The Vintage Reader

Cooking with Cold Cuts

Oh, my. I found this article in the September, 1942 issue of Woman's Day (which cost 2 cents, BTW). If only the pictures were in color, these things would be perfect candidates for the Gallery of Regrettable Food. Along with some hideous recipes for things like Thuringer and Potatoes en Brochette (translation: Blood Sausage Kabobs), there was this:

FRIED LIVER SAUSAGE WITH CREOLE SAUCE

Costs 41 cents (August 1942)
Serves 4
Woman's Day Kitchen

3/4 pound smoked liver sausage, in one piece
1/2 cup undiluted evaporated milk
2/3 cup corn meal
Bacon fat for frying

Cut liver sausage in 8 slices 1/4 inch thick. Cut each in half and dip first in milk then in corn meal. Fry quickly until delicately browned in hot fat 1/4 inch deep. Drain on heavy paper. Serve with Creole Sauce:

1 tablespoon margarine
1 large onion, sliced
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 ripe tomatoes, chopped

Melt margarine, add onion and cook 2 minutes over low heat. Add remaining ingredients; simmer 20 minutes.

Here's a helpful menu suggestion:

Fried Liver Sausage with Creole Sauce
Buttered Big Hominy
Shredded Raw Spinach and Cucumber Salad
Whole Wheat Bread
Butter
Honey Stewed Plums

"Silent Generation" indeed; more like the Silent Killer Generation, considering the effect on your blood pressure that a diet this high in saturated fat would have. At least the menu plan includes lots of vegetables.

One thing all of the recipes have in common is a reliance on onions. Lots and lots of onions. Onions were cheap and they filled out a recipe, and they added a lot of flavor. Onion-fried burgers are my favorite example of the "onions as filler" school of cooking.

Oh well. If you're really interested in wartime cooking, be sure to read M.F.K. Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf. It's been reprinted many times, anthologized in The Art of Eating, excerpted, quoted, and just about everything else you can do to a book. Here's a sample, along with the recipe for War Cake.