I was in Alaska listening to a guy talk.
I said after awhile, Scotland right?
I thought he was going to jump up and hug me.
He was so happy someone recognized where he was from.
Back when my wife and I were across the pond it was like we had the keys to the city.
We were treated with great respect.
The other people (students) we were there with not so much so.
It had to do with manners for the most part.
You don't go up to someone behind the counter and say give me that.
You ask for it and show thanks.

[mention]worth1[/mention] many people from other countries consider Americans to be rude and crude...hmmmm...I wonder why?

Americans think that the French are snobby and mean to Americans but when DH and I visited, we tried to speak in halting French until they said that they spoke English. We were treated very nicely and had a great time in France.

I was abducted by a beautiful French woman in Paris.
My wife rescued me at the last minute.
It was some sort of wild street party complete with food drink and dancing.

Minced meat pie was brought up.
My moms was real and it had meat fruit and suet in it.
Very spicy too.

I've always been intrigued with beef wellington.
Also saw a show years ago how the royalty imported French chefs to do the cooking.
Have no idea how true it was.

[mention]worth1[/mention] I love beef wellington! I was going to cook up a piece of tenderloin soon as it is on my top ten list. There is similar with salmon also cooked in a pastry, but I'd need to get a decent bit of Scottish salmon from the butchers.

I want to make it but need to learn how to make the pastry that goes on it.

So, in my number six position is lamb. Lamb is popular in the UK, Ireland and also in Australia and New Zealand, but you’ll have to ask them how they cook it, I’ll only speak for myself..
It also figures quite strongly in some middle eastern style cooking where it is slow cooked in a myriad of spices and tomatoes and even fruit. Lamb lends itself very well to hotter spices such as peppers, paprika etc.
One of my favorite dishes is the Lancashire hotpot which is a lamb or mutton stew or neck of lamb, slow cooked and then covered in a layer of potatoes. Equally, I am quite partial to a slow cooked lamb made into a curry such as gosht.
For me, I prefer leg of lamb, whether that be a shank, a half leg or a whole leg. I feel only the whole leg can be roasted in the oven as this has enough fat and juices and a sizeable bone in which to transmit the heat through to the inner meat just enough to cook it but leave it moist and slightly pink. If this is roasted, then pushing a sharp knife into the flesh and inserting cloves of garlic and rosemary sprigs is an absolute must.
Anything smaller in size, I tend to slow cook along with mixed root vegetables and red wine. Herbs and rosemary are obligatory and a touch of home-made redcurrant jelly into the slow cooker do not go amiss.
We can also have lamb chops, but be careful not to overcook them and these are lovely with mash potatoes, creamy mash, neeps and tatties, mash with scallions or colcannon and then a nice thick gravy – a side portion of something green such as peas or broccoli and a little mint or redcurrant sauce tops this off. Bon Appetit!
So, tonight’s meal is slow roasted lamb, roasted potatoes, Yorkshires and steamed broccoli – and a nice glass of wine. Wish you could join us….

[mention]Amateurinawe[/mention] that looks like a fabulous meal.

I like fatty lamb cooked over hot coals with nothing but salt pepper and garlic powder.
You either like the taste or you don't.
Depends on how you were raised.

So, I love lamb, my parents love lamb, my daughters love lamb, but, but, but, my wife (she is by ancestry a german) thinks it tastes like dirty fur and forest funk, these, allegedly, presumably, aren’t desirable flavors. That might be bad enough on its own, but the Coup de grâce is that my dog cannot be in the same county where lamb is being cooked or served. Tate, the dog, shakes uncontrollably where lamb has been prepared or eaten. He cannot even stand having the odor of lamb chop on the clothes. This is evidently a thing with dogs.

But, a crown roast of lamb or some loin chops grilled medium rare with mint jelly or a lamb osso bucco, yumm. If I ever get divorced, lamb and my access to it WILL be on the paperwork.

My wife made the most wonderful lamb and tongue stews but refused to eat either one.
She just wasn't raised to eat the stuff.
Funny her ancestors were Scottish French and mine were German French.
But my French mother was an honorary Mexican as well as I.

karstopography wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:16 pm my wife (she is by ancestry a german) thinks it tastes like dirty fur and forest funk, these, allegedly, presumably, aren’t desirable flavors.

I know what she means. DH likes lamb but I always feel like lamb has a funny taste that I describe as "musty". I get that taste from goat products like milk and cheese too. I have never eaten goat meat. Maybe it's a genetic thing like how some people love cilantro and others (like me) think that it tastes like soap!

[mention]brownrexx[/mention] yep, my wife feels the same way about goat cheese. I love the tangy, creamy rich flavors of goat cheese. She thinks it tastes like musty, rotten fur. My wife has the most keen sense of smell and detects odors long before they become obvious to anyone else. She also adores Marlborough NZ Sauvignon blanc and my taste buds often detect a strong presence of mosquito spray flavor in that.

My wife and I both love cilantro. If she didn’t, it might be a deal breaker.

But, yes, genetics and taste might be an interesting topic to explore. Ancestry.com has me pegged at currently (these ratios tend to be a moving target) at about 80% British Isles so it only makes sense I would love the food!

My wife on the other hand is almost entirely German. Did the Germans ever embrace lamb as a big part of their cuisine? Pork, veal, but I don’t remember seeing a lot of lamb on their menus.

Farm raised goat cottage cheese is to die for.

The US doesn't hold a candle to cheese made over seas.
At least the commercial stuff.
Small batch artisan stuff maybe not but why bother.
An aged cheddar from the British isles or pecorino from Italy bring it on.

Oh there is so much more to the fromage,

""Marooned three years agone," he continued, "and lived on goats since then, and berries, and oysters. Wherever a man is, says I, a man can do for himself. But, mate, my heart is sore for Christian diet. You mightn't happen to have a piece of cheese about you, now? No? Well, many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese--toasted, mostly--and woke up again, and here I were."

[mention]worth1[/mention] So with the beef wellington one of the most important things is both the covering around the meat and the pastry. Puff pastry is tricky to do if the conditions are not right and there is an easy way out in the uk, you can buy it. Temperature is so important and can thwart any attempt to make it, it is layered butter and pastry after all. Do you not have a source in the US to purchase puff pastry ? I would spend more time on the preparation of the meat and the surround, but i accept that to perfect it then making the perfect pastry is the coup d'etat.

The old drunk came home at last.
Forgetting the hours that past.
Upon his arrival.
There sat at the table.
He saw with a sigh.
His wife with a frown and a cold kidney pie.

[mention]Amateurinawe[/mention] gosh, all I want to do now is read “Treasure Island” and [mention]worth1[/mention] I have really no idea, but this seems very Dickensesque. God bless writers and the UK!