And you call yourself a Southerner?Jbsteven wrote:I just puked in my mouth a little.
http://www.deltablues.net/neckbone.html
Damn fine eating!!
IMPs great granddad
Re: IMPs great granddad
http://www.deltablues.net/neckbone.html
Damn fine eating!!
Avid practitioner of the martial art: KLIK-PAO
Re: IMPs great granddad
dirtbag wrote:And you call yourself a Southerner?Jbsteven wrote:I just puked in my mouth a little.
http://www.deltablues.net/neckbone.html
Damn fine eating!!
I just puked in mouth a little....again
Re: IMPs great granddad
They make pills for people like you...Jbsteven wrote:dirtbag wrote:And you call yourself a Southerner?Jbsteven wrote:I just puked in my mouth a little.
http://www.deltablues.net/neckbone.html
Damn fine eating!!
I just puked in mouth a little....again
Avid practitioner of the martial art: KLIK-PAO
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biscuits brown
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Re: IMPs great granddad
Ive got some new pics and the complete 14 in 1 menu lists collated
Will post if anyone still interested in the thread.
You US lads will be appalled by some of the UK food preferences circa 1944
Its funny but you can see the direct lineage between these WW2 14 in 1 entrees and puddings (desserts) that survived till the last ORPs. Same ideas, sticky puddings, stews, beans (already in the 1944 compo)
This new "universal climate" UK rat is a FSR with an entree. IT SUCKS!!! Real "camp" food.
Will post if anyone still interested in the thread.
You US lads will be appalled by some of the UK food preferences circa 1944
Its funny but you can see the direct lineage between these WW2 14 in 1 entrees and puddings (desserts) that survived till the last ORPs. Same ideas, sticky puddings, stews, beans (already in the 1944 compo)
This new "universal climate" UK rat is a FSR with an entree. IT SUCKS!!! Real "camp" food.
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biscuits brown
- Posts: 614
- Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 4:58 pm
- Location: London, United Kingdom
Re: IMPs great granddad
Ts sorry I took so long to get backTreesuit wrote:BB,
I must admit after looking at the oxtails and now know what they are really supposed to be used for, I think I'd take a stab at trying the stew. It looks very delicious.
Now on to my question.This is what the UK had in their rations (14 in 1) I believe you said, at the time. Now were all the cans in that ration and the UK/US version based on the US C-ration can? Or were the cans varying? Basically when making the ration whose standards did each country follow (?) and where were they made and packed?
I damn near forgot about this thread.TS unlike the very discplined and logical packing in terms of can size for the C and K, the compo 14 in 1 was ...eccentric in its can sizes. Completely haphazard and often inefficient, ie a 66 oz can for soup. Yeah lets split that (it was replaced early with 4 or 8 ? smaller volume tins. I need to revisit my sources to confirm or amend that factoid)
The closest in eccentric can sizes to the compo was the (brilliant in concept) US mountain and 10 in 1 (early version) but they were still more efficient in distribution potential.
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donaldjcheek
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- Location: San Angelo, TX
Re: IMPs great granddad
BB
Yes, definitely interested in the 14-in-1 compo menus.
Canadians who experienced the Compo ration during WW2 were less than impressed.
From "The Guns of Normandy," by George Blackburn:
"Since everything is already cooked, the tins have only to be heated up. And though only a few (units)...have equipped themselves with little petrol Primus stoves...the sand-box stove comes into common use. This consists of a tin box (the bottom half of a hardtack tin) loaded with sand and saturated with petrol. The fumes rising from the sand are set alight, under the other half of the hardtack tin half-filled with water in which the unopened ration tins are set to heat. While very smoky and grossly energy-inefficient, sand-box stoves can't be blown out by wind, and their flickering flames are capable of staying alive through all but the heaviest rain.
"A great deal of time is spent reading directions and experimenting with methods of heating the contents of cans of "M & V" (meat and vegetable stew), "Steak and Kidney Pudding" (a can lined with thick dough and filled with a solidified concoction posing as chopped beef and kidney), "Sultana Pudding" (resembling a dried-out fruit cake that can be sliced and eaten cold with slices of canned cheddar), and "Treacle Pudding" (a caramel-coated creation that is especially pleasant when warmed up).
"...In each box there are two tins of "Boiled Sweets" (hard candies that contain no sugar), small slabs of very hard and remarkably tasteless chocolate (one per man per day), and two tins of cigarettes, one flat and one round, allowing seven cigarettes per man per day.
But, unquestionably, the feature of Compo rations destined to be remembered beyond all others is Compo tea: tea made from tea leaves already mixed with powdered milk and powdered sugar. Directions say to "sprinkle powder on heated water and bring to the boil, stirring well, three heaped teaspoons to one pint of water."
"Every possible variation in the preparation of this tea (was) tried, but...it always (ended) up the same way. While still too hot to drink, it is a good-looking cup of strong tea. Even when it becomes just cool enough to be sipped gingerly, it is still a good-tasting cup of tea, if you like your tea strong and sweet. But let it cool enough to be quaffed and enjoyed, and your lips will be coated with a sticky scum that forms across the surface, which if left undisturbed will become a leathery membrane that can be wound around your finger and flipped away..."
From "And No Birds Sang," by Farley Mowat
"Designed by some chairborne genius in England, the compo pack consisted of a wooden crate containing everything fourteen men were supposed to require for twenty-four hours; hardtack biscuits in lieu of bread; canned yellow wax, misleadingly labeled margarine; tins of M&V (unidentifiable scraps of fat and gristle mushed up with equally unidentifiable vegetables); canned processed cheese which tasted like, and may well have been, casein glue; powdered tea, milk and sugar, all ready mixed; turnip jam (laughingly labeled strawberry or raspberry); eight (count them) tiny hard candies for each man; seven India-made Victory cigarettes which, it was rumored, were manufactured from the dung of sacred cattle; six squares of toilet paper per man (the surplus, if any, could be used to roll one's own cigarettes - if one had any tobacco); and one further item which caused more trouble than anything else - a twelve-ounce can of treacle pudding that was an irresistible object of desire to every one of us...Its appeal lay in the fact that it was soaked in molasses, and we were starving for sweetstuffs.
"Dividing the contents of two compo packs into scrupulously equal portions for the thirty-three bodies in a full-strength platoon was no task for ordinary men. Because my noncommissioned officers were fully aware of this, it was impossible to pawn the distribution off on Sergeant Bates or even on a committee consisting of my three section corporals. Their sense of self-preservation was too keen. As Bates frankly told me: "No bloody way you can please all those sons a bitches, and you short one of them on his treacle pudding and he'll likely shoot you in the back!"...In any event, dividing up the rations was the job I detested above all others.
"One of the problems with Compo rations was that subunits were almost never composed of seven or fourteen men. In the infantry, rifle sections were ten men, with the platoon in total having between thirty-two and thirty-six men (when at full strength). In the artillery, observation post vehicle crews were four men, which meant that the same crew might eat the same food from a Compo box for three and a half days. ... while there were different Compo box meals for variety (at least nine different varieties), which were shuffled in the rear area to provide that variety to the front line troops, it was still very possible to get the same type of meal box two or more times in a row, which would give an OP crew the same rations for seven straight days."
George Blackburn also listed the complete contents of a Menu D Compo pack:
"While efforts were made to keep Canadian troops supplied with fresh rations while in the field (each company, battery or squadron had its own cookhouse), in the field, and especially when in contact with the enemy, this was not always possible. The Composite Ration Pack, or Compo Ration, was designed to feed troops in the field. One box was able to provide fourteen men with breakfast, lunch (called "dinner"), tea and supper for one day. It could also obviously be divided in other ways, such as feeding seven men for two days.
Breakfast :
Tea * - 3 tins (2 tall, 1 flat - Tea, Sugar & Milk Powder)
Sausage (1 hr.) ** - 2 tins
Biscuit * - tin
Margarine * - 1 tin
Dinner :
Haricot Oxtail (1/2 hr.)** - 12 small tins
Vegetables (3/4 hr.)** - 2 tins
Pudding (1/hr.)** - 3 tins (2 large, 1 small)
Tea
Tea - (see above):
Biscuit - (see above)
Margarine - (see above)
Sardines - 8 tins
Supper:
Cheese 1 tin
Biscuit - (see above)
Extras
Cigarettes - 2 tins (1 round, 1 flat - 7 cigarettes per man)
Sweets - 2 tins (1 tall, 1 flat)
Salt - Packed in flat sweet tin
Matches - Packed in flat sweet tin
Chocolate - 1 tin (1 slab per man)
Latrine paper
Soap 1 tablet
-Items marked * were provided for more than one meal.
-Items marked ** had the following notation: "May be eaten hot or cold. To heat, place unopened tins in boiling water for the minimum period as indicated.
-Sausage and pudding cut into 1/2 inch slices, may be fried (using margarine) if preferred.)
Yes, definitely interested in the 14-in-1 compo menus.
Canadians who experienced the Compo ration during WW2 were less than impressed.
From "The Guns of Normandy," by George Blackburn:
"Since everything is already cooked, the tins have only to be heated up. And though only a few (units)...have equipped themselves with little petrol Primus stoves...the sand-box stove comes into common use. This consists of a tin box (the bottom half of a hardtack tin) loaded with sand and saturated with petrol. The fumes rising from the sand are set alight, under the other half of the hardtack tin half-filled with water in which the unopened ration tins are set to heat. While very smoky and grossly energy-inefficient, sand-box stoves can't be blown out by wind, and their flickering flames are capable of staying alive through all but the heaviest rain.
"A great deal of time is spent reading directions and experimenting with methods of heating the contents of cans of "M & V" (meat and vegetable stew), "Steak and Kidney Pudding" (a can lined with thick dough and filled with a solidified concoction posing as chopped beef and kidney), "Sultana Pudding" (resembling a dried-out fruit cake that can be sliced and eaten cold with slices of canned cheddar), and "Treacle Pudding" (a caramel-coated creation that is especially pleasant when warmed up).
"...In each box there are two tins of "Boiled Sweets" (hard candies that contain no sugar), small slabs of very hard and remarkably tasteless chocolate (one per man per day), and two tins of cigarettes, one flat and one round, allowing seven cigarettes per man per day.
But, unquestionably, the feature of Compo rations destined to be remembered beyond all others is Compo tea: tea made from tea leaves already mixed with powdered milk and powdered sugar. Directions say to "sprinkle powder on heated water and bring to the boil, stirring well, three heaped teaspoons to one pint of water."
"Every possible variation in the preparation of this tea (was) tried, but...it always (ended) up the same way. While still too hot to drink, it is a good-looking cup of strong tea. Even when it becomes just cool enough to be sipped gingerly, it is still a good-tasting cup of tea, if you like your tea strong and sweet. But let it cool enough to be quaffed and enjoyed, and your lips will be coated with a sticky scum that forms across the surface, which if left undisturbed will become a leathery membrane that can be wound around your finger and flipped away..."
From "And No Birds Sang," by Farley Mowat
"Designed by some chairborne genius in England, the compo pack consisted of a wooden crate containing everything fourteen men were supposed to require for twenty-four hours; hardtack biscuits in lieu of bread; canned yellow wax, misleadingly labeled margarine; tins of M&V (unidentifiable scraps of fat and gristle mushed up with equally unidentifiable vegetables); canned processed cheese which tasted like, and may well have been, casein glue; powdered tea, milk and sugar, all ready mixed; turnip jam (laughingly labeled strawberry or raspberry); eight (count them) tiny hard candies for each man; seven India-made Victory cigarettes which, it was rumored, were manufactured from the dung of sacred cattle; six squares of toilet paper per man (the surplus, if any, could be used to roll one's own cigarettes - if one had any tobacco); and one further item which caused more trouble than anything else - a twelve-ounce can of treacle pudding that was an irresistible object of desire to every one of us...Its appeal lay in the fact that it was soaked in molasses, and we were starving for sweetstuffs.
"Dividing the contents of two compo packs into scrupulously equal portions for the thirty-three bodies in a full-strength platoon was no task for ordinary men. Because my noncommissioned officers were fully aware of this, it was impossible to pawn the distribution off on Sergeant Bates or even on a committee consisting of my three section corporals. Their sense of self-preservation was too keen. As Bates frankly told me: "No bloody way you can please all those sons a bitches, and you short one of them on his treacle pudding and he'll likely shoot you in the back!"...In any event, dividing up the rations was the job I detested above all others.
"One of the problems with Compo rations was that subunits were almost never composed of seven or fourteen men. In the infantry, rifle sections were ten men, with the platoon in total having between thirty-two and thirty-six men (when at full strength). In the artillery, observation post vehicle crews were four men, which meant that the same crew might eat the same food from a Compo box for three and a half days. ... while there were different Compo box meals for variety (at least nine different varieties), which were shuffled in the rear area to provide that variety to the front line troops, it was still very possible to get the same type of meal box two or more times in a row, which would give an OP crew the same rations for seven straight days."
George Blackburn also listed the complete contents of a Menu D Compo pack:
"While efforts were made to keep Canadian troops supplied with fresh rations while in the field (each company, battery or squadron had its own cookhouse), in the field, and especially when in contact with the enemy, this was not always possible. The Composite Ration Pack, or Compo Ration, was designed to feed troops in the field. One box was able to provide fourteen men with breakfast, lunch (called "dinner"), tea and supper for one day. It could also obviously be divided in other ways, such as feeding seven men for two days.
Breakfast :
Tea * - 3 tins (2 tall, 1 flat - Tea, Sugar & Milk Powder)
Sausage (1 hr.) ** - 2 tins
Biscuit * - tin
Margarine * - 1 tin
Dinner :
Haricot Oxtail (1/2 hr.)** - 12 small tins
Vegetables (3/4 hr.)** - 2 tins
Pudding (1/hr.)** - 3 tins (2 large, 1 small)
Tea
Tea - (see above):
Biscuit - (see above)
Margarine - (see above)
Sardines - 8 tins
Supper:
Cheese 1 tin
Biscuit - (see above)
Extras
Cigarettes - 2 tins (1 round, 1 flat - 7 cigarettes per man)
Sweets - 2 tins (1 tall, 1 flat)
Salt - Packed in flat sweet tin
Matches - Packed in flat sweet tin
Chocolate - 1 tin (1 slab per man)
Latrine paper
Soap 1 tablet
-Items marked * were provided for more than one meal.
-Items marked ** had the following notation: "May be eaten hot or cold. To heat, place unopened tins in boiling water for the minimum period as indicated.
-Sausage and pudding cut into 1/2 inch slices, may be fried (using margarine) if preferred.)
"I think," said Christopher Robin, "that we ought to eat all our Provisions now, so that we shan't have so much to carry."
Re: IMPs great granddad
BB,
Can you post those 14 in 1 lists collated for us. I'd like to take gander at them myself. Also what was so bad about UK food back then?
Can you post those 14 in 1 lists collated for us. I'd like to take gander at them myself. Also what was so bad about UK food back then?
Re: IMPs great granddad
hi biscuits brown, have a lookat the docs at the end of this thread , it gives a breakdown of 24 hr and 14 in 1 b ration(if you are interested in this kind of thing you should check out the whole site very interesting 
) www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/m-1285170202
) www.secretscotland.org.uk/forum/m-1285170202-
biscuits brown
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Re: IMPs great granddad
Thanks very much my friend!sodjer wrote:hi biscuits brown, have a lookat the docs at the end of this thread , it gives a breakdown of 24 hr and 14 in 1 b ration(if you are interested in this kind of thing you should check out the whole site very interesting
There are THOUSANDS of docs here. Nice
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biscuits brown
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- Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 4:58 pm
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Re: IMPs great granddad
its a great site but having slight difficulty downloading the entire doc via pdf.
its a funny site for downloading, some docs its fine, others you can access using a keyword (last resort) and others just dont want to know
I use foxit, better than adobe I think, and its never let me down, so maybe the pdf site collection download software is twitchy
Thanks again mate, great resource for a boring ol fart like me
its a funny site for downloading, some docs its fine, others you can access using a keyword (last resort) and others just dont want to know
I use foxit, better than adobe I think, and its never let me down, so maybe the pdf site collection download software is twitchy
Thanks again mate, great resource for a boring ol fart like me