What did WWII Soldiers Eat?
What did WWII Soldiers Eat?
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Steve1989MREInfo eating 1942 US Army Field Ration C: • 1942 US Army Field Ration C B Unit MR…
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Subtitles: Jose Mendoza | IG @worldagainstjose
PHOTO CREDITS
MRE: By Ashley Pomeroy - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…
#tastinghistory #ww2
Content
0.103 -> Few things improve troop morale better than
a hot meal
2.928 -> even if the name of that hot meal kind of sucks,
5.267 -> like this favorite front-line breakfast from World War II creamed dried beef on toast better known
10.611 -> as $#!t on a shingle.
12.134 -> So thank you to my Patreon patrons for constantly supporting this channel especially on videos
16.382 -> like this that'll probably get demonetized because I keep saying $#!t on a shingle
20.593 -> this time on Tasting History.
28.727 -> So I am releasing this video on Veterans Day, or Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day depending on where you are
35.328 -> and every Veterans Day I remember my grandpa, Gramps, who used to tell me stories about
42.128 -> when he was in World War II. He was part of the
Medical Corps and he would tell me these stories about
48 -> when he was over in England and France, and even in Germany just after the end of the war and
54.165 -> I credit those stories with giving me my love
for history because here I am a seven-year-old
60.867 -> playing with his Micro Machines and there's an old
guys telling me about stuff that happened to a 7 year old
66.909 -> so so long ago
69.879 -> but the way that he told the stories was so engaging and made it so personal
76.219 -> that I was in entranced and I just loved him I couldn't get enough,
80.784 -> and so I guess you can kind of say that the reason that Tasting
History is a thing is
86.092 -> because of those stories that my veteran Gramps used to tell me,
90 -> and so I figured what better way to honor my grandpa here on this Veterans Day than to make a dish
96 -> that he might have eaten when he was in the military even if
99.776 -> he very purposefully left it out of the stories he was telling his 7 year old son grandson
104.403 -> because there was no way my grandpa would
ever say the phrase $#!t on a shingle,
108 -> or as the recipe from the U.S War Department in 1944 called it
"Creamed dried beef
113.558 -> which for six gallons called for seven pounds of dried beef, a pound of fat melted,
119.121 -> flour, evaporated milk, water, and pepper.
122.549 -> Separate beef into small pieces, mix melted fat and flour, stir until smooth, mix milk and water, heat,
129.862 -> add gradually to flour mixture stirring constantly. Add chipped beef and pepper,
134.82 -> heat to boiling point, reduce heat and simmer
about 10 minutes. Note serve hot over toast."
141.434 -> Now obviously since this makes six gallons or 100
servings I'm going to make a reduced quantity today
147.816 -> but I do think it's really interesting how
they give the quantities in the original recipe
153.816 -> besides pounds and gallons they also measure in
No. 56 dippers.
158.758 -> Like one pound of fat would be a half No. 56 dipper because you wouldn't often
have a scale on hand when you're out in the field
165.87 -> but you would probably have the standard quart
sized No. 56 dipper.
170.868 -> And the writing on the dipper was so standard that you could use it to make measurements as well.
175.307 -> Another book specifies one cup of liquid comes to the top of the date figure, two cups to the top of the manufacturer's letter,
182.192 -> and three cups of liquid will come to the top of the U.S letters.
185.868 -> I of course have no dipper and I'm not making six gallons worth so for a smaller portion what you'll need is:
191.358 -> just over half a pound or 250 grams of chipped beef. So this
is chipped beef or dried beef and they come now
198.18 -> in these little jars. You'll need four for this
recipe and it's basically ground, very salted beef
205.634 -> that is then pressed into a form, dried and
then sliced very thinly, and when you open it
214.44 -> kind of reminds me of the smell of a can of
dog food when you open it, but it- that smell goes away,
220.672 -> kind of, but it's all wrapped up like this and they kind of remind me of Pringles.
228.3 -> Yeah so this is what you need for this recipe.
232.987 -> Then 2 tablespoons or 30 grams of fat.
235.634 -> This recipe is not specific in what kind of fat
but in 'The Cook's Manual' from 1910 which may be
241.067 -> the earliest recipe for this dish it says
butter is preferred so that's what I'm using.
246.432 -> A heaping third cup or 40 grams of flour, one and
a half cups or 350 milliliters of evaporated milk,
252.42 -> one and a half cups or 350 milliliters of water,
one teaspoon of black pepper, and a few slices of bread for toast.
259.034 -> So the recipe from 1910 which was probably used during World War I
262.391 -> also includes parsley and uses beef stock. It also
uses 15 pounds of chipped beef
268.746 -> for 60 servings rather than seven for 100 servings like
the World War II version so
274.268 -> it was four ounces per serving and then by World War II it was just over one ounce per serving.
279.181 -> Just thought that was interesting
280.334 -> but to make the World War II version of SOS [$#!t on a shingle] chop the chipped beef into small pieces,
285.06 -> and then peel everything apart and put it into
a bowl and soak it with some water.
289.348 -> Some old recipes say that the beef is so salty that it
needs to be scalded in boiling water.
293.73 -> I don't think the modern version is as salty so if you
soak it for 15 or 20 minutes that's going to be just fine.
299.801 -> While it does, mix the evaporated milk and water together and heat it over low heat.
303.993 -> Then separately melt the butter over low heat in a pot
and add the flour and whisk together.
309.286 -> Let it cook for about a minute then slowly pour in the hot
milk mixture.
313.534 -> You want to constantly be stirring and let it cook for three or four minutes while it thickens.
317.882 -> Then whisk in the pepper, then finally add the chipped beef, then bring
the pot to a boil and then turn the heat down
323.7 -> so it just simmers for about 10 minutes and it'll
thicken up even more during that time.
328.734 -> Now one of the things that actually inspired me to do a
video for Veterans Day was a conversation that
333.285 -> I was having with an old friend that I used to know in New York who now runs a website called veteranlife.com.
339.559 -> The site is dedicated to providing veterans and military families
343.389 -> with different resources and benefits that they might
not otherwise know of and it actually also has
350.252 -> a lot of wonderful things for civilians because
because I am about as civilian as you can get, and yet
356.463 -> I spent time on this site because they
have a whole area of military history.
362.134 -> I read a wonderful story about the Navy's ice cream
barges from World War II.
366 -> They were basically giant floating refrigerators in the Pacific
that provided ice cream to the sailors
371.801 -> and I think that that is going to have to be the topic
for a video in the future but for now
376.166 -> let's talk about the men who would have been making that
ice cream or more specifically $#!t on a shingle.
385.326 -> So whenever discussing a topic as large as
American Military cooking during World War II
390.86 -> there are so many variables and situations that they're going to be exceptions to everything
396.33 -> and exceptions to the exceptions. There was
fighting going on all over the world
400.501 -> and there were different levels of preparedness at
any given time so even the military's best laid plans
406.753 -> often went awry but in general this is what
things should have been like if you were cooking in a field kitchen.
414.858 -> Typically each company of about
150 to 200 men would have their own
418.985 -> field kitchen with maybe a half a dozen cooks.
421.658 -> With some help they could set up the entire kitchen in under 30 minutes.
425.124 -> The goal was to have the kitchen close
to the men that they were feeding but
428.885 -> depending on a lot of things terrain the proximity to
the enemy sometimes they could be
434.045 -> 100 yards back or 10 miles back. The nice thing about
being further back is then they could often team up with
440.016 -> 3 or 4 other kitchens to become a battalion sized kitchen.
443.601 -> Also being further back meant that that they would be less likely to be the target of enemy fire
448.99 -> so that they could maybe do some cooking during the day because if they were too close
453.52 -> then all the cooking had to be done before sunup and after sundown.
457.846 -> Now the kitchen could be anywhere from a nearby building to a tent to the back of a truck
462.386 -> but they all had the same equipment.
464.235 -> Most important was the gasoline-powered M1937 range stove.
469.182 -> It was very versatile and could perform all of the functions of any stove top and oven in a normal kitchen.
475.103 -> They were of course rather compact but usually a company had two or three that they could work with,
480 -> and one training video from World War II said
482.22 -> "If you lose your oven, take couple of barrels,
485.806 -> cover them with clay and bake your bread".
487.922 -> Now some of the other equipment included large immersion heaters that could heat
up a barrel or even a huge tub of water rather quickly
495.961 -> that could be used then for cleaning
dishes or from making food and for taking a hot bath...
502.079 -> preferably using new water.
503.801 -> And speaking of water when it came to drinking water
506.426 -> it needed to be purified and then was kept in a Lyster bag
This was meant to distribute purified water for up to 100 men.
513.834 -> Then there were mermite cans, these
were insulated containers usually 7 gallons
518.28 -> and meant to hold 3 or 4 inserts like a
giant thermos they kept things hot or cold
523.277 -> and were often used when the kitchen was far from the
front line.
526.815 -> Food could be prepared at the kitchen and then put into the containers, into the mermite can
531.205 -> put on a truck and brought to the front line to serve the men
534.757 -> but if you were doing this you really wanted to pay attention to which mermite can you took
538.707 -> because some were labeled with ETO Blood Bank with blood meant for transfusions given near the front lines.
545.004 -> Mixing those up would be a mistake you would not make twice
548.075 -> but assuming that you got the right can what kind of meals are you loading them with?
553.542 -> Well officially you have very little say in it
556.592 -> especially starting around World War II there was a big push to make sure that the
560.4 -> troops were getting enough of the right minerals
and vitamins and so
564.583 -> dishes and entire menus were created by nutritionists back in Washington,
569.266 -> and in one video from 1943 about the nutrition program
572.629 -> they talk about how they started out by examining
the diets of the enemy armies.
578.435 -> The Japanese were supposed to have extreme energy given to them by a simple handful of rice,
583.414 -> and "the Nazis are supposed to have a Superman vitamin pill".
586.887 -> Though the attempt at replicating the effects of this pill with mere vitamins did not really work
591.296 -> because actually this superhuman pill was something called Pervitin
595.86 -> which had methamphetamine that would give the
Germans a lot of energy if short-lived.
602.968 -> Some say that the Blitzkrieg couldn't have happened without
Pervitin because some soldiers had to stay up for days at a time,
609.333 -> but while vitamin B might have not
replicated the effects of Pervitin
612.748 -> the military did put together a top-notch diet plan for the
cooks out in the field to follow.
618.518 -> Menus for dinner could include chicken a la king with Lyonnaise carrots and an apricot upside down cake for dessert,
624.742 -> and all of the ingredients would be dried or salted or otherwise preserved and shipped
628.993 -> all the way from the U.S to the front lines all over
the world
632.591 -> but of course most of these ingredients never actually made it to where they were going or at least not in a timely fashion
638.545 -> so you didn't have everything at once so the field cooks usually
had to cobble something together with what they had available.
645.491 -> Though depending on their location that could be something pretty nice depending on where you were.
649.987 -> When the 10th Mountain Division
was in Italy in 1945 Corporal John Stone said
654.572 -> "We used lots of fresh Italian ingredients, as much
as we could no matter what we were cooking.
659.88 -> We also learned to cook a lot of pizza this woman
and her daughter they taught taught us how to do it right."
665 -> You made do with what you had and many times that actually meant field rations.
670.046 -> Basically if you were near the front at least one meal a
day was going to be pre-packaged field rations,
676.71 -> and for some troops it could be every meal every
day for days or even weeks on end.
683.384 -> Now I want to do a whole video on the field rations of World
War II and how they evolved into the modern MRE
689.58 -> or meal ready to eat and actually I should try
to do that with SteveMRE who who
695.181 -> actually eats these old foods. I'll put a link to where you
can watch him eat actual rations from World War II
702.396 -> but since it was part of a cook's job to make sure that everyone had the field rations that they would need
707.341 -> we should touch on it now.
709.08 -> So there were lots of types of field rations that you could get
712.32 -> depending on where you were and at what point
during the war you were at
717.172 -> but between 1942 and 1945 the two most common were the C ration and the K ration.
723.525 -> The C ration was three meals each made up of an M unit or meat unit and a B unit which was the bread or dessert.
730.423 -> The M unit was the main dish, you could have beef stew with peas or a canned meat and vegetable stew.
737.134 -> At the beginning of the war there was pretty much only different stews but later on you might have meat and spaghetti and tomato sauce,
743.305 -> eggs and potatoes or pork and beans.
745.935 -> Then the B unit had some hardtack
747.534 -> [Clack Clack]
748.216 -> though it was supposedly softer and easier on the teeth
than that of previous wars,
752.114 -> the biscuits being made of soybeans, wheat, egg, and lard.
755.701 -> "Pretty tasty biscuit."
756.825 -> Then there'd be some coffee powder or sometimes lemon drink
759.659 -> then there'd be some sugar, salt, maybe chocolate, and often cigarettes and gum.
764.622 -> All told the three meals provided 37 to 3,800
calories per day and could be eaten cold
771.02 -> but were better when they were cooked.
773.067 -> Now the C ration was a good amount of food and was quite varied
777.06 -> but it was heavy and so if you were a remote or
a paratrooper you would get the K ration.
783.42 -> They weighed less partly because they had less calories,
they had 2830 calories per day,
790.18 -> and were supposed to be much less edible. Things like the fatty pork loaf and the maltose and dextrose tablets would often just get thrown out by the troops.
798.501 -> The thing is the K ration was meant to be used for no more than 5 days
802.496 -> but there are stories of soldiers living almost exclusively off of them for weeks at a time.
809.023 -> One unit known as Merrill's Marauders lived
almost exclusively on K rations for 5 months in Burma,
816 -> and after 5 months of fatty pork loaf
every day imagine how happy they would have been
822.3 -> to walk into a field kitchen and be offered
something like a plate of hot $#!t on a on a shingle.
828.714 -> Once everything is simmered for about 10 minutes
toast your bread,
831.979 -> and then ladle the creamed beef onto the toast and serve,
835.508 -> and here we are World War II creamed dried beef,
838.966 -> I kind of spread around here on the "shingle"
842.887 -> because I feel feel like they gotta go together.
846.764 -> All right here we go.
849.074 -> [Crunch]
856.525 -> *mumbles* That's not bad.
861.103 -> All right.
864.48 -> It needs the shingle. The toast is really
necessary for the for the texture because
870.165 -> once the once the toast kind of had
softened the texture of the actual beef
878.108 -> it's not terribly pleasant. It's just kind of chewy.
882.544 -> That said the flavor of the whole thing, not that
bad. In fact
887.452 -> actually reminds me of the gravy that my grandpa used to make though he would put it over biscuits
891.525 -> and it was made with bacon fat so if you want to make this with bacon fat
896.124 -> it is quite good.
898.973 -> That said the the flavor is is good. It could use more more spice probably some more pepper.
905.251 -> I mean it's a pretty small amount of pepper for for that quantity
that they used
909.202 -> so you could add more pepper. You're not being rationed hopefully. What I would
914.495 -> think is actually really good is just a different meat like ground up sausage or cut up bacon or something like that
921.226 -> something that just the texture is a little more pleasing to the
palette.
925.424 -> That said when you compare it to a lot of military foods
928.46 -> it's not that bad especially the older military foods out in the field.
932.299 -> This one I could see I could see looking forward to it.
936.321 -> Anyway if you are a veteran or in the military
939.687 -> or part of a military family or just interested
in military history and lifestyle
944.225 -> make sure to visit veteranlife.com and for those of you lucky
enough to have a grandparent still around
951.547 -> even if they weren't in World War II go ask them to tell
you a story because I'm sure that they would love to
957.46 -> and you'll appreciate it when you're older.
960 -> So don't forget to Like, Subscribe, have a fantastic Veterans Day or Armistice Day or Remembrance Day
964.626 -> and I will see you next time on Tasting History.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry5Du60WPGU