Saucer Pudding

From The "Olio" Cookery Book via Ration Book Cookery, published by English Heritage

1 tbsp sugar
2 oz butter
3 oz flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
a little milk
some jam

Mix all the ingredients together as you would for a cake. Divide into two and place each portion on a separate greased saucer. Baker for about 15 mins. cool, spread jam on one of the cakes and place the other on top.

Hash, to Prepare (and More)

This hash is for using up the end of the joint. From the Woman's Own Book of the Home, 1932.

1 1/2lb cold meat
2 oz butter/dripping
2 oz flour
1 onion
1 1/2 pints stock
1 dessertspoon ketchup
toast
parsley

Remove all fat and gristle from the meat and cut it into neat pieces. Make the fat hot and fry the onion a nice brown. Remove it and fry the flour, brown it welll, being careful not to burn it. Add the stock gradually, stir till it boils, return the meat and onion, add the ketchup and seasoning, thoroughly reheat it, but do not allow it to boil. Serve with snippets of toast or fried bread dipped in chopped parsley. (Mrs Beeton called them "sippets".)

And here are a couple of useful tips on cleaning hats:

Hats, bowler, to clean brims of First rub well with a little fresh butter and clean it off with a solution of 2 oz rock ammonia dissolved in 1/2 pint hot water. Then hold the hat under running water for a minute or two. Wipe with a soft, clean cloth, brush well with the nap, and hang out to dry.

Hats, felt and velour, to restore Thoroughly beat and brush the hat to remove all dust and to raise the surface. Hold it over boiling water and steam thoroughly from the inside. Turn the hat slowly so that it shall be steamed all over. shake well. Give a good final brushing when the hat is dry.

Hedgehogs, the care of Keep in a cage during the day and release at night if it is desired to use them as beetle-catchers. Feed on bread and milk and an occasional earthworm.

Jacques Tati Soup

From The Camping Cook Book by Annie Bell, 2009

Extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, slice
1 tsp Middle Eastern Spice blend
1/3 mug green lentils
1/3 mug basmati rice
1/3 mug bulgur wheat
sea salt
lemon juice

Heat a slug of oil in a saucepan and fry the onion until golden. Stir in spice blend, add the lentils, rice and bulgur. Add 5 mugs water and a stock cube and salt. Bring to the boil, half cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Dish up with some olive oil poured over and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Middle Eastern Spice Blend

1 1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp coriander

Mexican Shrimp Polenta

From The Encyclopedia of World Cookery, circa 1950

1 pint shrimps
4 oz maize flour or semolina (or polenta)
2 onions finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
1/2lb ham, diced
1/4lb mushrooms, sliced
3 rashers bacon

Pour 1 pint boiling water onto the semolina and cook slowly until thick. Chop the bacon and fry lightly. Add the tomato puree, mushrooms, onion and ham. Simmer in 1/4 pint water for 10 minutes. Fill a buttered fireproof dish with alternate layers of semolina, tomato mixture and shrimps. Cover the dish, cook in a moderate oven for 30 minutes.

7 Happiness Beef and Rice

From Peg Bracken's Compleat I Hate to Cook Book (1986, but the original books came out in the 60s)

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup uncooked rice
minced beef
stuffed olives, sliced
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1 1/2 cups boiling water
Grated cheese

Crumble the mince into a big bowl. Add everything but the cheese and mix. Pour into a loaf tin and bake for an hour at 350F. Reduce heat and bake another hour. Half an hour before serving, sprinkle on the grated cheese.

Peg has seven reasons for cooking this dish:

1. It is meat and starch combined.
2. Neither has to be cooked first.
3. Everything goes together at once.
4. Very young people and very old people like it and the others don't mind it much.
5. The amount of meat depends on what's there.
6. Odds and ends of veg can go into it.
7. Thought it looks like dogfood when it goes into the oven it doesn't when it comes out.

(You could put some sliced tomatoes on the top, too.)

Cherry Cake

From the Woman's Own Book of the Home, 1932

1/2 lb flour
4 oz butter
4 oz castor sugar
3 oz glace cherries
3 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
grated rind of one lemon
little milk

Cream the butter and sugar well together, sift in the flour and add the eggs alternately, beating well between each addition, add the cherries cut in quarters, grated lemon rind, milk and lastly the baking powder. Put the mixture in a tin lined with buttered paper and bake in a moderate oven for 1 1/4 hours.

I've been wishing for an old-fashioned cherry cake – they used to be called Cherry Genoa cakes. Marks and Spencers version just isn't right. Perhaps I'll try this one. Or go to Genoa.

Junket

Nobody eats junket any more. I wonder why? This is from the Woman's Own Book of the Home, 1932

1/2 pint milk
1 tsp rennet
2 tsps brandy
2 tsps sugar
a little cream
nutmeg and cinnamon

Warm the milk, add the sugar, brandy and pinch of cinnamon, mix in the rennet and pour into a glass dish or into custard cups. Leave until cold, pour a little cream on top and grate with nutmeg.

It turns into a kind of milk jelly. It was a standard dessert that would get dished up every so often. But familiarity never made people like it. (Actually it is rather delicious.) You can buy rennet at Tesco's and Sainsbury's.