Favourite home made food as Mother used to make.

Rubecula

Everyone has fond memories of the food mother used to make when we were kids. Although some of these have been covered before, I thought a dedicated thread so that we can share these recipes and spread a little happiness around.

I will start the ball rolling with two traditional Liverpool dishes. Pea Wack and Scouse. Both ideal on cold wintery days.

Please tell us yours too.

Pea wack:

2 Gammon shanks
300g green split peas soaked overnight
2 large onions
1 bay leaf

Put all the ingredients into a large saucepan with 2 litres of water, bring to boil. Then reduce to a slow simmer for 2 hours, topping water as you go. There should be about 1.5 litres of thick soup at the end. Take out the gammon, remove the skin and bone and pull into chunks. Scoop out the onion and whizz to a paste in the food processor with a little of the soup. Stir back into the soup along with the ham. Serve with coarse black pepper


Although we used bacon bones to make the stock with and not gammon shanks, that was too expensive.


Scouse (many versions as every house made it's own)

Ingredients (to feed 5-6, all quantities approximate)


1½ lb lamb neck fillets
1 large onion
4-5 carrots, cut in large chunks
1 small swede, cut in smaller chunks
2-3 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into walnut-sized pieces
Small tin of tomatoes (optional)
Salt & pepper
Dollop of HP Sauce Or Worcestershire sauce.


Scouse is the deliciously gloopy mush from which Liverpudlians take their nickname. Its origins lie in lobskaus, a Norwegian seamen's dish made of whatever was left in ship's stores at the end of the voyage.


Before the advent of pre-prepared baby foods, most of us were weaned on teaspoonsful of "juice off the scouse". A cup of the same ambrosial liquid was a treat when we came in shivering from school on a winter's afternoon.


Almost every family in our street on Merseyside had its own version of the wonderful stuff. I learned this one from my mum over 50 years ago.


Place all ingredients in a large, heavy-bottomed pan, adding water to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for at least two hours while you go shopping, watch the telly, or get on with writing your novel. Long cooking improves scouse as the potatoes collapse into the liquid and thicken it.


If unexpected visitors turn up, you can add extra potatoes and veg up to half an hour before serving, but don't forget to adjust the seasoning.


Serve with pickled cabbage or beetroot and the best white bread you can find. Any leftovers - a rare event in our house - can be topped with short pastry and baked at gas mark 6 for 30 minutes to make that other great Liverpool classic, scouse pie.

When scouse is done right you can stand a table spoon up vertically in the middle without any support.




Or you could do it this way:


http://www.scouser.com/scouse-recipe/


And that is where we get the nicknames "Scousers" and "Wacks" from.

(This presentation is brought to you courtesy of the "Proud to be a Scouser" Rube )

BBDBB

My mum still makes the best bread and butter pudding in the world. Everywhere I travel, if I see it on the menu I will try it. No one comes close. Ever.

OldGoat

My mum is the worst cook ever. She makes everything taste like soup - mediocre bland soup. It was the spur that got me cooking for myself.

Rubecula

Actually I am a terrible cook, I can burn water when I make the tea if nobody is looking.

aujopimur

OldGoat wrote: »

My mum is the worst cook ever. She makes everything taste like soup - mediocre bland soup. It was the spur that got me cooking for myself.

Same here, but she made a very nice fry.

tayto lover

My wife has a Black Belt in cookery. She could kill you with one chop.

Mollywolly

My DAD was the best cook in our house (sorry mum ). His cakes and tarts had were the best and the fry he made on a Sunday morning was the bees knees! Mind you, my mum did make fantastic gravy

Jellybaby1

My mum was great at cooking roast beef. I can't do it, mine is usually concrete when it eventually appears! Her gravy was fab. She was what is known as a 'plain cook', and I suppose I am too although I would be more experimental, which mum wasn't. She wouldn't have even heard of the spices I have in my kitchen now. Her fruit scones were to die for though.

Bannasidhe

My mother, and my grandmother before her, were both from the 'boil it in water so salty it is technically brine til you are sure its really dead/ roast it until it's just minutes from needing an urn' school of Irish cooking so I lived on fruit - even then they would try and stew it with sugar if I didn't watch them like hawks. Then I learned how to cook from Jamaicans, West Indians and classically trained French and Spanish chefs.

Having said that - WOW - could they do desserts. Mam's choux pastry is a fluffy cloud of yum with a slight crunch. Nan's shortcrust pastry melted in the mouth and her steamed puddings were so light they had to be caught with a net.

JuliusCaesar

My mother was a cordon bleu cook. She used make sauces and I'd watch her, and I still can't do a sauce the way she did! She was great.

My father was a very experimental cook and produced extraordinary meals - but they were great. He'd put flavours together you'd never think of, and they just worked out wonderfully. I can cook well if I put my mind to it, but mostly I don't - I just can't do the day after day after day cooking well.

Rubecula

tayto lover wrote: »

My wife has a Black Belt in cookery. She could kill you with one chop.

That is a brilliant quote, can I steal it?


OK folks post up a recipe I can try out. (NO BAKING!!! I can not bake to save my life.)

tayto lover

I actually went on a cookery course (nights) and really enjoyed it. I was the only man in a class of ten. Had some great laughs. On the second last night we were left on our own to cook a simple meal. I made a Spaghetti Bolognese but i always get mixed up with those wee bits of garlic and put in two whole ones. Nearly poisoned the old doll beside me. She was drinking water for the rest of the night and giving me bad stares.

uch

Rubecula wrote: »

That is a brilliant quote, can I steal it?


OK folks post up a recipe I can try out. (NO BAKING!!! I can not bake to save my life.)

Have a look on the Mustard forum ( I kid you not ) there are some great recipies there.

Jellybaby1

uch wrote: »

Have a look on the Mustard forum ( I kid you not ) there are some great recipies there.

Thanks, it really cuts the mustard!!

Rubecula

tayto lover wrote: »

I actually went on a cookery course (nights) and really enjoyed it. I was the only man in a class of ten. Had some great laughs. On the second last night we were left on our own to cook a simple meal. I made a Spaghetti Bolognese but i always get mixed up with those wee bits of garlic and put in two whole ones. Nearly poisoned the old doll beside me. She was drinking water for the rest of the night and giving me bad stares.

I was choking too. With laughter

Pulsating Star

My mums soda bread was the bestest ever, fact!.

It was noticeable how every other household had their own take on this but I think one got so used to ones own that nothing else came close. As kids we often got to try out the neighbours efforts and no one was ever swayed from their conviction that their family had the best.
Years ago baking bread was almost a daily occurrence but it wasn't for many years later I found out my mum actually hated soda bread and rarely ate it!
Didn't stop us though and if the mistake was made of leaving it down while still warm it didn't last one sitting.

Pebbles68

My mam's Yorkshire puddings. Honestly I didn't care about the sunday roast. Just give me a couple of her Yorkshires, some gravy and some peas. She was born in the north east of England, I think it's something in the genes that every "lass" is able to make perfect Yorkshire puddings.

It wasn't just me. I was born in Canada and anytime my mam was invited to a dinner party she had to bring along her batter mix and make Yorksires. Her secret; half milk and half lager, although I secretly think she enjoyed a sip or two while cooking:D and the lager was just an excuse to open a bottle.

Jellybaby1

Pebbles68, your mum was ahead of her time. These days it is a common practice to make batter with soda water or beer.

Fittle

My dad used to cook the sunday dinner and none of us were allowed NEAR the kitchen while he was in there. He used absolutely every cup, saucer, pot, knife, fork and spoon when cooking the roast (for about 20 people!) and the kitchen was like a bombsite by the time he was finished, which would inevitably end in a row with himself and my mother on a sunday evening;)

Supper time was always my favourite - he'd make an 'egg in a cup' (though I'm sure there's another name for it!), which I now make for my own lad and he loves it too. Couple of boiled eggs mashed up in a cup, with a dollop of butter and salt & pepper, 2 slices of toast and you were done:D

OldGoat

Pancakes!

Jellybaby1

Fittle wrote: »

Supper time was always my favourite - he'd make an 'egg in a cup' (though I'm sure there's another name for it!), which I now make for my own lad and he loves it too. Couple of boiled eggs mashed up in a cup, with a dollop of butter and salt & pepper, 2 slices of toast and you were done:D

We used to just call it 'sloppy eggs'

KKkitty

Absolutely everything my mam made was exceptional. There was nothing she couldn't make. She used to make spaghetti bolognese with no oil whatsoever to brown the mince and it was sublime. When she was cooking she preferred to be left alone. I think she used to have cooking as a form of therapy.

tayto lover

Easy Pancakes the Jamie Oliver way.

1 cup of flour.
1 cup of milk.
1 egg.

Mix well (I add a little melted butter and a little lemon juice to the mix -- delicious and easy)

paddyandy

Killeshandra butter on home made Soda Bread .Fried Chips that did'nt need anything on them .Tomatoes that did'nt need salt before the waterbags that we have these days .New potatoes again that did'nt need salt or butter on them .Even Patrick Gilbaud has'nt food today; like the poor had then in 50s ireland .

Teagwee

Fittle wrote: »

Supper time was always my favourite - he'd make an 'egg in a cup' (though I'm sure there's another name for it!), which I now make for my own lad and he loves it too. Couple of boiled eggs mashed up in a cup, with a dollop of butter and salt & pepper, 2 slices of toast and you were done:D

I use the shortcut version to this now - in a microwave Break eggs into cup, pierce yolks and cook on medium for about 2 minutes (2 eggs). Sublime and quick, with no oochy-ouchy burned fingers getting them from shell to cup.

Fittle

Teagwee wrote: »

I use the shortcut version to this now - in a microwave Break eggs into cup, pierce yolks and cook on medium for about 2 minutes (2 eggs). Sublime and quick, with no oochy-ouchy burned fingers getting them from shell to cup.

Gonna try that for tea tonight, thanks:D

I always make it for it the little fella, and end up scraping the leftovers off the side of the cup, coz I just think I'm too grown up to make it for myself:p

Teagwee

Fittle wrote: »

Gonna try that for tea tonight, thanks:D

I always make it for it the little fella, and end up scraping the leftovers off the side of the cup, coz I just think I'm too grown up to make it for myself:p

You might have to experiment a bit with your microwave to get them exactly the way you want them. Underdo them first as you can always add another couple of seconds in increments.
I have a new microwave now (just yesterday) and I found that 1 minute on high, followed by 1.40 minutes on simmer cooks 3 eggs to perfection. I like my eggs!
Don't forget to pierce all the yolks several times with a fork or a cocktail stick - or you'll be VERY sorry When egg explodes in the microwave, it sure aint a pretty sight and you'll be cleaning globs from the crevices for days.

Drag00n79

Great thread. I must be becoming an oul' fella...

tayto lover

#Scrambled eggs done in the microwave are good too. Quick and easy.

3 eggs, teeny weeny drop of milk, black pepper and knob of butter. Mix well.
About 2 mins on high.

rich.d.berry

tayto lover wrote: »

#Scrambled eggs done in the microwave are good too. Quick and easy.

3 eggs, teeny weeny drop of milk, black pepper and knob of butter. Mix well.
About 2 mins on high.

And some grated cheddar!

Rubecula

When my younger sister was a little one and wouldn't eat her food (as kids are wont to do at times) my mum made "egg a la toss" (Her own name for it)

An egg in a saucer and sprinkled with grated cheese, then cooked in the oven.

When the kids wouldn't eat, I used to make them one of my "specials" slice of bacon cooked under a grill but covered in cheese with a merest touch of marmite.

Yes I know these things are not to everyone's taste, but it got the kids eating, especially letting them see them being prepared and cooked. Give them a running commentary, and ask things like, "Is that enough do you think?, or would you suggest it needs a bit more? " "Shh I know you don't want it, but it smells good doesn't it?" "Do you think it needs a bit more of XXX?" "You think if your mum sees you take a bite, just the one bite, she will stop chasing you to eat?"

Usually, they took a bite, then finished off a "special" LOL

looksee

That egg in a saucer sounds very like a concoction my mother would make for us as a special request - beaten egg with lots of cheese in it, poured onto an enamel plate and cooked under the grill. It was then scraped off and spread on bread.

In the days when you actually got fat off a cooked rasher, rather than that nasty gloop that comes out now, my favourite was a big pile of fresh sliced green (runner) beans served with bacon rashers and the fat dribbled on top. Yum.

jos28

My Mam made the most amazing rice for dessert, not a pudding, just lovely creamy rice with vanilla. YUM.....I tried several times to do but never got it right.
I loved her stew too, home from school on a cold day, big bowl of stew and crusty bread. Happy days ! If there was any left we get a mug filled with it for supper No idea why we put it into mugs, weird I know but we would have it in front of the fire for supper.

Jellybaby1

jos28 wrote: »

My Mam made the most amazing rice for dessert, not a pudding, just lovely creamy rice with vanilla. YUM.....I tried several times to do but never got it right.
I loved her stew too, home from school on a cold day, big bowl of stew and crusty bread. Happy days ! If there was any left we get a mug filled with it for supper No idea why we put it into mugs, weird I know but we would have it in front of the fire for supper.

Your mammy must be an Irish mammy!

jos28

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Your mammy must be an Irish mammy!

She sure was, and a damn good one too. She died 18 months ago and I miss her terribly. Left some fantastic memories though.

paddyandy

There was a very limited or small number of sauces and condiments for the table in 50s ireland now there are hundreds of them because the food has got so tasteless .

Jellybaby1

paddyandy wrote: »

There was a very limited or small number of sauces and condiments for the table in 50s ireland now there are hundreds of them because the food has got so tasteless .

I think people are so used to foods from other countries now whether it be on holidays or visiting restaurants that people's tastes have just changed over the years. I remember the first time I tasted curry and chilli flavours I thought my mouth was on fire, but now I can enjoy it without exploding. Our kids turn their noses up at what would be seen as 'traditional' Irish food, and prefer spicier foods. I always felt Irish food leaned more towards herbs than spices because that is what was widely available. Spicy is nice too though.

rich.d.berry

My mother died 15 years ago and I miss her jams and preserves. I have tried to replicate her produce but I do not have the requisite skill.

She used to make a melon and ginger jam that was to die for. It was not overly sweet with a hint of ginger spice and wonderful, cool, crunchy bits of melon. It was one of my favourite things to have on toast.

Her marmalade was also gorgeous. It did not have the bitterness of the shop bought varieties. I seem to recall her soaking the peel for days before cooking, regularly replacing the water in order to prevent it from being too bitter.

Her bottled beetroot was also wonderful. I don't know why the shop bought product is so insipid in comparison. Perhaps they're overcooked. The home made variety I recall was sweet and crispy.

I recall my mother buying fruit and vegetables by the box. The tomatoes would not last so she always preserved some of them and kept the greenest for ripening and later use. The tinned tomatoes from the supermarket are not in the same league as my mother's preserves.

The excess fruit was turned into preserves that she would then use to flavour her home cultured yoghurt. Overripe bananas were turned into banana bread. Excess carrots and potatoes were cooked and frozen to be used in stews and casseroles.

Perhaps it's time for me to try my hand again.

rich.d.berry

Right, I was digging through my ma's cookbooks that she left me and I've found a recipe for melon and ginger jam, which she annotated and made notes on. If it turns out well then I'll post up the recipe.

I saw some watermelons for sale in Lidl on the weekend. I hope they still have stock left.

Standard Toaster

Apple Tart!!

My aul Hen makes the best apple tart. Been YEARS since I had some, must get onto her. Feck, now I want apple tart!

Jellybaby1

rich.d.berry wrote: »

Right, I was digging through my ma's cookbooks that she left me and I've found a recipe for melon and ginger jam, which she annotated and made notes on. If it turns out well then I'll post up the recipe.

I saw some watermelons for sale in Lidl on the weekend. I hope they still have stock left.

Looking forward to hearing about your results. That jam sounds interesting and delicious. I'd never have thought of melon for jam. My MIL used to make marrow jam, but I never liked it.

enfield

Whar about chips fried in dripping, not oil? You can't buy dripping now but I work in a Kitchen (part of a Tús scheme) when I fry the mince I keep the juice in a steel bowl, and when it goes hard I empty out the juice and whats left is the dripping, eventually I got enough for a big pan of chips. So I frys them up and gave them around for everyone to taste. They thought they were the best chips they ever tasted. What did you cook them with they said. Ask yer granny I said. Its dripping! Whats that, they said, here have a look says I, they had never seen anything like it before.
Here is my two best tips.
(1) how to make a cast iron pan non-stick. Clean the pan, then put a small amount of oil in it and empty it out. cover the pan with salt and burn it into it, yes burn it I said. Let it cool and wipe the salt out with a newspaper. The pan will stay non-stick until you fry something with water in it, like tomatoes etc.
(2) How to fry an egg. put a little oil in the pan and heat it up, crack in an egg and wait till the bottom of the egg is cooked but the op still raw. swicth off the gas and immediately put a half teaspoon of water into the pan and cover it with a pot lid. The steam finishes the egg off mighty!!

My Ma used to make meatballs and stuffed tomatoes. Meat balls are a doddle, mix raw mince with diced onions and roll in ball shapes, mix water with flour (nothing else mind you!, no egg or milk or anything), meatballs into the batter and then into a pan with some dripping or oil if you are fancyschmancy, cook on one side then turn over. Believe me they are the best meatballs you can eat, easy peasy.
Signed an ould fella.

enfield

I forgot to say, at Christmas my Granny who lived in Galway used to send my Da up a goose for Christmas, by post. I still remember getting a bloody brown parcel off the postman. he hated Christmas's. I wonder why? He used to like fried Christmas pudding. He was a breadman in Kennedys Bakery and at Christmas he used to get a tip and a drink of almost all his customers, driving home flutered was normal at that time of year.
Signed, still an ouldfella

Teagwee

You CAN buy dripping - not very easy to find, though. I get it in Sainsbury's in NI and freeze it. You are absolutely right about frying in beef dripping - nothing approaches the taste.
You can also render your own with free fat (aka suet) from your butcher - this is a long process and a bit tedious but the taste is much superior to bought stuff.
I don't subscribe at all to the saturated fat hypothesis - after significant personal research and the conclusions of many experts, I believe it's all a crock of you know what We use mostly animal fats in our house - a little olive or groundnut oil on occasion.

Jellybaby1

Going a bit OT but if you have any old photos from your childhood and earlier, take a long look at your parents, aunts uncles, grandparents, people walking along the street, etc. Rarely do you see obese people in those photos, and they only used animal fats in those days. Isn't it strange how overweight modern society has become with all the advice on nutrition, health food shops, good fats, olive oil and of course the (hated?) Gillian McKeith. Of course there wasn't much money to overbuy/overeat food either I suppose. I'm always shocked when I watch that Supersize/Superskinny TV programme. Last time I watched there was a 50 stone woman!

The good old days, and we were happy, so we were told:

looksee

Agree about people not being obese Jellybaby, I think one of the main reasons was that they worked off the calories they ate. Houses were not heated so bodies had to use calories to keep warm, there was less ability to get into the car for every journey.

There was much more physical work - my mum did not have a washing machine till I was about 10 I think, the cotton sheets - and everything else of course, all heavy natural fabrics, went into the copper boiler in the kitchen, then were hauled to a metal tub outside where they were rinsed and wound through the huge mangle, also outside. Doing this in the middle of winter in Yorkshire was a chilly job!

There was never any shortage of food but it was meat, vegetables and home made puddings with custard. And lots of bread and jam or dripping. Sweets were - literally - rationed, I still have my ration book which ended 1954, but even after that they were a once a week treat rather than a regular snack.

I think that now, nice, and wholesome, as many of the old recipes were, we do not need the calories of the pies and puddings, and equally we do not need the empty calories of the white baguette type bread. Though 'a little of what you fancy does you good' - that's still true!

Jellybaby1

Looksee, I would go along with what you say all right. But reading your post, you were well off compared to us! (Oh dear, I feel a Monty Python sketch coming along!) We walked or took the bus as we had no car. We never had a washing machine and in fact I didn't get one until a year after I was married in 1977. My aunt washed clothes with a washboard all her life until she went into a nursing home about ten years ago. Recipes then were mainly to bulk up because work was hard, but there were of course the upper classes too, and I really don't think they worked their calories off. I read that Mrs. Simpson said that ladies should always be thin in order to carry off beautiful clothes, and she ate the diet of a sparrow. I must take a closer look at some vintage photos to compare between eras, and countries. In our house it was mainly spuds, milk and eggs, in all their forms. Yay for luvly cosy, comforting mammies.

rich.d.berry

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Looking forward to hearing about your results. That jam sounds interesting and delicious. I'd never have thought of melon for jam. My MIL used to make marrow jam, but I never liked it.

I finally got around to making the jam and compiling the recipe. I posted it in the food and drink forum if you want a looksee. It turned out as well as I remember my mother's to be.

Jellybaby1

Thanks for updating. It looks lovely - nice and thick and jammy. Melon has a habit of making my mouth water. I'd love to try your jam sooner rather than later, but have a feeling the melon might find its way into my tummy before it becomes jam! Wish me luck!

rich.d.berry

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Thanks for updating. It looks lovely - nice and thick and jammy. Melon has a habit of making my mouth water. I'd love to try your jam sooner rather than later, but have a feeling the melon might find its way into my tummy before it becomes jam! Wish me luck!

The beautiful thing about this jam is that you can have your melon and eat it. You only use the rind and some of the more insipid flesh from the ends.

On Saturday we had a beautiful Nigella Lawson watermelon, feta and black olive salad with our lasagna followed by the sweetest watermelon heart chunks for dessert. Delicious!

Good luck!

Sar_Bear

My mam makes the best garlic potatoes in the world.. Have tried makin em myself, had em in retaurants and never have I had em like the mammy makes em