Corned Beef was a popular part of the meat ration due to it’s availability. As it was already cooked it could be eaten cold or used in a variety of recipes. In my 1940’s culinary journey (ha!) I will allow myself 1 can of corned beef (or spam) every 4-6 weeks so I can at least re- create some of the typical recipes of the time.
You can serve corned beef up, hot or cold, several different ways..
Here is the recipe I used the other night.
Corned Beef Fritters
- 2 oz self raising flour or plain flour (I used wholemeal/wholewheat)
- pinch salt
- 1 egg (fresh or dried)
- dash of milk
- pinch of herbs (I used Thyme)
- 2 teaspoons grated onion
- 6 oz corned beef finely flaked
- a little dripping or margarine (or cooking oil)
Method
Mix and blend the flour with the salt, beaten egg and dash of milk.
Beat until a smooth batter is achieved
Add corned beef, onions and herbs
Melt the dripping or fat in a frying pan
Drop in a spoonful of the mixture and press down to form a small patty (mixture should be enough to make 8)
Fry on either side until crisp and brown and serve with veggies or salad while warm.
Makes enough for 4 people
PS: Still freaking out about the scales tomorrow!
C xx
Hi, great recipe, thanks!
I’m fascinated by your challenge.
I’ve linked to your blog today from my blog and from a recipe testing challenge I’m running on moneysavingexpert.com, a UK site, which has lots of very frugal recipes, which is how I found you!
Are you noticing a bigger wallet as well as a smaller waistline by following a wartime diet?
Weezl x
wow! sounds nice going to try that out i have a thing for corned beef lol xx
I have just found your website and I think what your doing is brilliant
Thanks Bill!!!! C xxx
Lovely site.
First I will give the corned beef fritters a go.
I wonder if chopped spam would be good this way.
thanks again
I am pretty sure chopping up and mashing up spam would work well…. let me know how it goes!! 🙂 C xx
Spam is good also
Try using the rough side of a grater for the spam – wonderful ! I have also used pre-fried onions and grated hot dogs in fritter batter – yummy ! Another yummy is crumbled or grated black pudding in the batter, sensational !
I remember my Gran making rissoles and that stemmed from rationing… Similar to the fritters but with potatoes too. Boil a couple of potatoes and mash in with the meat and onions, then shape and fry. It saved the egg for other things as the mixture bound together well enough without :o)
And of course there was corned beef hash and corned beef and potato pie – I make both for my family, not so much now though, because the price of corned beef has rocketed in the UK
homework project thanks
The price of food has increased tremendously and we all try to make a little go a long way. I love corned beef and cabbage stew.
Make a little go a long way- absolutely! xx
Hmm, as an anally retentative pedant, I need to point out that fritters are things enclosed in batter. I would describe this as a corned beef burger.
Agreed… when I did this recipe back in 2009 I’m not sure whether I interpreted the method written on the original recipe the wrong way and just mixed it all in together|? C xx
Thanks this helps with my homework 🙂👌👌👌
Hi, where did you get this recipe from please? I’d like to use it in my college work but I have to source everything to make sure it’s authentic.
Hi Simone, I got it from one of my wartime cookbooks. I can’t remember which one off the top of my head but I do believe it was one of my Marguerite Patton ones. Good luck with the recipe! C xx
Hi from Melbourne Australia!
Thus was delicious I enjoyed making them.
As a chef I’m over fancy food and just the general cost of groceries today.
I love everything 40s including music and fashion.
Your blog is very inspiring I also need to lose Weight. I personally think rationing should come back into place and try to get this country back into shape.
I’ve been on rations for a week now and it’s great. Probably be the first time in my adult life I’ve taken time to sit and eat breakfast before work! Thanks again
Laura
Xx
Hi, I like the sound of these but I have a little one with a dairy and egg allergy. milk I can use an alternative like coconut or oat. but what would you use to substitute out the egg please?
You can make a flax seed slurry – do a search on the web for ratio. Or you can add some mashed potato (1/4 cup?)
I know this is a late response and you will most likely have already figured it out but you can use mash potato to bind the fritters, it works just as good and bulks them up a bit more!
Apologies! I have just realised that the lady above has already suggested using mash!
As in the first comment mashed potato would make an adequate binder.
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I’m having such fun working through these recipes. I made the corned beef fritters tonight for dinner. Very nice with my homemade beet relish! I managed to get seven fritters total. Not bad for a first try.
A good experiment to keep me busy during this epidemic, although Saskatchewan is doing much better now and vaccinations are finally getting into people’s arms.
Judith
My 13 year old daughter just made these tonight cooked over a fire in the garden for her ‘Guiding History’ badge! Though the recipe in my Marguerite Patten book is slightly different as it has one egg yolk (or half a dried egg) and 1 gill (quarter of a pint apparently) of milk. The mixture looked pretty grim before cooking but the end result was very tasty indeed and made 8 fritters for the 4 of us. We had them with a pile of salad and a slice of wholemeal bread each.
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