A few weeks ago we had the family over for Sunday lunch, nine adults,
four grandkids. My wife as usual turned out a cracking meal, Roast beef
and lamb – The grandkids prefer lamb – roast potatoes, roast parsnip,
cauliflower, small boiled potatoes, carrots and of course Yorkshire
puddings with gravy and mint sauce for the lamb. All prepared and cooked
by my long suffering wife, the only exception being the Yorkshire
puddings which were precooked by “Aunty Bessie” and only needed to be
heated in the oven. If you haven’t tried “Auntie Bessie’s” Yorkshire
puddings, try them, they taste so good and are so reasonably priced that
it isn’t worth the time and effort of making your own.
Anyway
after singing the praises of “Aunty Bessie,” I am blithering on as
usual and need to get to the point. Well, after overindulging, also as
usual, I sat with the two great grandmothers; my mum and my mother-in-
law and we began to reminisce about Sunday teatime in those far off days
when I was a lad. Everything then seemed to be home made and I might be
wrong, but to my mind, while the purse wasn’t deep, the table always
seemed to be laden with goodies.
In those far off days
no one, as far as I can remember, was on a diet and everyone wasn’t
obese, in fact there seemed to be less people of goodly proportions
about then. Now that I think about it, the lack of hygiene regulations
in the grocer’s – bacon and hams hanging from the ceiling, butter in
wooden barrels, great round cart wheels of cheese, loose tea, sugar,
flour and a vast variety of dried goods, all packaged or cut and wrapped
by hand, with nary a rubber glove in sight – didn’t do us any harm and
none of us ever seemed to suffered from food poisoning. Yet in today’s
modern world preoccupied with hygiene, health, sell by dates, and
warnings on food preparation, people do come down with it.
There
you are, I’ve had my bit to say about modern versus the old days, not
that I’m against the modern day in general, we have better housing,
better medical care, shorter working hours and better wages, but do we
have better food? Maybe it’s my rose tinted specs, but I like to think
not.
So back to the spread on a typical Sunday teatime
when I was a lad living at home. Home baked bread buns, with butter and
jam. At least two plate pies, such as bacon and egg, mince and onion,
cheese and onion, corned beef and potato, steak and kidney, all baked on
enamel plates used solely for that purpose. Pickles, beetroot and sauce
to go with them, and of course the sweet stuff. There was always one
large sweet pie or tart and a variety of smaller cakes or tarts. As to
the larger variety, the selection might be Apple Pie, Blackberry and
apple pie, a custard tart or a treacle tart and the smaller, jam tarts,
sweet mince tarts, coconut hay stacks, teacakes, currant scones,
biscuits and little cakes with icing on the top.
Mum
said my favourite was bacon and egg, and I had to agree, even though I
remember being partial to cheese and onion. Come to think of it, I liked
all of the rest too. The only thing I can ever remember not liking as a
lad was butter beans and I still had to eat them, because I wasn’t
allowed to leave the table until my plate was empty.
I
know, I’m waffling again, so I’ll come to the point, after two hours
listening while the matriarchs discussed the finer points of cookery, I
managed to get the recipe for the bacon and egg pie. As a male with no
skill in the culinary arts, other than to consume the finished product, I
have reproduced said recipe below and since my mother is always right,
it will be my fault if it turns out wrong.
Bacon And Egg Pie
Serves 4
Ingredients for short crust pastry
8 oz plain white flour ¼ teaspoon salt 2 oz lard 2oz hard margarine 2 tablespoons cold water
Mix
flour and salt in a bowl, cut lard and margarine into small pieces, add
them to the bowl and rub between the fingers until mixture is like fine
bread crumbs. Add water; stir until mixture begins to bind. Then use
your hands to knead lightly until the dough is formed.
Roll out on floured board, grease 8- inch pie tin and line with pastry, leaving enough pastry for a lid.
Filling ingredients
8 oz bacon
2 large eggs
A shake of pepper
Half pint milk
Cut bacon rashers in half, fry on gentle heat for five minutes, do not crisp, drain off fat.
Place eggs in basin add pepper to taste, add milk and whisk gently together.
Cover base of pie with bacon, pour on egg mixture.
Cover with pastry lid, crimp edges, cut two small slits in top and brush with milk.
Bake in moderate oven, Gas mark 6 / 400° F / 200° C for 30 minutes.
Copyright Fred Watson 2007
Fred
Watson published his first book, a fantasy adventure novel aimed at the
8-12 age group, in November 2006. A grandfather of four, he loves to
write for all age groups, has an abiding interest in history and
continues on a regular basis to add new stories etc to his website.
http://www.footprintpublishing.co.uk
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A cooking tip from the Tesco kitchens - helping you get the best from your groceries. For more info go to www.tesco.com/grocery
where you just need to add milk or water, not as good in my opinion, but better than never having them.
When
cooked they should turn out puffy, golden and crispy on the outside and
sunken in the middle. Some people let the fat from the meat drip on to
the Yorkshire puddings while cooking.