Part Two – Pat Whalley
GROWING UP WITH GRANDMA
MAKING ENDS MEET
GRANDMA WAS A GREAT SOUP MAKER. SHE HAD TO LEARN TO BE THRIFTY AS MY GRANDPA HAD BEEN A HARD DRINKER AND MONEY WAS ALWAYS SCARCE.
THE STOCK POT LIVED PERMANENTLY ON THE HOB, WHICH SWUNG OUT FROM GRANDMA’S BLACK LEADED FIREPLACE. ON MONDAYS WE WENT TO THE BUTCHERS FOR SOME CHEAP, CULINARY DELIGHT, USUALY BEEF OR HAM BONES, SOMETIMES PIGS’ FEET OR A COW’S TAIL, NOTHING WAS EXEMPT FROM THE STOCK POT.
THE MOST HORRIFYING THING TO GO IN THE POT WAS A SHEEP’S HEAD. BECAUSE IT WAS SO BIG, ONCE IT STARTED TO BOIL, THE TEETH WOULD RATTLE UP AND DOWN ON THE RIM OF THE POT. THIS CAUSED THE LID TO BOUNCE AS THE ABOMINATION WOULD LIFT AND DROP. TO A SMALL CHILD IT ALWAYS LOOKED LIKE IT WAS TRYING TO GET OUT. SUCH THINGS RE-APPEAR IN NIGHTMARES.
WHEN THE TREAT OF THE WEEK WAS COOKED, THE OFFENDING ITEM WOULD BE HAULED OUT OF THE POT AND STRIPPED OF IT’S MEAT. THE COOLED MEAT WOULD REAPPEAR LATER, IN A SORT OF JELLY, TO BE SPREAD ON HOME MADE BREAD. I WOULD ALWAYS REFUSE THIS AND, THANKFULLY, GET HOME MADE JAM INSTEAD.
TO THE LIQUID IN THE POT WOULD BE ADDED LOTS OF VEGETABLES AND BARLEY. THE RESULTING SOUP ALWAYS HAD A TOP LAYER OF GREASE WHICH COATED YOUR SPOON AND TONGUE. ALL THE WEEK’S COOKING LIQUID, FROM VEGETABLES, WENT IN THE POT AND VARIOUS LEFTOVERS WERE ADDED TO IT ALL WEEK, SO THE SOUP SEEMED TO LAST FOREVER.
THE POT NEVER LEFT THE HOB SO WAS PERMANENTLY HOT, I GUESS THE CONSTANT SIMMERING KEPT IT GROM GOING RANCID.
ANOTHER OF MY GRANDMA’S MACABRE CULINARY ADVENTURES WAS COW’S TONGUE. I DON’T KNOW WHAT SHE DID WITH IT, PROBABLY BOILED IT, BUT IT WOULD THEN BE CURLED UP, IN A BIG ENAMEL BOWL, AND PRESSED FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS.
I HAD QUITE ENJOYED THIS MEAT UNTIL ONE DAY I LIFTED A BIG IRON WEIGHT, THAT WAS STANDING ON TOP OF A BIG PLATE, TO SEE WHAT WAS UNDERNEATH. THE AWFUL SIGHT OF THE COOKED TONGUE, COVERED IN JELLY, CURLED ROUND IN THE BOWL IS STILL ETCHED IN MY MEMORY. THIS WAS WHEN I REALIZED THAT TONGUE MEANT AN ACTUAL TONGUE, LIVER MEANT A REAL LIVER, BEEF WAS A COW AND CHICKEN ACTUALLY MEANT THE BIRD THAT LAID EGGS. I AM NOT SURE WHERE I THOUGHT THESE THINGS HAD COME FROM BUT, THE REAIZATION THAT IT WAS ALL PIECES OF ANIMALS REALLY WAS A SHOCK.
IN THE EARLY FIFTIES A FRIDGE WAS SOMETHING THAT MOST ENGLISH PEOPLE MIGHT SEE IN AN AMERICAN MOVIE. MY GRANDMA’S FOOD STORAGE WAS A MEAT SAFE. HOWEVER, IT’S ONLY RESEMBLANCE TO A SAFE WAS IT’S SHAPE.
THE MEAT SAFE WAS A CUPBOARD, ON SHORT LEGS. IT WAS A WOODEN CUBE WITH A MESH DOOR. MEAT WAS STORED, AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, ON A MARBLE SHELF, FOR DAYS ON END. WHEN IT WAS GETTING TOWARDS THE END OF THE WEEK. THE SLAB OF BACON WOULD GET A SHAVE, TO REMOVE WHATEVER HAD ACCUMULATED ON IT’S SURFACE. THE SHAVINGS THEN WENT INTO THE SOUP POT.
ANYTHING WITH A GREENISH TINGE WOULD BE BOILED, MY GRANDMA’S WAY OF GETTING RID OF GERMS. BUTTER, CHEESE AND MILK WERE ALL STORED IN THIS CUPBOARD BUT NOTHING EVER SEEMED TO GO BAD ENOUGH TO BE DISCARDED.
MOST OF MY ADULT LIFE HAS BEEN IN THE FOOD SERVICE INDUSTRY AND ALTHOUGH I AM A VEGETARIAN, I CAN PREPARE AND COOK MEAT WITH NO MISGIVINGS. DURING MY CAREER I HAVE TAKEN MANY COURSES INCLUDING THE SAFE WAY TO PREPARE AND STORE FOOD. THE SWEET YOUNG THINGS WHO TEACH THE COURSES ARE UNIVERSITY TRAINED, I WONDER WHAT THEY WOULD THINK ABOUT MY GRANDMA’S METHODS.
GRAN WAS A WONDER WOMAN AT STRETCHING HER FOOD BUDGET, AND IN SPITE OF HER METHODS, WE NEVER GOT SICK.