Local specialities

[alan refail]

To mark the coming of winter, last night we tucked into our first pan of cawl of the season.

Shin of beef (lamb also traditional)
Thick slices of smoked bacon
Leeks
Potatoes
Onion
Carrots
all stewed together - a delight!

Though this is probably the Welsh national dish - old proverb: "Cystal yfed o'r cawl â bwyta'r cig" - It is as good to drink the broth as to eat the meat - in these parts it is invariably referred to as lobsgows, which links it to many other places, not least the capital of North Wales on the Mersey!

It is certainly more satisfying than most of the other local "specialities", mostly poverty food based on oatcakes and water/buttermilk - now not surprisingly out of fashion, though fondly remembered by many.

What are your local traditional dishes, and do you eat them?

[oldherbaceous]

Good morning Alan, we have the Bedfordshire Clanger here.
It is a suet crust dumpling, one half filled with any type of meat and the other half filled with jam.
It was probably made for the many farm workers years ago, while they were working in the fields furthest from their homes.

And i haven't consumed one since i was a boy, but i might try one in the near future now i have mentioned it.

[Clive.]

Hello Alan, Old H',

Lincolnshire Plum Bread. http://www.myersbakery.co.uk/pages/plum_loaf/

Lincolnshire Stuffed Chine. http://www.fcphipps.co.uk/buy/Lincolnsh ... fed_Chine/

Clive.

[The Mouse]

Pie and peas.
That's a pork pie and mushy peas. Often eaten with vinegar on them.
That was still the only food offered in many pubs (around Huddersfield) back in the mid- to late-seventies.

At home we used to have the 'posh' version, which meant that the peas were cooked with a ham shank. Just to make sure we were full up, dumplings were often thrown into the pan at the end, too!!!

I still make this occasionally in winter, but the rest of the family don't really like it.