Sids Desert Pancake's
When ever the Battalion was in the line up the desert our rations were terrible. Some bright spark back at HQ decided that the troop in the line could be given camel meat for food. Eating camel meat was like trying to eat your own boots, it was so tuff. We were also given sweet yams which tasted nothing like the potatoes they were meant to substitute. The bully beef was ok though. I used to love this stuff but some of the lads hated it, so I ended up with a good helping of bully, which you could make into a good stew. On those days, when camel and the sweet yams were for dinner, myself and many of the boy's that did not like it would take these rations out into the desert and bury them when there was no officers or NCOs about, otherwise we'd be in big trouble. Burying this awful stuff in the sand in our opinion was the best place to put it. I was just so bad.
After burying the camel meat and yams we would all be hungry and our stomachs were groaning for food of some sort. This is when I invented Sid's desert Pancakes. I had a primus stove that I cooked them on, in between our two carriers of the HQ platoon. We draped a large tarpaulin over carriers to hide the flame of the primus and an inspection lamp, we plugged it in to the carrier for a small light. One of the blokes was stationed outside to warn of the approach of any nosey officers or NCO's
| Operations started by mixing powdered milk, flour which we got in the monthly rations with water into a nice batter. I would put a Dixie can on the primus with margarine in it to heat up. Once the margarine was hot enough I would drop dollops of batter in the dixie then put the lid back on and leave them to cook for minutes or so. I could usually make enough pancakes for eight blokes at a time if we had enough powdered milk and flour. My pancakes soon became part of our diet and some of the blokes would beg me to make them even when we had good rations. |  |
Sid's Desert Pancakes saw action in Sicily and Italy as well as the Desert. I always made sure that my carrier was well stocked with powdered milk and flour when ever we went into the line, and I was never with out my primus. During the Battle of Cassino I think my pancakes helped some of the blokes cheer up a bit. Having something nice and warm inside them helped people get away from the constant shelling and rain. As for camel meat, I've never had to eat it again, and in today's world probably wouldn't be allowed to
