Shingle optional.
Recipes like this gained popularity in the 1940s as a way to extend meat and save ration points during World War II. Here’s a similar dinner suggestion in a ration-point-saving menu from the July 16, 1943 edition of the (Butte) Montana Standard:
Monday
Breakfast–Fresh plums, hot cereal with whole milk, butters whole wheat toast, bacon, coffee, milk. Lunch — Creamed corn and green pepper, whole wheat bread, butter, carrot strips, sliced peaches, top milk. Dinner — Creamed hamburger on toast, buttered cabbage and onions, tossed vegetable salad, cracked wheat bread, butter, berry fruit dumpling, milk. |
From the box of L.R. from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Creamed Hamburger And Cabbage
3/4 lb. ground beef
1 Tablespoon instant onion
4 cups chopped cabbage
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
1 teaspoon steak sauce
1 can condensed cream of celery soup
1/4 cup milk
Cook meat until no longer red. Add onion and cabbage and cook until lightly browned. Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer about 10 minutes.
Makes 4 servings.