Catherine's Kitchen

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Catherine's Kitchen

Catherine Manning

Good Morning

MORNING, it's Sunday again and this is the first chance I've had to concentrate on the column. The older I get, the busier I get and I don't think it's supposed to be that way!

Everything is parched as we've had no rain for quite a while. It tries to rain but the wind is so high that it blows it away. Still, the grass needs cutting, so I will have to attempt that tomorrow as I'm cooking lunch today for my mother and Nat and don't feel like pushing the lawnmower as well. Other to that the weather is beautiful, very cool and breezy, sometimes even forcing me to use a blanket at night, as I refuse to shut the windows. The sea is its usual way, has gone from rough to smooth to rough again and is capping. The moonlight is brilliant and my tomcat won't stay home. Must do something about that as he's already populated the village. He was born up here and walked in as a kitten, so reckon he thinks it's his right!

My mother hasn't been well and is staying for a few days, so I have to make sure she eats properly as she doesn't bother about cooking for herself very much now. My aunt just told me I should open an old people's home and she and my uncle would join my mother! Not sure about that though!

TODAY is Monday and I still haven't finished this. I attempted the grass and a third of the way through the lawnmower died, then the wacker ran out of string and I couldn't bother to re-fill as my arm was also giving out. Anyway the worse was done but hope the brain will work and I can finish the column! And, yes, the lawnmower had oil and gas so maybe it's the plug; that remains to be seen!

BTW I did try the peanut recipes from the 'old ladies' cookbook and they were nice but came out more cake-like than cookies. I did adapt and they were good, I ate them, but where I put my notes in this mess is a mystery so I will have to look. It was tidy here the other day but I have fallen behind on my filing, so I hope I'll find them soon.

Strangely enough, last night I was looking through the same cookbook belonging to my old cousins (100 years old) and found the same recipes in a local cookbook that wasn't published till 1966. I suppose that all the ladies of that time exchanged recipes and had their tea parties (they had nothing else to do and didn't work) but it still seemed a coincidence. The cookbook I'm talking about belonging to the old ladies was a hand-written cookbook of recipes they had collected and used, not a published book.

TWICELAID (Alice Manning)

!/2 lb salt fish (salt cod) well freshened.
1-1/2 lb. English potatoes, breadcrumbs or yam.
3/4 lb. fat corned pork.

Boil all together and pound in a mortar.
Mince 1 lb. of shallots or onions, 3 eggs in a little milk to moisten, a little thyme and pepper.
Mix these ingredients well, put in pie dish. Slightly whisk an egg... and bake.
(The writing goes funny, but I assume it means pour the beaten egg over and bake.)

Recipe from 1966 cookbook
Twicelaid

Boil together 1/2 lb. salt fish (cod) freshened,
1/2 lb. English potatoes
1/2 lb. of rather fat salt pork

When done pound them with 1 lb. of onions or shallots, 3 eggs, enough milk to moisten, a little thyme and pepper.
Mix well and put in pie dish, throw a beaten egg over the top and bake.

Apart from the amount of potatoes, the recipe is basically the same. I have never tried it, but it seems almost like an omelette to me. Interesting, I have everything in the house, but would use a food processor. I think while my mother is here, I'll try it!!

This is another interesting one, but I have never used the word 'kid' for children and therefore interpret the word as meaning 'baby goat' as of course it does! Even so, I would never do it as I would prefer to have a 'pet kid' running around!

Roast Kid

Prepare the kid by washing it clean with lime juice, salt and water; hang it up to drain, scald and mince the liver and heartslet (which is the lighter part of the liver). Add black pepper, salt, onions, sweet herbs; and mixed with as many 'sopped biscuits', squeezed dry and fried with onion and chopped bacon, as will fill the kid fairly full. Add the yolks of 2 eggs, butter enough to moisten, a wine glass of wine, a little nutmeg and 6 beaten cloves. Stuff this into your kid, sew up and bake. Serve with its own gravy and guava jelly or kid sauce.

Sop Biscuits

As far as I remember, sop biscuits are made from hard biscuits and soaked in milk or water and then squeezed dry. I don't know what to compare them with other than our Eclipse. But they are dry biscuits, made from nothing but flour and water etc and are used for (apart from eating!) stuffings etc.

Some more strange ones:

Cliff Rack

This is ginger tea, flavoured with rum.

Goat Hair

1 pint raw liquor (sugar cane juice), the juice of one lime, 1 gill of rum (4 ozs), grated nutmeg on the top.

Nankeen

This is coffee flavoured with rum.

Tewahiddle

1 pint of beer, 1 tbs. brandy, 1 tsp. sugar, a little nutmeg or ginger on top, and a roll of thin cut lemon peel.

Ricey Cocoa

Boil until soft half a pint of rice, add while hot some milk wrung out of coconuts, grate a little nutmeg, spice and sugar to taste.

On this point I'm leaving as Margaret is waiting and so is my mother for dinner. Think I'll give her some mixed grill tonight, liver and bacon, etc. Put some iron in her!

Bon Appetit
Cath