WHAT DID WE HAVE FOR TEA?

[Marilyn]

That's right...the dimples keep the fluids circulating as the steam rises and drips back off the dimples.
If you warm the empty pan first before you add food it gets started quicker, but only needs a gentle simmer after that to do its job.
And wear your truss. Consider yourself warned.

[Stanley]

Yes Mom!!! (can't wait to use it..... but I shall eat up first...) I think an old-fashioned Ship's Pie a la Dorothy Hartley....
I had straight pease pudding for dinner yesterday and for tea I was determined to have veggies that had been in the ground 8 hours before. I had boiled and peeled the two beetroot earlier so I put the carrots in a pan and the coarsely shredded cabbage in the steamer above it. I cut a small corner of the hock ham I boiled the other day into chunks, put the small beetroot coarsely chopped with it and covered it with pease pudding then some freshly boiled carrots on topped with cabbage and a little sprinkle of Heinz salad cream.... Wonderful and perfect healthy food. I wish I had a Wendy working in a kitchen garden for me.....
One small thing, I checked the bases of the two small CI pans for truth. The smaller one isn't perfectly flat so when I have got straight in the shed I shall pop it in the lathe and take a cut across the base.....

[Marilyn]

Chicken Curry arguing in the slow cooker today, while I dabble in Ancestry.
I intend throwing a bunch of Baby Spinach leaves in toward the end, because I fancy it. It grows very well in my little allotment.
Haven't pulled any of my round carrots yet. It's a bit early for the little dears.

You must share Dorothy Hartley's Ship Pie with us, Stanley...

[Stanley]

Click to enlarge. Dorothy Hartley's recipe for Sea Pie (I got the name wrong Maz.) Used to be cooked on fishing boats at sea as once put together it could be left cooking slowly until needed. The suet crust is an optional extra if you have a close fitting lid but could be a useful filler and the excess left after cutting to shape popped in for dumplings before putting the lid in. Cook slowly for as long as you like!
(Must get some suet in.....)

[Tripps]

Very timely - looks like Lidl have been converted to cast iron. . .


Cast iron from Lidl

[Marilyn]

The only thing we have to worry about now is that we don't know if these pot manufacturers are using lead based glazes...

[Stanley]

Maz, that problem doesn't arise with porcelain enamel. The minimal problems that used to exist with some pigments are well understood now. You can trust them.....
Liz will be glad to hear that I am going to start my first slow stew this morning. I have mutton mince, two chops and kidneys de-frosted. Onions, swede (Wendy), carrots and spuds on hand (and garlic....). Minimal seasoning contemplated but all the usual suspects on hand. I am not going to seal the meat or fry the onions. I shall build it raw in the pan and let it argue with itself. I will report.... It will be close to a hotpot. (I'm fancying oxtail in the next one)
Yesterday I had Wendy veg for dinner and tea. Very small helping at teatime so I supplemented it with a tiny hock and mustard butty.....

[LizG]

Post a picture before you tuck in Stanley. I fancied some some oxtail the other day but I refused to pay the $15 per kilo they wanted. A bit much when I can get BBQ chops for $8 per kilo. Needless to say the next slow cooked meal will be the lamb chops.

[Stanley]

Assembly, note I have left a certain item in the background to protect those of a sensitive nature.....



The stew ready for the stove. A bottle of cider is the only liquid and note that I have gone for chunky cut, no fine chopping! The only seasoning is Oxo cubes, pepper and sea salt and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.



35 minutes after starting, on a very slow stove. I shan't touch it until the garlic has softened and even then I might forbear stirring. This time includes taking the trash out and cleaning up. Very noticeable that Wendy's swede peeled and cut so easily, no hint of being woody.

[chinatyke]

I noticed the old enamelled billy can on the window sill. Haven't seen or thought about that item for many years.

[Stanley]

I brew my coffee in it every morning China. No passengers in this kitchen!



Update on stew.... It's fully cooked after eight hours but will improve by another two hours simmering and be even better tomorrow after it has matured. I put the peas in this afternoon...... Guess what I am having for tea!

[Stanley]

I had two very small hock ham butties for dinner and mutton stew for tea.



An hour before tea the stew was fully cooked but quite liquid. I adjusted the salt, it needed a touch more and chucked a handful of medium oatmeal in to thicken it. I got it about right and it was lovely. Very subtle flavour because I have held back on the usual additions. This is proper mutton, it has a different, deeper taste than lamb or even two shear. There was even a slightly bitter tone from the kidneys. I am pleased with it. Overnight it has sat on the hob in the kitchen and is still slightly above room temperature. The oats have fully absorbed the fat and the water and it will need a bit of water when it has re-heated when it will be even better. I am very pleased with it and the pan. Definitely an improvement on the lighter cooking pots.... (It took it two hours to come to a simmer yesterday from cold even though I had a folded tea towel covering the lid to cut down on heat loss. The dimples worked, no leakage from the rim of the lid from condensation.)

[LizG]

Looks great. I love that kind of cooking.

[Marilyn]

There is a weeks worth in there!
I find that the pot needs to be warmed through before adding anything for best results, especially if you wanted to brown onions or meat before adding other stuff. Adding warmed liquids helps too. Otherwise your first hour is pretty well lost while everything warms...but that can be said of slow cookers too.

Chicken Salad for us tonight. I've taken a small tin of Beetroot out of the pantry and left it on the kitchen bench to remind myself to add it to the plate, because otherwise I get three quarters of the way through dinner and realise I forgot it. Beetroot, cheese and Crumbed Chicken go lovely together...

[Stanley]

You're right Maz. It's back on the stove with some added water and added pepper and Tabasco, the oats tend to flatten the sharp notes in the seasoning. The stove is very slow but when it gets to simmering I shall freeze a couple of bowls to take the load off!
Glad you approve Liz.... It really is superb, largely because it is proper mutton, far more taste than lamb.....
By the way Maz, I deliberately didn't pre-fry anything before I made this one. I wanted to give the mutton a chance to shine with no turbo-charging from sealing the onions and meat.

[LizG]

You have reminded me that Dad used to thicken a stew with oatmeal too. I will remember that. The other thing he used was pea flour, is it called besan? Still miss him.

[Stanley]

It works well Liz and can be very handy of your hand slips and you over-season. The oatmeal flattens the mistake out. Another good one for a rescue is coconut butter. I put some water in the stew and brought it back to a simmer on a slow stove yesterday morning. I froze three bowls and had it for dinner and tea and then put the remainder in a bowl in the fridge for dinner today, That makes seven meals from one pot. That emptied the pot so it's washed up and sat waiting for the next load. It's butcher's day today and I fancy oxtail and dumplings with very few veggies but must finish my ham hock off in butties. I wonder if Kath has any trotters.... They thicken a stew wonderfully!
Just struck me Liz, I think you might mean Gram Flour which is powdered chick peas. I have some and often use it.

[Moh]

Plaice, new potaroes, garden peas & parsley sauce.

[Stanley]

The small Wendy pan with its perfect bottom in action for the first time. just the thing for steaming a steak pudding! It came to the boil remarkably quickly.....

[PanBiker]

Spag Bol for Jack and myself tonight. I think Sally's on a veggie curry.

[Marilyn]

Given the warm weather, Pasta Salad.

[Stanley]

Last of the hock ham on three very small butties for dinner with fried egg to test the CI frying pan I skimmed and steak pie and peas for tea.

[Moh]

Just cooked a ham shank in the pressure cooker, it smells lovely. Minted lamb chops, chips & corn tonight.

[Stanley]

Makes lovely boiled ham doesn't it Mo, and cheap as well. Brown's sell their hocks for £1.50 each not weight and some are quite big! Did you boil it in cider? Makes a difference, expensive but you are worth it!
Two tiny butties for dinner and the last of the non-frozen mutton stew. Three small haslet butties for tea. I took a bowl of frozen stew out of the freezer last night. I forgot to get the oxtail on Friday so I think the next stewpot cooking will be pot roasting a joint.....

[Marilyn]

Small homemade Pizza each and a glass of Red, followed by our evening walk.
Found 5c on the road...perhaps the start of my fortune?
Home now and snuggling down in our recliners to watch Poirot. ( impossible to hold one's tummy in when sitting in these new recliners I have discovered...not a flattering look! Feel like a beached whale in them...I keep looking over at Febby and he seems to have the same problem. )