really old style living?

witchwoopiggy

redlady_1 wrote: »

Um, shame I didnt know about this when I was married. Would have saved me a fortune to say "oh I am sorry darling, you cant breathe???" :rotfl::rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:love it..hmm i know an exhubby i would of loved to say this too

mardatha wrote: »

Note to self ; - learn canning (which is really bottling apparently) ; learn how to build a log cabin in three hours with only a nailfile; and knit a ragrug out of old teabags.
Cant let these newcomers steal the show !!:lipsrseal:lipsrseal:lipsrseal
Pottering around the kitchen today, pressure cooking piles of veg and then (ahem) bagging and neatly writing the contents on the bags (;)) and putting neatly in new freezer.:D I feel like Ma Walton.
If they had one.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:nailfile :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

ChocClare wrote: »

Now the ragrug out of old teabags WOULD be useful - we seem to produce millions of the damned things :D:D

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:im so glad im home alone reading this lot made me giggle like a loon :rotfl::rotfl:keep it up ladys you make my day:T:T

ChocClare

redlady_1 wrote: »

Well, certainly the passata, jam and chutneys are now ok, apple sauce, anything such as cottage pie that would normally go in a freezer but I am liking the sound of the jar! That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Er, Clare...potting??:D You really do know alot of stuff!

I read a lot - and talk a lot of ..... :D:D

For a basic tomato sauce recipe, do the following:

Chop an onion and a carrot and put with 2 tblsps olive oil in a heavy saucepan. Soften gently. If you have a stick of celery, chop that up and bung it in as well. Once the onion is softened, you can also add a crushed clove of garlic if you like. Now add 2 tins of tomatoes, a dessertspoonful of sugar and a sprinkling of herbes de provence or basil or oregano as you prefer. Season to taste. Stir. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and zhuzh in your food processor or with a hand-held blender until smooth and thick.

You can adjust quantities of this and of course use fresh tomatoes if you wish.

If you want to have this on the shelf rather than in the freezer:

Put the sauce into jars, add one tablespoonful of lemon juice to each jar and stir. Put the lids on and tighten but not too tight. Make sure the seal between jar and lid is good, ie there isn't all tomato sauce all over the edge! Put the jars in a pan of water, making sure they are covered by an inch of water. If you haven't got much room in your pan, wrap the jars in newspaper to stop them knocking together. Bring to the boil and boil for 30 mins. Leave the jars to cool in the water. Label and stick on your shelf. If you have proper Mason jars, you can test the seal by taking the ring off and holding the jar upside down (preferably over the sink :rotfl:).

Shepherd's pie would have to be done in a pressure CANNER, I'm afraid (and I think it would probably taste not so good as frozen but I'll wait for hugo's input on that).

As for potted meat:

Mrs Beetons Potted Beef
2lb lean beef
a pinch of powdered cloves
a pinch of powdered mace
a good pinch of powdered allspice
salt- pepper
1/2 -1 teaspoon anchovy essence
Clarified butter
Wipe trim and cut the meat into small pieces.
Put in a stone jar or casserole with 1 tablespoon water, the cloves, mace, allspice, salt -pepper. Cover with several thicknesses of greased paper and a lid, and place in a pan of boiling water, or cook in the oven in a tin of boiling water.
Cook gently for about three hours, replenishing the water as it reduces.
Then pound the meat well, adding juice from the meat and a few drops of anchovy essence by degrees.
Season to taste, rub through a fine wire sieve, press into pots and cover with melted clarified butter.

I can just see you rushing out to get that started now!!! :rotfl::rotfl:

Caterina

Thank you for the cotton link ChocClare! I shall order some in the near future together with sewing supplies that I need (so if I spend £20 I get free postage).

maryb

I think American advice has for a long time been to process jars of jam in a water bath (or canner) after filling the jars. I remember seeing this in a Martha Stewart magazine about 15 years ago and thinking what a lot of extra work. It would certainly make sure the jam would keep well but I don't do it - I make sure the jars and lids themselves are sterilised first and a waxed circle on the surface of the jam. I haven't had any problem with mould.

Now, just to add a further complication, I believe the French pour a layer of melted wax on top of their home made jam to keep the air from spoling it. You can get the blocks of wax in all the supermarkets. Not sure I fancy having a layer of wax in contact with my food

mardatha

My god. Poor Mrs Beeton - no wonder she died young Think I'll just open a tin of Spam .

Hugo_Rignold

There is no need to do anything to jam or chutney as it is the sugars that are doing the preserving. As others have said, high acid content foods like most fruit may be (am avoiding the word 'can' now) bottled just using the hot water bath method. As long as you hear the lid make a 'pop' as it cools then it has achieved a vacuum.
For meats and veg you need a pressure canner. ChocClare's explanation of this is spot-on and much more succinct than I could manage.

As regards bottled meats, I find they come out without any detriment to flavour or texture as long as they are fairly robust meats/mixtures to begin with. Bolognaise/cottage pie filling is fine, beef/lamb/venison stew is great, filet mignon probably would not be so good.
The process of canning does not turn home made bolognaise into that dreadful supermarket canned stuff any more than bottling tomato sauce turns it into Dolmio. Those products taste cack because the ingredients that go into them are poor and the recipe is not like Mama used to make. I warrant they do not taste any worse coming out of the tin than they did going in.
you can bottle boiled sausage as well, of course. I can't stand shop-bought frankfurters, but own home-made ones are delicious. Again, probably down to the quality of the contents. Ours are made with our own-reared free-range rare-breed pork, commercial ones are made with very dubious porcine by products. The method of preserving is exactly the same however.

Tomato sauce is a controversial one. Whilst the tomato is a fairly high acid fruit and lots of people bottle toms just in a water bath, there is a lot of advice that says this is not a 100% safe method. I tend to pressure can ours, because I err... can.

In terms of veg, some things work better than others. Green beans for example may be canned, but I don't care for the result: they lose colour and become a bit grey and flaccid. I prefer to salt beans, which produces a much 'fresher' tasting result.

Another method of preserving meat in bottles is in fat, of course - rillons and confit and so on. But that's a whole other can of worms.

Reevsey

mardatha wrote: »

Looking now for a good supplier of veg seeds, anybody got a favourite to recommend ? Am still flattened with flu but plotting the veggies and quite happy Who has cheap good seeds ??

Madartha - sorry for the delayed response, pesky work got in the way! I get my seeds from Wilkinsons, thier own brand seeds have a fantastic germination rate and if you are wiling to pay a little more they have lots of F1 hybrid seeds too (new disease and pest resistant varieties). I find a lot of the on-line and catalogue suppliers much more expensive and they also have fewer seeds/packet.:)

mardatha

My nearest Wilkinsons is a long way away though ty anyway !

p00

maryb wrote: »

Now, just to add a further complication, I believe the French pour a layer of melted wax on top of their home made jam to keep the air from spoling it. You can get the blocks of wax in all the supermarkets. Not sure I fancy having a layer of wax in contact with my food

Pam Corben used wax on some of her preserves recently on River Cottage.

xxp00

Reevsey

mardatha wrote: »

My nearest Wilkinsons is a long way away though ty anyway !

They will supply on-line hun - worth a look i guess if the p&p is reasonable.