About those wartime recipes…I don’t remember in which interview I mentioned my maternal grandmother ran a boarding house for war workers, and had to produce three meals a day for her boarders, plus whichever of her eight children were still living at home. Everything my mother learned about cooking, she learned from my grandmother.
I am sure there was a time when my grandmother was a wonderful cook, but the recipes that were passed on to my mom took into account the rationing restrictions, and they were meant to serve thirty plus people. Mom never quite got the hang of reducing the portion sizes, and since there were only the three of us when I was growing up, my dad’s usual comment was “Frances, are you cooking for the whole Fifth Army?” (Which of course, meant we ate the same meal for a week. Salmon pea wiggle anyone?)