[Short digression. I was told yonks ago that the French name for profiteroles translates as "nuns' farts" but I always thought they, too, called them profiteroles. Whereas here in England the choux buns are filled with cream, in France they are filled with ice cream.]
As I was saying, I have always been disappointed when I have ordered either of these dishes in a restaurant. That is because the Old Bat makes them so much better! The choux pastry in restaurants is usually dry or hard or chewy or a mixture of some or all those faults. As for the lemon meringue, it is always either factory made and bought in or the "chef" has used a simple mix rather than make the pie from scratch. That - making it from scratch - is what the Old Bat does, using real lemons and eggs.
Another once-popular dessert that I am not keen on is Black Forest gateau. I used to like it, but that was in the way-back. Way back, somewhere around the late 1950s or early 1960s, there was a chain of restaurants in this country trading under the name "Berni Inns". Before Berni Inns came on the scene it was rare for people of my class to dine in a restaurant in the evening. Remember, I am talking about a time when English pubs were still in the spit-and-sawdust stage, or not much farther on. If you wanted food in a pub you might be lucky enough to find a packet of crisps or pork scratching, maybe even a packet of peanuts, but not even a curled up sandwich was to be seen on the bar, let alone the extensive menus we see nowadays. In those days, people of my class considered it quite exciting to buy fish and chips and sit down on a bench to eat them from the newspaper in which they wee wrapped. That was eating out!
But to get back to the Berni Inns. Their standard menu was prawn cocktail, steak and chips, and Black Forest gateau. Funny that the prawn cocktail and the gateau disappeared without trace, but both are now staging a come back, especially the prawn cocktail, which is now found almost everywhere. And, of course, nowadays we have a much wider choice of restaurants, especially here in Brighton.
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The music of the moment is provided by an Irish folk singer, Roisin O'Reilly, from her CD Love So Kindly. The Tubes have a sample here.
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I mentioned yesterday that I had wanted to take a picture of St Laurence church, Falmer, looking across the village pond. But this was the best I could do.
2 comments:
As for the lemon meringue, it is always either factory made and bought in or the "chef" has used a simple mix rather than make the pie from scratch. That - making it from scratch - is what the Old Bat does, using real lemons and eggs.
My mother spoiled me on commercial lemon meringue pie for EXACTLY the same reason. You're fortunate to have found a woman who can cook; she would be a rare find, these days.
I like that Roisin lady... what a magnificent voice.
"You're fortunate to have found a woman who can cook"
I give thanks every day - and I do so agree about the voice.
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