21 - Cooking with gas
Growing up as a young kid across the years at home in Barmera I guess I was culinarily challenged.
What you ask, ok, I will explain.
We were basically raised as a meat and three vegetable family and as a result our taste buds were never extended beyond what would become a fairly routine diet. The food that would be served was plentiful and mum was a great cook. Her meals were always great tasting, and I am sure very nutritious.
However, the staple family diet did revolve around the meat and vegetable idea. As such, I guess that I never got a liking for any other type of cooking or a liking for tastes outside of what mum dished up.
Of course, at the time of being fed by mum then I suppose I knew no different.
And in fairness to my mum the period in time that I am referring to was far different to now in terms of what is available from different ethnic cultures that have integrated their food and cooking styles into our daily diets.
Today the food products available to us barely resemble what was around when mum was cooking for me as a kid growing up. So much of what she made was from scratch, no packet mix or tin foods.
I do remember stock cubes being a part of Mum's cooking but have no idea of the flavors available.
Cooking salt was in bulk, well it came in a bag and was then dished off into a salt canister that in our house sat on a kitchen bench. All just so different to what we now have available.
So, it was not until I left home and had to fend for myself that I had to challenge the way I prepared my food.
To this day, I still use the cooking basics that Mum taught me all those years ago, but now I have learned to add my own touch to expand the taste of what she taught me.
From that I believe that our taste buds don't change rather they develop as we are introduced to new food tastes. Sometimes it is simply a matter of giving something a try and often I find I actually like what it is that I am tasting.
So Mum, yep she is a great cook; I love most of what she served up. She is a great roast cook, a great stew and mornay cook, a very good soup maker.
Her pea and ham and vegetable soup is easily the best I have ever eaten. Pumpkin soup was another of her best winter dishes, oh how good is that soup. Nobody makes pumpkin soup like Joan Green, and who ever tried her soup would never say anything other than her pumpkin soup was absolutely delicious.
Mum is not just a main course type of cook. She is always a great cook of sweets and many other dishes and treats.
She made the best homemade sausage rolls and pasties for us as kids, puts together a mean trifle, has the best of many things savory or sweet and is a whiz with cake and biscuits.
The kitchen table at home was a hive of activity on cooking days. Nothing was electrical with cooking utensils, the beater Mum used to mix cakes etc was hand operated. Maybe in latter years she progressed to a small power mixer but gee, that green wooden handled beater was a jack of all trades on cooking day.
Mixing bowls, cooking spoons, rubber scrapers, biscuit cutters, so many bits and pieces, all on the table and each played a part. Having the right cooking utensils was as important it seemed as the cooking ingredients. And naturally as kids our job was to lick the spoons clean at the end of the day and fight over who got to have the beater to lick clean.
All pastry was homemade, rolled out with a wooden rolling pin, each pastry sheet was perfectly rolled into a set thickness. Baking trays were plentiful, the pastry and raw ingredients all assembled and off to the oven in the wood stove to be turned into homemade pasties and sausage rolls.
These days were like food heaven. As a kid I loved it. Not sure who did all the cleaning and washing up but I guess we delegated that roll to the mother person.
Mum could cook anything it seemed, and she cooked it well. She was probably the complete chef really; she never made lumpy gravy or lumpy custard! Not too many chefs, trained or not can boast such a cooking record.
Her gravy was all home made using the meat juices and adding some flour and coloring. Mum never had the luxury of packet gravy, no way, always dark rich flavored gravey made the Mum way.
Hey, I am a gravy lover and yeah, guilty of crossing to the dark side and using gravy powder but I have never ever produced gravy as good as Mum made.
To this day I also love custard and I believe that I do so because I never had to eat lumpy custard. If I now come across someone who does not like to eat custard, it is usually because they associate it with being lumpy!
Custard aside, I have very fond memories of the simple things mum would serve up to us; things like her sausage meatballs, which were a Saturday lunchtime favorite. You grabbed a handful on your way through the kitchen after finishing work and on the way out to sport, put them in between two slices of bread, pour on the tomato sauce and ate until you were full.
Oh yeah, so good. Plain as but as good as. They were a Joan specialty.
And then there was fried fritz in batter. Something so simple but so good, I still love fried fritz to this day either with or without batter. Basic but oh so nice! Oh, yeah, Joan made great batter, I make my batter exactly as Mum did.
Friday night we would get home cooked chips served on greaseproof paper and we would be allowed to stay out and eat in the yard. To this day, I still love home cooked chips made just as Mum did all those years ago.
This was an era of homemade ice cream. Mum had these ice-cream dishes that went into the freezer full of the liquid mix and set into yummie creamy blocks. She would serve us kids on a hot day with milk flavored ice blocks wrapped in a piece of newspaper so as we could hold onto them.
Nutty biscuits that Mum makes are still just as good as ever and a favorite biscuit. Now they are known by this generation as Anzacs, that is good thing, but in the days of being a kid, we ate Nutties.
Other great biscuits I remember her making were Monte Carlos and another was called Cockles, I think?
Her nut loaf cake is second to none, her pumpkin cake is so tasty, the sultana cake she makes is the best I have ever had, and I assure you, I love sultana cake. I am not a massive lover of fruitcake but mum's I like, and the list could go on.
I must also give her a plug for the way she makes curried eggs, again she has the knack of presenting this delight and her eggs are eaten by all.
Oh, and bread and butter pudding, Joan was the boss of this desert, just perfect every time. To this day I love her B&B pudding, don't make it myself, don't like it made by anyone else, just like what my mum made.
However, for as good as her cooking is in so many areas it still comes out of the era when cooking was very basic. The staple diet did revolve around the meat and three vegetable idea!
And in her time of cooking, it was always done with dripping. How did we ever survive when the food was saturated with this greasy substance called dripping? All meat juices were just poured from the pan in on top of what was already in that tin and this mass of fats just grew and grew.
Then it would be used over and over and when not in use it was kept in a tin by the stove or in a kitchen cupboard under the sink. In the summer it was liquid, in the winter it was solid. Seriously, how did this dripping muck not kill us?
Today we cook with oil, but it is used sparingly and for things like greasing the surface of a pot or pan and not for saturating the food. Chips or fries as we now know call them do require a little more oil in the pan, but we have this block lard called Superfry, it is a solidified oil.
So, as said, for all of that, when I had the opportunity to cook for myself, I guess I had a great base to start from courtesy of what my mum had shown me.
I prepare meals that again follow in the tradition of what mum did, but I have simply expanded on the mix, the preparation, the contents, the cooking style and the delivery.
Hence that means an expansion in taste.
Savory mince is but one example. Mum would make us this stuff she called mincemeat for breakfast as kids, and we loved it. Golly it was bland and runny but always plentiful and we embraced the meal.
So, the savory mince I make today barely resembles what I grew up on. Yeah, I go with the mince base, but I have learned to add a couple of spices and sauces to the gravy, throw in some vegetables and it takes on the look of a main meal not just a breakfast dish. It is delicious and I eat a lot of it.
Tuna Mornay is another dish I tend to cook a lot. Again, using mum's basic recipe of butter, flour and milk as a starting base but then by adding extras it gives a more defined and detailed taste. Lots of pepper and some spice, vegetables, grated cheese in the mix and also as a top coating and walla, you end up with this creation that is so darn yummie. It is almost my favorite home cooked quick make meal.
Being a Catholic family, we never ate meat on a Friday. I remember Friday lunch for Dad was always a tin of salmon, plonked on a plate and somehow it became a meal. But salmon patties were also a Friday staple, not bad and always filling. Oh, they did need lots of tomato sauce but Mum was the salmon pattie queen of her day.
Put the mixture in the fridge for a time to set a little, then take it and craft the burgers by hand into whatever size suits, roll in a good coating of breadcrumbs, pop them back in the fridge for an hour and then it's time to cook. Delicious.
Oh, there is a secret ingredient or two added in the mix but to save my reputation as a tuna burger guru I must keep secret.
If Mum's patties were good, my burgers are simply the best.
The same Mum rule is true for a roast or a stew. I do as Mum did then simply by adding extra spices or ingredients at preparation time or during cooking time changes the overall taste. I love my roasts, probably Lamb is my favorite, chicken I like, and pork is not far behind.
And as I now have a stomach problem due to an operation that I had a couple of years ago I cannot eat a lot of red meat.
So, the roast lamb can be a bit of a battle to get down at times but I still try. Although as long as the softer red meats are well cooked and tender then I can generally eat it.
Because of the tummy problem, this means steak and the like are generally off my eating and cooking list. In fact, the tummy problem has in a lot of ways spoiled my liking of food. There is so much I cannot eat at all and even some foods that are ok one day may not be ok the next time I eat them. It is a bit of a bummer really.
But, that aside I believe I cook a mean steak.
When I worked in the railways, I was Fireman for a time to an older German gent, Allie Wilhelm and he showed me the art of cooking a steak. And I learned well so over the years I have enjoyed many a delicious piece of rump, scotch fillet or a T-Bone.
With what I learned I do not go down the quick cook and sear idea that the modern chef pushes as the ideal way to cook a steak. I am definitely a medium-well done man and do not enjoy a red steak at all.
My steak is cooked a little slower, I add some flavor as I go, sprinkle of pepper etc and I tend to slow down the cooking and let the juice become a part of the process. Sometimes it can even be a sort of braise method but for me it works well.
Now however with my tummy restrictions on red meat I have to be content to cook them for others who often comment on how good my steaks are.
Guess getting a decent cut of meat can make or break a steak, but cooking can also ruin the end result if it is not done properly. With a bit of prep and the right cook then the perfect steak is always possible.
Chicken has really become my go to meat of choice so I am guessing as time goes on then it will be a major part of my cooking menu.
But we didn't eat much chicken at all in my days at home as a kid, maybe at Christmas we had a chook. From that time of year, I do remember a few 'headless' chooks running around the back yard before they eventually found their way to the kitchen table after being 'plucked' in the hot copper in the laundry.
At home, the main meat types we ate were mutton and beef. Or rabbit in the earlier days. Rod and I would catch rabbits with our handful of traps and from an early age learned to skin and clean the rabbits for mum to use. She made a great tasting curried rabbit dish.
Mum was an expert at making stuffing, the rabbits were sometimes eaten as a roast meal with this yummy homemade stuffing that mum put together.
Sausages were often on the menu; crumbed sausages are a favorite of mine to this day again thanks to how well mum made this simple but tasty food. I often make crumbed sausages.
And then there was a curry sausage thing mum made, again so good. As a family over many years we all ate and loved her very tasty curried sausage meal. I now sometimes make what I call devilled sausage, yeah, it does stem from what she made way back in the day. But I must say, what Mum would make is much better than mine.
Another area that I have learned to change things up from what my mum taught me is the cooking of vegetables. I do not boil the vegetables until they become mash, as she tended to do.
No, I try different ideas like potato bake, honey carrots, fried cabbage and bacon, white sauce on my cauliflower and pumpkin and I try to keep the vegetables a little on the crisp side. Just makes them more defined and a little tastier.
I love a great variety of vegetables. I guess I am somewhat old fashioned, my veg of choice is probably very similar to what Mum cooked but with a couple of extras added across the years. I love potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, brussel sprouts, peas, corn, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli as a green.
The modern yuppie vegetables are not my thing. All different colored things that look and taste, well, bloody awful.
Potatoes can be prepared in so many different ways, Mum made great mashed spud, no lumps and always smooth in texture. I learned well. For me, I add more milk and butter than Mum did, it means a creamier taste. I add some spice, lots of pepper, sometimes some grated cheese and I always end up with a great taste. I am a whiz with the potato masher, lucky about that because there is a knack to mashing spuds.
Just on the mum thought with mashed potato, she did make a mean shepherd's pie with minced beef and lots of mashed potato as a topping. Yet another Joan classic dish. The beef would often be left over from say a roast, it too would then go through the hand operated meat grinder and the shepherd's pie filling resulted. It was certainly an era when nothing was wasted.
Yet another example of the Joan cooking ability. In latter years when she would get a side of lamb, the flaps were sort of superfluous, but mum would bone them, make this very tasty filling and from that fashion a seasoned lamb roll using the flaps. It was just delicious. The loaf was used as a hot roast meal or simply eaten as cold meat. Not a meal we had at the time of growing-up but one well remembered over the years that followed.
Potatoe Bake is a favorite for me, hassleback potatoes is something I have worked at and now get a really good product. Jacket baked potato is a regular for me and by experimenting with ingredients then these dishes just get better.
I will add that spinach or silver beet is not on my veggie to be eaten list. We ate bucket loads of the stuff as kids and for me, it cured my desire to have any leafy green vegetable from that time on.
And I believe that I am a good cook of fish. This is something that I have definitely inherited from both of my parents.
As a family, we have always been blessed with a lot of fish to eat, as fishing has been a big recreational and social activity for all of us across a lifetime in both fresh and salt water. Loved fishing, loved eating fish.
He seems to always get the perfect fillet regardless of the type or size of the fish in question.
Sometimes the enjoyment of a good fish meal is spoiled by the fact that bones have been left in the flesh. Makes eating difficult but Dad never left a bone and Mum always cooked the fish to my liking.
Guess Mum and Dad made fish the perfect meal. I always say that we are spoiled when it comes to fish as not only have we eaten a lot of it over our time but also, we always ate the very best. And I figure that as a consumer then I am very fussy with my fish because as I have said we were always given the best species to eat.
So when I began my own life as a single man then fish remained as a part of my regular eating pattern.
And unlike most of the basics I learned from Mum in cooking where I have changed things up, I have actually changed little however from what Mum taught me as a fish cook. The biggest difference between her style from my time as a kid and mine as a cook is that I rarely cook with batter; I like to eat battered fish when out for a meal but when cooking at home I prefer crumbed for baked fish.
I really do love a good feed of fish, smothered in lemon juice and served with chips or even with mashed potato and salad.
And I have learned that fish cooked on the bar-b-que can add something extra to the taste, fish wrapped in foil with salt, pepper and lemon juice added is a superb alternative to frying in it a pan.
Over my time as a ‘wanna-be’ cook, I have extended my taste for food to the point that I am now able to have a go at almost anything. I guess I alluded to the fact a little earlier that as Australia has become a multi-cultural society then we have embraced a number of ethnic food ideas and tastes and incorporated them into our daily diets.
A classic example is that once I would never have cooked a dish that required a rice base. I thought rice was the pits; well truth is I had probably never really tried it and just guessed that it was awful.
How wrong was I, now I love rice.
But when cooking rice it is make or break. I believe that doing something simple like taking extra time to wash and drain the cooked rice gives it a fluffy texture and a totally different taste to the glug some people dish up!
Years ago, an aunty of my wife, Margaret Hole from Naracoorte showed me the art of cooking good rice and how to drain it. I have been grateful to this day for her advice and now my rice is eaten and liked by all that try it.
And as rice is often eaten with dishes of Asian and Chinese origin then I have become a fan of these foods. My cooking smarts have not extended into cooking this type of dish, but I have had a shot at making a stir fry and that goes well. And I have tried a curry or two but really fail in getting the taste right, but it is something I am keen to explore. Watch this space.
Pasta is another dish that I simply did not eat for many years; I really did not like it. But a few years back I would go with a friend to the Fasta Pasta restaurants from time to time but I always ate fish or schnitzel. Then I was eventually persuaded to give a pasta dish a go and to my surprise, I found it ok and now I can handle pasta all be it in moderation.
I struggle with all the pasta types and all the different shapes so stay away from cooking the stuff but yeah, I do enjoy a dish of pasta. And I am also enjoying pasta added to some dishes like tuna mornay as example.
It is a product that I again did not eat but it has grown on me and today I love to cook Pizza or to order take-away.
And while I don't cook them I have a liking for spring rolls and dim sims. This further shows how diverse our food expansion has become with the ethnic influx.
I mean, as take-away once we ate hamburgers, steak sandwiches, chicken or schnitzel hot packs and maybe Chiko rolls but never really ventured outside these limited food groups.
Now, different, totally different and our choices are better, more diverse and to be honest some of the newer food types are actually not bad.
One area of cooking that I cannot get a handle on is with sweets. I simply do not enjoy cooking with pastry for example and as a result, my sweet cooking is negligible. In fact it is almost non-existent.
Somehow, sadly, I did not inherit my mum’s knack of sweet making! I really stink in the sweet cooking area, just not my thing. If I ever make a cake as example, which is rare for me to attempt, then it would be a packet mixture.
However, I do make great pancakes although having said that I will be buggered if the BI-LO supermarket chain ever closes down. I know that hardly makes sense as a standalone statement, but I have a reputation to protect here; certain people think that I have this secret you-beaut pancake recipe that turns out superb maple syrup flavored pancakes.
BUT all is not how it would seem? Thank-you BI-LO for that pancake mixture in the plastic container! Add water, shake the crap out of the mixture and the result is pancake bliss.
Another sweet that I do have a go at is scones but again I would be buggered if a certain manufacturer stopped making a certain helpful boxed mixture.
I do make jelly from time to time but again it is made from a packet by adding water, der, and a line of pudding called Instant Pudding is another often made desert. However, it too comes out of a packet and by adding milk, you make a likeable and editable product.
Oh yeah, I do eat a lot of fruit but again it often comes from a can so the hardest thing about its preparation is using a can opener!
Unlike my mum who in my days as a kid, made all of her own preserved fruit and jams.
I remember Mum making bucket loads of preserved apricots and peaches. Some of the fruit was grown on trees in the backyard and I'm sure if needed, then other fruit was sourced to be used in the preserving process.
Mum had this electric preserving machine and the whole kit and caboodle of jars, lids etc. A sugar-based syrup was made and added to the jars packed with fruit. Once full, the jars were sealed with these red preserving rubber bands and a clip was then placed over the lid to help with the sealing process.
I'm thinking it was about a 24-hour time frame once the machine was operating before the fruit was preserved. The clips were eventually removed and I'm guessing they stayed on a few days to make sure all the lids sealed correct.
It was very much a production to get the preserving job done. All hands-on deck to cut and prepare the fruit. But it was well worth the effort because it meant as a family, we had a cupboard load of fruit to eat all year round.
But the preserved fruit was so good just as it was, and I would often eat a whole jar for a meal.
And because fresh fruit was always plentiful in season, Mum also dried the apricots for later use.
The apricots were from our own tree, but they were cut and dried at Jack and Molly Huckle's block out on Maple Road. They grew and dried apricots on a commercial scale, but the Green family would go to their cutting shed after hours, cut our own fruit and Jack would add them to his overnight Sulphur Box load. Next morning, they would be laid out to dry in the sun and after a week or so once the apricots were dried, they were collected and taken home.
Mum stored them in an old pillowcase in the wardrobe in Jan's room and during the winter months we had the most delicious apricot pies made from the dried apricots. They just had a special taste about them, dried apricot pies were just the best.
And because dried apricots are so tasty as a snack, I'm reckoning that Mum's stash was always under threat from us kids as we helped ourselves to the apricots stored in the pillowcase. I still love dried apricots to this day.
On pie making day Mum would also make these very basic jam tarts. Any leftover pastry was never wasted, Mum simply fashioned the pasty into a base for jam tarts, baked them in the oven and as said very basic but we ate them by the truck load. A Joan special but so darn good.
Naturally with so much fruit available Mum also made her own jams.
The jams were special as well and again as a kid, I would hate to think of how many rounds of fresh bread covered in Mum’s jam and cream that I ate.
Cream from the top of milk: the cream formed like a skin on the milk, and you just scraped it off and used it as it was. So nice on the jam. Then later it was possible to get packaged cream and that still got a decent work out.
And in season we always had an abundance of stewed fruit. Apricots were always my pick of the stewed fruit and I certainly ate my share. Mum made great stewed apricots, naturally lots of sugar was added but I did and do eat them a touch on the tart side.
Sometimes we added this wafer type cereal biscuit to the apricots, and I remember that was a good touch. But the name of this stuff eludes me and not many others seem to know what I'm talking about let alone remember what they were called.
Stewed fruit is something I always make in season and while it is fairly basic to cook, I do like the product I make for myself.
At that time in life, it sat well with me because I did not like homemade sauce. At the Green family home we always had Rosella sauce in a glass bottle and that was good stuff. As time rolled on, I have developed a real liking for homemade sauce, but it is not something I have ever attempted to make myself.
I do however have a memory of Mum making tomato relish, I am guessing it is something she liked but here my personal take is that it was not my go. Now however, not so, I love relish and eat lots of it but again, it is not something I have ever attempted to make.
And Mum also boiled her own beetroot, grown in the garden and cooked to suit. I hated the smell of beetroot as it boiled away on the stove and to this day it is not something I can eat at all. I have no liking and make a point of always saying 'no beetroot' if ordering a burger or anything that this awful goo might be a part of. But Mum cooked a lot of it over the years.
She also made her own mayonnaise. I don't remember watching her cook mayo and I don't really know how she made it, but it was another of the foods I did not like. But, and yeah there is a few buts in this food chapter, I now love mayo and eat it often. It is not homemade, nope it comes in a jar off the supermarket shelf.
Before I finish on the food theme, I must add about how different it was at mealtimes when I was a kid growing up at home.
The evening meal would always be served at the kitchen table; we all sat together as a family and ate. You would eat everything dished up and you would not leave the table without asking, “Please may I leave the table.” That is simply how it was at that time.
I can remember the odd times that we would eat in the lounge room. A Saturday night for example particularly in winter, we would get home from the football and mum might use the fireplace in the lounge to heat up our soup or to boil our saveloys on. We would be allowed to sit in the warm and eat.
Of course, as we got older and times began to change then we would sit and watch TV while eating but even then, it would only be on occasions, it was certainly not a regular thing.
In my early childhood and school days we sat together for breakfast but as we got a little older then starting times for our days varied for each of us so it was a hit and miss affair. I probably ate more ‘brekkies’ on the run than I did sitting at a table.
It was things like mince, the Joan style mince I spoke about, or poached eggs, baked beans even. I also remember eating fruit at times on my breakfast break, Mum would open a jar of preserves either apricots or peaches and I would have a decent feed.
And I guess lunch was hit and miss as well but if we were home as kids like during school holidays then lunch was similar to the evening meal structure, and we sat together to eat.
As a family we were never really a cereal mob at breakfast time. Maybe some Rice Bubbles or Corn Flakes every now and then and even the odd serve of Wheat-Bix but not often.
My memory is that the main attraction to breakfast cereal was the surprise you got from the box, I recall these plastic toys being a perennial fad and a favorite.
If we did have cereal, I remember it was always with scalding hot milk and I'm thinking I did not really like that, it made the cereal go mushy and even with spoons full of sugar it was not enticing.
Somewhat surprisingly I now eat cereal; it is often on my breakfast menu. And I always have cold milk and add fruit, I do not have sugar at all.
Scrambled Eggs is another breakfast meal I enjoy from my mum’s days but again making it just a little more like an omelette gives the dish a different taste. Add onion, grated cheese, cream maybe and not so much milk makes this breakfast dish a delight.
Oddly enough I do also remember eating some can food at breakfast and at other times of the day. Baked Beans of course came from a can, but I also remember things like Steak and Vegetables, Irish Stew and Sausage and Vegetables. The brand of the tin meals was Harvest. I am not sure at what time in childhood the can foods kicked in, I am guessing probably about my teenage years but that is a guess.
We did eat cans of soup, Heinze Tomato Soup from a can and again I'm not sure in what years we started with the soup from the can.
Oh, I must mention crumpets. They were always a favorite in the winter months, back in this era they were very much restricted to the cooler time of year, they were not available all year round. The two brands I recall were Golden Crumpets or another pack made by Gibbs. We didn't get crumpets a lot but often enough to remember they were always well received.
And another couple of Joan specials, one was what she called 'Mock Fish' which technically was potato not fish. The finished product was fashioned like burgers and fried in a pan, wasn't bad from memory and I will admit to having made this 'Mock Fish'.
Omlettes were another meal Mum taught me to make, once the basic egg mixture was ready then by adding the right amount of water helped made the omlette a success and cooking it covered but with a small hole to let the steam out worked. I do make omlettes now and always remember Joan as I tuck in and enjoy the food and recall how those small but useful hints work wonders.
So Mum, thank-you for all the meals cooked across the years, some very special memories that still continue to grow over time from how and what you cooked in that kitchen at Barmera. First with the wood stove and later with your gas top. You excelled and did all you could. Brilliant.
In fairness again, Mum did expand her cooking understanding in the years since I was a kid and flew the coup. As different ingredients became available and as shopping habits and selections changed then her meals did also change.
But really, as a kid growing up at home and eating what Mum cooked, the meals were very simplistic and probably boring by what we cook today. Hey, as said, Mum always cooked plenty, and always the meals were filling and tasty,
Now Mum, every time I cook it seems I think of you, I regularly smile when I remember what you taught me. My cooking is so different yet so similar. It is common for me to tell someone of why I cook the way I do and how I learned as a kid to have this love of cooking.
It came from my Mum.
That is so special for me, it ensures your memory will live on once you are no longer with us. Sometimes I wonder if you ever had any idea of the influence you had on me when it comes to having time in the kitchen.
Maybe you always knew how this would play out, either way I am so blessed to have this great common interest with you. Special memories indeed, now and always.
Joan Winifred Green, you taught me so very well. And I guess old habits die hard as I follow your cooking basics.
And with Mum covered what about my Dad? Did he cook, was he an influence?
The era I grew up meant that mums were the chief cook and bottle washer. And the Green family household was always along that theme. Dad was the hunter and collector, Mum the nurturer. And cook.
He loved them and I guess I ate them at the time without much thought. As life rolled on I do use mushrooms sometimes in my cooking but I never sit down to have a plate of mushrooms on toast as my dad did.
Lambs fry and kidney was another meal Dad put his touch on as a cook. My memory is Mum hated the stuff and the smell it produced when being cooked so I'm guessing Dad had free reign to cook for himself. The kitchen was his.
I will admit to liking Lambs Fry and kidney. For whatever reason I never cook the stuff, but I did eat the meal as a kid. With that noted, I have always liked steak and kidney, Mum made it in pie form, and it was something I enjoyed yet have never made.
Sometimes I will grab a steak and kidney pie from a bakery but I'm thinking it is somewhat of a delicacy in this day and age and is not a pie flavor that is sold everywhere.
White pudding was another food I recall my dad had a liking for. It was not cooked but rather came in stick form something like metwurst did. I'm guessing it was purchased from the local butcher, not sure. Look, it was ok but not something I lined up to eat.
An odd memory I have is that Dad loved pepper, white pepper, he covered his food with the stuff.
As a kid I was not big on pepper but as those taste buds developed I use a lot of pepper now. Both in my cooking but also on food. Maybe my dad was onto something. But I do prefer black pepper either from a shaker or black pepper corns out of a grinder.
I mentioned Mum being a great chip maker, she was. But Dad also made great chips, he seemed to prefer round slices of spud as his chips rather than what we now call fry shaped. Sometimes I cook the chips as Dad did and now as I write this, I realise he did have some influence on my cooking.
Now, Broad Beans, another Dad delicacy.
Well, broad beans and delicacy should not be in the same sentence, I mean they are foul smelling, crap tasting lumps of, yeah, I have no name for it. But somehow I did eat them as a kid. Guess I have no idea why but Dad and I would have broad beans as a feed. Strange that.
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