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Northern Wisconsin Advertiser, February 11, 1921

 

During World War I, Americans were encouraged to have meatless and wheatless meals to do their part in the war effort. Newspapers printed food schedules and offered meal ideas. Pictures showcased how meatless meals didn’t have to look too different from meals containing meat.

After the war was over, the idea of meatless meals did not disappear, and meat substitutes continued to appear in the press. On February 11, 1921, the Northern Wisconsin Advertiser printed a few recipes recommended by the home economics kitchen of the United States Department of Agriculture using cowpeas as a meat substitute. One of the recipes, however, calls for salt pork, which goes to show that meatless didn’t necessarily mean vegetarian. Who knew? Fun fact: During the war effort, Wisconsin considered poultry a nonmeat.

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Ingredients for Mealtless Loaf

 

Well, we actually wanted to go full-on vegetarian and chose the recipe for Baked Cowpeas and Cheese envisioning a beautiful and delicious meatless meatloaf.

The ingredients are pretty straight forward. Cowpeas (we decided on the black-eyed pea variety), cheese (Colby, because we wanted to make it extra Wisconsin. Find more information about the history of cheesemaking in Wisconsin here), onion, green bell pepper, and butter. The dried black-eyed peas have to be soaked for 12 hours, then cooked until tender and pressed through a sieve. Depending on how fine your sieve is, this process can be a quite the time-consuming workout. If you want to take advantage of modern technology, just throw the cooked black-eyed peas in a blender or food processor. If blended enough, the skins don’t have to be removed. The mashed beans are mixed with cheese, cooked peppers, and onions and the mixture is formed into a roll and then baked.

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What we learned:

• We did as we were told, but why exactly we formed a roll, we don’t know because it completely lost its shape during the baking process.
• Don’t baste it with too much water. The water contributes to the loss of shape.
• People did not believe in spices. No, that’s not right. Spices were often avoided because they were actually believed to be stimulants like caffeine, alcohol, or drugs. We suggest adding salt, pepper, and maybe a little paprika to spice up your meat substitute.
• The mixture bears similarity to ground meat.
• It’s a winner. It was eaten by all with pleasure.

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Meatless Loaf

 

The recipe in 2020:

Baked Cowpeas and Cheese

• 2 cups cooked cowpeas
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1 Tbs butter
• 1 Tbs finely chopped onion
• 1 Tbs finely chopped green bell pepper

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Directions:

1. Press the peas through a sieve to remove skins and mix with the cheese.
2. Cook the onion and pepper in the butter, being careful not to brown, and add them to the peas and cheese.
3. Form the mixture into a roll, place on a buttered baking dish and bake at 350° Fahrenheit for 40 to 60 minutes. Baste occasionally with butter and water.
4. Serve hot or cold as a substitute for meat.