Tramping Food: Eating like an ANZAC

A tramping meal idea: ANZAC Trench Stew

When I first joined the Army back in the late 1980's we were still supplied with food very similar to that used by ANZAC soldiers in the First World War. Among other items we had cans of "wet" food such as meat and vegetable stew, spaghetti and meat balls, corned beef, and beans and franks.

Palm Corned Beef...closest thing to Kiwi rations in the 1980's

I came across a recipe recently that was an exact copy of one of the meals we commonly used to make for ourselves while out in the "field". This recipe dates from 1915, and was in a book I am reading about the Great War.

Troops about to tuck into Rations, Field, Chicken x 1....

 It had obviously been passed down through generations of soldiers from the Great War up to the 1980's. Sadly gone now, Kiwi troopers now eat from Meals Rarely Eaten (MRE) style retort pouches....

Anyway, here it is:

The Trench stew as cooked...yummy!

Finest Trench stew

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Number of servings: 3 - 4
Serving suggestions: For authenticity, allow to cool and serve with a cup of ice cold stewed tea while 5.9" 'Wizz Bangs' explode around you.....(mud, stench and fly swarms optional)

Modern version of canned Corned Beef

WW1 period Beef and Vegetable stew can

Ingredients:

• 1 turnip (or parsnip/potato, whatever you can find on a local farm)
• 2 carrots
• Small tin corned beef (Palm brand is the best)
• ¼ stock cube (beef/chicken/vegetable)
• one or two biscuits (optional: WW1 Army biscuits were so hard you had to break them up with a stone or the butt of your rifle. They were a cross between a digestive biscuit and a cracker)
• 1 pint of water (that's about 300 mls)
• Dried onions, Tobasco sauce, tomato sauce and salt and pepper to taste (all modern additives)

Typical Great War field rations, those white things are hard tack biscuits...

Cooking Method

1. Put the water on to boil
2. Slice up the turnip and carrot
3. Add to the boiling water
4. Add the stock and stir then leave for 10 minutes
5. Mash up corned beef and add to the mixture
6. Add the biscuits and stir (optional)

Give it a try, it is actually very tasty!