Second World War Rissoles

How to make Second World War Spam rissoles:

During the Second World War Spam or similar "mystery meat,"or "bully beef," made up a percentage of the housewife's meat ration. It proved to be a very useful ingredient for quick and easy dishes like these rissoles. Cooks serving troops in the field used this recipe using much larger quantities.


For troops, these were a welcome change from MREs. Wrapped in waxed paper, 2 rissoles made a complete meal in the field. See the November 11, 2010 blog for a discussion of "Spam."

Ingredients

12oz corned beef or Spam finely diced
2 cups cold mashed potatoes
2 cups cooked mixed vegetables such as carrots, corn, peas, beans.
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt and pepper
1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs
2 tablespoonfuls of Worcestershire Sauce

Method

- Mix all ingredients

- Shape into 1/2 cup patties.
- Bake in a hot oven.
400 degrees for 40 minutes

Australian Troops at a World War II Jungle Kitchen and
 Aid Station


Too Light - By One Rissole: A World War I Observation
During the night before my Division (21st) attacked on October 4 1917, my unit was in the tunnel under the road at "Clapham Junction," near Hooge. Rations having failed to arrive, each man was given a rissole and a packet of chewing gum. We went over about 6 a.m., and despite severe losses, managed to push our line forward 1,300 yards. When we were back in "rest" dug-outs at Zillebeke, our officer happening to comment on our "feed" prior to the attack, my mate said : "Yus. Blikin' good job for old Jerry we did not have two rissoles a man - we might have shoved him back to Berlin!"
Comment by C. Hartridge, 92 Lancaster Street, S.E 1 from <www.firstworldwar.com> 

Australians were raised in culture where military duty was an expectation. Australians were continuously involved in wars some somewhere on the planet for the past 120 years. From the Boer wars in the late 1800's and early 1900's, the two world wars,  Malayan  Guerrilla warfare from 1947 to 1960, Korea, Vietnam and so on today in Iraq and Afghanistan . My military training started in high school and continued into officer training school where I served as a small arms instructor. I left as a senior sargent and headed for the USA.

Salmon Rissoles revisited

Salmon Rissoles Revisited

In the March 9, 2011, blog we featured salmon rissoles. Today, we revisit the salmon rissole recipe with some alternative approaches to the ingredients and the cooking procedures. Rissoles are one of the most common low-cost foods in many nations and have been popular under different names for hundreds of years. The rissole allows more expensive meat ingredients to be combined with lower cost and more available grain and vegetable ingredients, often the left-overs. Using bread crumbs made from stale bread is a common example of a left-over used in most rissoles. For a history of the rissole see post on Australian Outback Rissoles Monday, October 25, 2010.

In the previous salmon recipe we used canned salmon as a way to reduce the cost of this tasty and most nutritious of foods. In recent months the price of salmon has dropped significantly. Lately, we have been buying three to four pounds of salmon and grilling and smoking the salmon. This left-over smoked salmon, marinated, grilled and smoked with several tasty grilling spices makes a great basic ingredient for salmon rissoles. One popular way to speed the preparation of most rissoles is to use salsa. Salsa with its tomato, onions and spices quickly adds several of the basic ingredients in most rissoles. In this recipe we used a green tomato and ginger salsa. Ginger was present in the earlier salmon rissole recipe. Onion is an important part of most beef pork and chicken recipes. Green tomatoes were common in many older rural recipes. In the days before the use of present garden pest control measures, green tomatoes were
 more common and ripened red tomatoes were often lost to the garden predators. Green tomatoes have just as many nutrients as the red ones.
 See the end of this blog for a green tomato and ginger salsa recipe.

Ingredients.

2-3  cups of crumbled smoked salmon
2 cups of breadcrumbs with 2 teaspoons of
 Italian seasoning or use Italian breadcrumbs
2 beaten eggs or one cup of Eggbeaters
1 cup of thinly shredded cabbage
1 cup of green tomato and ginger salsa
1/2 cup of olive oil
Crumble the smoked salmon and mix in a bowl with other ingredients except the olive oil. Select a muffin baking tray and place one teaspoon of olive oil in each cup of the muffin tray, Place a 1/2 cup of the mixture in each cupPreheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

The present day baking pans, such as the one-cup muffin pans above, offer an alternative to cooks short on time. These new heavy non-stick  baking pans allow the cook to preheat the oven, place the mixture in the pan, and do other things, instead of monitoring and turning rissoles in a frying pan.

Green Tomato and Ginger Salsa

Initial Ingredients.
12 cups diced green tomatoes
4 cup diced onions
2 cups of diced red bell peppers
1 cup of finely chopped crystalized ginger
3 tablespoons of pickling salt
2 tablespoons of chopped or minced garlic
2 teaspoons of black pepper
1 teaspoon of ground cloves
2 teaspoons of ground ginger
1/2 cup of lime juice
1/2 cup of apple juice
2 cups red wine vinegar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar


Later Ingredient: 1 cup of dried potato flakes


Bring all initial ingredients to a slow boil in an 8 quart pot while stirring well. Slow boil for at least 2 hours and reduce content by about 20%. Then add potato flakes and slow boil for 3-5 minutes to produce a salsa texture.

Bottle in one-quart bottles. This recipe produces a medium salsa. Use an an alternative to basic red tomato salsa.