Lets get this straight right away. This doesn’t taste like crab in any shape or form BUT it was very tasty and so very simple to make and used up 1/2 a weekly egg ration per person (serves 4).
When I say it serves 4, it’s enough filling for 4 rounds of sandwiches with some cucumber, grated carrot, tomato or salad leaves…. but only just.
I served mine on a carrot and swede mash with some peas on the side. All my egg ration is used up for the week now as I had half of it.
Costs about 60p to make.
I got this recipe from yes another of Marguerite Patten’s books, “We’ll Eat Again”. More info here…
Wartime Mock Crab
1/2 oz of margarine
2 eggs or 2 reconstituted dried eggs
1 oz cheese
1 dessertspoon salad dressing
few drops of vinegar
salt and pepper as you like it
Method
Melt the margarine in saucepan, add the well beaten eggs.
Scramble until half set then add the rest of the ingredients.
Serve as a sandwich filling, on hot toast or over mashed potatoes.
The 1940's Experiment 
I’m in the US–what do you mean by “salad dressing?”
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Hi Nora, for us in the UK it would be something like salad cream, mayonnaise, or any homemade dressing if you couldn’t get hold of these from your local store. I guess condiments in North America like Miracle Whip or Mayo are similar. C xx Essentially anything you’d use to dress a salad will do!
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Well I have just looked up my mom’s recipe and it had no salad dressing at all in it. Just mustard egg tomato cheese . In the 1950s we used to go to my grans in Sunderland from London and we had mock crab sarnies on the way…fantastic and still have it hot on toast for breakfast
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You had me salivating at “swede and carrit mash”, the peas were the icing on the cake. So to speak.
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Love swede and carrot mash too! Already had a baked potato for lunch so had a change!
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It looks almost like a recipe for deviled eggs.
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This would be nice for breakfAST on a slice of toast.
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This is an entirely different recipe to the one I was given from my mother who made this during the war. It is cheddar cheese, tomatoes and onion and once cooked and set can be put into sandwiches. Delicious! Equal amounts of grated cheese, chopped tomatoes and diced onion. Melt a knob of butter in a pan and fry the onion until soft but not browned. Then add the tomatoes and cook until soft then add the cheese and lightly cook until melted, giving it a good stir. Pour into a dish and leave in the fridge overnight until set. Spread on bread or breadcake with a little seasoning. Just had this for lunch. Does not taste like crab but looks like it.
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My grandma’s version of this had chopped tomatoes cooked in the melted butter or margarine before adding the eggs instead of the salad dressing and vinegar. We loved it for lunch on crusty bread. She would tell us about it being a wartime staple but I never saw another mention of “mock crab” until I found your blog.
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My mum makes a similar thing, but we always called it Mock Chicken.
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Well in the early 1950s as a kid in Tattenham Corner Surrey we were still on rations for some things so out would come my mom’s wartime recipe leaflets. One was for mock crab and we used to go to my grans house in Sunderland for holidays and eat sarnies with mock crab in them as we got to York. Well I am 70 now and sitting here eating mock crab on toast ….ggg8
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What a fab story David!!! Funny you are still eating mock crab though…it must be the nostalgia 🙂 xxx
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Ha ha …well yes I suppose so but I love the taste Carolyn…but then I still eat offal. Liver and onion tonight 🙂 kidneys fried for breakfast. Hearts I haven’t had for some years and I hate trype …In Bulgaria recently I was served it yuk…last time I ate it was as a kid I had chicken pox and that memory stayed with me 🙂
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