Roast Beef - 1970's (Marguerite Patten)

So you think you know how to Roast Beef?  You haven't Roasted nothing until you've done it Patten-style.

If you scour the internet, you can most probably find a recipe on how to do a good roast, however it doesn't say anything about how your mum would do a roast.

There are so many many variations on this classic, my Dad does it completely differently from my Mother-In-Law for instance.  But this, dear reader, is the control method.

Roast Pigeons - 1930's

You have to hand it to our previous generation, they really knew how to live off the land.  This recipe is probably a lot older than the 1930's but as it is from a cookbook of that period it is being cataloged as such.  The assumption made here is that the cook knows how to pluck and gut a pigeon, if you're not entirely au-fais with it then buy one from a butcher.

This recipe is a challange as it requires the pigeon to be continually basted in butter.

3 pigeons
3 slices of fat bacon
3 oz. butter
Pepper and Salt
3 slices of buttered sauce
Garnish of fried parsley

1. Singe and draw three pigeons.  Put about three-quarters of an ounce of butter inside each pigeon and season them with pepper and salt.
2. Truss them for roasting with a slice of fat bacon tied over the breast of each.
3. Toast the slice of bread, butter them, and stand one pigeon on each.  Roast them, in front of a brisk fire or in a gas oven, for 20 minutes, basting them continually with butter.
4. When pigeons are cooked, remove the strings and the bacon, or, if liked, the bacon can be left on the breasts.  Place the pigeons and toasts on a hot dish and garnish with bunches of fried parsley.

Chicken Mischief

This recipe would work great with a pre-roasted chicken you get from the supermarket.

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1 roasting chicken
2 tomatoes
2 tablespoons of oil
2 level tablespoons of honey
quarter pint of stock
1 level tablespoon of cornflour
4 oz. dripping
2 onions
2 tablespoons of pickle
3 tablespoons soya sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar
4 tablespoons water

1. Melt the dripping, joint the chicken and fry gently until well cooked and golden brown.

2. Skin and chop the tomatoes and onions.

3. Heat oil and fry tomatoes, onion and pickle for 5 minutes.

4. Add stock, soy sauce, honey and vinegar and bring to the boil.

5. Simmer for 10 minutes.  Blend cornflour with the water and add to the sauce.

6. Bring to the boil stirring.  Serve the chicken and pour sauce around.

Alternatively serve sauce and chicken separately using your fingers to eat chicken and dip with sauce.