Breakfast: Brains and Eggs

Clean and wash the brains well in cold water, and dice into about 1/2-inch cubes. Dice the bacon into small cubes or run it through a meat grinder.

Fry the bacon until brown. Add the brains and fry until nearly done (about 45 minutes). Add the eggs, beaten slightly, and fry about 10 minutes more. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with dry toast. (Serves 100)

Lunch: Oxtail Soup

Cut the oxtails into small pieces (about 1 inch long), wash, drain, sprinkle with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and brown in fat or bacon drippings in a pan on top of the stove. Add to the stock with the carrots and onions, and simmer until meat is tender. If desired, the soup may be thickened with a flour batter. Just before serving add sufficient stock to make 10 gallons of soup. (Serves 100)

Beefsteak, Hamburg

Use meat from the less tender cuts. Run the meat through a grinder twice. Chop the onions fine, using a sharp knife. Mix meat and onions well and season with salt and pepper. Mold into steaks about 3 inches in diameter and about one-half inch in thickness. Fry on griddle or clean stove top. Serve hot with gravy, or in hamburger sandwiches. This recipe will be improved by the addition of 12 eggs to the meat-and-onion mixture. (Serves 100)

Dinner: Liver and Onions

30 pounds liver, beef, sliced
10 pounds bacon, fried
10 pounds onions, browned
2 pounds flour

Slice the liver thin (about 5 slices per inch) and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from water, roll the slices of liver in flour, and fry quickly in bacon fat. Brown the onions and put on liver. Place fried bacon around the onions and liver. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot. (Serves 100)

Cabbage, Bavarian

35 pounds cabbage
4 pounds salt pork or bacon
1 1/2 quarts vinegar

Strip off outer leaves and remove the cores; cut into fine shreds, wash and soak, and place in a boiler containing the pork or bacon, vinegar, and 2 gallons of water. Season with salt and pepper. Boil rapidly in an open boiler for about 20 minutes, adding boiling water, if necessary, to keep covered. Then thicken slightly with a flour batter and boil for about five minutes longer. serve hot. (Serves 100)

Stewed Prunes

Wash prunes [the cookbook doesn't tell you how many!]. Cover with cold water; bring to a boil and cook until tender (30 to 50 minutes). Add sugar and lemon for last 5 minutes of cooking. remove from fire; add water to replace that which has evaporated. Let stand overnight. Serve cold. (Serves 100)

Looking through these recipe books I'm amazed that the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines were able to stay awake and out of the latrine long enough to defeat anyone. I'm also a little perplexed by an Army cookbook that includes a recipe for "Cabbage, Bavarian," as shown above. Patriotism be damned, but couldn't that recipe have been Americanized to be "Chicago Style Cabbage," lest our troops think this delicacy could be had daily over on the Axis side of the game!

[This article originally appeared in THG #2]