Stretching the meat, 1940s style

Home cooks in the 1940s really had to make things stretch! 250 Ways to Prepare Meat (ed. Ruth Berolzheimer, 1940) reminds me that home cooks used all kinds of tricks to get protein on the table (especially now that stretching food is likely to take on extra importance again).

The booklet is a reminder that meat might not come from the grocery store. Families could sit down to a platter of braised moose...

...or reindeer pot roast...

...or roast (or stewed!) squirrels...

...or roast opossum.

(It's interesting to note that dressing an opossum was compared to dressing a suckling pig, which suggests that dressing a suckling pig was a pretty familiar operation to many home cooks at the time.)

(Also, people had to be okay with "peculiarly flavored meat." It was preferable to starving.)

Since some meals-- like Sunday dinner-- were a little more lavish-- maybe a beef roast or a nice chicken-- other meals-- like Sunday supper-- had to take a hit.

Yep-- Sunday was hot dogs in a can of kidney beans night. 🎉

What if there were any sudden "guest problems"?

"A crown roast of wieners is an ideal solution." Is the stuffing festive, at least?

It is if you really like sauerkraut (though stuffing, creamed cabbage, creamed cauliflower, or potato balls could serve as suitable substitutes).

And of course, there was always the option to just put some stuff in gelatin and call it a day.

I have a feeling that Corned Beef Delicious (loaded with celery, canned peas, radishes, and pickled beets as well as the corned beef) is about as delicious as a Red Delicious apple (meaning, of course, not at all).

For those who maybe have a bit more cash and feel like soggifying some good perfectly good Brazil nuts, there's also Brazil-Nut Jellied Veal Loaf.

In short, I'm glad not to live in the 1940s, but I begrudgingly admire the ingenuity of the people who had to do it. Hopefully, we can channel their energy (but maybe not their methods).