[Britpicking] Food question

[shimotsuki]

I'm embarrassed at how little I know about Molly-style food culture in the UK. And so, I have a question for those of you in the know.

I'd like to be able to describe two versions of a typical family-style meal. One would be Molly's version, which is tasty and has special things in it, and one would be someone else's (oh, okay, it's Remus doing the cooking), which would be a lot simpler and more bland.

For example: Suppose Remus's version of roast beef comes with, maybe, onions and carrots and potatoes and that's it. I assume this is a plausible basic meal for a competent but not brilliant cook (but please correct me if I'm wrong).

So then, what would Molly's usual roast beef meal be like? Maybe with gravy and Yorkshire pudding? (Sorry! I know it's a cliche! Any better ideas?) And I suppose there would need to be some kind of nice veg or salad that I can't even begin to imagine. Or a soup? Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Also, I should probably mention that this is for my Meta fic, so if I'm not actually supposed to be asking for details help on that, let me know and I won't put the scene in the fic until whenever I get around to revising the fic to archive it (post-Meta).

Thanks for any advice. I'm already getting hungry just wondering what Molly would make. And I don't even eat beef.
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Comments

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

I know not the answer to your question, but I just had to let the record show that I am thoroughly in favor of this fic with Remus cooking.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

*snort*

Although I do feel compelled to point out that one of my prompts is Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent.

[jdbracknell.livejournal.com]

If you're making roast beef, you'd nearly always make Yorkshire pudding - not a cliche, a way of life ;). To go with that (in a fancy version), you'd make an assortment of vegetables - either roast potatoes (that you could do in with the beef) or mashed, then carrots, beans, cabbage, peas, or if you were feeling really fancy, a brocolli or cauliflower cheese (which is basically florets of either or both in a thick cheese sauce baked in the oven with more cheese on top), and gravy (which she'd make from scratch, using the juices from the beef, the water from the veg, and possibly a splash of red wine). None of which is particularly hard to do - I'm a veggie, but even I don't mess it up ;). Really fancy would mean making a different sauce to serve with it - maybe horseradish (which sits on the side rather than being a sauce sauce, a gravy), or a peppercorn sauce (which you'd more traditionally have with steak, but I have seen served with a roast).

In Remus' version, he could make the roast beef and serve it with plain boiled veg - boiled potatoes, boiled similar veg, but maybe a limited selection? Just one or two (cabbage and carrots being the traditionally cheaper, blander options)? He'd probably not make his gravy from scratch if he's not a great cook - just get an Oxo cube (do you have those? It's a stock cube, basically - you just add one to a pint of water for instant gravy).

Does that help? We're a weird lot, lol.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty veg-oriented myself (though I do eat things that swim or fly), but this is really making me hungry... The Molly suggestions sound excellent and also useful for what I'm trying to write. And I'll definitely have Remus use cabbage -- didn't think about that one.

We do have Oxo, I think, and definitely other brands along the same lines. I was thinking maybe Remus wouldn't go for the gravy at all, but maybe I'll relent and let him use some bouillon. Heh.

Glad the Yorkshire pudding is still realistic, since James Herriot seems to put one in every other chapter of his books.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[joely-jo.livejournal.com]

Oh, Molly would only use the best beef, which IMO is rib... otherwise known as a piece of rib-roast. And she'd cook it on the bone to make it taste better. Poor old Remus'd be stuck with something basic like shoulder of beef, and it'd be tough as old boots.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

I've got Remus cooking at Order headquarters, so at least he's working with a budget that isn't his own, heh. But thanks for the advice on cuts -- maybe I can have him buying shoulder out of habit. One more thing for people who like Molly's cooking to be disappointed by. ;)

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

A good roast, for me, is all about the quality of the roast potatoes. Once you've boiled them, you have to be a bit mean, bash 'em around a bit so you end up with nice crispy bits around the edges, otherwise, you end up with boring old potatoes that are just a little browned and soaked in cow juice...

For extra trimmings: roast parsnips, swede and carrot mashed together with butter and white pepper, cabbage, leek or cauli with or without cheese or white sauce always goes down well, as I think ladybracknell said. And Yorkies, you can't do roast beef without them.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Ah, so you boil the potatoes first to get them soft, and then you roast them with the beef? Wow, that sounds good...

roast parsnips, swede and carrot mashed together with butter and white pepper

You know, I may just have to try that later this week. Yum!

Thanks for the suggestions! All the characters in my story will wish it was Molly's version they were going to be getting.

[seer-of-spots.livejournal.com]

I agree with Lady Bracknell - Remus's vegies would most likely be boiled, if you're going for bland.

Molly might have some pumpkin on the table as well, roasted or mashed.

I'm trying to remember what Dad put with our last bit of roast beef (dad's the cook in our family!) ... but I'm coming up blank.

Wait a minute, and I'll go ask.

He suggested roast pumpkin, possibly roasted parsnips and potato and Yorkshire pud. We usually have peas, but they're supposedly harder to grow in England, so he thought beans would be more likely. He also said it's normal to find little pots of mustard or horseradish on the side.

Hope this helps!

Oh, and welcome to our community! :D

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

I love the pumpkin idea -- thanks! Peas sound like just the kind of thing Molly would grow in the garden at the Burrow and be proud of. And I've definitely gone ahead and had Remus boiling things in the opening scene of the fic, heh.

Oh, and welcome to our community! :D

Thanks! It sounds like fun. I don't know if I'll really have time to join in the challenges or not, but I hope I'll be able to give it a try.

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

I've just seen bratanimus wishing you a Happy Birthday and I didn't know it was but I hope you're having a great day! Even if you haven't got roast potatoes and Yorkshire puds, lol. (I'm leaving out the beef part because I don't eat it either).

And how did I know you'd be a Scorpio, just like me? ;)

Best Wishes and hope you're getting very spoilt and pampered. :)

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, it is my birthday today, although I don't have it in my LiveJournal profile because of, erm, paranoia. :P (I don't want my RL identity unambiguously guessable from my profile page...) I've just come home from a baby shower for a friend, and now I plan to spend the evening reading fics and books and my parents' present -- they took all the e-mails I sent them when I was living in Japan after college, formatted them prettily, and used a web publisher to make them into a paperback book! It looks amazing, and it's so much fun to read stuff I wrote more than ten years ago (and had forgotten about, mostly). Although I suppose I should be concerned about the fact that I sent home 300 pages worth of e-mail over a year and a half, heh.

No Yorkshire pud tonight, but my guy is planning a Thai-style dish with shrimp, squid, lime, and mint, and I am greatly looking forward to it.

Hmm, I wonder if bratanimus is a Scorpio, too? She's probably right on the cusp of Sagittarius.

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

I can relate to the paranoia (and aren't Scorpios supposed to be secretive? I'm saying nothing;)). Apart from not being overly keen at all on RL people who might know me suddenly finding me here, Mr Gilpin's family have all gone mad on Facebook, and I just know I'm on borrowed time until someone mentions LJ's and what fun it would be if we all had one. Except for those who have one already, and write HP fan fic...

That is one wonderful, thoughtful present from your parents. Must be lots of memories in there and I suppose you're really published now so congratulations!

I think bratanimus once told me she was Sagittarius. My dad is a Scorpio and my mum a Sagittarian, so these are obviously two signs that get on well, lol.

Enjoy the rest of your day! :)

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

not being overly keen at all on RL people who might know me suddenly finding me here -- Yep, that's just it. I don't so much mind if LJ people figure out my RL self, but I'm trying to be really careful about what words actually appear on my journal, so that if someone starts by Googling my RL information, they won't hit my fic things. (Secretive Scorpio? Me?)

I suppose you're really published now so congratulations! -- Hee! I hadn't yet thought of it that way! I'm technically already published, but it's all work stuff/my thesis book/research articles, so this is much more personally satisfying.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I meant to say -- if Mr. Gilpin's family insist on LJs, can you start a new, ficless one and only tell them about that one? ;)

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

Which would be both secretive and devious, and suit me, you and all fellow Scorpios perfectly. ;)