Stovies and other happy food memories

[Heelancoo]

Making some stovies this evening-haven’t had them since I was a kid! What food have you not had for ages but love?

I had Scottish lentil and bacon soup last night. I ahdn't made it for ages.

A plate of guide old mince and tatties would hit the spot right now.

My DM's rice pudding. It was amazing.

I make stovies and lentil soup quite regularly but I'd love some proper home made rice pudding.

No one else in the house eats it so I never make it. I did do some in the slow cooker years ago. It did taste very like the one my DM would make in a tray in the oven, she'd either sprinkle it with currants or brown sugar.

I did mince with dough balls last week too. Just can't beat good old comfort food.

I've not made a mince cobbler or the like for a while. That might be on the menu next week.

@Lidlfix @ElephantOfRisk now I want some rice pudding….

Does anyone have a recipe for Scottish lentil abs bacon soup? I’ve tried a couple of times, but it’s never quite right

I tend to do a lazy version and it's lentil and ham rather than bacon but easily adapted.

To do it properly then a pack of ham ribs would be the starting point (i'd roast in the oven for a little while or brown off in a pan) before adding water in to make stock. But I usually just use stock cubes.

Mine is a medium or large onion chopped and gently fried until soft. Add in half a 500g bag of rinsed red lentils, about a litre or so of ham stock, I can't really say if that's right as I just eyeball it. Add in a couple of average sized carrots, either grated or chopped. Add in a good twist of pepper and salt depending on how many stock cubes you've used.
Simmer for about half an hour, stirring as required, until everything is soft. You might need to add more liquid but beware that at an early stage the lentils will absorb lots of the liquid and it goes really thick - but then as they go mushy, they will release it again.

I like mine blended so I'd blend it when cooked and my lazy version is to add shop bought shredded ham hock or chopped up bacon (both gently toasted in a dry pan) after it's blended and just stir and heat through. I sometimes chop up any leftover ham from a joint if we've had that and use that instead.

Taste and season as required.

Clootie dumpling from the butchers 😋😋

My mum made the best stovies ever.
I can remember opening the front door and smelling them. Served with plain buttered bread and a mug of tea.
My mum showed me repeatedly how to make them BUT mine never tasted like hers.
Steamed sausage, mashed potatoes and onions were another favourite.

@Heelancoo

Making some stovies this evening-haven’t had them since I was a kid! What food have you not had for ages but love?

My grannie home made soup, tattie fritter and apple Charlotte are all faves

My gran's pancakes. They were dropped scones and she used to make them for us coming to see her. Thick butter on the top. Jam for this with a sweet tooth. She's been dead for years, but all my attempts make me think of her. They're never quite right.

And my granny's soup. I hate soup as well.

I wonder if it was the food or the sense of comfort and belonging I miss?

Fruit pudding with a cooked breakfast. Haven't been able to find it in the shops for ages now.

I'm not a fan of fruit pudding to be honest but I am sure I have seen it somewhere. I've definitely seen it to order from a butchers but think it might have been Sainsburys I saw it being sold. I'm also sure that the co-op do a mixed breakfast pack with it in?

Had fried tattie scones recently but would love a bit of fruit pudding!

I wonder if it was the food or the sense of comfort and belonging I miss?

There's definitely an element of that I think. The smell of fresh scones reminds me of my grandad. All my grandparents died either before I was born or when I was very young but I do remember visiting my mum's dad and he'd bake scones for us and we'd have them with actual proper butter - all melted into a warm scone. We were really poor and never had proper butter at home so it really was a proper treat.

I also remember having lunch at my friends house and it being tinned tomato soup which I was very familiar with. But, instead of getting a couple of squares of dry bread with it, I got a whole slice and it was buttered! The joy of dipping that bread in the hot soup with the butter globules dripping into the bowl is something I still get pleasure from thinking about 45 years later. I think I had a complete half tin of un-watered down soup as well!

My DC always got buttered bread with their soup!

Fruit pudding with a egg on top, supermarkets don’t seem to do it anymore, but my local butcher still does it, he also does beef olives with oatmeal, i fact I’m off to get both this week as nothing like beef olives and mash tatties in this cold weather.

@Duckington

Does anyone have a recipe for Scottish lentil abs bacon soup? I’ve tried a couple of times, but it’s never quite right

1 smoked ham hock Half a bag of red lentils (fills about a sieve, rinsed) 2 decent sized leeks (chopped finely) Up to 1kg carrots (grated) About a quarter of a turnip (grated, or for an easy life a bag of diced carrot & turnip, swapping out a carrot or two from the grated above) Ham stock cubes Chicken stock cubes

Put the ham hock in your soup pot, cover with water and bring to the boil. Add the lentils, along with some stock cubes - I usually add 2 ham and a chicken, dissolved in some water)
Chop and add the leeks, grate and add the carrots and turnip.
Simmer for an hour or so, stirring frequently so the veg doesn’t stick to the bottom, adding water if needed. At first it’ll be very thick, but as the veg cooks it’ll thin back down. Add more stock to taste, along with pepper and simmer again for half an hour or so. Take the ham off the bone and chop up, adding back into soup. Serve with warm crusty bread buttered thickly!

I made this today and it was the perfect thing to combat the freezing cold day!!

That sounds amazing @babblingbumblingbandofbaboons do you steep the ham hock overnight to take off the salt ? I've done this in the instant pot too but only with carrots not turnip. Loads of parsley and black pepper too.

@visitingagain I don’t steep it at all, always buy a decent quality ham hock from the butcher and I find it much less salty than a shop bought smoked gammon joint or ham hock. I never add any salt to the soup though, only pepper, as the meat is salty enough :)

Dad's stovies!! Happy day's

My mum’s tattie soup. Yum. I never get it quite right.

Plain old mince and tatties and neeps.

[quote babblingbumblingbandofbaboons]@visitingagain I don’t steep it at all, always buy a decent quality ham hock from the butcher and I find it much less salty than a shop bought smoked gammon joint or ham hock. I never add any salt to the soup though, only pepper, as the meat is salty enough :)[/quote]
Do you use no/low salt stock cubes? If not there is a fair amount of salt in those. The most I ever put in is 2 and that's without smoked hock. You might find that you are having more salt than you think if that is a concern for you.

I use normal cubes, not lecturing you at all so hope it doesn't come across that way. I'm sure it's really tasty and I should take a leaf out your book and be less lazy and actually buy meat for the soup.

You’re all officially influencers, today I made ham and lentil soup after reading this thread, I’ve also added pudding rice to my food shop because now all I want is home made rice pudding😊- my aunt made a version with evaporated milk, it was incredible. She’s been gone many years now, wish I’d had the foresight as a teenager to ask for the recipe!

@Crepuscularshadows

My gran's pancakes. They were dropped scones and she used to make them for us coming to see her. Thick butter on the top. Jam for this with a sweet tooth. She's been dead for years, but all my attempts make me think of her. They're never quite right.

And my granny's soup. I hate soup as well.

I wonder if it was the food or the sense of comfort and belonging I miss?

6oz plain flour, 1 oz caster sugar, one teaspoon of syrup, one egg, 1 flat teaspoon of cream of tartar and 1 flat teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. 5 fluid oz and a dash extra of milk. Whizz up in processor, drop in frying pan with tiny bit of oil wiped round (not much at all). Old recipe from Scottish relatives. The best recipe!

@ElephantOfRisk I don’t find the soup too salty made using that recipe but good point if someone was concerned about their salt intake.

I definitely find it too salty using supermarket meat joint in comparison to the butcher ham hock though. Not taken in a lecturing way at all :) I do use Kallo stock cubes where I can as I find them nicer, but their ham one is really hard to get a hold of, so tend just to use whatever is there.