Veganuary

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I too love ackee and saltfish. I expect it would work with some of those salted & pickled Chinese vegetables in place of the fish. Not the same but a similarly salty savouriness.

[scullion Profile]

I´ve eaten akee. It´s a curious fruit because of it´s buttery flavour, but pleasant.
Of course, you should never eat it raw because it´s toxic.

i've eaten it in jamaica. at a hotel where we stayed there was a big tree outside the front door and the cook said it was ok to eat the fruit raw when it was open and ripe but better to be cooked and never eat the black seed.

the cook of a friend, we stayed with, cooked it for us.
from what i remember it was a little bit like the texture of firm scrambled egg with the flavour of cashew nuts.
i've bought it in the world food aisle in the big tesco a few miles away when it's been on offer and i may still have a tin at the back of the cupboard (or that may be callaloo).
it's quite expensive - i think it was about a fiver for a tin and i think firm tofu would be a better thing to use in that recipe both for protein content and expense with little difference in flavour.

They make good pastry and roast potatoes but a Jewish bakery near here makes dairy free croissants with shortening, the texture is good but they are oddly flavourless if you are used to butter

the cooking fat that we had at school was a kosher one called 'tomor'. it was solid, white and had little flavour but i suppose it catered for the jewish pupils as much as for the vegetarian/vegan kids.
it produced brilliant roast potatoes.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

from what i remember it was a little bit like the texture of firm scrambled egg with the flavour of cashew nuts.

I think that's pretty much spot on

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Tomor is still around, it probably is what they make the kosher croissants with, it’s more like baking margarine than the white shortening iirc but has the same uses

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Nothing earth-shattering but a few recipes that landed in my inbox today.

https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/vega ... ace-staff/

[scullion Profile]

it’s more like baking margarine than the white shortening iirc

you recall correctly. apart from use in cookery lessons and in the school kitchens it was always put out for use as a spread, along with the butter, at school. its whiteness was a little off putting as a spread.
i saw that it was still in production but i don't think i would know where to go to find it down here - it'd have to be bought online.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Another reason you might have had Tomor at school is because I see it’s made by Rakusen’s, and they always sold everything in catering packs, and crept into a lot of non-kosher kitchens that way

[scullion Profile]

i doubt that's the reason. the kitchen quite possibly had a kosher area. being a vegetarian school we had quite a few jewish people there so it wouldn't have 'crept in' - and it wasn't a 'catering pack' sort of place then.
when olive oil was most commonly bought in the chemist in tiny bottles ours came in big glass carboys, in metal baskets stuffed with straw (- we had italian cooks).
the school had its own potato field, veg plots and the normal cheddar was a gorgeous farmhouse one that came in a big round with a rind.

[Suffs Profile]

from what i remember it was a little bit like the texture of firm scrambled egg with the flavour of cashew nuts.

I think that's pretty much spot on

I agree

[herbidacious Profile]

i doubt that's the reason. the kitchen quite possibly had a kosher area. being a vegetarian school we had quite a few jewish people there so it wouldn't have 'crept in' - and it wasn't a 'catering pack' sort of place then.
when olive oil was most commonly bought in the chemist in tiny bottles ours came in big glass carboys, in metal baskets stuffed with straw (- we had italian cooks).
the school had its own potato field, veg plots and the normal cheddar was a gorgeous farmhouse one that came in a big round with a rind.

That sounds amazing.

Meanwhile, at the Sheffield High School, the promised homemade soup, that was the compulsory 'snack' we had to have whether we brought our own lunch or not, turned out to come from a packet of Batchelor's!

[Amyw Profile]

from what i remember it was a little bit like the texture of firm scrambled egg with the flavour of cashew nuts.

I think that's pretty much spot on

Oooh I like the sound of that. It's one of those ingredients I've heard of a lot but had no idea what it actually is

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I'd certainly recommend trying ackee and saltfish if you see it for sale. Rather easier to find in the Lea Valley than Devon, however. When my uncle was in the North Middlesex hospital a few years ago I used to go down on the train to visit him, (come to think of it I must have walked from W*** then caught the train up) there was a family-run Caribbean restaurant and takeaway opposite Silver Street station. I would often have ackee & saltfish on the way home. The only thing was that the guy who ran it took a very relaxed view of service, so it was important to leave enough time to catch the train. I remember on one occasion a couple of local lads who were aiming to get the train into town becoming increasingly anxious while they were waiting for their food.

[herbidacious Profile]

I used to live one stop down from Silver St, round the corner from White Hart Lane station.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

round the corner from White Hart Lane station

Not far from where Wilde's cheese are now, I guess. All my grandparents lived next door to Tottenham gasworks, mum & dad lived in rooms in houses in the adjacent streets when I was a baby. We moved to Lower Edmonton before I went to school.

[herbidacious Profile]

Indeed not far! I lived almost overlooking (would have been if we'd been two doors up) Bruce Castle Park on Church Road for about 2 years.

Where were the gasworks?4


We used to walk up to Edmonton for a cooked breakfast sometimes at the weekend. I can also remember a nmeeting of mothers in a Wetherspoons (The Gillpins Bell?) to discuss our forthcoming wedding (Also in Tottenham. All Hallows Church - not far to travel!)

[Badger's Mate Profile]

The gasworks used to be next to the railway between Angel Road and Northumberland Park stations (the coal would have been delivered by train of course), south of the North Circular and east of Tottenham High Road. Long gone by the time Wetherspoon's Gilpin Bell arrived. There was a gasometer the other side of the railway until quite recently, next door to IKEA, it sometimes had a peregrine falcon sitting on it.

My life has been framed by John Gilpin's ride, having started in Edmonton and winding up in Ware, although I don't recall his detour via Norwich...

[dennispc Profile]

My Dad was born in Argyll Road, off Tottenham High Street, our dentist, Mr Hagerty, had premises alongside White Hart Lane Station, or was it Bruce Castle? Long time ago.

Further up the Lane was the Wonderloaf bakery, next door to our school’s playing field, thus I can claim to have played at White Hart Lane for five years.

Back to topic, our meals are a mixture of vegan/veggie, fish (don’t think I could give that up) and some meat, though red is much reduced these days.

Have posted before about my vegan breakfast - muesli - this morning had it as porridge, making it with water means oat milk is built in! Had it with apple compot, I suppose now we have to use English, not French words. so stewed apple. Can’t remember if I thanked those who helped me eliminate sugar from it. Now add a dessert apple to the Bramley’s, plus various dried fruits. Use cloves and occasionally cinnamon.

Another source for recipes, always simple, is paulthebread’s blog.

http://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.com/

[Seatallan Profile]

Goodness, I haven't seen or heard anything of paulthebread for years. Glad he's still around.

[Amyw Profile]

For anyone unfamiliar with his blog

http://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.com/?m=1

[dennispc Profile]

Hi AmyW, couldn’t help wondering why your link to the blog goes to a different page than the one I posted. Perhaps my link is from when it started. Not a problem as both work.

Way back (2017?) he thought he lost most of the blog, but Riocaz helped him get it back.

He recommended a forum that I visit occasionally. The philosophy side is way beyond me, but gives advice on how to start and is non-judgemental.

https://philosophicalvegan.com/

Seatallan, he’s as busy as ever, involved in a direct action group, should see him tomorrow on our coffee Zoom, though he missed the last one. Regularly sends the group lots of vegan stuff.