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By robz, February 6, 2011 7:39 pm

I hate the concept of spread.

It sounds industrial, unappetising and harmful, like something you’d use to repair a pot-holed road, smear on a rash or apply to a vegetable plot.

I eat butter and accept no alternatives. Admittedly, not a lot of butter, but I’d rather have the real thing or nothing.

Over the past 10 years or so, we’ve reduced the amount of butter we eat considerably. I love butter on hot crumpets, melted into toast or mashed into fluffy potatoes, but realise that the rest of my body probably doesn’t appreciate it as much as my taste buds.

This morning I calculated how much butter I eat a week: 2 oz (50g). This just happens to be the weekly adult ration in the Second World War. Rations also included 4 0z (100g) of margarine and 4 oz (100g) of cooking fat per week. We don’t use the former and use far less of the latter.

In the war, recalled Marguerite Patten, who worked at the Food Advice Division of the Ministry of Food, people tended to be very healthy, even if menus were somewhat monotonous. Apparently, infant mortality declined and the average age of death from natural causes increased. Dr Alan Borg of the Imperial War Museum suggested that the introduction of more protein and vitamins and the reduction of meat, fats, eggs and sugar played a part in this.

I definitely don’t want to go back to rationing, especially one egg a week or having to use powdered egg, but I like the concept of a simple, healthy diet. I also feel it’s important to be able to enjoy food, even if it’s not eating treats all the time. That’s why I eat and enjoy butter, but not all the time.

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By robz, April 2, 2010 12:05 pm

Breakfast on a Good Friday is a one-off for us: a supply of freshly baked hot cross buns from the Pantry in Ilfracombe High Street, North Devon.

They only make hot cross buns for a short period so they remain special, unlike the unimaginative supermarkets who peddle them all year round.

Once again, we delighted in the fluffy, light dough and currants, accompanied by butter, some by homemade jam, and a mug of fresh coffee.

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By robz, January 7, 2010 8:32 pm

What to do with these?

It’s that time of year when some people tire of brussels sprouts, but the Victorians knew what to do with them: turn them into soup.

I experimented by making Saxe-Coburg Soup and lived to tell the tale.

Melt 2 oz of butter in pan and add a small onion finely chopped and cook for 10-15 minutes. To this add 12 oz of peeled and finely sliced brussels sprouts and 2 oz of finely chopped ham, stirring until all the butter has been absorbed. Season with salt, pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and then sprinkle and mix in a tablespoon of plain flour.

Gradually add 2 pints of vegetable stock or water (the sprout flavour is strong enough to use water if you haven’t got stock). Bring to the boil and simmer for 6 minutes, then sieve or blend the mixture and return it to a clean pan.

Heat the soup, adding another 2 oz of ham cut into thin strips and 1/4 pint double cream, then serve.

It has quite a subtle flavour and a lovely texture, similar to asparagus soup. The above measures make 4 good-size servings.

The Saxe-Coburgs ruled in Brussels – was this a Victorian joke?

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By robz, August 31, 2009 8:38 pm

It wasn’t as much of a surprise tonight as we finished it off, but it was just as lovely as it was last night: a deliciously tangy lemon sponge/soufflé dessert.

Lemon suprise

Cream 2oz of butter and 3 1/4oz of caster sugar, then add grated zest of a lemon.

Add 2 egg yolks, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and fold in 2 tablespoons of plain flour.

Mix in 8 fl oz of tepid milk.

Whisk the two egg whites plus a pinch of salt, then fold into the mixture.

Transfer to a dish and sit in an oven tray with warm water lapping the sides (but not too high) and cook at Gas Mark 4 for 30 minutes.

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By robz, May 27, 2009 3:12 pm

I found this recipe in a Potato Marketing Board leaflet at a food fair many years ago. What is has do with China apart from soy sauce, I don’t know, but I like it. (You could always substitute noodles for potato.)

2 tablespoons clear honey
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sherry (I tend to add more)
black pepper
4 chicken breasts, diced
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
12oz potatoes, peeled and cut into fine strips
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1 carrot, peeled and cut into strips
1 head of broccoli, cut up (optional)
1/2 pint chicken stock

Mix the honey, soy sauce and sherry together and season. Add the chicken and marinate in fridge for 1/2 hour or more.

Drain chicken, reserve the marinade. Lightly fry chicken and ginger for 3 minutes in frying pan or wok for 3 minutes (or as long as required). Add remaining vegetables and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Pour in stock and reserve marinade, bring to boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until potato is tender and chicken cooked through.

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By robz, February 13, 2009 2:17 pm

We’d been meaning to pop in and see what the Rainbow Corner Café was like for some time as it’s changed hands several times in the past few years, so yesterday we made it and it was wonderful.

I had a belly buster – two eggs, jumbo sausage, bacon and beans plus toast and tea. Sometimes food just doesn’t get any better.

The menu ranges from fish and chips to breakfasts, cottage pie and chilli with rice (I think), so there’s quite a range.

We don’t have a fry-up often, but Rainbow Corner Café comes recommended by me for the food, bright and clean decor, and friendly service. It’s on the corner of the High Street and Northfield Road, opposite the Ilfracombe Centre.

Ilfracombe is so lucky to have such a wide range of restaurants and cafés offering pretty much anything you could want.

We’ll certainly be going again, although maybe for a cup of tea rather than a belly buster – got to think of my waistline.

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By robz, December 30, 2008 7:37 pm

For me, Christmas fare is a mixture of tradition, family favourites, magical flavours and aromas, and memories of relatives who either passed down the recipes or introduced me to special foods. I think Christmas favourites should be a personal choice: forget fashion and foodies.

We’re lucky to have independent retailers who supply good quality food fresh without most of the shrink-wrapping you get from supermarkets. It certainly makes a difference to start with basic foods already full of flavour. Here’s my top 10 favourites, which I have eaten and drunk again this Christmas. 

1. Fresh turkey from Mike Turton’s family butcher, Ilfracombe High Street. Yes, we’ve had roast dinners, leftover dinners, sandwiches, salads and, soon, turkey stew, but it’s still lovely. It tends to be a once-a-year purchase for most people, so why do people have to grumble about it?

2. Christmas bread from The Pantry, Ilfracombe High Street. Even better than their ordinary fruit bread, this had cinnamon and spices in. We bought one loaf, then had to have another. As good as their hot cross buns, which, quite rightly, they only make a few weeks before Easter.

3. Home-made pickled onions. Yes, they fared all right in the shed and have a real crunch to them. Not as good as the ones I remember from my grandmother, but not bad.

4. Home-made fruit cake. Everyone tends to have their own favourite recipe and this one is based on my mum’s. I had to make two cakes and give some up to the family!

5. Home-made red cabbage. Another family recipe passed down from my other grandmother. Red cabbage cut into strips and boiled in alcohol, white wine vinegar and water, along with chopped cooking apple, lots of cloves and a great deal of sugar. The aroma defines Christmas dinner for me.

6. Home-cooked bacon joint. Delicious locally-reared bacon joint from Mike Turton’s family butcher, Ilfracombe High Street. Boiled, then baked with the rind removed, the fat scored and coated with marmalade and pricked with cloves.

7. Home-made mulled wine. I didn’t make this so don’t know the precise spices, which we get from Nana Sue’s Sunfoods in llfracombe High Street. It certainly warmed us up before Christmas dinner!

8. Aspall’s Premier Cru Cider. I’m getting to prefer drinking this to champagne, which some say was developed from English cider-making.

9.Lorenz Saltletts Sticks. A personal tradition going back many years, but for me Christmas Day would not be the same without them. I prefer German makes to others.

10. Gourmet Mulatte coffee beans from the Algerian Coffee Stores. Ground freshly to make a beautifully smooth cup of coffee.

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By robz, December 3, 2008 10:38 pm

A new recipe and wonderfully delicious, we tried these new sausages from Mike Turton Family Butcher in Ilfracombe High Street.

Now, I’m a bit of a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to sausages and find some of the exotic recipes over the top, but I love these orange and ginger sausages.

We’re so lucky to have adventurous retailers who not only sell excellent quality, local food, but are also innovating.

Definitely worth trying next time you’re passing through town.