Anzac Rations.

On the day that we here in Australia honour the ANZAC heroes who fought and died on the Gallipoli peninsula in World War I, I thought it would be interesting to look at what the Australian contingent received by way of rations.

Military orders stated in April, 1915, “the scale of rations after leaving Egypt [a stopping-point en route to Gallipoli] will be:-”

·         1¼ lbs. Fresh Meat or 1 lb. (nominal) preserved meat.

·         1¼ lbs, Bread or 1 lb. Biscuit or 1 lb. Flour.

·         4 ozs. Bacon.

·         3 ozs. Cheese.

·         2 ozs. Peas, Beans or dried Potatoes.

·         ⅝ ozs. Tea. ¼ lb. Jam.

·         3 ozs. Sugar.

·         ½ oz. Salt, 1/20 oz. Mustard, 1/36 oz. Pepper.

·         1/10 gill Limejuice. at discretion of G.O.C. on recommendation of S.M.O

·         ½ gill Rum. at discretion of G.O.C. on recommendation of S.M.O

·         Tobacco not exceeding 2 ozs per week at discretion of G.O.C. on recommendation of S.M.O

There is no recipe for the day to come from these rations, so instead I give you another Aussie recipe, for the ubiquitous pumpkin this time, from nearly a decade earlier. I hope my American friends particularly enjoy this pie!

Pumpkin Pie (Australian Recipe)

Ingredients: Half-pint of pumpkin pulp,- three-quarter pint of milk, two eggs, 2oz. of sugar, mace, or nutmeg, short crust.

Method:  Take a ripe pumpkin, pare off the skin, halve it, remove the seeds, and cut it into thick slices.  Put it into a lined stewpan or earthenware jar with a small quantity of water, and stew gently until tender. Pass through a fine sieve, measure the pulp, add sugar, yolks of eggs, milk, and a little mace or nutmeg, and lastly the whites of eggs previously whisked to a stiff froth, Have a pie-dish ready, lined round the edges with paste; put in the preparation, cover with paste, and bake in a quick oven. Serve either hot or cold.

The Daily News (Perth, WA,) December 7, 1907