A Socially Responsible Easter
Nothing would be more clearly an evidence of insensitivity and bad taste, in view of the horrifying starvation in the world today, than that we should sit down to an Easter dinner tomorrow patterned on the American idea of what a holiday feast should be and containing such traditional things as mashed potatoes rich with fat, rolls and cakes high in flour, and pastry high in both fat and flour.
Jane Nickerson, New York Times
Jane Nickerson, one of the younger and newer of the food columnists, suggested serving duck for Easter because it was the right thing to do. Taking the famine in Europe quite seriously, she devoted much of her daily columns that April to tips and recipes that conserved oil or wheat. Her Easter menu had a minimum of fat or flour, only the fat drippings from the duck she was roasting and three tablespoons of flour for the gravy. She must have viewed De Gouy's recipes in Gourmet with alarm if not outright horror.
She began her menu with an oyster cocktail to be served either with quartered lemons, salt and pepper or with a sauce of catsup, lemon, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco. Her duck was roasted “in the French manner” with oranges and onions in the cavity rather than a bread stuffing. The garnish was orange slices, which were baked at the end in the roasting pan, after the fat had been drained, and sweetened with sugar or honey. The duck was served with giblet gravy.
Her spring salad included romaine, watercress, scallions, radishes and cucumbers. The dressing, which used no oil (and sounds dreadful), was made from evaporated milk and vinegar flavored with salt, pepper, dry mustard, optional sugar or honey, and chopped pimiento. The strawberry Bavarian for dessert contained gelatin, sugar or a sugar/corn syrup combination, hulled and crushed strawberries, and whipped evaporated milk. After chilling it was served with sweetened strawberries.