I found myself this evening, standing at the kitchen bench, pulling tiny shards of cooked chicken flesh off a rather sad looking chicken frame (which I had previously hacked into for its various portions - legs, thighs, wings etc etc - and then boiled with vege for stock), and I suddenly wondered whether I was the only person in England who still did this sort of thing. I'm probably the only person in the town I live in who does such things, but surely there are others around who haven't lost the art of frugal cookery? My friend Kat (who I believe is my only blog reader, so really this should all be addressed to her in the manner of an email!) is certainly a frugal cook, in that she hates to throw things out, even when they haven't turned out as planned, but when you wander the aisles of the supermarket - laid out, as it is, for convenience and for a total separation of food and the animal/vegetable/mineral it used to be - you can't help but think that you might be the only person who still thinks it worth the time to do such things. I wondered all of this tonight particularly because our neighbour came to the door as I was up to my wrists in chicken, and the horrified/confused look I got when she saw what I was doing was akin to how I assume someone would look if they'd come across me up to my wrists in human blood or somesuch. Is it really so odd that I prefer to buy a whole (free-range, welfare protected or organic) chicken for the same price as two flabby looking (industrially-produced) chicken breasts, and for that price get 3 full-on meals plus soup with the stock plus pizza or sandwiches with the remaining meat which comes from the cooked frame (which is what I was removing tonight)? Maybe it is. Probably it's as strange a habit as watching food cooking in the oven. Ah well. At least there are a couple of us left...
On a very different note, I had a moment of considerable excitement this afternoon when Kat (the aforementioned friend and sole blog reader!) told me that one of my favourite foodie books has been made into a movie and is about to be released! Julie and Julia is a wonderful book about a rather mad, but likable NYC woman (Julie Powell) who decides to cook her way through Julia Child's The Art of French Cooking in a single year. I love this book - it's funny and smart and heart-warming and delicious! Definitely worth a read and since both Meryl Streep and Amy Adams are starring in the film, it's definitely going to be worth a watch too!
Final food thought for the day...gingernuts. I've been drinking increasing numbers of cups of tea lately, and I do find that tea lends itself to certain types of biscuits. I'm not really one for the biscuits and cakes, as I think I've mentioned before, but when you're drinking tea, it does seem fitting somehow to have a biscuit too. Anyway, I like gingernuts but have never successfully made them before. My Grandma sent me this recipe recently and I've been meaning to try it. They turned out really well (although they're a bit soft. I suspect this is because I didn't cook them long enough. But they are sort of chewy at the moment, which is actually quite a pleasant - if inadvertant - texture). Very nice indeed. The recipe is below:
Gingernuts
113g butter
226g sugar
2 Tbsp golden syrup
226g flour
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
3 tsp ginger
2 mixed spice (I don't have mixed spice, so I used a sprinkling of cinnamon, all spice and nutmeg which seems to have worked just as well)
Melt butter, sugar and golden syrup together until just combined. Beat in egg. Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Plop teaspoonfuls onto baking-paper lined trays (the original recipe said to roll them into balls but my mixture was much too soft for that sort of business. Plopping worked just fine). Bake at 150degC until golden brown (or darker brown if you prefer them crispier). About 15-20 mins I'd guess. Enjoy with copious mugs of hot, sweet tea.
Oh, it is nice to get a personal mention, thanks!
ReplyDeleteAs for the frugal cooking thing, I wish I could claim to be more frugal. I think the episode to which you refer was more a case of desperation to have something for all that work I put into that dastardly soup! If I were more liek you, I think I'd even consider eating meat again, but then it's a slippery slope because it's hard to insist that all the food served to you (i.e. when you're out, at friend's place, etc) be selected and treated with such respect. I think it is much harder (or, at least, less socially respectable) to reject particular types of meat than to reject meat all together. While we're on the topic, the one major bone of contention I had with the wonderful Australian Masterchef was that they were sponsored by a pre-prepared stock which of course, they often used on the show. This was disappointing, particularly in light of the other messages and lessons they were promoting. Might have been great to have had a particular challenge to use as much as possible of every ingredient they were given. A couple of the contestants were the whole hog types (making use of all parts of the animal) and they did have one or two cheap challenges, I suppose.
Thanks for the gingernut recipe. I LOVE ginger in all forms so am keen to try these out ASAP. Don't suppose you have any beautiful photos of them? Also, thought you might like to know, I've been going crazy with a few of your recipes. The banana cake one is a real winner. So easy to whip up and everyone loves it!
Oh I'm glad you're enjoying some of the recipes! The banana cake is great, isn't it? I made it yesterday too, although due to a cake mixer malfunction, I ended up wearing an awful lot of the batter (sigh).
ReplyDeleteYou're so right about it being easy to reject all meat than certain types (and actually I hadn't thought about the whole socially-acceptable side of it, but I think you're right!). I'm increasingly ordering vegetarian food at restaurants and I find it really nerve-wracking eating at other people's houses. In certain cases I'll offer to cook for the hosts myself (so that I can go and buy ethically-produced meat to cook!) That can be tricky too, of course, coz you don't want to offend people, which brings us back to your comment about social acceptance.
It is a lot more effort to buy higher-welfare meat products sometimes - sandwich meat is my biggest challenge. But for us it's worth it.
Pre-made stock (or stock cubes) is really hard work! I buy these organic stock cubes but they are - once again - more expensive than the shitty varieties. It's completely crap when shows like Masterchef use advertisers which completely negate any positive messages the shows might have. Why be half-arsed?!
Time for a cuppa and a gingernut I think...
I'm swimming later tonight and normally I don't eat until afterwards but I was home early and so hungry so I cooked up some spaghetti and tossed some garlicky breadcrumbs and leftover chevre through it and it was delicious! I'm telling you this because the inspiration came from your advice re: breadcrumbs. I am in love with my food processor these days. It now has a permanent spot on the kitchen bench since I'm using it so frequently.
ReplyDeletep.s. I meant to start that comment with praise for your dedicated efforts to eat ethically but got so carried away with my pasta, sorry!
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to tell you how much I love the two new frying pans we bought to celebrate the move (actually, just because our old ones were so old and terrible). We bought a couple of scanpans on sale and OMG, good equipment makes all the difference. (I now know the major difference between us ordinary home cooks and TV chefs and why our versions of the things they whip up so often fail - I think it's equipment and ingredients that make all the difference, not technique.)
Haha, that's so funny because as I was dissecting my chicken last night and letting my mind do all sorts of wandering, I thought of pasta with breadcrumbs as another suggestion for you! I meant to come online and add it, but got distracted. Yum - it sounds like a delicious supper!
ReplyDeleteHurrah for food processors and kitchen gadgetry!
p.s - thanks!
ReplyDeletep.p.s - yay for new frypans - especially Scanpan!! I got a new ordinary non-stick one for my birthday (my old one was also crap...that's the last time I buy something just coz it's cute and pink! hehe) and I love it too. Things are just so much easier with good equipment, aren't they?! Speaking of which, I must buy a steel to sharpen my new knife...