An article by Paul Harris printed in The Daily Mail in 2010 proposed the idea that:
“There were two wars being fought in Britain after September 1939.
One was against Hitler. The other was in the kitchen.”
Marion Neil’s recipes from “The Thrift Cookbook” all encompass an authentic wartime theme with each appropriately and proudly titled with names such as “Brave Boy Rolls” and “Liberty Bond Bread” which allows it to fit in with the British “Dig for Victory” propaganda of its time. Her ‘Over the top’ muffins add to the charm with its sense of indulgence during a period of rationing and substitution.
Specifically, within this recipe only one substitution was present with the use of a butter substitute commonly known today as margarine. As a pair Carmen and I struggled and thus failed to find soy bean flour and chose instead to just use more plain flour making our own substitution. Thankfully the various types of measurements meant we were able to comprehend the recipe however I still remain unsure as to what size one “cup” is or even if we were able to measure accurately because of this. Stylistically the recipe is written clearly with the instructions listed below the ingredients, which in terms of preparation and making is a lot easier to follow especially as a modern day user of recipe books.
However what did the muffins taste like? Surprisingly, after how wonderful they looked, they were disgusting! It may perhaps have been due to the confusing measurements and as a result we added the quantity of baking soda inaccurately causing the horrible taste! From a nutritional point of view, muffins contain carbohydrates providing the consumer with energy however they do not provide a good source of protein and are instead quite fatty. The recipe also uses one egg, which is quite indulgent as most had to use the substitute of powdered egg that has a much longer shelf life. According to the British Egg Products Association, the production of powdered eggs is as follows;
“Shelled eggs are washed, rinsed, sterilised and candled. They are then broken, separated automatically and checked for quality and flaws.
Liquid whole eggs and yolks are clarified, filtered and usually pasteurized before being spray-dried. To stabilise the product and preserve colour when dried, glucose is removed from egg whites before spray-drying.
In order to ensure that the dried egg does not harden and solidify, ingredients such as anti-caking agents, sugar or salt may be added to the mixture. Egg whites are often treated with whipping agents such as sodium lauryl sulfate, to ensure aeration properties on reconstitution.”
Recipes such as "Welsh Eggs" were also created as a way of encouraging the public to be unafraid of using powdered eggs as a substitution.
http://www.bepa.org.uk/egg-products/dried-egg-products/
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