As Time goes By

After the treacle toffee episode, I can't remember much about my new found cooking prowess until about 1967.

I left home before I was 16 to join the Royal Air Force. So for quite a few years there was no call for me to cook for myself. That was done for us in one Mess or another. Mostly, RAF food was quite palatable. Except maybe a fried egg. There must have been a government instruction manual "1000 ways how NOT to fry an egg" the mess would manage all 1000. Would you believe that, if the egg fell off of your plate it would bounce back, no problem. The edges burnt to crisp and the Y(j)oke still raw that was another favourite. That's another life for another time.

After training near Wolverhampton my first posting was RAF Scampton near Lincoln, the home of the famous Dam Busters. There really is a well looked after grave for Guy Gibson's dog "Nigger". A lot of guys didn't like Scampton but I thought it was fine, a bit desolate at times. Life was a new adventure for me, a smooth faced 17 years old. Quite a novelty to all those lonely Lincolnshire village girls. It was time for me learn the ways of the world.

Then a serious set back. A year in Bahrain. In 1966/7 it was nothing like it is now. I got back into playing football and rugby, which probably kept me sane while being in Bahrain. Which helped when I got back to the UK. I was posted to RAF Colerne near Bath. In 1967 if you couldn't enjoy yourself in Bath there was something seriously wrong with you.

My cooking prowess once again came to the fore.

Guys! If there is one thing I've learnt during my varied life it is that girls love to be looked after. Cooking for them certainly is one certain way to pile up the smarty points.

Girls! I'm afraid guys just expect it from you.

My first meal for seduction was very simple. No need for a Wok. I'd never heard of them then.

Grilled pork chop (kidney attached) mushrooms and tomatoes with new potatoes (from a tin). Probably a pudding but I can't remember that. This was meant to be a meal before going to a movie (don't ask me which one, it'll be on TCM now). The meal had it's desired effect, we nearly missed the movie. Thinking about it, it may have been a "Man from Uncle" film.

A Proper meal now. While at RAF Colerne I shared a flat in Bath with a couple of RAF friends. Unheard of in the RAF those days. We were meant to live our life on the base. If you know where Colerne is, you'll know why we wanted to be off of the camp?

As well as being out living it up most nights, we worked in a bar called the "Parrot Bar". Anybody of the right age who'd been to Bath in the 1960’s will know it well. As well as playing football on Saturdays and Wednesdays and the occasional game of Rugby even some Sundays.

To keep ourselves fed for the week, over the weekend we would cook a monster stew, usually lamb. This would be left on the stove all week, heated up whenever we had the need to eat. Mostly around midnight. Every few days we would add a few more vegetables and some meat. "Wha' d'ya mean" sounds awful? It worked for us and improved during the week. I had read somewhere, a good slug of gin would act as a preservative. We always had a bottle of gin on hand.

A Lads Lamb stew Recipe.

Amounts depend on the size of your pan or Wok

INGREDIENTS

Neck of Lamb, or cheap lamb chops or both.

Best if fried a little in not too much oil to fry off some of the fat. Or boil in water for a few minutes and skim of the sludge you get on top of the water

Half cup of Pearl Barley, soaked in boiling water

Carrots, not too many. I think they make it too sweet,

Any other root vegetable, I do feel they can make it too sweet though,

Onion, or Onions. Stick or two of celery

Sage, Thyme and Rosemary dry or fresh, what ever your fancy, amount to your taste

White wine, what's left in an unfinished bottle.

You can put in a light beer or lager. But I'd rather drink'm

Stock of your choice, homemade, cubes or packet

Tin of tomatoes if you fancy a tomatoey taste

White Wine and the slug of gin.

METHOD

Soak the pearl barley in boiled water while you're preparing the ingredients.

Prepare all the ingredients, just like the TV cooks have done for them

Trim off the excess fat from the lamb. It can be too fatty.

Fry the onion till just going opaqueish, not burnt.

Fry the lamb in with the onion till browning slightly.

Season with fresh ground pepper, salt if you really must. I try to keep salt to a minimum.

There's plenty of salt in bought stock and cubes.

Then put everything else in your pan or WOK. Cook as low as you can for as long as you can.

Don't finish off the bottle of wine and forget it though.

This is where having a Slow Cooker come into it's own.

This can keep you going all week with fresh crusty bread or mash potato.

Time to start Cooking

I suppose I started to become interested in cooking way back as youngster. The first thing I can remember that I cooked successfully was, Treacle Toffee. Yes treacle toffee. It was during one the long Hot school summer holidays. Usually July and August in England. We really used to get hot summers in England, I think.

You remember, the last week of the school term it was baking hot. That last week of term would last an eternity. You'd sit through a boring History or English lesson, looking longingly out of the window dreaming of what you'd be doing during the holiday.

Then Monday morning would arrive, you'd wake bright and early to start the holiday. Lying in bed you'd wonder, what's that tapping on the window? Up you'd get and open the curtains to see it was pouring with rain. For the next six to eight weeks, that’s the weather we'd get for that dreamed of summer holiday, with maybe a few breaks for a sunny day here and there. So you'd have to find something to do where you'd not get into too much trouble. Well what are boys for?

I remember my Mum would let me help in the kitchen and mess around a little myself. Well I found this recipe, in the library I think, for "Treacle Toffee". That was it I had to a have a go. I managed to persuade my Mum to let me make it. She was a bit concerned because you have to get the cooking toffee mix really hot. Experts have a sweet maker's thermometer. Not a twelve year old boy though.

You can test the temperature of the mixture by dropping a few drops of the boiling mixture into a cup of cold water. If it quickly goes hard it is ready. After a few attempts you'd learn how hard you wanted the toffee. You could have a quite brittle toffee or a nice chewy toffee. This was probably my first successful attempt at proper cooking on my own. During that holiday I also made Coconut ice, traditional pink and white but that wasn't as exciting as "Boiling hot Treacle Toffee".

I learnt in later years that making treacle toffee at home was great for your own children. Put a great lump of chewy toffee in their mouths and it kept them quiet for ages. Just like my sisters and I, my own children loved licking out the saucepan when you finished cooking.

RECIPE FOR TREACLE TOFFEE

INGREDIENTS

900 Grms Dark Brown Sugar                    300 ml Water

Half a teaspoon of Cream of Tarter            150 gms unsalted butter

250 Grms Black Treacle                            150 Grms Golden Syrup

                                              (My original recipe used all black treacle)

METHOD

Grease (with butter) and line an 18 cm sandwich tin with greaseproof paper. Paper may not be necessary if you have a good non-stick pan.

In a large heavy saucepan, (I used a pressure cooker pan). This also could be made in your Wok, if it cooks to a high enough temperature.

Add the sugar and water, heat on medium until sugar is dissolved, but do not stir. Add the remaining ingredients all at once, stirring once and bring to the boil.

Whilst boiling, brush the inside edge of the pan with water to avoid crystals forming (which could ruin the entire batch!) If you have one, using a sugar (sweet) thermometer, boil to a soft crack stage (132-143C or 270f - 290f). Or much simpler, have a cup of Cold water at hand. Drop a few drops of the mixture into the water. If it hardens quickly it's ready. If you boil it too much it will be very brittle, or. If you don't boil it enough it will be too soft and may not set. When you've made it few times you'll work out how you like it.

Once your treacle toffee mix is at the soft crack stage, remove from the heat and carefully pour into the prepared tin. Allow to cool slightly then mark squares into the toffee with a buttered knife. Allow to cool completely at room temperature, then break into squares and store in an airtight container, if it lasts that long.

Warning. If you burn the Treacle or even the toffee mixture, you've made a great laxative. I mean it, it will really get you going. I did it once softening the treacle on the stove. We were fighting to get in the Loo.

Kitchen area and Equipment

I mentioned earlier that I only had a small kitchen area to work in. I had about 9 feet by 4 feet at a rough guess. That might sound a bit small but with careful planning it worked fine. No long walks to and from the fridge for a cold beer or a glass of wine. A must while I'm cooking. Gin and tonic or a Pimms does just as well. I'll tell you how I make them later.

You just have to be tidy and put things away as you use finish with them. Shelving can be a blessing. No cupboard doors to bang your head on.

To be honest I didn't just use a Wok, but the Wok was my major piece of equipment.

As I've already said, get the biggest best non-stick Wok you can get. They're great for making big pots of soup. You can't beat home made soup. Cheaper and healthier than the commercial variety. Recipes later.

A Slow cooker, again the biggest and best you can get. You can cook more than just stews in a slow cooker. Steamed fish to lemon curd. Take care of it the lids are easy to break. I must have had mine at least 15 Years.

                                

You don't need some great big oven taking up lots of space and making the kitchen unbearably hot. This goes for a normal kitchen too. Who really needs all that wasted energy that goes with a big cooker.

A small grill oven preferably with a rotisserie that can roast (broil for our USA cousins) most things. Spit roast a chicken or small leg of lamb or large lamb shank. They're not so good at roast beef. The spit through the middle cooks the inside too much and they don't really get hot enough to cook the outside too well. You can cook roast beef fine with the Wok and slow cooker. Even just the Wok. Potatoes and other root vegtables roast fine in a good small oven. Just pre-boil them in the micro-wave first. Again get the best oven you can find. When I first got one it was some cheapo version. That was soon ditched so I went out and found the best available.

A Microwave is a big must. A great time saver. Great for boiling stuff you'd usually cook on a hob. Saves all that steam and humidity in the kitchen area. Boil rice, potatoes and vegetables. Milk for coffee and drinking chocolate. Baked beans for breakfast, defrosting frozen stuff. 
A TIP FOR YOUR MICRO WAVE. 
Your Micro-Wave will have a rotating plate, usually made of glass. You will have to take this out (yes you will) now and again to clean it. I keep a big micro-wave safe (not everything is**) plate in the oven. This helps keep the rotating plate clean and protects it when you put stuff in. It's easier to take out to wash as well.
** Micro-wave safe? Not everything is! Especially some plastic products. I had a hard plastic plate in the micro-wave, probably cooking rice or potatoes, and I nearly set fire to the plate. This was through heat generated from the boiling dish. So beware!!
Yes you have to have a freezer. My freezer was in the sitting room, with my drinks (booze) fridge.

A blender comes in handy for all sorts of jobs, not just for smoothies. Blending your soups!

Utensils. Knives. Again the best you can get. If you don't have much space, get knives that can do more than one job.

Spatulas and egg slices, spoons for stirring and turning over. Plastic or wooden are a must. I prefer wooden they don't melt when you forget them left in a hot pan.

I could serve up presentable dinner parties for up to eight people using just this equipment. 

SETTING UP A KITCHEN FROM SCRATCH

If you have to start your kitchen from scratch, buying a normal cooker will set back somewhere between $700 and a $1000. To us Brits, that’s somewhere between 500 and 800 GB pounds. Never mind the cost of saucepans and frying pans.

A Wok and the other items I use will cost you nothing like that. A good micro wave $150 (100 pounds), a grill rotisserie oven $80 (50 pounds), top of the range a Waring $350 to $400, slow cooker $50. The major item, the Wok, $100 to $120 (my Rosemary Conley cost me 80 GB pounds). The biggest best you can find. So for around $400 you can equip your kitchen. The Waring does just about everything even scratches your a... nose.

Chapter 1. Why a Wok

Chapter 1. Why a Wok

Once you learn the secrets of cooking with a wok you can use a wok to cook or help cook almost any meal. From poached eggs to lambs shanks to curries never mind just stir-fries.




                                  ROSEMARY CONLEY ELECTRIC WOK

Why did I start to use an electric wok? I worked in the Middle East for the military for a number years. During that time I shared rental accommodations with a number of friends where we had full cooking facilities. Eventually I moved back onto the military base into "bachelor" accommodation. Where it was difficult to cook as we were not allowed to have gas cookers inside the accommodation and there was no room for a conventional electric cooker. So one had to improvise. My bathroom area was big enough to have a disco.  A previous user of the rooms had partitioned the bathroom into kitchen area and bathroom. I actually made room for a washing machine and a dishwasher, a must for any size dinner party. Or breakfast if you had company.