The Cream Horns Talk has proved very popular
- Book launch in Putney
- Talk to large audience Putney Library
- Various WIs around London including Putney and Barnes
- Future talks to U3a , National Health Retirement Groups, More WIs and more ….
Category: 1970s food
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My Cream Horns Talk
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Awful Offal
Prue Leith has written a passionate piece on her website about the demise of Offal and called it Awful Offal.
I wonder if she got the idea from my I taught them to cook book?
You can read about my disastrous lesson on stuffed hearts here.
We took out bits of veins and flaps, stuffed them with Paxo and roasted them in Bisto gravy. End of the day, only a few were taken home and I had to try and sell the rest to single men in the staffroom.
Thankyou Prue for your review of this book –
‘An accurate, and sometimes very funny, account of the trials of a young food teacher in the 70’s. A light hearted testament to the importance of food, education, and a sizzling expose of the blindness of the powers that be.’
IT’S STILL TRUE – FOOD AND NUTRITION TEACHING NEEDS TO BE VALUED.
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White Eggs
In the seventies, most of our eggs had white shells but gradually brown shelled eggs appeared in the shops and people thought they were healthier. In 2021, during the pandemic, white eggs were back in the supermarkets and sold for half the price of brown ones. The reason? Specific breeds of hen lay white eggs and these breeds can be kept in very large flocks as the hens are not as aggressive as brown egg laying hens. The white shelled eggs are therefore cheaper to produce and used by the food and catering industry. The pandemic closed many of these companies so there was a surplus supply of white eggs which supermarkets are selling at reduced prices. There is no nutritional difference between white and brown eggs although my 1970s students insisted there was and always wanted my brown eggs.
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
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Seville Oranges and Marmalade: A Culinary Journey
Click to read my story of my school marmalade lesson from 1970s.
It’s from the first book I taught them to cook, about cookery lessons in an east London comprehensive.
There’s also my school recipe for Marmalade. How did I get fifty students to each end up with a well set jar of this delicious sweet and sour jam? I don’t know.
The recipe is on this link. Notice there is no pectin used.
In Valencia last week, the streets were filled with Seville orange trees laden with fruit. They are too sour to eat so the 10,000 trees get left alone.
The city harvests the oranges in January each year and uses the fruit for juice and perfume making. Dundee marmalade has passed them by!
In January the streets of Valencia are filled with orange trees, laden with fruit. -
Angel Delight tarts
I taught my students how to make Angel Delight tarts for a Convenience Food lesson. The aim was to show how quickly you can make a dessert.
I got letters from parents –
‘You should be teaching them to cook not open packets!’Read my story on this link.
And if you want to make the recipe it’s here. It does get students to eat more milk which was a target of the day.
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Thankyou Delia
How Delia stopped me from making 300 mince pies.
Click the link to see my reading from Cream Horns and Vol au Vents at my book launch.
READ the the full story on this link
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Linda Taylor and Manzes
Watch the amazing Linda reading my story of visiting Manzes in 1970s Walthamstow.
Yes they served and sold live eels. Talk on this link
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Gilly Smith’s Podcast
Listen to Gilly Smith interviewing me on Cooking the Books Podcast.
My book I taught them to cook is a blistering expose of teaching teenagers in 1970s London how to cook fatty pastries and cakes.
But it was fun.
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You tube video part 1 Planning book
This YouTube video is Part 1 of planning to write Cream Horns and Vol au Vents
There’s a diary for 1973 to get the dates right.
A list of rude cooking words
Planning the characters and changing names
Planing 1974 with three day week and blackouts.
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My students in 1974
This photo is a group of my students. I am on the right wearing an all-brown outfit. High, suede leather boots, a brown mini skirt, roll neck jumper, belted at waist and a jaunty cap.
Read about those days in Cream Horns and Vol au vents.
Story on this link
Jenny Ridgwell 