Small Home Gazette, Summer 2023

A Taste of World War I Cookery

Minnesota Recipes From 1917

The following is an excerpt from “Food Will Win the War” by Rae Katherine Eighmey in Minnesota History 59/7, Fall 2005, published by the Minnesota Historical Society. The excerpt and the recipes are used with permission.    

Eager to do their bit for the war effort, Minnesotans from many walks of life developed and shared their own “war food” recipes. Some of these introduced relatively unfamiliar staples, such as rice, to standard household menus. Others skimped on precious ingredients or stretched them with substitutes to concoct a version of more familiar cakes, breads and muffins.    

The recipes here have been slightly updated for today’s kitchens but preserve the flavors and textures of 1917-18.

Dried Peas with Rice and Tomatoes

Typical of the one-dish meals suggested by the U. S. Food Administration, this hearty, straightforward recipe comes from “U.S. Food Leaflet No. 5: Make a Little Meat Go a Long Way.” Today’s cooks would almost certainly reduce the large amount of salt and number of onions.

1½ cups rice
2 cups dried peas
6 onions, chopped
1 tablespoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 cups tomatoes (fresh or canned), diced or broken up    

Soak the peas overnight in 2 quarts of water. Cook until tender in the soaking water. Add rice, onions, tomatoes and seasonings. Lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.  Serves 6 to 8. 

Lumberjack’s Cake

In December 1917, two “lumberjacks by choice for life” attended war-cookery classes at the University of Minnesota. Returning to the north woods, they developed this recipe for what they called a milkless, butterless, eggless cake. One of two recipes they sent back to the home economics department test kitchens, this cake uses barley flour for half the normal amount of wheat flour. It makes a low-fat pound-like cake with a surprisingly rich nutmeg flavor.

1½ cups water
1 cup sugar
¼ cup shortening (or butter)
2½ cups barley flour*
2½ cups flour
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
2 rounded teaspoons baking powder    

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, then add the shortening or butter.    

While this is cooking, combine the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Remove the sugar-water-butter mixture from the stove. Pour it over the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.    

Lightly grease four miniature loaf pans. Divide the batter among them and bake until cake is lightly browned on top, about 35 minutes.  Cool cakes, still in their pans, on their sides on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans to continue cooling.

* Barley flour can be found in natural-foods stores and some supermarkets.