The eating of "umbles"

One of the delights of the summer is eating samphire the sea weed that grows in the salt marshes of the coastal regions. You can usually get it in June or July. I  first became acquainted with it in East Anglia. It is very tasty boiled and served with lemon and butter. A French lad who was in a group I was camping with thought it was one of the tastiest things he had tried whilst on holiday, a rare acknowledgement indeed .

Samphire appears in the “Whole Art of Cookery” published in the early 19^th century by a local publisher in Bemersley near Knypersley. What makes the book unique was that it was published by Primitive Methodists. It was produced in Hugh Bourne’s, the founder of Primitive Methodism, own publishing house. The printer was more used to producing prayer books and religious tracts rather than such works of domesticity. However early Methodists were very keen on personal development and the book had a strong ethic of self improvement which would have fitted with the ethos of advancement. It would have achieved the Primitive Methodist seal of approval. Although one aspect of a puritanical religious movement they would have baulked at was the copious amounts of wine that many of the recipes required. The cynic in me thinks that knocking back a few bottles of Sack may have been one way to cope with some of the servings.

The unknown author of the work  drew on  earlier writings. In the 18^th century cookery writers such as Hannah Glasse and Susannah Carter dominated the scene and some of their recipes  appear in the “Whole Art of Cookery”. One example was a dismal sea  farers dish called Portable Soup which even then was thought to resemble glue. It was a mistake that one of the characters in “Swiss Family Robinson” also makes It might be useful to speculate whether the poor diet of the sailors indicated by the existence of portable soup might be a reason why there were so many naval mutinies in the late 18^th century. Another strand that is evident in the “Whole Art of Cookery” is the drawing  from earlier culinary traditions of  the medieval period as the book includes heavy use of spices and dried fruit in such dishes as sweet chicken pie 

or lamb with currants. One item that appears in a number of meals is the oyster. In the early 19^th century oysters were the dish of the poor until later in the Victorian Age when pollution destroyed the oyster beds driving the price beyond the reach of working people. They appear in such dishes as “Oysters and pistachio nuts” and “oyster ragout”. Verjuice is also mentioned made from crab apples as an alternative to vinegar. In the Middle Ages it was widely used and more recently has made something of a comeback.

Tastes change especially in regard to the use of “umbles” or offal which many turn their nose up at. It was not always the case. As a child I have eaten tripe, chitterlings and pigs trotters. Many would be appalled at the prospect. In the “Whole Art” there are instructions to make Calf Head Pie which includes sliced palates and coxcombs. Battalia Pie requires two lamb’s  testicles or stones.. An essential ingredients of hashed calf’s head are “brain cakes”. The recipe for dressing “Calves Chitterlings curiously” calls for the meal to be “closely covered with fire”

 The book includes directions for making wine, elder, cherry and gooseberry wines indicating the range of flowers and fruits that could be turned into semi palatable alcohol. Home brewing of beer was always a commonplace activity in the 18^th century home. Instructions are given for “strong October” as well as “small beer” and “strong ale”.

There are some omissions: no bread or scone recipes are included and, given that it is a North Staffordshire cookbook, no oatcakes

West Indian Cricket

It’s the 50^th anniversary of me seeing sporting legends at Norton Cricket Club. I was 9 and not really aware that I was in the presence of two of the greatest cricketers who were playing in North Staffordshire league. They were the West Indians Gary Sobers and Wes Hall. My father took me to watch cricket at a couple of local league grounds such as Knypersley or Norton although the latter was a very attractive proposition for my father with the great Sobers playing. Of course both Sobers and Hall were not the first West Indians to play in North Staffordshire. Both Sonny Ramadhin and Frank Worrell had played locally in the previous decade.  Ramadhin who played for Ashcombe Park has the distinction of being immortalised in at least three calypsos because of his role in the famous victory against England at Lords in 1950. The first time that the Caribbean had beaten the “mother country Along with Valentine he is immortalised in “Cricket Lovely Cricket” by Lord Beginner (“With those little pals of mine, Ramadhin and Valentine”); Ramadhin on the Ball by King Radio (“We want Ramadhin on the ball”); Cricket Calypso by Lord Kitchener (“Ramadhin, you deserve a title, Sir Ramadhin, followed by a medal”).

But back to 1964, I had seen the West Indies play against England the previous year when Cowdray the England captain returned to the crease with arm in plaster having broken it after been hit by a delivery by Wes Hall the demon fast bowler.  Cow dray’s brave and resolute action resulted in a draw and a year later I was to see Hall not too far away from the family home in Stoke. I was recently informed by Peter Wright from King St that he recalled that Leek cricketers wore extra padding when playing against Hall. I gather though that he was a good natured man although it must have been intimidating to see that 6 foot 3 inch muscular frame bear down at you at high speed. Sobers also exuded grace and athleticism whenever he played and he has been described as the “greatest all round cricketer the world has ever seen”. Who could forget the six sixes he scored at a Glamorgan against Nottinghamshire some time  later? Some years later the proudest boast of Peter Fitchford who used to get into the Swan was not only had he played football against John Charles of Wales and Juventus- Il Gigante Buono – The Gentle Giant. But he had also taken the wicket of Sobers when he played for Knypersley which is something to brag about.

Later on I have seen a number of touring West Indian sides at work and at play. I saw Joel Garner “the Big Bird” squeeze his 6 foot 8 inch frame under a low beamed Worcester pub during the tour of 1980 and a 1984 match at Old Trafford when King Viv and Gordon Greenidge were in their pomp.

The West Indian approach to life was recalled to me in a Wigan pub once when a  stranger told me that he was stopped  by a car load of fellow West Indians who were lost on their way to Old Trafford. He got in the car with them and  was offered a bottle of Rum and was “lost” for three days. His wife took a dim view. “She never did have a sense of humour” he said.