I was raised on egg, chips and beans during WW2. Sausages where very hard to come by, usually kept hidden under the counter for the butcher’s special customers. The old style chip pans were a major source of fire, a problem which the modern deep fat fryer solved.
When I first started cooking 50odd years ago,you fried in a pan of lard.
When it went cold it solidified in the pan.
Then we moved on to oil.
There was always the temptation to re use it one more time than you should. Resulting in an oily burnt taste. If you couldn’t eat the oily food your mu would utter the immortal words- “fill up with bread and butter”
Thenthere were h chip pan fires.
If the chip pan ld over heat and catch fire,
The trick was DONT PANIC,turn it off, wet a t towel, wring it put,lay it carefully across the chip pan laying it away from yourself.
People used to buy a lot of tea towels then.
Is any one else old enough to remember the chip pans of old.thank goodness for oven chips.
The deep fat fryer is electrically heated and totally enclosed with the lid closed and the steam coming out is filtered. A wimpy version of the old pan & basket, which I also have. I did find a source for beef dripping but didn't know how to measure how much I would need, it's sold by weight.
I grew up with chips cooked in a chip pan with lard, so bought one when we got married 50 yrs ago. Many's the time I'd switch on the electric ring to get the pan hot, only to be distracted by one of the kids and find the air in the kitchen going blue with smoke. I only had one pan fire (used the damp tea towel trick) but often had a smoking pan out in the garden to cool off before I dared put the chips in! The fat got changed when it had too many black bits floating in it!!
Oh dear sorry to say I still use a chip pan and cook everything fried in lard. I don’t often eat fried stuff now but I’m still partial to a fried egg butty now and then.
You hit the nail on the head, when my wife heard your poem she said we'll have that for tea. And the Lancashire Hotpots was a bonus. Being a St Helens lad ,.exiled to Chester ,they are one of my favourite bands. 👍🥳
Good afternoon Mr.D and Midge(no mention of her in todays rhyme I see 🤔) and hopefully you have some sunshine today. It brightens the day and good for mental wellbeing ..... just as your rhymes are. They bring laughter and reflection plus lots more. Thank you Mr.D. 🐿💕
Midge is not at all interested in egg and chips and the sausage is too fatty for her. Fish chips and mushy peas are a different matter entirely. She has her own chicken and turkey menu, products of my new pressure cooker.
I can see I’m going to run into over-production problems with my new hobby if I’m not careful. 🤔
💡moment Mr.D.!! Over-production can be settled by way of freezong or any pensioners who may jolly well love a meal that you describe. Have you any lonely neighbours, who you could really impress with a staple British meal. ?🐿💕
All my lonely neighbours have died SH, I've outlived them all. I now have youngish couples with children covering a range of ages, who I suspect have regarded me as a somewhat eccentric old b***** with a less than friendly little white dog, who was forever shooting off in his campervan. Few of them knew me when I was a normal being with a lovely wife.
As soon as they saw I was in need of help, most if not all, have offered to shop for me or help in anyway they can. It has lifted my sprits and stopped me, and Midge, from going nuts. 🙂
It's all about nostalgia and how things used to be
I've got a lot of easy stuff I could have for my tea
So I'm going to try to do things, just like my old Ma
But a big pan of hot dripping, is just a step too far. 😉x
Egg and chips twice please Don, forget the beans.
• in reply to
Would Madam prefer mushy peas?👩🍳
Nom thank you, but a nice cup of Ear Grey would be very welcome. No milk or sugar, thank you. XXX
• in reply to
Sorry, I haven't tried Ear Grey but if it's anything like Earl Grey I gave that away to go back to my Tetleys (aka Builder's) Tea. Can I order Madam a taxi? 😘
🤣 loving the memories. We’ve started having eggs, sausage, bacon and beans a lot recently. If we ever get out again go to the Beamish museum and get their old fashioned chips done in lard.
On a sad note one of my husbands aunties died from a chip pan fire- she had fallen asleep
All chip pans etc that could be dangerous were removed from our house when our eldest starting to go out drinking!
Don that is funny. I sent my husband out to retrieve ours from the garage last weekend. The newfangled air fryer is great - and safe but just not quite the same.
Still nothing terrifies me as much as the memory of a pressure cooker in full swing!
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the big headed motor mechanic, and the cardiologist.
Sir Bradley Wiggins came to the Malvern Hills today in the Tour of Britain.
I know I'm pathetic but ......................
Mechanic v Doctor story
Mechanic -v- Doctor Story........Enjoy
