• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Food from your early years as an adult or child?

It's amazing how threads like this, even though I started it, bring back long forgotten memories. My mother could cook very well, but lost the plot when my dad decided that the oven must go and be replaced with microwave. Rice pudding under his regime was cooked in the scary Prestige pressure cooker with lemon. Yuk. My mother's version was oven baked, creamy and with a thick dark brown skin. Likewise bread and butter pudding, which I've never had since, which was thick with brown crusts and caramelised sugar. Blackberry and apple tarts also disappeared as did treacle tart.

I wonder if kids today will look back on air fryers and realise that their food memories were ruined when they became a fad, just as mine were by my microwave dad.

100% agree that good ingredients properly cooked is the essence. Ultra processed factory made ready meals from the supermarket have harmed our health and family life as a generality in the UK.

It's funny how food tastes changed with generations, and as travel became commonplace, pastiches of foreign food appeared. My parents would not even consider eating this stuff. My father liked a steak as a treat. However, even if it was prime fillet from the best producer, he insisted on it being "well done". Inedible. Bearnaise sauce was regarded as "French" and therefore unsuitable and he was even iffy about chips if they were called French fries :D
 
I miss my mother's borsch, verenicki and huloopsie (Anglicised homonyms, if that's the right word).

And chicken ? Remember that....only very occasionally as a special Sunday lunch. Wonder where they went to ...not seen them for ages smile.png
 
AJB Temple said:
...

100% agree that good ingredients properly cooked is the essence. Ultra processed factory made ready meals from the supermarket have harmed our health and family life as a generality in the UK.
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Spot on.
 
RogerS said:
I miss my mother's borsch, verenicki and huloopsie (Anglicised homonyms, if that's the right word).
And chicken ? Remember that....only very occasionally as a special Sunday lunch. Wonder where they went to ...not seen them for ages View attachment 30987
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Yes. It is now quite hard to get really good chicken. Our local fairly good butcher in Matfield close to us says his local chicken farmer who produced the real deal stuff (ie fully outdoor reared and aged) has stopped. He now gets them from over Mike's way, branded Sutton Hoo. They are excellent but retail at around £24 each by the time they get to Kent. I would expect him to have 100% retail mark up, but he buys them by the box. You can get your hands on real deal Bresse chickens occasionally, but can pay well over £40 each. I buy a few chickens from a local smallholder, but she is 80 ish and only sells a handful a year.

In contrast you can buy three medium sized "producer" chickens from Lidaldi etc for £10.

When I was a young kid we kept lots of chickens, pigs, ducks. We never bought chicken - my grandad just killed one or two. I remember one year though we had a large chicken for Christmas I think, bought from a shop and my dad went berserk. He said it tasted of fish and threw it away. Fishmeal in the feed he reckoned.
 
RogerS said:
A translation for 'grits' would be very welcome !
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To expand on the answer by @fiveeyes, grits are made from ground hominy corn. Regular dried corn kernels are soaked in a lye solution over some period of time to remove the outer hull of the kernel and prevent them from germinating. After the outer hull splits and the endosperm swells, the soft white puffy kernels are rinsed several times and allowed to dry. This was a common way of storing corn in bygone days. Moonshine was a close second. :)

The dried hominy is course ground to make grits, which I love with my country breakfast. It is most definitely a southern thing and is likely an acquired taste for those born north of the Mason-Dixon line.

On the subject of breakfast, I do love the full English as much as the southern country breakfast. The last time I visited Ireland, I stayed at a B&B that offered a large breakfast. On the first morning, the owner's two young daughters watched from the stairs as breakfast was served. I think they were a bit disappointed when I ate the black pudding without hesitating. There was no way for them to know I grew up on a farm where we slaughtered and processed our own animals and knew what the black pudding was. When we slaughtered hogs, the only thing that wasn't used was the "oink".
 
I forgot - mum's French onion soup. I think that would have to have been my favourite. I could eat some now.
 
Some 20+ years ago a friend and I were moaning about restaurant sweets containing strawberries in january when they came from Peru or somewhere and were hard and tasteless, and the conversation got to seasonal food. He was ten years older than me so had slightly different memories, but he said don't you remember not having eggs in the winter? I'd clean forgotten that. Most hens then went off lay in the winter so eggs weren't all that common.
 
Mike said:
I grew up on a farm where we slaughtered and processed our own animals and knew what the black pudding was. When we slaughtered hogs, the only thing that wasn't used was the "oink".
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I remember the increased kitchen activity that took place on a farm without electricity processing the offal and use up the bucket of Blood into black puddings, pressing brawn in basins and a weeks worth of over the top breakfasts.

Dad spending hours in the old dairy salting the hams and sides and rubbing saltpetre into the bone areas.
 
RogerS said:
I miss my mother's borsch, verenicki and huloopsie (Anglicised homonyms, if that's the right word).

And chicken ? Remember that....only very occasionally as a special Sunday lunch. Wonder where they went to ...not seen them for ages View attachment 30987
Click to expand...
I seem to remember we had poached fish for Easter Friday and a chicken or capon for Christmas day, the only fowl we ate during the year. But other meat was readily available and prepared by the butcher.
 
Steve Maskery said:
In my house soup from leftovers is called FridgeGrot soup. It's the best. :)
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Reminds me of a meal I used to cook in my later student days. We called it "Fridge Fried Rice" and it was, as you'd probably guess, fried rice made with whatever happened to be left in the fridge that day.
 
I thought leftovers was what pizza was invented for.
And if you thought chucking anyold cheese and odd vegetables on a pizza was heresy I also put carrots in my bolognaise.

Ducks and runs.
 
AndyP said:
You’ve done it now, tipped me over the edge. It is the meal I miss the most, alongside fish n chips of course, and impossible to replicate here.
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I order my bacon and corned beef from All Ireland Foods. They have reasonable shipping rates for the EU, and every order is well packed in insulated bags. Delivery time from Ireland to Germany varies from one to three days, and the ice packs are still frozen when the packages arrive.

Here is the link for the bacon:

Staffords Irish Dry Cured Rashers 450g – All Ireland Foods

allirelandfoods.ie allirelandfoods.ie
 
AndyP said:
I thought leftovers was what pizza was invented for.
And if you thought chucking anyold cheese and odd vegetables on a pizza was heresy I also put carrots in my bolognaise.

Ducks and runs.
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I once had the owner of an Italian restaurant threaten to throw me out for using a knife to cut up my spaghetti. He was serious. Imagine what he would say to you for putting carrots in a Bolognese sauce!!
 
CHJ said:
I remember the increased kitchen activity that took place on a farm without electricity processing the offal and use up the bucket of Blood into black puddings, pressing brawn in basins and a weeks worth of over the top breakfasts.

Dad spending hours in the old dairy salting the hams and sides and rubbing saltpetre into the bone areas.
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It was always a community event for us in rural North Carolina, with plenty of activity in the yard, salting rooms, and kitchens. Anyone who showed up to help left with a reasonable share of the meat or other parts. It was not easy work, and all help was appreciated. Processing five to six hogs and one or two bulls kept over 20 people busy around the clock to preserve the meat before it could spoil. Nothing ever spoiled, and I don't remember any volunteer help leaving unhappy.
 
Mike said:
Here is the link for the bacon:

Staffords Irish Dry Cured Rashers 450g – All Ireland Foods

allirelandfoods.ie allirelandfoods.ie
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Thanks for that, I'll give it a try. The bacon here is rubbish and I've yet to find a sausage I've really enjoyed. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I had a go at making my own sasusage again (not done it for years). It was a good flavour, but I was making a half-batch, to try it out, and I forgot to half the salt. By the time I'd messed about adding stuff to dilute the salt I'd completely beggared it up. So now I have 2kg of sausage in the freezer that I don't really want to eat.

The fantastic French food that is so famous is a myth. It is one of the few things we have found disappointing here. The local cattle is Limousin and is lauded. It's not a patch on a good Hereford.
 
AndyP said:
You’ve done it now, tipped me over the edge. It is the meal I miss the most, alongside fish n chips of course, and impossible to replicate here.
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You could make sausages Andy - it's very easy. I've tried curing bacon too from pork belly - but that is not so simple as it can easily taste too salty. So all you need is eggs, tomatoes, fried bread, mushrooms, black or white pudding, hash browns or a bit of bubble & squeak, and if you are so inclined a tin of Heinz beans. :cool:
 
Ah, we do actually get half-decent black pudding over here.

This was the sausage recipe I tried. It was good, apart from the salt cokcupp, until I messed about with it.
www.daringgourmet.com

Homemade British Bangers

The key component to Bangers and Mash, learn how to make authentic homemade bangers! Succulent, crispy, juicy and packed with flavor!
www.daringgourmet.com www.daringgourmet.com
 
Yes, those irish rashers look interesting and maybe worth bulk buying and freezing. Thanks.
Although it is against the rules we do bring back small quantities of bacon, sausages etc and have yet to be searched.

More gadgets required for sausage making than I have room for, never going to happen I’m afraid.
 
Andy, you don't need any gadgets (but they do help, of course).
Get your butcher to mince the meat for you. My local Intermarche does have minced pork, but it's always seasoned, I had to order some plain stuff (I should just have bought Shoulder and minced it myself).
You don't need casings and a stuffer, you can get caul fat ("crepine") easily enough (again I had to order it, but just from my local supermarket) then mix your recipe and wrap it in the caul fat to make sausages. Cypriot Sheftalia are made this way. Easy and delivious.

Edit - or even delicious.
 
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Steve is right (isn't he always?) but:

It is a LOT easier to make sausages if you have a mincer and a stuffer. Mincers with stuffer attachments are slow and jerky, so avoid that. Electric mincers are cheap on eBay and small stuffer tube machines with a handle are cheap too. We have commercial ones (Tre Spade - Italian) but handles 5kg and was £60 from the bay (butcher closing) and a small commercial mincer was less.

Casings are very cheap and readily available online. If you want guaranteed quality, go here: https://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/?gad_source=1

Sausages freeze perfectly. Recipes are simple and extremely cheap. You can just make it up actually. Use your leftover bread in a blender to make breadcrumbs. They stop splitting and spitting. Pigs grow fast and so pork is ridiculously cheap. When you have an abundance of apples or apricots add some to the grinder. Sausages are idiot proof - I am one so I should know.

Andy - next time you are over, call in again and we will make you a big batch.
 
AndyP said:
Yes, those irish rashers look interesting and maybe worth bulk buying and freezing. Thanks.
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I placed an order with them near the end of November for six packs of the rashers and a 2KG corned beef. The rashers and beef are vacuum packed bags and freeze well.
 
Mike G said:
I once had the owner of an Italian restaurant threaten to throw me out for using a knife to cut up my spaghetti. He was serious. Imagine what he would say to you for putting carrots in a Bolognese sauce!!
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I wonder what he would make of my partial solution to that problem. I break the spaghetti in half before I cook it. Easier to cook, serve and eat.
 
AndyP said:
I wonder what he would make of my partial solution to that problem. I break the spaghetti in half before I cook it. Easier to cook, serve and eat.
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I break it in thirds. I suggest that you and I hide behind our on-line nom de plumes or we'll be banned from Italy for life!
 
Only way to eat prawn cocktail is with Bloody Mary sauce

We also put chocolate (and marmite) in our chilli

Mark
 
Regarding an earlier comment about poultry being quite a rare treat... I remember eating chicken for special meals and not very often while beef was a regular weekend dish. My family was far from well off (single mother and aged grandmother) so I take that to mean that in the 1950s beef was cheaper than chicken. How things have changed.
 
Yes it was, I'd forgotten. I used to have a spaghetti storage tube that came with a pair of mounting brackets. It was that sort of length. And remember Attenborough's spaghetti harvest?
 
Steve Maskery said:
Yes it was, I'd forgotten. I used to have a spaghetti storage tube that came with a pair of mounting brackets. It was that sort of length. And remember Attenborough's spaghetti harvest?
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Was that Attenborough? Wasn't it Frank Bough?
 
AndyP said:
I wonder what he would make of my partial solution to that problem. I break the spaghetti in half before I cook it. Easier to cook, serve and eat.
Click to expand...

Mike G said:
I break it in thirds. I suggest that you and I hide behind our on-line nom de plumes or we'll be banned from Italy for life!
Click to expand...

Same here, and also the linguine.

I get foody e-mails from States and punish myself daily looking at food I am not allowed to eat :(
However .......
Every now and again a gem pops up.
The last one being a Creamy Butternut & Butter Chicken :cool:
Just all spices, have to leave out the salt, takes a bit of time to make, make at least enough for 5 meals and it freezes very well.
It goes well with rice or pasta.

www.halfbakedharvest.com

Creamy Butternut Squash Butter Chicken

Creamy Butternut Squash Butter Chicken: quick to make, one skillet, cozy, perfectly spiced, and filled with warming Indian flavor - delish!
www.halfbakedharvest.com www.halfbakedharvest.com
 
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