Efraim Ben-Avraham writes:
I posted this in the club today, but wanted to send directly to you guys. It’s hard to find new stuff on Veronica so I was very happy to find this recipe and story.
Women during World War II were called Home Front Warriors. As the war progressed, some foods became scarce and were rationed: meats, fats and milk. Milk was often processed as evaporated milk. In case you were wondering, evaporated milk is fresh milk from which 60% of the water is removed before the milk is homogenized, fortified, canned, and sterilized. Evaporated milk had a very long shelf life and the cans were ready for transport to the armed forces fighting overseas.
In 1945, Daricraft, a company producing evaporated milk, issued a booklet with recipes calling for homogenized evaporated milk. They were planned to aid in providing the needed daily milk requirements at a time when fresh milk was not always available. Doing her part for the war effort once again, Veronica submitted her own recipe for inclusion in the booklet. Veronica’s own recipe for ’Spiced Beef with Peas’ follows:
Veronica Lake’s Recipe for ’Spiced Beef & Peas’
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons Crisco
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups evaporated milk
- 3/4 cup cooked peas
- 1/4 lb. spiced beef
Melt Crisco and add beef. Cook until rather crisp. Stir in flour. Add milk slowly, stir and cook until thick. Add peas and pepper.
