Cooking on a Ration (part 1 of 4: front – pg 144)

The Bat is where I got the gene which drives me to amass cookbooks. Quite a bit of the collection I intend to continue to share is hers, from her many years of looking through book stores, auctions, and other resources – such as where she picked up this one. If you look closely, you'll notice this particular book is stamped as a discard from the Warren County Public Library (our local establishment). No doubt, she spent more than she thought she ought to for another item to gather dust, but, The Bat being The Bat, she couldn't pass up the opportunity for a twofer: a piece of history and some really great ideas for supper.

So here we have a small-ish volume (5 1/2" x 8", fewer than 200 pages), on mid-grade pulp paper, so it's fairly vulnerable to deterioration, but it's stood up pretty well for its nearly 80 years existence. I was almost stunned to realize I didn't even need to touch up any pages to make the text legible for this, even after it had spent decades in a public library. I suppose any borrowers would have been afraid to drip batter on its pages, & incur the wrath of the Librarian. 

Cooking on a Ration: Food is Still Fun, by Marjorie Mills, was published at the height of World War II (AD 1943 – just about the time Captain America came into existence), and was put together to help the average patriotic housewife feed her family on the limited resources available to each household. Today, the book is out of print, but the material within may yet be very useful.  I know I'm tempted by quite a bit…

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here

Inside front cover: 
Library card pocket.
She paid $1.25 for this

flyleaf

title page

copyright page, dedication

acknowledgments

Preface, part 1

preface, part 2

Table of Contents, part 1

Table of Contents, part 2

p 1: SOUPS

pp 2, 3: SOUPS
Clam Bouillon; 
Special Cream Sauce for Cream Soups
Basic Recipe;
Variations of Creamed Soups
Cream of Corn Soup;
Cream of Celery Soup;
Cream of Chicken Soup;
Cream of Potato Soup (part 1)

pp 4, 5: SOUPS
Cream of Onion Soup;
Cream of Pea Soup;
Cream of Vegetable Soup;
Cream of Spinach Soup;
Cream of Tomato Soup;
Vichyssoise Creme; 
Turkey or Chicken Bone Soup;
Rice and Celery Soup (part 1)

pp 6, 7: SOUPS
Rice and Celery Soup (part 2);
Cheese Soup; Spring Soup;
Baked Potato Soup;
Fresh Vegetable Soup;
Green Garden Soup

pp 8, 9: SOUPS
Borscht; French Onion Soup;
Pea Soup, Habitant;
Baked Bean Soup;
Beef-Vegetable Soup;
Scotch Broth (part 1)

pp 10, 11: SOUPS
Scotch Broth (part 2);
Oyster Stew; Lobster Stew;
Corn Chowder;
Deer Chowder; Fish Chowder

pp 12, 13: FISH
Fried Fish; Creamed Fish;
Baked Fish; Fish Stuffing;
Boiled Fish (part 1)

pp 14, 15: FISH
Boiled Fish (part 2)
Codfish Hash; Fillets of Fish;
Fish Soufflé;
Fish Loaf with Egg Sauce;
Fluffy Codfish Cakes (part 1)

pp 16, 17: FISH
Codfish Cakes (part 2);
Savory Finnan Haddie;
Minced Oysters; 
Oyster and Mushroom Pies;
Deviled Sea Food;
Scalloped Oysters (part 1)

pp 18, 19: FISH
Scalloped Oysters (part 2);
Fried Oysters and New England Salad;
Clam Pie; Scallops au Gratin;
Scallops, Normandy Style;
Shrimps a la Marguery;
Baltimore Crab Imperial (part 1)

pp 20, 21: FISH
Baltimore Crab Imperial (part 2);
Molded Salmon; Fish Mousse;
Sole with Shrimp, Hyannis;
To Open Lobsters; 
To Boil Lobsters

The rest of the book may be found here, here, and with indexes here.