LIVER AND BACON WITH OR WITHOUT ONIONS - THE AMBROSIA OF THE GODS

[peter]

I'm afraid I wouldn't eat toad-in-the-hole these days - the fat/calorie count is horrific. If I was going to over-indulge then steak-and-kidney pudding would be my poison of choice.

 

[peter]

Grandma believed children should be seen but not heard

I still do. Unfortunately they don't.

Not sure where I got the 'made from acorns' from

I think that was what the Germans had to make do with in WW1 (hence 'ersatz').

Looking up 'coffee substitute' at Wikipedia I read that members of the LDS church aren't supposed to drink coffee (or any hot drink it would seem). Can anyone independently verify that? It might explain why iced tea is so popular in the US.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Here's the Yorkshire Pudding recipe I use, never had any failures.

You should brown (semi cook) the sausages in the oven in the dish you will use...

Thanks Tim, do you put the sausages in raw or semi cooked?

I suppose you now do realise that I shall have to have a go at Toad in the Hole. Never been part of my repertoire, but my wife has cooked it in the past and I do recall the odd problem when the pudding did not rise (not that I ever complained). We have some fantastic pork sausages in the freezer and I think in a few days I shall just do a 'Toad' and see if the expert advice works. Will report back.

PS Years ago when in the RAF and on duty at the weekend I got invited by a Geordie Corporal mate married to a Yorkshire girl from Barnsley and living in Married Quarters for Sunday lunch. The Yorkshire pudding (no toad) was served BEFORE the meal (a Yorkshire custom I believe as is serving the Yorkshire with jam and custard as a pudding after). The Yorkshire served as a sort of starter was fluffy, light and delicious and served with a gravy I recall. Another memory to savour but as I was not into cooking at that time, never got round to the recipe.

 

[Bob Spiers]

If I was going to over-indulge then steak-and-kidney pudding would be my poison of choice.

And am due to have a go at my second S&K pudding now we are well into Autumn. For the first pudding I used a s&k starter pack from a reputable butcher and have a second pack in the freezer. The problem is I am useless at pastry and first time round was instructed by my wife for whom a S&K pudding is a signature dish - and as I often told her - one of the reasons I married her.

Although the pudding was cooked for long enough and the meat content fantastic, the suet crust let me down badly. Not that it mattered in the eating of same. She makes a S&K pudding for our Anniversary, and once we had one on 'C' day when we were on our own during the early pandemic

This time round I fancy following a Delia Smith recipe as my wife says I should try to learn to make my own Suet pastry. However if anyone has any tips for the suet pastry, kindly let me know. (It will be a week or more before I get round to making the S&K pudding so plenty of time).

 

[canadianbeth]

Looking up 'coffee substitute' at Wikipedia I read that members of the LDS church aren't supposed to drink coffee (or any hot drink it would seem). Can anyone independently verify that? It might explain why iced tea is so popular in the US

I am not a member of the LDS church, but it is my understanding that they do not drink anything that is considered a stimulant, therefore, no coffee, tea, or soft drinks. We attended an LDS wedding years ago and were served some sort of slushy drink which none of us enjoyed.

 

[peter]

if anyone has any tips

I don't have any tips for the pastry, except to keep it as thin as possible - but I did learn nearly 40 years ago (when I last made steak and kidney pudding) that you can save a lot of time if you cook the filling in the microwave. However you won't find that tip in my favourite cookery book, Poor Cook by Susan Campbell and Caroline Conran - I have the 1972 edition. (Sorry, Delia but you did turn down my offer to create a computer program of your recipes in the early 80s.)

Poor Cook suggests cooking the pudding for 5 hours in a bowl in a large pan of boiling water. To be fair, microwaves hadn't made it to Britain in 1972 - it wasn't until 10 years later that I got my first microwave (which still works, even though I haven't had it serviced every year as the salesman recommended - in fact, I don't think it has ever been serviced).

 

[peter]

Microwave recipe here at post #8. Not tried it, but might be tempted.

 

[At home in NZ]

I tend to use Blue Milk (Full Fat or 4% I think it's called) but it also works with skimmed milk.

The only milk that ever makes its way into this house has a blue top and preferably the one called 'Anchor Blue'. It's pasteurised and homogenised.

We bought some sausages the other day they are in the freezer, will get them out tonight and do a Toad tomorrow. It's home made fish and chips tonight, with mushy peas for him and baked beans for me.
For those holding their hands up in horror - I do not need to watch the calories or fat intake.

 

[Margery]

home made fish and chips tonight

Same here, but I wouldn't dream of serving baked beans (I assume you refer to those in tomato sauce?) with them. In fact, baked beans are not served as a vegetable in Oz. We will have tartare sauce and/or lemon wedges. A green tossed salad will complete the meal. We obtain our fresh seafood from a man who comes over from the coast each Thursday and Friday, he does a roaring trade and there is always a line of customers waiting for him.

 

[At home in NZ]

I assume you refer to those in tomato sauce?) with them. In fact, baked beans are not served as a vegetable in Oz

You wouldn't get them served as a veg in a café or restaurant in NZ either. Staying in a country pub/hotel in England a few years ago I asked for beans on toast for breakfast, I think they gave me a full catering size can!
Yes, I do mean baked beans in tomato sauce and they have to be Heinz. I don't think of them as a veg, more of an accompaniment of my own choice.
I cheat with the fish, it's ready crumbed from the frozen section in the supermarket, the best brand too. I make my own chips, always have, and use a deep fryer to cook them. Gravy on chips? Never!
Fish and chips served in a café or restaurant usually comes with a salad.

I'm surprised you didn't ask what mushy peas are.

 

[Margery]

I'm surprised you didn't ask what mushy peas are.

Are they reconstituted dried peas? I seem to remember having pie 'n peas in a pub in England. There is a famous pie cart in Sydney called Harry's Cafe de Wheels that serves pies with mushy peas (and, I think mashed potatoes) where visitors like to go for a late night snack.

 

[Heather]

A meat pie with mushy peas is called a Pie Floater in Australia.

 

[Margery]

A meat pie with mushy peas is called a Pie Floater in Australia.

Ahh, I had forgotten that!

 

[Bob Spiers]

It's home made fish and chips tonight, with mushy peas for him and baked beans for me.

Never mind about the calorie intake - but baked beans with fish...words fail me (Mushy Peas no problem a match made in heaven). You will have to go down in the Room of Horrors in which my son has a place, when -years ago and he newly married - we were invited for Sunday Lunch (Dinner if you must). Leaving aside the absolute mound of his meal (it was self serve) he declined gravy, and set about showering everything with Tomato Ketchup until it resembled a volcanic eruption.

My daughter only narrowly misses a place with her insistence when she asks (in a Restaurant say) - "May I have some vinegar please..." when about to eat a Curry, or a Burger, or Pasta and, in fact, to sprinkle on anything except Fish or perhaps a Salad. She has a Vinegar mania. The wife of my (sadly late) best friend always asked for pickled Beetroot to have with her cooked breakfast (Egg, Bacon type) , so we had to make sure we had a jar on hand.

I remember first coming across such oddities in the RAF when a certain 'Cockney' (clue he was from London) room mate at breakfast in the Mess used to help himself to 2 or 3 rounds of toast, spread marmalade or jam (both were available on the tables) over each round and then go on to eat the toast simultaneously with his cooked breakfast. I almost forget he also used to smother the egg yolk with white pepper...what was all that about?

But nearly as bad, perhaps worse, are those with food fads like my brother-in-law. He eats no chicken, turkey, duck, pork (white meat), fish or sea food of any kind. Red meat (Burgers/Steak fine) but dislikes the taste or smell of kidney so cannot serve steak and kidney pie or pudding. Having them over for a meal is quite tasking, especially as my sister eats more or less anything, and especially enjoys fish and seafood. This means we have to usually make him an individual Cottage or Shepherds Pie, whilst the rest of us are free to eat whatever I have prepared.

I am however barred by my wife on commenting on oddities that spring from being Vegetarian (heaven forbid Vegan), particularly as I have several cousins who are Vegetarian and my grandson (now residing in Bermuda) married a Vegetarian wife whose mother is, I understand, borderline Vegan. As a boy and young man he was the world's greatest carnivore, now he tells me he's getting used to Vegetarian meals and although he is allowed (allowed?) to have the occasional chicken treat, his wife (or mother-in-law when her husband is similarly allowed a treat) dons surgical type gloves to prepare the raw meat and ensure it and any juices from same, are cooked and served quite separately. Now you know why I am not allowed to comment on same and on the odd occasion I do my daughter (his mother of course) usually comments that I'm 'out of touch' and getting old.

So perhaps, only perhaps, having baked Beans (Heinz or any other) with fish only deserves a Yellow card, and goodness knows I have issued enough of those over the years. So welcome to the Club.

 

[Pauline]

I spent my early childhood in what was then Kent, and when I was 8 we moved "oop north" to Yorkshire. It was only then I first came across the concept of meat pies, and it was not until I was at secondary school that I came face to face with (and did my best to avoid eating) things like steak and kidney pudding, stew and dumplings, and spotted dick. We didn't eat anything like that at home, although we did occasionally have toad in the hole.

I think my mother was quite forward thinking in her dietary ideas and we ate quite a lot of what my father in law would have termed "funny foreign food" long before it became popular to do so. We ate quite a lot of fruit and vegetables but not much in the way of pastry or potatoes, and were restricted in how much sugar we were allowed.

EDIT: I don't remember exactly when my parents first had a microwave but it was around the mid seventies.

 

[Bob Spiers]

(Sorry, Delia but you did turn down my offer to create a computer program of your recipes in the early 80s.)

Oh so a personal reason not to follow Delia? Shame really as her 1978 set of Delia's Cookery Course (Parts one, two and three) to accompany a BBC series with the same name, is a mainstay of our bookcase and you are missing out on what is a remarkable set of cooking techniques and recipe ideas. My wife bought them back in the 80's and they are well dog eared. She was always delving into its pages to remind of ingredients and cooking times and other things she 'forgotten' . ( It is about this time she reminds she had a GCE in Cookery (OK Domestic Science)). I have used the books scores of times and they are well indexed making individual recipes easy to find. However, as Delia did not delve a great deal into Curries, other 'Cook Books' that do are closer to my heart.

BUT it has to be said that Delia's Bolognese Sauce (ragù alla Bolognese) is a real tour de force amongst sauces. It too requires a long cooking time and uses both beef and pork minces, plus chicken livers. I only prepare it once, perhaps twice, a year and it makes enough to freeze for countless meals. It beats proprietary Bolognese sauces down to the ground, although as Delia's sauce is so concentrated, I often combine it with same to add bulk. My Spaghetti Bolognese is well liked by the family and it often gets mentioned in despatches.

Poor Cook suggests cooking the pudding for 5 hours in a bowl in a large pan of boiling water.

I think that also is a Delia method, and certainly the one my wife uses. We have an old Pressure Cooker pan which accommodates a decent sized bowl of the raw Steak and Kidney. Before inserting into the Pan the top of the bowl is covered with a linen cloth and tightly bound with string. My wife also places a folded linen strip under the bowl to aid its removal when cooked. I know it has a long cooking time and certainly 5 hours is the bench mark. So I know the methodology just need to get the pastry right.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Sorry, Delia but you did turn down my offer to create a computer program of your recipes in the early 80s.)

I wrote a comment about this Peter, but somehow during the previews it went adrift so I had to delete same, and in so doing lost the follow up comments I wanted to make, and cannot retrieve. So have to go out but will return and try again. If however you are able to reinstate what I wrote then kindly do so and I will finish it off on my return.

 

[peter]

I don't remember exactly when my parents first had a microwave but it was around the mid seventies.

Wow - that would have been really early, and I hate to think how much it would have cost. My Sharp microwave cost somewhere between £300 and £500 c1982, the equivalent of £1000-£2000 today.

It was only then I first came across the concept of meat pies

That's strange - meat pies were common when I was growing up in Essex. My mother made them, and Walls sold them (at work in the late 60s I'd buy a Walls steak and kidney pie and eat it cold for lunch). In those days my mother's pies had pastry top and bottom but nowadays it's common to just have a pie crust on top.

 

[peter]

Oh so a personal reason not to follow Delia? Shame really as her 1978 set of Delia's Cookery Course (Parts one, two and three) to accompany a BBC series with the same name, is a mainstay of our bookcase and you are missing out on what is a remarkable set of cooking techniques and recipe ideas.

I have that set of books and many other books by Delia. However I'm often disappointed to find that she doesn't have recipes for basic English fare, and I am forced to resort to Poor Cook or my Good Housekeeping cookbook (a much later version of the post-war edition that my mother relied on.

If however you are able to reinstate what I wrote then kindly do so and I will finish it off on my return.

Hopefully it has worked.

 

[Pauline]

Wow - that would have been really early, and I hate to think how much it would have cost. My Sharp microwave cost somewhere between £300 and £500 c1982, the equivalent of £1000-£2000 today

I actually have no idea how much it cost, but I expect you are right in thinking it would have been expensive. We got our first microwave - a Zanussi - in around 1985, and I think it was £350. It was really good and lasted us for ages.