Entertaining Ideas
meghanbride
member
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1940s menu help
I am looking for food/menu suggestions for a birthday party with a 1940s "theme". I know it was the war years and there was lots of rationing. I just can't think of 40s food like I can 1950s or 60s food.
There will be 25-30 people so partly I am just thinking of roasting chicken or turkey, but that seems a little boring.
Thanks for any ideas!!
Re: 1940s menu help
Wow, that's a tough one. I can't wait to see the ideas you get. I did a 20's party a few years ago and just couldn't commit to a 20's menu but I did incorporate some drink recipes from the 20s. Can you do that? Just stick to a good menu that isn't 40s inspired and then try and find some cocktail recipes. Here's some:
http://www.diamonddame.com/2009/04/1930s-and-1940s-cocktail-recipes.html
Well, the 40s was kinda boring, there was a lot of rationing and they ate simply. Glazed ham was big, of course chicken, meat loaf, mashed potatoes, fresh veggies, salad, French dressing was introduced during this time. Rice Krispy treats were invented, SPAM, pot roast, leg of lamb. The ubiquitous cocktail frank (better known as pigs in a blanket) was introduced in that decade (they used homemade dough, you can use Pillsbury). From the stories my mother and MIL tell me, hamburger was big because it was cheap. Rich people ate the ham, steaks and roasts. Bacon was big too.
If you google 1940s food, you should find stuff. Also, see about finding stories in Good Housekeeping or Woman's Day from that era (which can also be found online).
You may want to do the 40s era cocktails only thing like the 20s poster did. Tom Collins, martinis, Dubonnet on ice, vodka gimlet, whiskey sour, rob roy, sloe gin fizz, bloody mary, brandy alexander, sidecar. Basically the mixed cocktails had it's heyday during the 40s.
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Cool info! Maybe you can get some of this information printed out and framed and put out on the buffet table for fun food facts of the 40s. Maybe you can print a magazine cover and just tape/glue it on to one of your regular magazines. That would be cute and as a guest, I would pick it up. For other decoration, you could try and print some marketing ads and put those in a few spots. Other than that, i'd stick to normal decor with flowers and candles. Please take pictures and post. I want to hear how this turns out!
From Dorothy Draper's Entertaining is Fun! from 1941:
Menu 1
Black bean soup
Curried shrimp served in a ring of boiled rice
Cold roast turkey
Salad
Ice cream formed in a mold
Menu 2
Cantaloupe soup
Hungarian goulash
Rice
Beet and watercress salad
Rice pudding with raspberries OR peaches and cream with sponge cake OR fresh, warm gingerbread
Menu 3
Green turtle soup
Cheese souffle or fondue
Cold chicken, turkey or ham
Salad with artichoke hearts, celery, watercress, French dressing with garlic
Deep dish berry or apple pie with cream
Menu 4
French onion soup
Toast
Smoked fish with mushrooms and sherry and lemon sauce
Wild rice
Beet and watercress salad
Vanilla yogurt and raspberries OR warm gingerbread
"Let's go back over these dinner menus and analyze them. Each one has at least one hot and hearty dish. Only the cheese souffle could be hurt by being required to stand for the late guest. All are flavorful. The goulash is made of an inexpensive cut of beef enriched with chicken livers, mushrooms, herbs and cooking sherry. All are colorful. The pale-colored fish and rice are complemented by the bright red beet salad."
The book is super fun to read. All of the things we think of as new - not spending money, being relaxed and creative, painting the front door a funky color to inject some personality - she's preaching about here. Of course, she mentions it in the same breath as saying "be sure to leave out cigarettes" and "if you don't have a cook like so many households no longer do..." lol, but it's still a good read.
I don't think these exact menus would translate today, but if you mull over them, there are some ideas there: shrimp in a rice ring, molded ice cream, French onion soup. I can read over the book more later - it's not organized with menus lined up except in the one chapter I'm quoting from - she has more ideas sprinkled around that I'd have to ferret out. My other entertaining guide is from 1911, so it's no help for your theme.
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