Tell Me Something............Anything!

[Marco]

I'll eat salami and chorizo and that but never liked 'British' sausage no matter how fancy it is. Nothing to do with ingredients I think it's the texture aka 'mouth feel' that puts me off.

Yeah, I know *exactly* what you mean and I'm the same. Grant's right though, I think you'd love quality Scottish Lorne (square) sausages as the texture [mouth feel] is totally different from links (much firmer, and also drier).

I think what you object to (a bit like me) is the 'squishy sensation' of biting through the sausage skin (which let's face it is pretty nasty and made from intestines), into the 'pulped' meat inside, which itself in anything but the best sausages, is of dubious quality.

That's why I'm not big on thick/fat varieties, such as Cumberland, as for me the texture is unpleasant and they're heavy going, To avoid that, try thinner varieties, which are like large chipolatas, and ones with a high-meat content (around 80%), as when cooked they have a much firmer texture and 'mouth feel', as well as taste delicious, especially when nicely chargrilled!

Marco.

[Macca]

I'm not familiar with this Scottish Lorne, I suspect you can't get it round here. It's all pies and sausages in these parts.

I'm not much for British food in general, apart from a proper roast lamb or roast beef dinner.

[Pigmy Pony]

Cumberland "swirl" on a barm with some HP sauce takes some beating. From Booths the grocers. Very thin and knobbly and shaped like a cat turd.

[Marco]

Going "veggie" was an education in spicing for me - much of my cooking at that time was daal/pulse based (need to keep up protein intake - important to use mixture of beans in order to get mixed amino acids ).
Beans need spicing to make them palatable In my opinion - unless you insist on eating bloody awful "baked beans"
Indian cuisine has a great tradition of vegetarian cooking as so many of the population do not eat meat, so go to the best practitioners.

On my baked bean aversion, I just can't stand the sickly over sweet sauce - a complete "no no" with a cooked breakfast

Yup, some of the best vegetarian food on the planet is Indian or Asian influenced!

So yes, that needs spicing - and indeed is mandatory in order to be authentic. Like you, Del also LOVES beans and pulses, nuts, etc (think nut roasts), but I disagree that beans need spicing in order to be palatable. For your palate, perhaps, but again it depends on a) how they're cooked/how fresh they are, and b) which type of beans you're talking about.

I could give you any number of Mediterranean recipes for bean dishes, with no spices in them whatsoever (fresh herbs and good seasoning used instead), but which are *packed full* of flavour and taste delicious!

Marco.

[struth]

Yeah, I know *exactly* what you mean and I'm the same. Grant's right though, I think you'd love quality Scottish Lorne (square) sausages as the texture [mouth feel] is totally different from links.

I think what you object to (a bit like me) is the 'squishy sensation' of biting through the sausage skin (which let's face it is pretty nasty and made from intestines), into the 'pulped' meat inside, which itself in anything but the best sausages, is of dubious quality.

That's why I'm not big on thick/fat varieties, such as Cumberland, as for me the texture is unpleasant and they're heavy going, To avoid that, try thinner varieties, which are like large chipolatas, and ones with a high-meat content (around 80%), as when cooked they have a much firmer texture and 'mouth feel', as well as taste delicious, especially when nicely chargrilled!

Marco.

i like lorne on a roll with a tattie scone on top; lashings of brown too.....used to be a great van next to hampden that did best ones, when i was working in area for a long time.. breaky every morning was 2 of above and a can of bru

[Marco]

Crikey, I didn't realise that Del is a vegetarian - how does she cope with cooking meat for you?
I had a real aversion to going anywhere near meat after a few months of not eating it. I hadn't previously realised how much meat counters/butchers smell until I gave up eating the stuff

Lol... Firstly, in terms of the latter, gawd I'm like you and DETEST that 'raw meat'/blood smell - makes me boak!!

Yes, even as a meat eater, but a rather fussy one, in terms of not really liking to see or handle it in its raw state. Fine when it's nicely cooked and served on a plate, but I'm not keen on the 'before' process

Hence why I DETEST any form of offal... PUKE!! Even the smell of chicken (or pork) being fried off can be disgusting, depending on the chicken (or pork).

As for Del, well, she wasn't always veggie (turned so in her teens), and grew up with parents, who like her were very much into being green/self-sufficient, and who had a big house with lots of land, where they had their own rabbits, chickens and pigs, goats, veg/pots, fruit trees, all sorts. Therefore she's milked goats, skinned rabbits, plucked chickens, and pulled the guts out of all sorts, as her dad taught her all that when she was little, so she can prepare both meat and fish as well as any chef, and has the knife skills to accompany it.

That's why cooking it doesn't bother her She might be a princess, but she's not scared of getting her hands dirty.. And as I joke with her too, in terms of cooking meat, good job, as before she married me, she'd have to have learned!

Marco.

[Marco]

As a vegan, how does she feel about bags and shoes pretending to be leather? Or as a semi-vegan is it ok to mix 'n' match? I find it all so confusing, as I'm sure many restaurant waiters and shoe shop staff probably do.

Ok, well firstly, she won't entertain *anything* pretending to be something it isn't, clothes, jewellery, food or whatever. For her, it's either got to be real or unashamedly fake. Where possible she'll always support animal welfare or what's best for the planet (as a diehard 'greeny' that's in her DNA), but life isn't perfect and sometimes sacrifices are needed, so of course she'll wear leather shoes - what's the real alternative?

'Vegan footwear' isn't really her, as it tends to be rather 'functional', and not very stylish.

Bags are a little different, as she quite likes to be quirky and so will buy all sorts, often made from recycled materials, but stylish and quirky with it. She creates her own style/fashion sense and 'owns' it, and so unlike a lot of women isn't a slave to trends, although she fully keeps up to date with them and adopts them if she thinks the look suits her, but not simply to be 'on trend' [a sheep she isn't] - or she'll often make things from scratch herself, and utilise her skills as a qualified textile designer.

However, these days she prefers me to take her shopping, funded by the bank of Marco!

As for waiters in restaurants, there's simply NO excuse these days for not being fully conversant in the terms used to describe various types of non-meat eaters. least of all because it's so fashionable now to be veggie or vegan [although that's certainly not why Del is]. Therefore, they *should* be on the ball and able to successfully differentiate between all of them!

Marco.

[struth]

Lol... Firstly, in terms of the latter, gawd I'm like you and DETEST that 'raw meat'/blood smell - makes me boak!!

Yes, even as a meat eater, but a rather fussy one, in terms of not really liking to see or handle it in its raw state. Fine when it's nicely cooked and served on a plate, but I'm not keen on the 'before' process

Hence why I DETEST any form of offal... PUKE!! Even the smell of chicken (or pork) being fried off can be disgusting, depending on the chicken (or pork).

As for Del, well, she wasn't always veggie (turned so in her teens), and grew up with parents, who like her were very much into being green/self-sufficient, and who had a big house with lots of land, where they had their own rabbits, chickens and pigs, goats, veg/pots, fruit trees, all sorts. Therefore she's milked goats, skinned rabbits, plucked chickens, and pulled the guts out of all sorts, as her dad taught her all that when she was little, so she can prepare both meat and fish as well as any chef, and has the knife skills to accompany it.

That's why cooking it doesn't bother her She might be a princess, but she's not scared of getting her hands dirty.. And as I joke with her too, in terms of cooking meat, good job, as before she married me, she'd have to have learned!

Marco.

doesnt bother me cooking meat.. i always get it so its pretty much ready to cook tho. Ive prepared pigeons when i was young but didnt like it much..dog did tho lol..

[Marco]

I've never really done it, mate. Before Del, my mum did all the cooking, meat or otherwise. Just what I've been used to. Handy having a wife with a variety of skillsets though, innit?

Marco.

[struth]

I've never really done it, mate. Before Del, my mum did all the cooking, meat or otherwise. Just what I've been used to. Handy having a wife with a variety of skillsets though, innit?

Marco.

very I would imagine.. never had one tho.. Mine couldnt open a packet of crisps without ruining it