The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

mcculloch29

I just posted the following musings on Greying Pilgrim's thread, chatting about economical recipes and I thought I'd post it here.
Looking through my cookbooks the state of the pages tells me which recipes I tried.
I just picked up one of the oldest I have (c. 1977) Katie Stewart's 500 Recipes for Cooking for Two. No pictures here or recipes taking up a full page but good old Seventies stuff - I see from marks on the page and my memory I made such delights as mustard pork rashers, ham and pork pasties (Spam slices in shortcrust) and sausage curry.

Mustard pork rashers were actually quite nice once I'd modified the recipe, I might give them a go again sometime.
It wasn't all bad, I used Katie's recipe for sweet and sour pork for years before ready made sauces came on the market. For a few years it became a family tradition to have it on Christmas Eve, for some reason.

Looking through the recipes, the differences jump out at you, curry powder rather than turmeric and cumin; tinned fruit in recipes involving pears and peaches; tins of corned beef and the aforementioned Spam, recipes calling for sweetbreads, lambs' tongues and kidneys.


We did have Zena Skinner and The Galloping Gourmet along with Madhur Jaffrey, but it's amazing how little culinary skill was involved in a lot of the recipes back then.
What I didn't mention was that when I picked up the Katie Stewart 500 Recipes from the bookshelf, it disintegrated. The covers fell off and it was then in two halves, so I spent the next 20 minutes removing ancient sellotape and putting it back together with fresh sticky tape. I'm not sure how many of those recipes I will try again but it might be fun to try one or two, including those I never got around to, like ham gnocchi. Edit: But not veal. It's amazing how many recipes there are for veal. I don't remember seeing it regularly at the butchers but it must have been there.

nursemaggie

We are getting to be a busy lot at night aren't we. Yes I am up at silly o'clock just got up to be ready for hospital transport in less than an hour. I actually got up just after 4am. Went to bed at 8.30am.

I think we have all been eating bad fats for years under the illusion that they are good for us. I have been returning to the fats we used to use. since seeing a lecture on fats a few months ago I think someone on here posted it. If not it was one of the other OS threads. I mostly read the stuff that just pops up for a few weeks or even days and the knitting threads so it can't be them.

My roast potatoes taste better with lard. I think I have got a better balance now. I worked out through my own studies back in the 60s that heart attacks were probably caused by too much sugar as a high sugar diet was the only thing they had in common. We had not divided heart attacks into different categories then.

We are probably all eat healthier than average diets because we eat considerably less than processed food than the rest of the population. In the last year both heart disease and diabetes have been found in very ancient populations so it is probably a lot more complicated than diet.

McCulloch my oldest recipe book was a modernised Mrs Beeton. It was just downsized for a more modern family in that most recipes were for 4 instead of 20. I think I learned all the basics from Mrs Beeton and how cooking worked and that ratios where more important than quantities so I can cut one down and still get the timing right. I bought that book on Leeds station a few weeks before I got married in 1967. The cover was long gone the paper had gone brown very few pages had any corners, there was more sellotape than paper. It had been beyond repairing for about 20 years so I finally threw it out last year.

I got rid of a lot just before we moved in March this year. I miss my Mrs Beeton because it taught me how to dress a crab fillet fish carve joints and all sorts of things like that. I once came home on the bus in Singapore with a live lobster and two live crabs in my bag. One of the crabs kept getting out and I was running all over the bus after it. If they had tied it's claws together like they did the lobster I would not have had half the trouble.

As for the veg about 20% of the population eat no vegetables or fruit what so ever. They are missing a lot. About another 20% only eat peas and carrots.

I have always eaten a lot of fruit and veg and a lot of natural food and I still got cancer so just enjoy what to you eat and don't worry about it.

Well it looks like I may get to be here a little longer. I do not want to sit in an empty department for two or three hours.

ivyleaf

mcCulloch I used to have 500 Recipes for cooking for two in the Seventies too. It was just what I needed as a new army wife who hadn't really learned much cooking at home.

One of our favourites was called Quick Corned Beef Supper, involving a small can of corned beef, sliced, in a pan with onion and defrosted frozen peas underneath, dotted with butter before cooking. Sounds dire, but it was very tasty!

When my DD1 set up home I gave the book to her, and now there are usually only me and OH eating here I asked her if she still had it, but she'd got rid of it years ago, sadly.

nursemaggie I've bookmarked your sugarless fruit cake recipe and will try to get around to making it for my diabetic husband, thanks I hope you'll have a better result at the clinic today.

LOL at mental picture of you chasing a crab all over the bus!

Bigjenny

Ivyleaf, you can still buy copies of Katie Stewarts book from Eb*y or Amaz*n.

I didn't have that one but several others in the 500 series.

fuddle

Thanks for the fat info VJ's. I didn't know that about kerrygold. I will investigate pricings and debate whether to switch when I get a minute.

I decided to go navy blue with the cardi. It's safe and an alrounder. I do think I will be having that dark yellow tweed in a scarf set though I ordered a couple of balls last night so will get going with it when it arrives. Until then I am knitting (getting better) a beige scarf for my school run padded coat.

We were suited and booted for chills this morning as the phone app dare suggest it was 0 outside :eek: It must have been as we were not at all overheated.

Must leave for work soon but washing machine and tumbler are busying themselves and will do all through the day :eek: I'm cleaning the summer duvets ready for the vacuum storage bags.

Softstuff

Hello all!
Did you miss me?

I was employed in a job that was great, but the employer decided that paying our entire wage was optional. 3 of us quit.

In any case, it allowed us to finish paying the mortgage, get a car and get a best friend. So it wasn't that heinous an experience. Even though the chances of me getting another job are reduced even further!

Still, the belt is tightened (again) now we're on one wage (again), but I know more now than I did then and we're in a better overall position.

I'm off to hospital shortly (not just getting the tubes tied, but getting them out) and will be out of action for a wee while, so could be hanging around posting all sorts of drug induced recipes!

I'm intending to do some catching up on reading and who's up to what, but if anyone feels like giving me a redacted version, that'd be nice

Much love to all!

the_cake

Softstuff - lovely to 'see' you again - welcome home!! x Hope your hospital stay goes OK, come back very soon and share some more of your amazing recipes with us please..... we missed you.
PS Redacted version: most of us are still here, busily thriving and/or surviving and preparing for the Great British Winter. We share our tears, fears, and cheer each other on. (I think it may be your turn to put the kettle on.)

[Deleted User]

I've just put a vegetable and bacon stew into the new slow cooker, it's been on less than half an hour and it's bubbling away merrily and starting to smell nice too. I've got it on high and I'm hoping it will be ready for lunchtime today. Looks good so far, I'll let you know how it turns out!!!

Softstuff

the_cake wrote: »

Softstuff - lovely to 'see' you again - welcome home!! x Hope your hospital stay goes OK, come back very soon and share some more of your amazing recipes with us please..... we missed you.
PS Redacted version: most of us are still here, busily thriving and/or surviving and preparing for the Great British Winter. We share our tears, fears, and cheer each other on. (I think it may be your turn to put the kettle on.)

Hi The Cake! It's a bit warm here, so I'll not be putting the kettle on, I'll instead pour you all a nice glass of Australian Shiraz. It's the only thing better than tea for improving the mood. It will warm you all up and if I drink enough I'll stop bothering about how hot it is here! I'm sure I'll catch up with everyones doings, it'll just take me a while.

I have a good recipe for a very simple and not authentic at all dopiaza. It's adapted from a rick stein recipe - chuck it all in a pan and wait. It's hubbys new favourite, but it does use all the spices in the world. If you're interested I'll post it?

Alternatively I have a marjoram pesto (I kept seeing marjoram reduced and had to figure out what to do with it), which seems to liven up tomatoes to the point of making them a dish and makes cheap fish seem like the posh option.

savingqueen

Hello everyone and welcome back softstuff - hope your op goes ok, let us all know.

I have read all your posts, nodded along and promptly forgot what I wanted to say. In my defence I have a bit of a cold today, think we are all coming down with one but so far not feeling too bad but in need of lots of hot drinks in between tasks. How is your cold Mrs LW? Enjoy your lunch!
Hope we are all ok tomorrow as I have already booked us tickets for the local fireworks display, cheaper to buy in advance. First year we have a display within walking distance for us so couldn't resist getting tickets. Boys are very excited and I am looking forward to them too. The free ones we saw at the weekend were fine for freebies (great for freebies) but nothing like a paid display will be. Only snag is we will have the leave the cats for a couple of hours, they are better with old age, they just find somewhere to hide. Stripey cat has used the cat loo though for the first time in months so think he may be a bit scared and he has been a bit unsettled lately too.
We have a nice treat planned after school - snuggling up together to watch the strictly results with hot buttered teacakes (DS10's request). Planning early nights all round with our colds and out later than DS7's bedtime tomorrow.
Have started defrosting Mr Chesty - can't wait to get it all done and then plan to restock. I popped into farmyard foods this morning and bought a few bits for winter stocks - big bag of pasta, couple of tinned pies, extra toothpaste and loo roll etc. I am behind with xmas and winter preps and pleased to be finally starting.