So I have a ton of cookbooks and I recently had a look through them and found one that was published in 1997 yes it’s hard to believe how long ago that was.
I read cookbooks like other people would read a novel, and as I’m looking through I find myself wondering how did the list of ingredients way back when turn into a massive shopping list in today’s current cookbooks.
A lot has changed and food has evolved so much in 25 years to say the least. Looking back on my childhood and the foods we ate, the ingredients was whatever you had you made do with that and I’m telling you I ate well as a child. We were very privileged to have a Popa who grew veggies and a Nana who knew how to cook.
So looking through this 25-year-old cookbook I giggle to myself as there is a whole chapter on sandwiches. Not something you would see in today’s cookbooks aside from probably a steak sandwich which is one of Jamie Oliver’s favourite. The differences don’t stop there either. The names of the recipes are also as simple as it can get. Some names nowadays I can’t even pronounce.
“cod with pepper crust” Or “baked pears with ginger” Now a days it’s more like “spiced banana Tarte tatin which I think is what used to be known as an upside down cake, remember the pineapple one with the whole rings of pineapple. Or something like
Cod steak with pepper crust 7 ingredients, Roasted cod with walnut, lemon and parmesan dressing 13 ingredients.
I guess it’s like Gordon Ramsey says “to keep a dish relevant it needs to be updated, so spice it up and add more flavour.
So taking the roast beef joint to another level adding a spice rub, I added a bit of sass to my roast chicken on Sunday instead of stuffing the inside I layered the stuffing under the skin. For my carrots I cooked them under the chicken then glazed them in honey and butter and caramelised them.
What I also noticed in the older books is less or no mention of meats like veal, venison, Guinea fowl or quail. I think over the time that has passed we have stepped out of the comfort zone of what I call normal meats to more interesting cuts and then someone figured out that if veg is cooked in a certain way meat can be cut out altogether. It is said that we should all have a meat free dinner at least once a week, this is apparently not only good for us but very friendly on the budget. I haven’t tired doing this I am a meat lover.
I love what I call strange meats, Oxtail I would die for the first time I tasted oxtail was on a trip back home to St Helena and it was in the restaurant aboard the RMS St Helena. It was oxtail curry and I can safely say it was at the time one of the best things I have ever tasted. Pigs feet is another one that I love. Rabbit is something that we grew up with. Hunting them was necessary as they would just over populate. I would literally try any food once.
Let me take you to the St Helena cookbook. It was published in2007. Now I don’t actually follow the recipes because they are meals that I grew up with.
Every St Helena family has their own way of cooking the same dish, which results in obviously different flavours. My mums curry was completely different to my nanas and mine is also completely different.
This cookbook is very simple but the use of spices like chilli are used very smartly. Let’s take Tuna Curry
It calls for….
1 kg of fresh tuna
4-5 medium potatoes
2-3 tablespoons of curry powder
1 stock cube
1 tablespoon of vinegar
1-2 tablespoons of tomato sauce or fresh tomatoes
1-2 teaspoons of sugar (optional)
1 tablespoon of chutney or Worcestershire sauce
Salt to taste
Cooking oil
Mix veg (optional)
Cornflour mixed with a little water to thicken
water
Lightly fry the onion, add curry powder and fry for a few minutes, do not allow to burn
Add the potatoes and other ingredients NOT the tuna and Mix veg (if using the frozen kind) and the cornflour. Add a little water, just enough to cover ingredients. Simmer gently until potatoes are half cooked. Add the tuna and mixed veg (if using) and cook until potatoes are tender. Thicken with the cornflour mix. Do not overcook the tuna.
In my case I wouldn’t add sugar I would add chilli. This is one of the biggest differences between how some families cook this dish. Adding sugar obviously will make it a sweeter curry, and you all know that I prefer more spice than sweet. When I make a St Helena curry of any sort I don’t ever use tomatoes. And rarely would I add mix veg, sometimes I add string beans. I love curry with cabbage served on the side it was something that my auntie Wendy did and it kind of stuck.
I would serve it on the side like most families do. But this St Helena dish like many others are so versatile in the flavours. The recipes have been passed down through generations and along the way we all made it our own.
There is also the way and what curry powder would be used. Some mix the three different heats. My mum always mixed the hot with the medium and some mix the hot with the mind and so on. I make up my own curry powder using different spices as here it’s got quiet hard to get the one we used at home.
I have been on a journey with food and flavours for a few years now and there is always something new to learn and I for one am going to soak it all in.
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