Sardines anyone?

[outRIAAge]

I am Cornish and Welsh, why have I not heard of this?TBS

Eeee, I can answer up that 'un, lad! I was writing from old memory, and thee got me worried, so I checked. Here's Wikipedia on the topic. but I'll quote the relevant part:

The dish is traditionally held to have originated from the village of Mousehole in Cornwall and is traditionally eaten during the festival of Tom Bawcock's Eve to celebrate his heroic catch during a very stormy winter. According to the modern festival, which is combined with the Mousehole village illuminations, the entire catch was baked into a huge stargazy pie, encompassing seven types of fish and saving the village from starvation. The story of Bawcock was popularised by Antonia Barber's children's book The Mousehole Cat, which featured the star-gazy pie. In 2007 contestant Mark Hix won the BBC's Great British Menu with a variant of the dish.​

(In other words, the pie version of the loaves and fishes miracle.)

 

[erehweslefox]

Well by Lugh the Long-Armed and the Morrigan Herself herself this is gonna get made at some point.

Might not get seven types of fish... but I can give it a go.

Tom Bawcock is gonna have nothing on me.

TBS

 

[erehweslefox]

So after a careful and thoughtful explanation of the idea of Stargazy pie, and a retelling of the Thomas Bawcock myth, my wife seems skeptical of Stargazer pie. I even tried a dramatic reading of the Bawcock story, and how it relates to Mousehome (one of the most charmingly named towns I have ever seen) to no avail.

My only seeming chance of having Stargazy pie is to serve it up on 12/23, Tom Bawcock's day, and say it is a traditional dish. That is the traditional day to serve Stargazy pie, correct?

This has a degree of difficulty, as Rachel has already seen this post, but mainly as I have no recipe for it.

By my count we have 173 days to work on a recipe for this, 12/23 I will post a Stargazy pie.

Cheers,

TBS

 

[CraigC]

Right. I tend to steer away from things that the family doesn't want to eat. If Karen is away visiting, I might make stuff for myself, mostly German fare. I've never understood why some folks want to push food on others that won't be welcomed.

 

[Addie]

Right. I tend to steer away from things that the family doesn't want to eat. If Karen is away visiting, I might make stuff for myself, mostly German fare. I've never understood why some folks want to push food on others that won't be welcomed.

"Oh come on. Just take a small taste. How do you know you don't like it if you never had it?" Words said around the world.

 

[outRIAAge]

This has a degree of difficulty, as Rachel has already seen this post, but mainly as I have no recipe for it.

(That's weird: I already posted this response, but there's no sign of it)

I gave a link to the Saveur recipe in the original post, with a couple of tips.

Here's the Saveur Recipe, again

 

[Addie]

(That's weird: I already posted this response, but there's no sign of it)

I gave a link to the Saveur recipe in the original post, with a couple of tips.

Here's the Saveur Recipe, again

Go to post #39 on page one. It has not been removed.

 

[outRIAAge]

Stargazy Pie Simplification​

I just came up with a way to make this a much easier, approachable, and less-hardcore recipe. Make the pie with mackerel or bluefish fillets (or even canned sardines, in a pinch), seal the crust on, then cut holes in it and stick in some fish-heads: your fishmonger will likely have a selection for free. If you make it with seven different kinds, you'll be welcomed in Mousehole by Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

The pie would be a ringer for the real thing, without all the fuss and bones.

 

[medtran49]

"Oh come on. Just take a small taste. How do you know you don't like it if you never had it?" Words said around the world.

Well, we'll say that too once or twice, but won't push it any more. If somebody does try and doesn't like it, they'll never be offered it again or expected to eat any more of it than the taste. I'd imagine most households are like us. There are things Craig really likes that I don't and vice versa, but we'll both indulge the other's favorites from time to time, or try to make it when the other isn't home, or order it when out at a restaurant. Case in point, he has a birthday coming up soon and he's alredy said he wants sauerbraten, which is MOST definitely NOT my favorite. I'll eat it and even make it for his birthday meal, but he's in charge of any leftovers! And I'm not much for his stuffed potato dumplings either so I'll make spaetzle for me.

 

[Addie]

I never made my kids eat food they hated. I always felt, if you didn't do it to any adults you knew, why would you do it to your own kids? Folks would tell me that they needed the nutrition. They got plenty of nutrition in other foods. If they asked for a taste, fine. They got a small taste and if they didn't like it, it was never placed on their plate. Grant you, some nights I ended up cooking two meals. One for me and my husband (who would eat anything!) and one for the kids. But that didn't happen too often. I tried to make meals that everyone liked. It sure cut down on yelling during mealtime.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Tastes change over a lifetime. I never thought there is anything wrong in asking someone to try something they say they "don't like", even if they have tried it in the past. I suppose a lot depends on whether you ask politely or demand that they "go ahead and try it already, dang it"!

Our nieces grew up with extremely limited palates. If they even made a face about the food set on the table, their dad was bouncing up and fixing a hot dog for them. Our older niece is still a fussy eater at age 39. Her sister, 22 months younger, married a wonderfully adventurous guy who is Taiwanese by birth but has been a U. S. citizen since he was in his mid-teens. He has been so successful with getting Niece #2 to try different foods that she wanders the Taiwanese Night Market with her hubby and their almost-13-year-old daughter, nibbling at every type of food she's never had before. For someone who wouldn't even touch fish or seafood, our niece has become a true sushi lover, too?

Tastes change. Why not try something more than once rather than end up missing out on something you would have loved in the end.

I never made a second meal for our kids. If I was planning to make something I knew neither of them liked, I'd just make enough of whatever we had the previous two meals. When dinner rolled around, the kid who didn't like that night's meal got a reheat of the previous meal. I've been doing "planned leftovers" all of my married life!

 

[outRIAAge]

Limited palates, grrrr! I spent two years recently cooking for a brother-in-law who knew what he liked (beef, mash, canned green beans) and knew what he didn't like (everything else). I finally won him over with my meatballs (key extra: 1/4 tsp gelatin per pound of meat). (I'll describe the bloody-Band-Aid-in-the-meatball incident another time, perhaps

With that win in the bank, next up was lamb, which he "didn't like." I did the usual Tuscan leg-thing stuffed with garlic/rosemary. When that thing hits the oven it is not aromatherapy; it is aromaweaponry: he ate 2 1/2 lb in one sitting. So I tried him with Japanese cuisine, specifically "Potato Korokke" (Japanese for Potato Croquette). He wanted nothing to do with "Jap-food" until I explained it was deep-fried ground beef with mash: I ate one; he ate four. (If I'd mentioned the tofu it also contained: he might have shot me

He up and died right in front of us, before I could wean him off his foam-plastic bowls of crap-with-boiling-water-n-FlavoPak, but take heart: change is possible.

But I digress, and would rather get back to sardines.

 

[Andy M.]

My grandson is a very fussy eater. It's like pulling teeth to just get him to taste a new food.

One time I had made creme brûlée and showed him how I browned the sugar with a propane torch. "Cool, Grampy!". He refused to taste it. I cajoled him to take a little bit on the tip of a spoon with the requirement that he had to actually swallow it. He did and "hated it". Two minutes later he was back for another spoonful. Then another, and another.

Funny how that works.

 

[CharlieD]

I never made my kids eat food they hated. I always felt, if you didn't do it to any adults you knew, why would you do it to your own kids? Folks would tell me that they needed the nutrition. They got plenty of nutrition in other foods. If they asked for a taste, fine. They got a small taste and if they didn't like it, it was never placed on their plate. Grant you, some nights I ended up cooking two meals. One for me and my husband (who would eat anything!) and one for the kids. But that didn't happen too often. I tried to make meals that everyone liked. It sure cut down on yelling during mealtime.

Thank you. I did the same, still doing. It is so much easier to make something special for a kid or two, rather than arguing with them, trying to force them eat something they do not like. I like cooking and hones don't mind making something special. Of course that is not what I tell them. I complain that it's not a restaurant and they don't get to order. Blah, blah, blah.....
I do try to clothes that they should eat what they are served. But I guess I am not very successful. Of there is always something everyone likes. I try to stick to that menu.


Sent from my iPhone using Discuss Cooking

 

[Kayelle]

Maybe I have a short memory but I don't remember my kids ever complaining about what they were served for dinner. I doubt that I was that good of a cook and they were not the perfect kids of all time, but maybe they just understood "what you see is what you get". Interesting to ponder.

 

[Dawgluver]

Both my parents had very short fuses, and mealtime was usually difficult and stressful. There is no way I would ever make a child eat something he or she didn't want to.

Sure wish I loved sardines the way I loved them back when I was 8!

 

[GotGarlic]

My parents expected us to at least try whatever was served. If we really didn't like it, we could make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I agree, GG. There is a huge difference between "making someone eat something they do not like" and asking them to "try" and then "try again" at a later date a food they say they don't like. Our kids didn't have to go the PB&J route, though, since it seems I've been making leftovers all of my life.

 

[taxlady]

A friend of mine used to ask the kid, "Try this, just a little taste, to see if you are old enough to like it yet."

 

[Addie]

It just seemed that one kid would "hate" one food that went with the meal. Nothing was said, and it stayed off that kid's plate. But we had a game. Everyone would rave about how good that hated food was. "Can I have a small bite?" Nah, you wouldn't like it and you know how I feel about wasting food. By the end of the meal, there was a couple of spoonfull's on their plate. And it usually got eaten. It was this method that I was able to get my oldest daughter to try spinach. Today she would rather have spinach lasagna, than the typical Italian one.