Favourite home made food as Mother used to make.

looksee

That egg in a saucer sounds very like a concoction my mother would make for us as a special request - beaten egg with lots of cheese in it, poured onto an enamel plate and cooked under the grill. It was then scraped off and spread on bread.

In the days when you actually got fat off a cooked rasher, rather than that nasty gloop that comes out now, my favourite was a big pile of fresh sliced green (runner) beans served with bacon rashers and the fat dribbled on top. Yum.

jos28

My Mam made the most amazing rice for dessert, not a pudding, just lovely creamy rice with vanilla. YUM.....I tried several times to do but never got it right.
I loved her stew too, home from school on a cold day, big bowl of stew and crusty bread. Happy days ! If there was any left we get a mug filled with it for supper No idea why we put it into mugs, weird I know but we would have it in front of the fire for supper.

Jellybaby1

jos28 wrote: »

My Mam made the most amazing rice for dessert, not a pudding, just lovely creamy rice with vanilla. YUM.....I tried several times to do but never got it right.
I loved her stew too, home from school on a cold day, big bowl of stew and crusty bread. Happy days ! If there was any left we get a mug filled with it for supper No idea why we put it into mugs, weird I know but we would have it in front of the fire for supper.

Your mammy must be an Irish mammy!

jos28

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Your mammy must be an Irish mammy!

She sure was, and a damn good one too. She died 18 months ago and I miss her terribly. Left some fantastic memories though.

paddyandy

There was a very limited or small number of sauces and condiments for the table in 50s ireland now there are hundreds of them because the food has got so tasteless .

Jellybaby1

paddyandy wrote: »

There was a very limited or small number of sauces and condiments for the table in 50s ireland now there are hundreds of them because the food has got so tasteless .

I think people are so used to foods from other countries now whether it be on holidays or visiting restaurants that people's tastes have just changed over the years. I remember the first time I tasted curry and chilli flavours I thought my mouth was on fire, but now I can enjoy it without exploding. Our kids turn their noses up at what would be seen as 'traditional' Irish food, and prefer spicier foods. I always felt Irish food leaned more towards herbs than spices because that is what was widely available. Spicy is nice too though.

rich.d.berry

My mother died 15 years ago and I miss her jams and preserves. I have tried to replicate her produce but I do not have the requisite skill.

She used to make a melon and ginger jam that was to die for. It was not overly sweet with a hint of ginger spice and wonderful, cool, crunchy bits of melon. It was one of my favourite things to have on toast.

Her marmalade was also gorgeous. It did not have the bitterness of the shop bought varieties. I seem to recall her soaking the peel for days before cooking, regularly replacing the water in order to prevent it from being too bitter.

Her bottled beetroot was also wonderful. I don't know why the shop bought product is so insipid in comparison. Perhaps they're overcooked. The home made variety I recall was sweet and crispy.

I recall my mother buying fruit and vegetables by the box. The tomatoes would not last so she always preserved some of them and kept the greenest for ripening and later use. The tinned tomatoes from the supermarket are not in the same league as my mother's preserves.

The excess fruit was turned into preserves that she would then use to flavour her home cultured yoghurt. Overripe bananas were turned into banana bread. Excess carrots and potatoes were cooked and frozen to be used in stews and casseroles.

Perhaps it's time for me to try my hand again.

rich.d.berry

Right, I was digging through my ma's cookbooks that she left me and I've found a recipe for melon and ginger jam, which she annotated and made notes on. If it turns out well then I'll post up the recipe.

I saw some watermelons for sale in Lidl on the weekend. I hope they still have stock left.

Standard Toaster

Apple Tart!!

My aul Hen makes the best apple tart. Been YEARS since I had some, must get onto her. Feck, now I want apple tart!

Jellybaby1

rich.d.berry wrote: »

Right, I was digging through my ma's cookbooks that she left me and I've found a recipe for melon and ginger jam, which she annotated and made notes on. If it turns out well then I'll post up the recipe.

I saw some watermelons for sale in Lidl on the weekend. I hope they still have stock left.

Looking forward to hearing about your results. That jam sounds interesting and delicious. I'd never have thought of melon for jam. My MIL used to make marrow jam, but I never liked it.

enfield

Whar about chips fried in dripping, not oil? You can't buy dripping now but I work in a Kitchen (part of a Tús scheme) when I fry the mince I keep the juice in a steel bowl, and when it goes hard I empty out the juice and whats left is the dripping, eventually I got enough for a big pan of chips. So I frys them up and gave them around for everyone to taste. They thought they were the best chips they ever tasted. What did you cook them with they said. Ask yer granny I said. Its dripping! Whats that, they said, here have a look says I, they had never seen anything like it before.
Here is my two best tips.
(1) how to make a cast iron pan non-stick. Clean the pan, then put a small amount of oil in it and empty it out. cover the pan with salt and burn it into it, yes burn it I said. Let it cool and wipe the salt out with a newspaper. The pan will stay non-stick until you fry something with water in it, like tomatoes etc.
(2) How to fry an egg. put a little oil in the pan and heat it up, crack in an egg and wait till the bottom of the egg is cooked but the op still raw. swicth off the gas and immediately put a half teaspoon of water into the pan and cover it with a pot lid. The steam finishes the egg off mighty!!

My Ma used to make meatballs and stuffed tomatoes. Meat balls are a doddle, mix raw mince with diced onions and roll in ball shapes, mix water with flour (nothing else mind you!, no egg or milk or anything), meatballs into the batter and then into a pan with some dripping or oil if you are fancyschmancy, cook on one side then turn over. Believe me they are the best meatballs you can eat, easy peasy.
Signed an ould fella.

enfield

I forgot to say, at Christmas my Granny who lived in Galway used to send my Da up a goose for Christmas, by post. I still remember getting a bloody brown parcel off the postman. he hated Christmas's. I wonder why? He used to like fried Christmas pudding. He was a breadman in Kennedys Bakery and at Christmas he used to get a tip and a drink of almost all his customers, driving home flutered was normal at that time of year.
Signed, still an ouldfella

Teagwee

You CAN buy dripping - not very easy to find, though. I get it in Sainsbury's in NI and freeze it. You are absolutely right about frying in beef dripping - nothing approaches the taste.
You can also render your own with free fat (aka suet) from your butcher - this is a long process and a bit tedious but the taste is much superior to bought stuff.
I don't subscribe at all to the saturated fat hypothesis - after significant personal research and the conclusions of many experts, I believe it's all a crock of you know what We use mostly animal fats in our house - a little olive or groundnut oil on occasion.

Jellybaby1

Going a bit OT but if you have any old photos from your childhood and earlier, take a long look at your parents, aunts uncles, grandparents, people walking along the street, etc. Rarely do you see obese people in those photos, and they only used animal fats in those days. Isn't it strange how overweight modern society has become with all the advice on nutrition, health food shops, good fats, olive oil and of course the (hated?) Gillian McKeith. Of course there wasn't much money to overbuy/overeat food either I suppose. I'm always shocked when I watch that Supersize/Superskinny TV programme. Last time I watched there was a 50 stone woman!

The good old days, and we were happy, so we were told:

looksee

Agree about people not being obese Jellybaby, I think one of the main reasons was that they worked off the calories they ate. Houses were not heated so bodies had to use calories to keep warm, there was less ability to get into the car for every journey.

There was much more physical work - my mum did not have a washing machine till I was about 10 I think, the cotton sheets - and everything else of course, all heavy natural fabrics, went into the copper boiler in the kitchen, then were hauled to a metal tub outside where they were rinsed and wound through the huge mangle, also outside. Doing this in the middle of winter in Yorkshire was a chilly job!

There was never any shortage of food but it was meat, vegetables and home made puddings with custard. And lots of bread and jam or dripping. Sweets were - literally - rationed, I still have my ration book which ended 1954, but even after that they were a once a week treat rather than a regular snack.

I think that now, nice, and wholesome, as many of the old recipes were, we do not need the calories of the pies and puddings, and equally we do not need the empty calories of the white baguette type bread. Though 'a little of what you fancy does you good' - that's still true!

Jellybaby1

Looksee, I would go along with what you say all right. But reading your post, you were well off compared to us! (Oh dear, I feel a Monty Python sketch coming along!) We walked or took the bus as we had no car. We never had a washing machine and in fact I didn't get one until a year after I was married in 1977. My aunt washed clothes with a washboard all her life until she went into a nursing home about ten years ago. Recipes then were mainly to bulk up because work was hard, but there were of course the upper classes too, and I really don't think they worked their calories off. I read that Mrs. Simpson said that ladies should always be thin in order to carry off beautiful clothes, and she ate the diet of a sparrow. I must take a closer look at some vintage photos to compare between eras, and countries. In our house it was mainly spuds, milk and eggs, in all their forms. Yay for luvly cosy, comforting mammies.

rich.d.berry

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Looking forward to hearing about your results. That jam sounds interesting and delicious. I'd never have thought of melon for jam. My MIL used to make marrow jam, but I never liked it.

I finally got around to making the jam and compiling the recipe. I posted it in the food and drink forum if you want a looksee. It turned out as well as I remember my mother's to be.

Jellybaby1

Thanks for updating. It looks lovely - nice and thick and jammy. Melon has a habit of making my mouth water. I'd love to try your jam sooner rather than later, but have a feeling the melon might find its way into my tummy before it becomes jam! Wish me luck!

rich.d.berry

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Thanks for updating. It looks lovely - nice and thick and jammy. Melon has a habit of making my mouth water. I'd love to try your jam sooner rather than later, but have a feeling the melon might find its way into my tummy before it becomes jam! Wish me luck!

The beautiful thing about this jam is that you can have your melon and eat it. You only use the rind and some of the more insipid flesh from the ends.

On Saturday we had a beautiful Nigella Lawson watermelon, feta and black olive salad with our lasagna followed by the sweetest watermelon heart chunks for dessert. Delicious!

Good luck!

Sar_Bear

My mam makes the best garlic potatoes in the world.. Have tried makin em myself, had em in retaurants and never have I had em like the mammy makes em

leincar

Rhubarb Crumble. My Mother is well into her eighties but still makes it every other week.

None of that adding bran flakes or oat flakes or God forbid digestive biscuits to the crumble, it is made from brown sugar, flour and butter.

Jesus I want some now.

Rubecula

Came across this little recipe for St Pat's ( I think it is from America)

May be interesting to give it a go.

http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2012/03/shamrock-blizzard/

tayto lover

Bacon and cabbage and big flowery spuds with a chunk of real butter for me on any Paddy's Day.
Now it's impossible to ruin that.
Have it sitting on my knee as I watch the All-Ireland Club Finals from Croke Park in front of a good open fire. Dis-connect the bell and door knocker too.
Heaven.

Jellybaby1

tayto lover wrote: »

Bacon and cabbage and big flowery spuds with a chunk of real butter for me on any Paddy's Day.
Now it's impossible to ruin that.
Have it sitting on my knee as I watch the All-Ireland Club Finals from Croke Park in front of a good open fire. Dis-connect the bell and door knocker too.
Heaven.

If you delete the match, the rest would be MY heaven!

Spread

Stuffed sheep's heart with grilled bacon and sauteed potatoes. As A kid, my Mom used to do it for us. The cost of each heart? 1s
Have only had it a few times since - always abroad.
Shank of Lamb or Crubeens were among other favourites

franc 91

I just wanted to add that melon jam is typical in Provence and Corsica but with the melon you use a pod of vanilla or a stick of cinnamon. I have found one recipe (on Marmiton.org which is an important website for recipes in France - Confiture de melon à la vanille et au gingembre) for melon and ginger jam, but they still use vanilla with it.

looksee

Spread wrote: »

Stuffed sheep's heart with grilled bacon and sauteed potatoes. As A kid, my Mom used to do it for us. The cost of each heart? 1s
Have only had it a few times since - always abroad.
Shank of Lamb or Crubeens were among other favourites

As a kid I ate - and enjoyed - tripe and chitterlings. We used get fed heart at school for school dinner, I didn't like it then and I still don't like it. My dad's rather uncouth (deliberate I think ) approach to eating crubeens (pigs feet as we knew them) when I was a child put me off them. And I never have been able to face tongue.

I used to love sliced meat called brawn - chunks of meat in jelly sliced like ham. I haven't seen it in Ireland so years ago I decided I would make some. Its make from pigs cheek, so I got a half head, and following my cookery book cooked it for ages, then stripped off the meat, packed it into bowls, added the liquid for jelly, pressed it and left to cool. Looked lovely. Sliced it and tasted, then threw the whole lot in the bin...

Jellybaby1

I think brawn is still available but has a lot of cereal in it these days and no jelly that I could see. Yes, I remember the luvverly brawn from my childhood, it was gorrr-juss!! This thread keeps making me hungry. I made a lovely carrot & cumin soup today - first attempt - got thumbs up from the family so it will become a regular feature in my repertoire! Michel Roux eat your heart out! :P Wonder if our kids will be salivating in years to come over what I dish up now.

Rubecula

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I think brawn is still available but has a lot of cereal in it these days and no jelly that I could see. Yes, I remember the luvverly brawn from my childhood, it was gorrr-juss!! This thread keeps making me hungry. I made a lovely carrot & cumin soup today - first attempt - got thumbs up from the family so it will become a regular feature in my repertoire! Michel Roux eat your heart out! :P Wonder if our kids will be salivating in years to come over what I dish up now.

I don't know if you have a Morrisons there in Ireland? However if you do, or if you go via Holyhead at any time where there is one (Opposite Tesco) Yje dow a nice brawn complete with jelly. It is not the dine pink stuff though, it is a little more coarse. However I can vouch for the fact it is very very tasty. They also do a nice line in Tripe too.

Jellybaby1

No Morrisons here Rube but I do know of it due to visiting one of the childer when she was a student in London - Morrisons was her local supermarket.