Black Saturn's evening meal planner

thriftlady_2

Pink-winged wrote:

Hi black-saturn,

I read on the daily thread that you were trying out Mrs Beetons recipe, but I am really surprised that she made lemon chicken.....I thought that was a sort of 'new fangled' recipe. You have prompted me to have a look in my mum's old book to see if I can find more recipes. :T

Pink, the original Mrs Beeton is vey different from subsequent editions. Sam Beeton (her husband) sold the rights to the book after her death (she died at the age of 29). This has meant that for decades new editions have been published reflecting the different food tastes of different times. You can buy a facsimile edition of Isabella Beeton's original book.

black-saturn

Theres a lot of recipes in there that don't seem very old fashioned like lasagne, pizza and chilli con carne so I know it must have been re edited at some point. I've adapted that lemon chicken recipe to be cheaper than the one in the book as it tells you to use fresh lemons in there and also tells you to bake it in the oven. But as I'm saving on gas I simmered it on the lowest light on the hob.

jessicamb

thriftlady wrote:

Pink, the original Mrs Beeton is vey different from subsequent editions. Sam Beeton (her husband) sold the rights to the book after her death (she died at the age of 29). This has meant that for decades new editions have been published reflecting the different food tastes of different times. You can buy a facsimile edition of Isabella Beeton's original book.

I think this may be the original Mrs Beeton book which is free to download as the copyright has expired (something to do with being over 100 years old).

**purpleprincess**

jessicamb wrote:

I think this may be the original Mrs Beeton book which is free to download as the copyright has expired (something to do with being over 100 years old).

How can I do this?

jessicamb

**purpleprincess** wrote:

How can I do this?

Hi PP

You can click the download button and it opens it as a text file. Heres the link it gives me

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10136/10136-8.txt

I think then you could copy it into word/save as a text file and read from there. I wont be printing it out though as its currently on 360 pages on the print preview and its still going :eek: . It would be cheaper to find a copy and buy it I think but I'll be having a look for recipies on it later

culpepper

if you click download book and then choose the zipped file,it will download without trying to open in the browser first.If you've got winzip you can click open with winzip and it will open winzip and you can click the text file while its still compressed and look through it. or if you have XP you can choose open with compressed zip folders and read the text file there too without uncompressing it.

**purpleprincess**

jessicamb wrote:

Hi PP

You can click the download button and it opens it as a text file. Heres the link it gives me

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10136/10136-8.txt

I think then you could copy it into word/save as a text file and read from there. I wont be printing it out though as its currently on 360 pages on the print preview and its still going :eek: . It would be cheaper to find a copy and buy it I think but I'll be having a look for recipies on it later

Cool! Thanks! In the end I opened it and then copied and pasted into a word document, only 1450 pages :eek: Don't think I'll be printing it!!! I might just read through it and condense it into what I think I'll use, recipes, household stuff.

black-saturn

Well tonight I've made Devilled Pilchards from the Victory Cookbook with brown rice but I must say they didn't go down too well with my children so I doubt I will be making them again.

Mermaid

Worcestershire sauce

You can buy veggie/vegan Wostershire sauce from Asda to add to the pizza topping mentioned earlier, brand is Geo-Organics, it's in the organic section. Can't remember price offhand, but can find receipt if anyone is really interested. I normally make pizza topping with a tin of tomatoes, an onion and various herbs (garlic, oregano etc). Fry chopped onion in saucepan until soft, add chopped tomatoes and boil until reduced and very thick. This takes longer than using a tube of puree, but it has a nice texture. Apparently a teaspoon of sugar will make it thicken more quickly, but haven't tried it. Must try making a large batch and freezing for later use.

Ice cream

If contains ice crystals, you need to beat it more. In my food processor book it recommends beating after 4 to 5 hours. I think you could try beating multiple times, but it's probably too much effort.

Lemon chicken

You can use custard powder to thicken the sauce, I got this tip from a book called "Chopsticks Recipes Every Menus", which is printed in english and chinese, so it's probably authentic. Not only does the custard powder thicken the sauce, it also gives it a nice yellow colour. I used to put a lemon sauce over a couple of ready made breaded chicken breasts when pushed for time. Might try this over some quorn fillets now I'm veggie.

Thanks for the new ideas for evening meals!

Mermaid

black-saturn

Tonight I'm making lasagne. I have a tip for stopping the top of your lasagne drying out in the oven. Cover the lasagne with a couple of slices of bread which will get dried out instead and then you can throw them out when it's cooked revealing a nice moist lasagne underneath.