Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Psst....

My brother and his lovely wife came to stay last week - forsaking sunny half-term pleasures in the Mediterranean for life at the end of a muddy lane. What a treat to see them. We did all our usual visitor stuff, tailoring it slightly to include the family connections. We drove round the lanes and visited the sleepy little towns which given a little probing will yield up their hidden treasures. We like to show off some of the excellent the local produce too. On this occasion we had sheep and goat cheeses from a few miles away in Wales and a mighty rib of Hereford beef from a producer down the hill in Shropshire. We know its provenance and that it was raised with care and compassion.

We ate it rare with puffy Yorkshire puddings and vegetables from the garden. It was definitely a piece of meat to be shared - we ate like kings. It was the cut of meat I remember from childhood - a piece of beef like this seemed to appear on the table more frequently than it does today.

A by-product of roast beef is dripping - and this joint yielded a generous bowlful. I set it on one side to cool. It'll come in for something.

Now, don't tell the Food Police - but breakfast this morning was toast and dripping. Not only toast and dripping, but toast and dripping with pepper and a sprinkling of salt (shock horror). Surely the food of the Devil? Nope - it was fantastic; juicy, succulent and savoury. I'm ignoring the sniffs of disapproval at my blatant consumption of saturated fat and will decline the wussy carton of olive oil spread.

It's the first dripping I've eaten since about 1969, so once in 40 years can't do me much harm can it?

10 comments:

Maggie Christie said...

Oh yum yum I adore toast and dripping. And yes with salt too. Just drooling here thinking of it! That meal, with the splendid beef, sounds absolutely divine!

Pondside said...

I've never heard of toast and drippings - The Great Dane likes an occasional treat of rye bread and duck/goose fat, but I can't quite manage it. Your toast does look yummy though!

Lindsay said...

Lovely! My mum used to give us sugar sandwiches!

rachel said...

No dripping for me, thank you, but your toast looks lovely! With seriously good butter (remember fake butters and spreads are heavily and chemically processed) and a scraping of Marmite....mmmmm......

Pam said...

Don't know if I could try dripping butties myself but it looks lovely. The roast sounded lovely and got me in the mood for Yorkshire puds, though it's a pday for pancakes of course.
When my mum came to visit a couple of years ago she cooked us a steak and kidney pudding. I invited some American friends over and they liked it until I told them it contained kidneys and explained what suet was. They've never forgiven me!

snailbeachshepherdess said...

have never tasted dripping - have led such a sheltered life!

Cait O'Connor said...

Ooooh dripping......

bodran... said...

Always salt and pepper on toast. i'll forego the dripping though, i remember mum giving me beef tea it was lovely hot but if you let it cool it went hard yuckkk, and sugar buttys i gave my kids sugar butties shhhhh..
It was lovely to meet your brother and sister in law i bet you had loads of fun xx

muddyboots said...

not so sure about dripping on bread but l do like lardy cake and that IS a delicacy l miss up north!

Arcadian Advocate said...

The good olde rib of beef, sounds delicious and just like the beef we prouce here, funnily enough we even have customers for our beef in Wales.

Funny how food changes, we all used to cook with dripping and now we dont use it much... choosing healthier oils instead.