Do you make Cracker Hash? or Lobscouse?

Hi there,

I hope you don't consider this a spam post as I'm currently looking for home cooks with interesting family recipes in Liverpool to take part in a brand new cookery show for ITV1 and thought this would be the best place to ask. I'd really love to feature some of Liverpool's maritime history in the show and get someone on to cook a traditional Liverpool dish such as the Cracker Hash or Scouse or even a Chinese dish. If you think this is something you'd enjoy taking part in, give me a shout on 0161 952 6030 or email me at neil.summers@itv.com It's a great show that's all about family/local heritage and proving that home cooking is just as good (if not better) than restaurant food.

Cheers!

Neil

Where's Daley when you need him?
C'mon Brian, tell the guy about cracker hash.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kevin

Where's Daley when you need him?
C'mon Brian, tell the guy about cracker hash.

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Tell me too. I'm intrigued.

Cracker Hash was made out of corned beef,boiled and mashed potatoes,onions and ships biscuits. It was stewed for todays meal and the leftovers were mixed with boiled cabbage and then fried for the following evenings meal. If you have never tasted it then you have missed one of a very hungry mans great pleasures. Scouse,or lobscouse( which in the Potteries is called Lobby),does not have a defined recipe; at sea ,before refrigeration,it had pickled beef or pork as its basis and then onions,potatoes and carrots were added. At home ,my mother used to put barley and lentils in as well and the usual spuds ,carrots and onions, For meat she would use mutton neck ends and she would slow cook it until the whole thing was like a very thick soup, you could even eat the neck bones as they had become very soft and almost melted in your mouth. Another great dish was Liverpudlian thick pea soup. You would get a ham shank,or a sheet of pork spareribs,marrowfat peas,haricot beans, lentils,barley and chopped onions,spuds were optional. This mess would be slow boiled for about six hours and the taste was very heaven, Again the bones were consumed ,almost as a delicacy.
Saltfish was a mainly Sunday morning dish, this was boiled in milk and bacon (smoked)scraps. After bringing it to the boil it was simmered for about an hour and the meat was beautifully flaky.As you walked along the streets of Liverpool on a Sunday morning you could smell the aroma of salt fish coming from many of the houses. Today ,it is a very expensive dish and has all but disappeared from our shops,but go to Portugal and you will find it on the menu's of most restaurant,it is called bacalhau and it is delicious.
BrianD

Courageously, the vegetarian read on...

Another good title for your book Brian. Spuds Optional. :)

What utter delights mothers could compose after casting their nets wide. I have come across:mash, onion, cheese and corned-beef, but not as a child.
As a child my 'dish' was what my mother called 'stovies'. Mash & onion, as far as I know. My Welsh aunt living in the monkey-less north east of England knew nothing of stovies. My father, also from M-L NE, was cooked and ate, all by himself, something called panaclety (sp?) sliced potatoes, mince etc.
I suppose the reason for the addition of biscuits is similar to why all the houses around Rosyth dockyard were painted grey, white and red. It was what was around for 'the right price'.
Plainly, what warmed and filled our bellies when young lives on warming and filling our memories.
Now? Chips and macaroni-cheese with HP. MMMMmmmmmm

Oudeis,
I loved stovey,I was introduced to it whilst on a holiday at the Stakis Hydro in Dunblane,they held a Burns Night for Gourmets and we were enthralled by the ceremonial piping in of the haggis,borne by four chefs on what could only be called a bier. The pipes sKirled and the dirks flashed as a clan chieftain addressed the noble haggis. Each table was laden with draughts of Glayvar and Burns was honoured by many and sundry toasts.We dined on the newly gutted haggis and sat and listened to the paeans of praise that were heaped upon the Bards heid. The hours passed and so did our sensibilities until,at length we were served piping hot stovey,a noble dish ,favoured by peasant and cheiftain alike, this was washed down with more of the golden nectar and then we were given black bun. Such was the feeling engendered by this feast that some of us were wont to go out and slay some sassenachs ;a truly memorable Burns night,
BrianD

Ah, the Dunblane Hydro, what memories. A gang of us had an afternoon in the sauna, thanks to one of our number being employed there at the time. Forty years ago, it must have worked because I haven't been back. :)