Sheffield meals of days gone by

[Greybeard]

Oxtail was another cheap meal of my childhood - it was cooked slowly in an enamelled iron casserole dish in the range oven overnight. Shin beef too, cooked in the same way...and both delicious.

 

It seems odd to me that chicken is now perhaps the cheapest meat available yet in the 40s and 50s it was a rare treat for most people. We had 'rural' relatives who sent us a capon at Christmas and a couple of broiler chickens in between but I don't recall my mother ever buying chicken - it was a luxury food in those days.

[pattricia]

Oxtail was another cheap meal of my childhood - it was cooked slowly in an enamelled iron casserole dish in the range oven overnight. Shin beef too, cooked in the same way...and both delicious.

 

It seems odd to me that chicken is now perhaps the cheapest meat available yet in the 40s and 50s it was a rare treat for most people. We had 'rural' relatives who sent us a capon at Christmas and a couple of broiler chickens in between but I don't recall my mother ever buying chicken - it was a luxury food in those days.

 

I still use shin beef in stews and pies instead of stewing meat, as it melts in the mouth and is so tender.

[Plain Talker]

I think you have got it the wrong way round PT, Hash or Ash does have potatoes in it. I think it's called Ash because it's traditionally eaten on Ash Wednesday.

 

*raises hands apologetically* I knew that the difference between a Stew and a Hash was that one had potatoes, (traditionally) and the other didn't. But I stand to be corrected about which way round it was.

 

Like the tradition of having Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday being the opportunity to get rid of any flour/ eggs in the house, and what-have-you, (harks back to the Passover traditions from Judaism, of clearing all flour and leaven, and any possible traces of them from the home) having the stew/ hash on the Ash Wednesday before the Lenten fasting started, "got rid" of any remaining meat, as meat was "forbidden" during Lent.

[Kidorry]

People didnt seem to get heart attacks like they do today did they ?

No they just exploded.

[soft ayperth]

Ash is the remnants from a fire.

 

Hash (as in Hash And Dumplings, or Corned-Beef Hash) is a form of Stew. I think, IIRC the difference between a Hash, and a Stew is that hash doesn't have potatoes in it.

 

people mistakenly think it's "ash" because of

 

a) the yorkshire accent, with its dropped "Aitch" and

 

b) the fact that it's often eaten on "Ash" Wednesday. (the Ash refers NOT to the stew, but to the ash daubed on the foreheads of the people who had attended church to be "shriven" after Shrove Tuesday. ("shriven" = attending confession ready for the Lenten fast)

 

Not sure about all the above PT. But, Viking offers a recipe for "stew/ash" here:

 

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=30401

 

I don't remember whether the "ash" we had (and it could have been hash without the "h" had spuds in it or not, but stew and ash were one and the same to us as kids. We never liked it, but what kids do like stews?

[scrapper]

mashed spuds cornbeef and beetroot still have it now and love it.

[flyer]

the definitive word from a master cook (self proclaimed)hash is fried with what ever got put in,stew of course are boiled with u got it what ever u got

[The Miller]

*raises hands apologetically* I knew that the difference between a Stew and a Hash was that one had potatoes, (traditionally) and the other didn't. But I stand to be corrected about which way round it was.

 

No apologies needed.

 

the definitive word from a master cook (self proclaimed)hash is fried with what ever got put in,stew of course are boiled with u got it what ever u got

 

I think you've been in Canada too long, Hash or Ash might be fried over there but not here.

[flyer]

No apologies needed.

 

 

 

I think you've been in Canada too long, Hash or Ash might be fried over there but not here.

 

I'm pretty sure I'd never heard the word "hash" in Sheffield late 40s to 60s but I could be wrong(first time this year) I think I may have heard it on a Roy Rogers cowboy movie:P:P:P

[Joanl]

'ash and dumplings in Attercliffe and always on Ash Wednesday whether it should have had an aitch or not..........