Cornflour
My mother was a traditional English cook, so when she made a sauce, she didn’t use flour. She used cornflour. Often it was Brown and Polson. As it was gluten-free, this was actually good for me and probably helps to prove the theory I have that good proper cooking is actually better for you. Flour is a cheap way of putting bulk into ready made and processed food.
There has been a discussion on the UK-Coeliac group about cornflour and corn in general.
This illustrates the differences between English all over the world.
Farmers in the UK and probably a lot of other places, use corn as a general term for any cereal, including wheat and barley. They call maize, maize. Whereas in the US, maize is corn.
All confusing. Truly we’re all dvided by a common language.
To make matters worse, according Wikipedia, cornflour in Australia is made from wheat. The article also talks about cornstarch, the name used for cornflour in the US.
It all makes me, want to do more cooking from scratch.
Kentish Lamb
This is a tale that probably should have been handled better.
If we are going to eat meat, then we should educate children about where it comes from.
Perhaps not go as far as my youngest who spent several summers in the Hunt Kennels, cutting up animals for the hounds. What everybody does forget though is that the Hunt has traditionally been the receptor of all the dead animals of the countryside. You have a horse that needs to be put down and it’s more humane to do the deed in a field on a sunny day and then give the carcase to the Hunt, rather than submit the animal to all the stress of going to the slaughterhouse.
Life is hard and we all have to die someday. But when that day comes, death should be as painless and without stress as possible.
I’m afraid that the laws on abbatoirs brought in by the EU, don’t make that process any better for animals, as they often have to travel miles before death, because so many have closed. And when it comes to transporting animals, such as sheep, miles to slaughter in Southern Italy or Greece, I’m totally against it. It’s actually cheaper to transport them as carcases, because you get three times as many animals on the truck. So you need to refrigerate, but you only need a third of the drivers.
The best beef I ever tasted was illegal.
Twenty years ago, a local farmer used to kill his own cattle and then butcher them in his kitchen. He just took the bullock into the field, gave him some grass and then shot him. No stress and the meat was superb.
But then he was a real countryman, who has forgotten several times more about life in Suffolk, than I know now.
Hospital Food Worse Than Prison Food
A report today from Professor John Edwards at Bournemouth University has said that hospital food is worse than prison food.
Here’s the e-mail I sent to the BBC.
Luckily, I’ve not been into hospital overnight, but the Professor’s research bears out the experiences of my relatives and friends.
I also moderate a list on the Internet for coeliacs, who need a gluten-free diet. Some of the experiences are not good at all, with it seems kitchens unable to provide the correct diet.
The last bit worries me.
Coggeshall
Essex has a bad reputation as a place inhabited by loose women in pelmets and white stilettos and men with large beer-fed guts in shell suits. This may be the image, which is also fuelled by lots of Essex girl jokes. But are the people of Essex feeding this image to keep us foreigners out and save the best bits for themselves?
Last night I went for dinner at Baumanns Brasserie in Coggeshall. Note that it doesn’t have an apostrophe!
Coggeshall
This view shows one of the streets that used to be the main road from Braintree to Colchester until it was by-passed in the 1980s. How the town managed before that I dread to think?
Opposite the restaurant is a sweet shop. Not your normal one, but one with real jars in the window.
Normans Sweet Shop, Coggeshall
What surprised me was that the jars in the window were for Fox’s Glacier Mints, Murray Mints and other common sweets. They looked to be new jars too, so they must be still available.
Now to return to Baumanns.
My late wife and I used to go a couple of times a year, when we lived over the other side of Suffolk at Debach. It was just too far to go and come back after a meal. But last night, I had other reasons, so it was very convenient to visit an old favourite place. In fact, I think it was the first time, I’d been there since I was diagnosed with coeliac disease.
I was not disappointed.
And the place had hardly changed in all those years.
Is that good or bad? It depends if what was there all those years ago was worth keeping. In Baumanns case it certainly was.
I had sardines followed by ostrich. These were two dishes I’d probably never cook for myself. They were both delicious.
I shall visit Baumanns next time, that I’m in the area.
Adnams
Brewers seem to have been doing badly lately. But this report from Adnams seems to indicate that if you sell real beer you do better.
They also distribute Aspall cyder; my long drink of choice!
Chicken Goujons
This is a recipe I used for my party. Everybody liked them.
I used the following.
- A pack of four boneless and skinless chicken breasts. I don’t know how to bone and skin!
- Half a pot of natural yogurt.
- A good teaspoonful of curry powder.
- Zest of a lime.
The method is simple.
- Slice the chicken into long, thin strips. I found it best to slice slightly across the chicken. These are then places in a baking tray. As it was a party I used disposable ones.
- Mix the yogurt, curry powder and zest of the lime in a bowl and then spoon it all over the chicken. I also turned the chicken, so that everything was well covered. It was then left to marinate for about twenty minutes.
- I then cooked it in the bottom of the top oven of the AGA for about twenty minutes, turning them in the sauce every five minutes or so,
Everybody liked them. They also seemed to keep well for a couple of days in the fridge.
Pubs
I don’t go down the pub very often. Especially, if I’m by myself! But on Saturday night after the rather disappointing goal-less draw against Leicester, I went for a drink in the sun at one of my favourite pubs, The Woolpack in Ipswich.
The Woolpack, Ipswich
It is a good and friendly pub, and there were several of my old friends there, from when I lived just north of the town. It is also better on a sunny day, as there are plenty of seats outside.
It also serves draught Aspell Cyder, which is always a very good reason to visit the pub. They will also serve it without the silly special glass, that Aspall promote.
Frittatas from Waitrose
Just found two frittatas in Waitrose. One is asparagus and parmesan and the other is chorizo. They are both gluten-free.
Testing one for lunch, but those at my party will have them too.
When I bought them in Cambridge today, if you bought four you got a free cool bag!
Queues in Sainsburys
I went to Sainsburys last night to get a few things, so that I could experiment for my party on Sunday. Now, this is nothing against Sainsburys in particular and I know they have the system in some of their stores, but it is so much easier shopping with the QwikCheck system, that I use in Waitrose.
The queues at the check-out were to be avoided. The girl at the check-out I had could have been a clone for “Computer Says No!”
I was also worried that their gluten-free offerings were worse and fewer in number than the last time I went.
But is this because there has been so much publicity lately about how to cook without gluten and now that a lot of food is so much better labelled?
Rabbit Casserole
I got this from Nigel Slater at the Guardian. I made five this evening and the one I ate was very nice. The other four are now in my freezer.
A sweet, apple-rich stew for a cool autumn evening. A piece of rabbit or chicken on the bone and a decent butcher’s sausage should be enough for each person, leaving you with four pieces of meat to make a soup-stew for tomorrow. To make soup of the leftovers pull the meat off the bones then return it to the remains of the stew and slowly reheat. Make thick toast croutes to put in the bottom of your soup bowls, then ladle the thick beany soup over them. A drizzle of olive oil is a sound finishing touch. If you need more liquid then add a little stock or water as you reheat.
The qualities shown serve four.
- 250g dried flageolet or haricot beans – I used a large tin of borlotti beans. Perhaps not as good, but easier.
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 8 large rabbit or chicken pieces on the bone – I used two diced rabbits from the UK Game company.
- 4 decent sausages, cut into four – These were Musks gluten free.
- 2 medium onions
- 400g dessert apples – Two English Bramleys.
- 3 sprigs rosemary
- 2 tbsp flour – Doves Farm gluten-free.
- a bay leaf or two
- 500ml cider, stock or, at a push, water – No prizes for guessing I chose the cyder. Aspalls!
- 3 tbsp double cream (optional)
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar (or more to taste) – Aspalls too!
The method is as follows.
- Soak the beans overnight in cold water. Drain and bring to the boil in fresh, unsalted water. Let them simmer for approximately 40 minutes, checking their progress now and again. How quickly they are ready will depend on the age of your beans. Drain and set aside. I just opened the tin!
- Set the oven at 190C/gas mark 5. Warm 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a shallow pan, add the rabbit or chicken pieces and the sausages and let them colour nicely on all sides. While the rabbit or chicken is cooking, peel and roughly chop the onions, core and chop the apples, and remove the rosemary needles from their stems and chop them.
- Remove the meat to a plate and add the onions to the pan, letting them soften, then introducing the apple, allowing it to colour on all sides, adding more oil if necessary. Stir in the chopped rosemary, flour, bay leaf, salt and pepper, then the cider or stock. Let the liquid bubble for a couple of minutes, stirring to dissolve any crusty bits from the pan. Stir in the drained, cooked beans.
- I put the meat back in now, but the original recipe didn’t say.
- Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, covered with a lid. Check the meat is tender, then stir in the cream if you are using it and the cider vinegar. The sauce should be quite sweet, but if it’s too much so, reduce it by stirring in more cider vinegar. Check the seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, and cider vinegar as necessary.
Serve in shallow bowls.
I just had one with new potatoes and froze the other four!
The Anonymous Widower 