Text 26280, 96 rader
Skriven 2009-07-21 21:50:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av BURTON FORD
Ärende: Re: Bat
===============
-=> Quoting Burton Ford to Jim Weller <=-

 BF> Bat Masterson
 BF> He died in 1922

 jw-> It's amazing how recent in time the "Wild West" was. Several of
 jw-> those famous gunfighters (the better ones!) were still alive when my
 jw-> father was born.

 BF> [briefly considering the careers of those who were not 'the better
 BF> ones'] [chuckle]  

Yeah, very few inadequate gunslingers had the privilege of dieing of
old age in genteel surroundings.

MMMMM-----Meal-Master - formatted by MMCONV  2.10

     Title: Bargee's Pail
Categories: Historical, British, Stews, Crockpot, Pork
  Servings: 1 batch

           diced swede
        sl pork belly
           parsnips
           carrots
           water
           suet pastry seal
           potatoes
        lg knob of butter
           strip of smoked bacon
           garlic
           thyme sprigs
           second layer of suet pastry

Our forebears were pretty good at "making do"; a meal that turned
out to be one of the best I have had this year was the 19th-century
bargee's pail or, as my family now call it, the bucket barbecue. I
found the recipe in Dorothy Hartley's Food In England, still the
best tome on the history of the English kitchen, which has a
riveting section on ''combined operations'' cookery. Combined
operations basically means using two heat sources, fire and steam.

The bargee or bargeman, whose job it was to transport coal, would
place a bucket over a low fire, lower an earthenware crock into it,
packed with meat and vegetables, and simmer it all day. A satisfying
dinner awaited him in the evening, needing no extra work.

By now, many of you will be rightly muttering that the bargee's
combined cooking operation was no more than the precursor of the
modern electric slow cooker. But it is interesting that the problem
of preparing a great, economical dinner for returning workers was
solved a long time ago. Indeed, Hartley is anxious to point out that
medieval cooks invented the method 500 years before the bargee,
lowering pots of meat and muslin bags of cereals or beans into
cauldrons, then using the hot water that surrounded them to wash in.


Following the bargee's instructions, I put a layer of diced swede in
the base of an earthenware pot, followed by slices of pork belly,
then a layer of parsnips and one of carrots . After I've added
enough water to cover the contents, there's the all important "heat
seal" a rolled piece of suet pastry covering the meat and
vegetables. Then the crock goes into the bucket, covered by a lid,
and the whole thing simmers over an outdoor fire.

After an hour and a half, it is time to add the potatoes and a
second layer of suet pastry. I cheat on flavour, tucking a large
knob of butter, a strip of smoked bacon, half a wet garlic bulb and
a few thyme sprigs among the vegetables. When I lift the pastry lid
after two and a half hours, I inhale a puff of the most exquisite
steam from underneath.

A occasional bowl of buttery broth, with tender shreds of pork and
vegetables quite unspoiled by the long simmer and strips of crusty
suet pastry is delightful. The bucket dinner is a moment to marvel.
The answers are all there, worked out long before the birth of
television cookery programmes and as fresh as if invented yesterday.
You just have to dig them up and celebrate.

by CLARA MOLDEN

From: Mignonne
 
MMMMM-------------------------------------------------


Cheers

YK Jim


... You can order pizza on the Internet. We live in wonderful times.

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