White grapes
• Prepared Cereal with Top Milk (= cream)
• Toast with Butter, Jam
• Coffee for Adults
• Milk for Children

This is mine:

I did not have grapes, so substituted a banana, on Raisin Bran.  Glass of green tea at right; I am finishing the pitcher so haven't made a more standard tea they would be likely to have in the 1940's.  Yes, my toast has butter on one side and peach jam on the other, because that is how I felt like eating it today.  I don't generally like having both butter and jam on the same piece of toast.

The peach jam is a nod to the original menus (peaches show up at supper), and is an old-fashioned style from the farm in Connecticut that hosted my first CSA shares.

I don't have much milk so decided to put orange juice on the cereal.  I like the combination, which I started using in college when the milk machines failed and we didn't have milk for a while.  That's also what put me off drinking milk.

Lunch required some cooking, but not much:

• Creamed Eggs on Toast
• Sliced Tomatoes and Lettuce Wedges, French Dressing
• Fresh Pears
• Hot or Iced Tea
• Milk for Children

This required a recipe for "creamed eggs".  I didn't know whether it would be hard-cooked eggs in a cream sauce (I have something similar to that for curried eggs, and have seen variations for ladies' luncheon menus), or eggs scrambled with cream, or what?  It turns out they are shirred eggs with white sauce:

I buttered the cup and sprinkled in seasonings, then added two eggs in the cup since there was room (Meta Given recommends one per day, or 3-4 per week, and since I haven't had any this week, I splurged), to make a heartier lunch.  I don't have parsley or celery, but remembered some fresh spinach, so tucked a few leaves (washed and torn) into the cup:

    

Left is at the beginning; sorry it's blurry.  On the right is the cooked eggs and they are blurry because of steam.  I didn't check the timings.  While they cooked, I made white sauce:

I made half the recipe, so one tablespoon of butter and a bit less than a tablespoon of flour, melted and stirred together.  Then a half-cup of milk (I had a bit less, so increased with water), stirred until it got thickish, then added seasonings.  Since I forgot the nutmeg in the eggs, I added it here.

The cookbook includes two recipes for French Dressing, and in the interest of time I'm doing the simpler but will try the other at some point:

So this is the final result, without sauce, showing the seasonings from the bottom of the egg cup:

I have romaine lettuce, so it's slices/shreds instead of wedges.

Now I have added a few spoonfuls of sauce to the eggs - not very photogenic, sorry:

The salad is lightly dressed, so the dressing is not visible, especially as it's a vinaigrette.  Not shown is the glass of cold tea.

It was a fairly tasty lunch but more fussy than I usually do; if I were to have eggs on toast, it would be something quicker like fried or scrambled.  The white sauce is very nice and I thought I'd cook the rest of the spinach and blend them together to make creamed spinach for lunch tomorrow.

Dinner menu required several adjustments:

• Cold Sliced Fresh Boston Style Pork Butt
• Corn on the Cob
• Creamed Turnips
• Grated Carrot, Apple, and Orange Salad
• Bread and Butter
• Fresh Peach Tarts
• Coffee for Adults
• Milk for Children

I almost never eat pork, so substituted the last couple slices of some deli roast beef.  The reason the menu refers to "Fresh Boston Style Pork Butt" is that this distinguishes it from smoked or cured pork butt.  It is actually part of the pig's shoulder, the blade roast.  In case you wonder how to cook it:

I do not have turnips or oranges, and peaches are not in season.  Since Meta Given includes a serving of potato in her daily food group, I thought that would be a natural substitute for the turnip.  I looked up a few recipes to figure out substitutions.

When I read the last line, I remembered the leftover cream sauce from lunch.  So I boiled a small potato, cut into chunks, in the same pot with the corn on the cob.  After they were done, I fished out the corn, drained the potato chunks (realizing too late I should have retained some of the water), and stirred them into the leftover sauce.  It had thickened in the refrigerator, and the ratio of potato to sauce didn't leave much for being soppingly creamy, but it was sufficient and disposed of leftovers.  So, no creamed spinach tomorrow.

While those boiled, I looked up carrot salad recipes; there weren't any for apple salad.

Not helpful given the menu description.  So I simply diced the carrot and apple into small bits, since I could not find my box grater, and added a splash of orange juice instead of French dressing.

I did get some plums at the weekly farmstand, but didn't feel like doing a crust and tart for one person.  So I finessed it with a fresh plum and shortbread cooky, which I thought is fairly close to pie pastry in terms of ingredients and being baked.  This is my result:

Clockwise from the top:  Carrot and Apple Salad with Orange Juice; leftover roast beef; fresh boiled Corn on the Cob; Creamed Potato; fresh plum, shortbread cooky, and bread and butter, which looks oddly-shaped as it's the rest of the slice from lunch, from which I'd cut the round bit to toast.

Overall the meals were good and more variety than I usually include in my menus.  For a family it makes sense to have multiple dishes; I often will eat more simply, as a sandwich or salad at lunch, and for supper I'd have about half the items the dinner menu included.  Bread and butter at every meal adds a filling item that would be easy to adjust in quantity for each person; I generally don't have it with a meal, I wouldn't have both cereal and toast at breakfast.

It's helpful to have menu suggestions when cooking a historical meal, as otherwise it's a bunch of recipes collated with my personal, more modern sensibility.  Now I am curious to track down a copy of The Modern Family Cook Book (she published other books as well, including a two-volume Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking) and learn more about Meta Given.