Frugal Cooking

I have been reading the most fabulous books, called Nella Last's War and I am now reading Nella Last's Peace. You might have heard of a one off TV drama with Victoria Wood in it called "Housewife , 49" well it was based on the first of the books.

During the war there was an experiment called "Mass Observation", people were invited to write diaries and send them in to share in their wartime experiences. Nella lived in Barrow -In -Furness and wrote her diary from 1939 till her death in 1968. The diaries were written on bits of paper and she would bundle them up and send them off every month or so. The diaries have been edited and published and if you did see "Housewife, 49" I urge you to read the books as the TV programme really only scratches the surface.

Anyway Nella writes very often of the meals she made during the war, she was a genius with the old rations and it is very interesting. So decided to search online for some wartime recipes, I just had to share this one with you, it sounds like a VIZ top tip, it's hysterical........


Mock Duck
Ingredients
2 lb Sausage meat
1 lb Cooking Apples, peeled and grated
1 lb Onions grated
1 tsp dry Sage
Method
Spread half the sausage meat into a well-greased baking tray or casserole
dish.
Top with the grated apple, onion and sage.
Add the rest of the sausage meat and shape the top layer to look like a
Duck.
Cover with well-greased baking paper and bake in the centre of a
moderate oven for 45 minutes.

I have a number of points to make about this
1. If you are gagging to eat duck, this ain't going to fool you!
2. How in the name of all that is holy do you "shape the top layer to look like a duck"
3. If you really were that mad for duck just go visit the local pond and bag yourself one....
4. Let's pray the recession doesn't make us all plumb these depths