Talk about comfort food! Whether you choose meat from your ration or decide to use lentils or a plant-based mince to make a modern veggie version, this will give you mouthfuls of nostalgia galore as it takes you back in time to grandma’s cooking when no one cared about hard and/or saturated fats and lard. You used what you had, loved the taste and burned off the calories as you were always out playing in-between meals!

I personally made the dish above with a plant-based mince and made the suet pastry with vegan suet and the pastry was simply wonderful! I’ve also made this pie/pudding with lentils with some small pieces of potato mixed in and a thick, rich gravy and this was so delicious! I’ve also fed this to my Dad and he loved it too! Remember this is that same man who was born 1.5 years before the war began and who has said to me “I hope your book is a success but why would people want to eat wartime food again, it was horrible!”…. I of course laughed and he was quite right in many respects BUT nostalgia and curiosity run strong through the human psyche and then there are some of us who also want to keep a bit of history alive for future generations. Dad’s been eating a fair few wartime recipes over the past several weeks, he really enjoys them but he just doesn’t know that these are actual recipes from the 1940s…..shhhhh, don’t tell him!

Much love to you all, especially my Dad who has no idea I write a blog! Haha! – C xxxx

Ingredients for Baked Mince Pudding with Suet Pastry

• 1lb cooked minced beef (or plant-based mince or lentils for veggie alternative)
• 2 large tomatoes 
• 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce (or 2 teaspoons of Marmite for veggie alternative)
• 1 tablespoon of finely chopped onion or shallots (add lots more if you have or you can also use finely chopped leeks)
• Gravy, stock or water to moisten
• Suet pastry
• Salt and Pepper and Mixed Herbs

Method:

Slice the tomatoes, add these, seasonings, onions and the sauce (or Marmite) to the meat. Add in the water, or stock and simmer the mixture until tomatoes and onions are cooked, adjust seasoning and thicken the mixture with Bisto powder (mixed to a paste). Add to a pie dish, top with suet pastry and bake at 180-200c until the pastry is golden brown. Tip: use a wash over the raw pastry before baking to add a glossy and more golden brown pastry. Egg is best, it only uses a tiny bit and you can use the rest of the egg in another recipe. 

Tastes wonderful and serves 6

Suet Pastry Recipe

• 200g self-raising flour (or plain flour with 1 tsp baking powder)
• 100g shredded suet (beef or vegetarian/vegan)
• Pinch of salt
• 100ml – 120ml cold water

Method:

Sift flour and salt and add in shredded suet and mix together. Add in cold water and mix together using a cool metal spoon or knife to keep the pastry cool. Roll out to 1cm thick and add to top of pudding/pie dish above.