Swap a Recipe, Share a Memory!

My name is Paula and this is my Food Story……

My Special Food Memory:

“From the age of 4, I always remember the weekly family get together at my Nan and Grandad’s home in Liverpool— a Saturday, regardless of the season… my Nan would get up really early and start preparing a pan of scouse for her 5 children, their partners and her grandchildren. My Grandad was a professional chef, however, all 4 foot 11 inches of my Nan was in charge in the kitchen on a Saturday!”

Here are pictures at my Grandparents’ home in 1968, with my Grandmother, Mother and Godmother: My Nan’s SCOUSE Recipe:

Serves 12 Ingredients: 8 large potatoes peeled and cut into 4 8 large carrots peeled and diced 4 large onions peeled and diced 4lb stewing beef 6 stalks of celery chopped 6 bay leaves Beef stock Method: Place the stewing beef and stock in a large pan and simmer for 2 hours. Add all the vegetables, bay leaves and season Ensure all the ingredients are covered in stock and cook for appx another 1 and a half hours (until vegetables are soft) Serve with some red cabbage and home baked fresh bread. Scouse Abroad: Recently, we delivered a talk with Wigan Archives all about our local food heritage. When chatting with the participants, one lady mentioned that she met a Dutch sailor at a campsite in France, who loved Scouse. He had discovered the dish whilst working on the high-seas. In fact, it had been sailors that had originally spread this dish far and wide, as it was a simple one-pot recipe, perfect for a ship’s galley kitchen. Lobscouse, lapskaus, lapskojs or skipperlabskovs, depending where you are, is a popular dish throughout northern Europe. In Germany, labskaus is more like corned beef hash, while in Norway, lapskaus is a chunky stew much like the one originating in Liverpool. If you are a Veggie, why not try ‘blind scouse.’ You can substitute the meat for sweet potato, lentils, beans and experiment with different types of root veg.