Thriftiness has always been a primary virtue of a good cook. Running a kitchen is about clever management of resources, and those who respect good ingredients find it difficult to waste them. Throughout history, cookery writers have responded to hard times with recipes that made the most out of cheap ingredients or stretched what was available.
The Guildhall Library, run by the City of London, houses one of the most important collections of cookbooks in the country. Elizabeth David researched her own books at the Guildhall and, after her death, her personal collection was added to it.
These examples of thrifty recipes, all taken from times when circ*mstances were particularly hard, were found buried in the bookshelves there ...
Artificial venison
In 1720, many of England's financiers and investors were bankrupted by the collapse of the South Sea Bubble, the first great financial catastrophe. There were accusations of widespread fraud among company directors, members of the government were implicated and a public outcry led to many being shamed or even prosecuted. As money suddenly became tight for the upper classes, Eliza Smith was compiling her first cookbook, The Compleat Housewife: or Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion (1728).
It is poignant to picture our gentlewoman, struggling to keep the household together and maintain its social status by passing off cheap beef or mutton as flashier venison.
"Bone a rump of beef, or a large shoulder of mutton; then beat it with a rolling pin; season it with pepper and nutmeg; lay it 24 hours in sheep's blood; then dry it with a cloth and season it again with pepper, salt, and spice.
"Put your meat in the form of a paste, and bake it as a venison-pasty, and make gravy with the bones, to put in when 'tis drawn out of the oven."
Of course, modern attitudes to kitchen hygiene preclude the soaking of meat overnight in blood, but mercifully mutton has become so fashionable that the gentlewoman of today can serve it undisguised.
A cheap pudding, to accompany a goose, and modify its richness
Robert Kemp Philp was a printer and prominent chartist. In 1845 he set up shop in Fetter Lane, London, and began publishing a series of popular handbooks for self-improvement aimed at the urban working class. The Family Save-all, a System of Secondary Cookery (1861) was full of recipes and household hints interspersed with instructive witticisms, offering a complete regime for the re-use of leftovers. In this recipe he demonstrates the art of cooking "under the roast", a trick favoured today by, among others, Jamie Oliver, which catches the juices, fats and general dripping loveliness of the meat and turns them into something sublime.
"Half a pound of bread, soaked in a little boiling milk, and mashed to a paste; when cold, add two or three eggs, a little salt, pepper, marjoram and thyme, a spoonful of oatmeal, a good handful of suet (which, however, may be omitted), and an onion chopped fine. Spread it in a dripping pan and bake it under the goose. Very serviceable when there is a large family, and only one goose among them."
Potted cheese
In 1917 towards the end of the first world war, German U-boats effectively blockaded British ports. With supplies from Australia, Canada and South America interrupted, meat became suddenly scarce and expensive.
Mrs CS Peel, a popular food writer of the day, published her Eat Less Meat Book with the subtitle: War Ration Housekeeping. And it is still true today that one of the easiest ways to cut down on the food bill is to reduce meat consumption.
This recipe for cheese scraps is delicious spread on toast, sprinkled with a little Worcestershire sauce and grilled for a few minutes as an instant rarebit.
"Ingredients: Odds and ends of cheese, margarine, made mustard [as opposed to the powdered stuff], salt, pepper, cayenne.
Method: Take any pieces of cheese and grate them and then work them into a smooth paste with the other ingredients, using enough margarine to make the paste smooth. Press into an earthenware terrine with a cover. Excellent with hot biscuits or toast, or to use as sandwiches."
Eggs Otéro
Ambrose Heath was a prolific food writer who hit his stride working for the Ministry of Food during the second world war. His Kitchen Front radio broadcasts and seemingly endless pamphlets kept the nation fed through extreme shortages.
But things didn't improve with the end of hostilities; the country suffered a crippling trade deficit which made importing food a problem and rationing and shortages - particularly of meat - continued until 1954. Heath's Good Potato Dishes (1953) is still a definitive volume, and this recipe is a genuinely exciting discovery.
"Bake some large potatoes in their jackets, cut them in half and scoop out most of the flesh. Put in a layer of spinach purée, break an egg into each, season them and bake them in the oven until the egg is ready."
I can't imagine that anyone as thrifty as Heath would have advocated throwing away the insides of the potato, so I usually mash it with some butter and black pepper to serve alongside.
