During WWII, people were encourage to cut back on meats, fats and refined flour. Not for health reasons, but because fats were used for munitions, and refined flour and meats were being used to feed our troops and allies overseas. This stretched our supplies very thin and caused shortages if not complete outages of many items that were previously taken for granted.
Meats were a hot commodity during WWII, especially your fattier, more tender meats. These were sent to the allies and our soldier on the war front. We were left with tougher meats, some poultry, processed meats, game and organ meats; and even that was very scarce in certain areas. Whatever meats a homemaker could get her hands on, had to last. Like vegetables, the home front was encouraged to raise their own meats in the form of chickens and rabbits. Often meats were combined with other ingredients to extend the meat in a meal and make it more filling. Common extenders were dried bread crumbs, cereal, beans and vegetables. Many casseroles we love today can be attributed to this era in cooking.
Another scarcity was refined flour. Whole wheat flour was more sensitive to conditions whereas refined flour could more readily be sent anywhere in the world with little issue of spoilage. Because of this, the government encouraged the use of whole wheat flour and alternative flours as well for baking, such as soy flour, rye, oats and corn meal.
Fat also being rationed, the homemaker was encouraged to render her own fats from meats in her kitchen. Bacon grease was very common as well as beef and pork fats. Fats were rendered from these meats by baking them in a slow oven and draining and straining the fat into a clean container and storing in the refrigerator or icebox.
In today's recipe, I use whole wheat flour and a minimal amount of refined flour, a small amount of sausage and bacon fat to make biscuits and gravy. In our recipe, we have a variety of fats listed, as many recipes from this era had to be adaptable and substitutions needed to fit in easily. This recipe is a great way to get the flavor of sausage into your meal with less expense. When served with fruit, you get a well rounded meal.
Biscuits
Makes 12-16 Biscuits
Serves 6-8
Pre-heat the oven to 425°.
- 1 C All Purpose Flour
- 1 C Whole Wheat Flour
- 4t Baking Powder
- 1t salt
- 1/4 C Bacon Fat, Lard, Shortening, or Oil (or combination of them)
- 1/2-1 C Milk
Whisk together flours, baking powder and salt. Cut in fat until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add enough milk to make very stiff dough. (If you use oil, you will require less milk.) Roll out to 1/2" thickness on to floured board. Cut out biscuits with biscuit cutter and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Take scraps and knead together, roll again and make more biscuits. Repeat until dough is nearly gone. Bake 10-15 minutes.
Sausage Gravy
Serves 6
- 2 oz Bulk Sausage
- 2 T All Purpose Flour
- 1T Bacon Fat, Lard, Shortening or Oil
- 1-1 1/2 C Milk (or part milk with part broth, stock, or vegetable liquor)
- 1t Coarsely Ground Pepper
- 1/2-1 t Salt, to taste
In skillet, brown and crumble sausage in fat. Whisk in flour. Slowly add liquid, whisk, and continue to add until the gravy is thickened but not too thick. Let simmer 10 minutes or so. Serve over biscuits. This is also quite good on hash browns, mashed potatoes and rice.
