WWII Navy Vets wanted

H

Helldiver

Charter Member 09
I'm having a difference of opinion with my rather youngish wife. In WWII I told her that along with powdered milk, powdered eggs and weevils in the bread we were also served ubiquitous Spam and Rabbit. A lot of Rabbit.
Plus we also lived on "Horse Cock" and Beef Tongue for cold cuts. We were served Horse Meat in the form of hambugers and meatloaf. It had a distinctive "gluey" taste.
She doesn't believe me. She figures that we got the same as civilian food and I'm telling her no way. We also got some cereal for breakfast that was made by some strange company in Massachusetts. Is there anybody out there that can support my claims?
 
HD

I Don't know how relevant it is but I know for a fact that my High school lunchroom served us Rabbit in a chicken costume I had eaten the enough Rabbit in my day to know the difference between a rabbit leg and a chicken leg, my point being is if a "modern day high school" in the Peoples Republic of California would pull such a "farce" I'm sure our very own defense dept would do the same in a heart beat....

O BTW Red Bluff Union High don't worrie I like Rabbit better any way LOL
 
I'd bet that you are right Helldiver. Horse meat was sold in the US during times of food shortage.

I'm not brave enough to google for "horse cock" though.

Best wishes
Steve P
 
They didn't have a lunch room when I went to high school. You brought sandwiches or went hungry.
I have never seen horse cock availible in civilian life. It was probably full of salt peter to curb our youthful exuberance.
 
What we called horsecock in the Navy during the 70s and 80s was plain old stick (rag) balogna. I never saw tongue (except with the Belgian Navy) and our hamburgers & meatloaf were high soy content and I'm not sure if I want to know what the meat portion was.

But considering the meat shortages in WWII, horsemeat is not a surprise. Around here now if your horse dies, there is a meat packing plant that will come pick up the body if you call them quick enough. I think that goes for pet food though.
 
Hey Captain,

I don't remember any Rabbit at Red Bluff High, but I graduated a lot earlier than you. Didn't eat in the cafeteria much, I usually had burritos and shakes out at the snack bar.

Beard
 
Same here! :costumes:

You need to look for, but you will find butchers offering horse meat even nowadays around here.

Especially sausages should taste really good and are well known.

I have never dreamed of trying one, because when they are offered, enough other variants are there as well.:d

Also, there is no chance to get near a horse-grill, when you have a girl at your side.:mixedsmi:

But then, I remember one girl, that told me she once ate a sausage made from horse, and she admitted : She liked it very much, and now her heart hates her tounge..
 
I recall my father telling me that he ate horse meat during the war. I also know that rabbits were raised for food in the states back then. The farm bureau use to send out agents to help people get started.
 
Horse meat is still eaten in Mexico - there is some bill going through congress to stop the slaughter of horses for food. It (the meat) is not consumed in the US, but it is slaughtered and exported to Mexico. I suppose if it passes (the bill) they will just export the horses and slaughter them there.

Definitely do NOT google for "horse cock" though - I have yet to find anything related to it being a food item - although there are a surprising number of people who apparently like to eat it, but not in a "nutritional benefit" kind of way.

Brian
 
No, it wasn't balony. It was a reddish-brown hard meat with fat flecks in it and completely without any taste. It came in three foot rolls.
 
While not being brave or foolish enough to do a direct search for "horse cock", I have done some searching for the use of horse meat during WW2. I found no references to the use of horse meat by the US military during the war, but I did find references to the use of horse meat by the Axis (Germany, Croatia, Romania notably), the citizens of France, Germany, Poland and others, and by the British military. Now, I can not substantiate or validate any of these references...so take them with a grain of salt or two.

Growing up in deep Southern Ohio, in what is the North Western corner of the Appalachian Region, I ate a lot of "horse cock" and "donkey cock" while growing up. This was a hard balogna like sausage type thing, a medium reddish in color, with flecks of white fat and gristle. Flavor varied by brand and temperature. The older folks referred to it as "horse cock" and the younger ones referred to it as "donkey cock". Was very good at room temperature, on a cracker with a bit of warm colby cheese and a dallop of horseradish sauce.

Would it surprise me that horse meat was used to feed military troops during WW2...not at all. Giving it some thought, horse meat would be high in protein, low in fat, low in cholesterol. The flavor...I can only guess at, but I have heard from some how have eaten it, that horse is good, a bit on the stringy side. A guy I worked with some years ago ate horse while in France in the 1960s and again in the 1980s (Honey moon and 20th anniversary trip). Would I eat horse if I had the chance...sure. I have eaten the meat of a lot of animals, and horse is just another source of meat. Of course it could not be a horse that I had kept as a "pet"...as I have issues with people eating their pets..too much like eating ones own children...which with the way the current generation is acting, might just be a good way to get them to straighten up and fly right. Nothing like the looming threat of the cooking pot to get a kid to clean his room, do his home work and mow the lawn :costumes:.

OBIO
 
It may be that the Hill Billies in Kentucky might have had the same thing but I hardly would call it as being tasty. The rumour was that it was made from the less eatible parts of the cow, such as the snout. ears and anything that was covered by the tail. The tip off was the three foot rolls.
By the way, Horse meat was sold by every butcher shop in the U.S. during the war. It was tough, chewy and definetly smelled of glue.
 
MCDesigns said:
LMAO! my sides are hurting because of how hard I laughed :d
Click to expand...

I'm gonna Join Ya - Wow Horse Dick and Salt Peter !! A couple names I do not wanna know !! :costumes::costumes:

I have heard of Rocky Mountain Oysters Though !!


LOL - Cheers !!
 
Horse meat is highly regarded in several cultures as a delicacy, not something I've ever wanted to taste I hasten to add.
Considering the consumption of dogs, cats and anything edible in parts of Asia, nothing would suprise me.
:isadizzy:
 
Rocky Mountain Oysters - Are the the same as Texas Prairie Oysters? My wife had a plate of them in Fort Worth. Said they were delicious.
Even after we told her what they were.
 
I'm no World War II vet HD, but my daddy was and though he rarely talked of combat, he spoke quite often of the culinary attributes of the Navy!

Like you mention, he told me that horse cock was red-brown with white fat speckles, served in slices from a large roll like a slice of baloney and most often served with cheese, ergo "Horse Cock and Cheese". Another was "Donkey Dick", pretty much the same, but he told me the roll was smaller in diameter and the meat was more likely lamb, which the Navy referred to as goat meat. It was lighter in color than Horse Cock. Another favorite of mind was "sh-eet-on-a-shingle", which was thin slices of chipped beef served with a dark-brown gravy of unknown origin over toast. :d When they did get chicken, it was usually referred to as "Seagull".

One thing he detested was "Carter's Spread", which was a canned concoction of sheep or goat fat made to look like butter. My father said it was about as palatable as powered eggs and dehydrated potatoes.

FWIW, Rocky Mountains Oysters is another term for bull testicles around here.

Caz, who liked his old man so much, he went to work for him.
 
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