Originally Posted by samkydd

Yes, my Mum used to buy a sheep's head from the butcher and she'd ask him to leave the eyes in so it would see us through the week! Boom Boom!

Originally Posted by Starry-Eyed

The only TV chef I really watch now is the gorgeous James Martin who still practices traditional cooking. Coincidentally, he's very easy on the eye too................but, sadly, young enough to be my son!

Starry x.

Originally Posted by Marky B

He used to work in Castle Howard. The only cook I like watching is Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall,because everything is done in the countryside. I find Ray Mears very interesting,but some meals he cooks up out in the wild.....yuk. That's survival.
Ta ta
Marky B

Originally Posted by John Llewellyn Moxey

All these memories, of good old traditional English (British) food, awakens deep set longings for a taste of them.

Thanks for the memories..

John Llewellyn

Originally Posted by samkydd

There's an awful lot of food snobbery around in the UK, and people will eat aything as long as it's not British! But people forget that our traditional menu has evolved over hundreds of years to suit the conditions of the country.

Food containing lots of animal fat was essential for people working out in the cold and damp, especially up t' north. A lot of the meat bought was the cheapest because working class folk couldn't afford proper cuts, and so belly pork, pig's trotter, tripe, various offal etc were essential.

Here on the warmer south coast people tend to eat lots of ice cream and pink seaside rock, and if the weather turns cold sometimes they stay indoors in amusement arcades eating Candy Floss!

Instead of burger chains selling all sorts of bits of a cow ground into a pulp and griddled as burgers, why not sell fast food roast beef in a bun! A decent slice of beef with mustard or horseradish, full of the good stuff that gives you energy and keeps you going and not a Stars n' Stripes flag in sight!

Instead of tasteless bleached bits of chicken in a bucket with chips, why not Shepherd's Pie! Good quality meal, easy to cook and can be served in a disposable container with a plastic fork, great stuff! But no, unless it's from Lebanon, Italy, India or France and difficult to pronounce correctly we all turn our noses up at it!

Especially people from places like Camberwell Green and Crouch End who would dearly love to be French and aspire to owning a damp, rat infested chateau and drive around Provence in a tatty old Renault 4 van wearing black berets with the rear doors swinging open and a French Stick poking out of the roof, and converse almost fluently the old woman at the boulangerie, who was a Nazi collaborator in the war!

Originally Posted by Starry-Eyed

The only TV chef I really watch now is the gorgeous James Martin who still practices traditional cooking. Coincidentally, he's very easy on the eye too................but, sadly, young enough to be my son!

Starry x.

Originally Posted by Starry-Eyed

'Fraid I'm a little bit if a coward, Marky!
I love meat - but I don't want to see where it comes from. I love animals - and, even if I DO eat them, it wouldn't be one of my own that I'd raised, petted and named. And I always buy my mushrooms and berries because I wouldn't trust my own judgement in the woods either!
Anyway, why put yourself to all that trouble when Sainsburys does it all for you?

Starry x.

Originally Posted by samkydd

But no, unless it's from Lebanon, Italy, India or France and difficult to pronounce correctly we all turn our noses up at it!

Especially people from places like Camberwell Green and Crouch End who would dearly love to be French and aspire to owning a damp, rat infested chateau and drive around Provence in a tatty old Renault 4 van wearing black berets with the rear doors swinging open and a French Stick poking out of the roof, and converse almost fluently the old woman at the boulangerie, who was a Nazi collaborator in the war!

Originally Posted by Steve Crook

Fat is also essential for taste. You don't have to eat it all but it should at least be there when you cook it. Very lean meat is often tasteless.

I don't turn my nose up at any food. I might raise my nose to smell it better
I like to explore different cuisines but I always come back to good British cooking (or possibly Chinese, with a bit of Italian)

Steve

Originally Posted by Marky B

I once knew a butcher who said fat on meat gave it plenty of juices - I think:it was a while ago.
Ta Ta
Marky B

Originally Posted by Steve Crook

Precisely because you don't know that it's been well looked after during its life. Whereas if you have raised, petted and named it then you know its had a happy life. And if you check the abattoir then you can be sure it's had a good death as well and will provide you with the best possible food.

But it is impractical for most of us omnivores to raise our own animals. However we should make our best efforts to make sure that it's been raised, treated and killed in the best way possible. So that cuts out almost everything with chicken in it from any big supermarket, and most things involving beef as well.

Steve

Originally Posted by Starry-Eyed

The only problem with that, Steve - and I'm being honest here - sometimes people on low incomes don't have deep enough pockets to be able to have a conscience when shopping. Unfortunately, I've been there for a few years now.
However, I do know exactly what you are saying.

Starry x.