Cooking a WWII recipe, Woolton pie: Vegan MoFo

A lot of the things I've been cooking this MoFo seem to be dishes whose origins are opaque, because they've been cooked in England for so long - sometimes for centuries - so it's unknown where they were first created.

Not so for my next dish: Woolton pie.

Woolton pie was created by the man whose name it bears: Lord Woolton. Lord Woolton, a Conservative peer from Lancashire, was appointed Minister of Food in 1940, in the early years of World War Two.

As food minister, his mission was to make sure there was enough nutritious food on British tables to keep the country going through the Blitz and beyond, and overseeing food rationing (almost every staple foodstuff, with the exception of bread, was rationed in the UK.)

Among the ministry of food's tasks was to come up with recipes that could be made with the food available, and which were as healthy as they could be given the circumstances. Enter Francis Latry, the head chef at the Savoy Hotel (a very posh London joint), who created a dish of root veggies, served in stock thickened with porridge oats topped with pastry.


Now that may not sound revolutionary but it's kind of interesting when you think about it: British food, both now and then, is really, really meat heavy. Here's the minister of food recommending everyone eat more veggie food to keep the country going. (Interestingly, even in the 1940s there was an awareness of vegetarianism: under rationing, you'd have got an allowance of meat, but if you were veggie, you could trade it in for extra cheese. No idea what happened if you were a vegan though.)

Anyway, here's the original recipe:

Take 1lb each of potatoes, cauliflowers, swedes and carrots, three or four springs onions - if possible, one teaspoonful of vegetable extract, and one tablespoon of oatmeal. Cook all together for 10 minutes with just enough water to cover. Stir occasionally to prevent the mixture from sticking. Allow to cool; put into a pie dish, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and cover with a crust of potato or wholemeal pastry. Bake in a moderate oven until the pastry is nicely browned and serve hot with a brown gravy.

I made it at home fairly faithfully: potatoes, swede and carrot (no cauliflower, as other half fears it) and vegetable bouillon powder in place of vegetable extract. I added a bit of cornstarch to thicken it up as the oatmeal didn't quite do the job, and used ready made vegan puff pastry to top it all off.

I was actually not looking forward to this - I thought it would be a flavourless and watery. It turned out not to be either: the sauce had thickened up nicely, and while it's a simple dish, it was still warm and comforting. Take that scepticism!

Apparently Woolton pie fell out of favour after the war was over, and rationing was removed. It's a shame (the falling out of favour, not the end of the war), as it's one dish worth rediscovering.




Comments

  1. Having never tried Woolton pie either, I would also be worried that it would be a bit bland, but I guess it would also make a nice warming meal given the current weather! :)

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  2. I actually really love meals like this. We're blessed to not be forced to cook wartime recipes, but the frugality and heartiness inherent in these kinds of recipes are really appealing. I think this sounds tasty! Like something my Oma makes :)

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  3. That is so interesting! I love that I learned a bit of history from this post.
    I bet if a vegan tried to exchange the cheese, they'd offer fish. :P

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  4. Winter comfort food at it's finest. Thanks for more English history and yumminess!

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  5. I loved learning a bit of history from this post! Sometimes simple foods can be deceiving and deliver wonderful flavours. Anything topped with puff pastry has to taste good - right?

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  6. I learn stuff from your blog. On a regular basis. Just so you know. And I love the idea of thickening the mixture with oats, if it would actually work of course. And hell yeah to puff pastry.

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  7. What a beautiful Woolton pie especially with the vegan puff pastry on top of it! I see my favorite ingredients in this first photo! I really enjoy your English food theme, all the dishes are making me want to go to the UK soon! I haven't been to the UK for years! Thank you for sharing this wonderful pie!

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  8. That sounds like a great vegetable pot pie! I love the history lesson, too.

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  9. This looks great! I'd never heard of Woolton pie so I might have to give it a go :)

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  10. This sounds good to me — a nice veggie stew with an added crust.

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  11. It may be simple but it sure does look good and very comforting! Kinda reminds me of a pot pie too. And I love pot pie. :-)

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  12. Not heard of this before. It looked a bit like hotpot before the pastry lid went on. It's interesting isn't that like you say probably a lot of vegan food was consumed during the war because of rationing and people got really inventive. I can remember my dad once using a war recipe he found to make a cake that had mashed potato in it!

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  13. I'm always excited to learn about new dishes, and vintage recipes are especially fun! I love veggie-heavy comfort food like this, so I'm very grateful that you unearthed such a gem. I'm definitely saving the recipe for colder days.

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  14. How very cool! I love revisiting vintage recipes and making them fit my lifestyle and this one certainly fits the bill! Yum!

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  15. I've done a little research on vegetarianism in the past and it seems like a lot of things were accidentally vegan because they had to ration things for the soldiers and like T&Sympatico says, they had to get very inventive.
    Also I think England had a lot of vegetarian societies before the US, so props on that.
    ANYWAY this looks tasty. I'll take anything topped with pastry.

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  16. fascinating stuff - I love that they were forced to come up with veg meals during WWII but am glad to hear you say you enjoyed it as it does seem quite bland

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  17. A history lesson and a tasty recipe? Your theme keeps getting better and better. Sometimes the simplist meals are the best, plus the puff pasty definitely ups the flavor factor!

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