JasonCampbell

If I reply to your question will my post be removed for going off topic?

In my simple Welsh mind whenever I’m making a sauce I’m either making a gravy or a custard, unless it’s a marinade. So basically anything thickened with egg is custard, anything not thickened with egg is gravy. French dressing is a marinade, salsa is raw, chutney is what it becomes if you heat it. I make no claims for the validity of my definitions beyond the confines of my own mind.

I read somewhere that it’s suspected that it was an adaptation of a British recipe using pork & dried peas. The reason it came about was because at the time of the founders, Boston (UK) was a major trading port, and one of its big exports were dried beans incidentally. Obviously the founders of Boston (USA) were originally from Boston (UK), so they probably ate quite a few beans, and cured pork was a staple in England anyway. I think the molasses entered into the scheme of things because of Boston (USA)’s relative proximity to the Caribbean, and because the Gulf Stream made it an effective port of call- hence cheap molasses for the Bostonians. It should be born in mind that Britain was a great trading nation back then, and the colonists were expected to buy British. So it’s my contention that it’s an adaptation of what the settlers would have eaten back home, unfortunately I can’t back this up with any scholarly research, but the facts point in my favour.

This isn’t exactly an answer to your question, but I tried some Argentinean beef a few years ago, I was impressed. However it was from Tesco, back when the beef scare (the BSE one) was happening, and really I was comparing it to their normal offerings (which we know to be dire). Anyway, in an attempt to keep my post on topic, thus removing the risk of it being deleted, a book that I have enjoyed is Leith’s Latin American Cookery by Valeria V. Sisti, not sure if it’s still in print.

I’d second that, it’s the only book (that suggests you can cook restaurant food at home) that I haven’t felt overwhelmed, or disappointed, by. I’ve even had the courage to dust off White Heat now I’m suitably armed. I thought Ramsey’s Kitchen Heaven was quite good, actually almost like a ‘White Heat Lite’ for the millennium generation. EDITED TO ADD: 'or disappointed'.

One point, the fat gets filtered (hopefully) once a day. Even if you use separate fry vats for the ‘chips’, all the oil gets filtered through the same filter. In the UK the law states that the waste cooking oil is a controlled contaminant containing animal products, so therefore I’d presume that regardless of any ‘meat additive’ introduced before the cooking process, you’ll end up with some ‘meat additive’ after the cooking process. Incidentally, Burger King in the UK sell a veggie burger approved by the Vegetarian Society, I giggle every time I think about that- who’s zooming who?

I tend to follow a ‘do the best you can’ mentality. Like any wage slave I have X amount of £ to feed the family for a month, as a realist I buy entirely on quality and value. So it’s the supermarket for toilet rolls and alcohol, and the butchers for meat. I rarely eat fish as we don’t have a fishmonger and the supermarket stuff is dire. Lamb comes from the farm gate, costs about the same as New Zealand frozen stuff- but I tend to buy in bulk. I think it’s nearly impossible to avoid the supermarket completely unless you have plenty of money, time, or both. But as the supermarket says, every little helps.

You think the English have strange pot washing habits, you don't even want to know how the Welsh wash their pot (we only have the one, keeps our national dish company)...

For me German Curry Ketchup is the most gut wrenching invention, so that's out. BBQ sauce, no sorry it aint gonna work. Lime Pickle is a possibility, but you'd have to have a hangover first- and ideally add a fried egg to the mix. As to the others, I have no knowledge of them, in my mind they never happened.

I must be honest I like cheap brown sauce, I use to favour the Tesco own brand, but they changed the recipe by improving its quality, this now makes it a useful substitute for OK Sauce. When I was growing up we had both HP Fruity & HP Sauce on the table, it was something like a coming of age ceremony when you graduated from the fruity to the real deal HP. And you truly knew you were a man when you started putting Colemans mustard on your sausages. My heretical bacon bap has to contain some tomato slices, cheap brown sauce spread on the cut surfaces of the bap, and thick cut fatty bacon- No butter, just the bacon drippings. In the UK even McDonalds put brown sauce on their bacon roll (breakfast menu item), but they appear to use something akin to brown ketchup.

Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla. Metal enamelling factory in Guastalla- roughly translated. EDIT: And I should point out it's an Italian company, not Scandinavian. Oh well, that shows what I know. Nothing. As I'm sure Charlene would verify. It doesn't show you know nothing, it shows you don't know S.M.E.G.

Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla. Metal enamelling factory in Guastalla- roughly translated. EDIT: And I should point out it's an Italian company, not Scandinavian.

Ask all you like, the only way to get a capon this side of the border is to have sex with a farmers daughter, trust me on that one. And anyway they aren't all they are cracked up to be. If you can get a friendly farmer, and a friendly vet, then it's entirely possible to get a Capon for Christmas here in the UK, as is a bulls penis. I stuffed mine, it was a farce.

The Welfare of Livestock (Prohibited Operations) Regulations 1982 SI No 1884, stops the UK from cutting the knackers off chickens. Although I'm pretty sure the chemical castration of the cock (a Caponette) was banned before this.

Then we'd have to have Gastroelves and Gastrohobbits, even Gastrorcs! And there would be one gas ring to rule us all- and I can't face a life of one pot cooking, even if it does save on the washing up. How about Gastronaut, to boldly go in search of new dishes...or Gastrojedi, the Flavour is strong in this one Master Luke? Or how about Epiquestrian, I don't ride 'em I eat 'em mush?

Wouldn't have a clue sorry, I live in Gloucestershire and have no knowledge of London's provender's stock.

What is this? It's beef, from a Welsh breed of cattle. Over the last few decades it has risen to prominence as one of the best slabs of meat in the world, upsetting the French and Scottish in the process. The animal is black, hence the name. It's expensive, but worth it in my opinion. I find that you have to order it well in advance, or you don't get the best. Here's a link that might be of interest.Taste test

You wont get a proper capon in the UK, but it's reasonably easy to get a Bresse chicken, although you might be disappointed by what £20 gets you as regards to size. The same could be said of goose, it looks big enough when you buy it but there's a shock in store for the unwary when they come to serve it. In my opinion the best reason to buy a goose is for the fat, you'll struggle to serve 6 with even the biggest goose, your roast potatoes will be divine however. At the moment I'm minded towards a good chicken (or two), I'm no fan of turkey and I will have had my fill of game by Christmas. A possible alternative might be a nice (ridiculously priced) bit of Welsh Black Beef, if I get my arse into gear and order it in time.

I'll stand corrected but I think the term 'foodie' was created in the '80's (Paul Levy), and was always supposed to be slightly disparaging. In the same way that calling yourself a yuppie (SP?) was really. I don't like the term, but it's come into common usage to describe someone with a particular interest in food. As such I tend to use it often, cringing as I type. I might describe myself as 'a bit of a foodie', although I'm in honesty more of a Gourmet, using the term as Brillant-Savarin did. But then again sometimes I'm a foodie of the base kind, almost a food slut. I always feel dirty afterwards, but sated. I suppose there will always be a difficulty in choosing a term to describe someone with a hobby interest in food, the food industry would call us customers I guess. To continue the connection with a sex, maybe a Foodologist, like a Sexologist? No that wont work. Gastrodity? Certainly describes some of the less successful attempts I've made in the kitchen. I think tonight, Matthew, I'll be an epicure...

I thought it was a great article, and although I only ate in the restaurant once a few years ago, it was a good restaurant (I don't really do 'stars'). Looks like an old pub from the outside, don't they all these days? Anyway my fortunes are greatly diminished these days, I'm now a taxi driver in Cheltenham, so if anyone needs a lift to the place give me shout and I'll charge you very reasonable Sirs. Although it has to be said that 'The Mad Mushroom' (as it's known locally) is so reasonable in it's prices I should really rip you off big time... That'll be a tenner sir.

Without turning this board into a forum for historians - A programme of enclosure did not begin in earnest until the 18th century and until that point, those who lived locally still had rights to use anything which might be considered common land. I don't think we can blame enclosure for the lack of horse chestnuts in our diet. Agreed, but ironically the land enclosure of the 18th century had the effect of producing more food- because it was part of the agricultural revolution. It also had the effect of pushing people into the cities, where deprived of horse chestnuts, they were forced to live on chips.

Seems logical to me... So why don't people eat grass?

but until the 18th century this park land would have been accessible to everyone, both the wealthy land owner and the starving peasant. Would it? Land enclosure began as soon as the Normans (great name) took over, most of the great parks are a legacy of that. Maybe the peasants didn't bother with the Horse Chestnut because they had easy access to acorns- although they were just killing time until somebody discovered the potato.

Interesting idea, I've read in history books that in desperation people would use them for flour- by boiling, drying, and grinding. But in desperation people eat anything, maybe the introduction of the potato removed the need to eat things desperately? Loved the tomato/Italian comment- and it's reply...

I'd support the 80%/20% statement. I don't know if you make pork burgers, but here in the UK the pork mince is usually lean, so I follow the same rule and use sausage meat to substitute for the 20% fat. Also I think pastry making hands are best for shaping the burgers. But hell what would I know, I still think F&C and mushy peas is food.