Monday 7 November 2011

The Everlasting Soup/Stew/Broth. Theoretically A Good Idea.

Tonight I was going to tell you about the pot of soup/stew/broth I made 10 days ago. I intended to try and keep it going. I had even named it the 'everlasting' meal. During the last ten days it has been replenished several times. It took on a nice consistency, and.... oh what the heck I'll tell you about it anyway.

What happened was, that I had got it in my mind to go on an economy drive. Normally I am quite profligate in my ways, but suddenly decided to be more parsimonious. Profligate and parsimonious eh. Two long words in the same sentence. Not bad, though I do say so myself. Excuse me a moment please. Got to hurry!
Where was I? Oh yes, my economy drive.

It started with lots of different vegetables, carrots, onions, leeks, sprouts, swedes, broccoli, that sort of stuff, oh, and potatoes. I added something called broth mix, dried peas, lentils, and pearl barley. Covered it with water. Sorry I forgot to mention the stewing beef, 1lb. Actually it was less than 1lb but I don't know how to write fractions on here. Anyway it was a quarter less than 1lb. It was all put in the slow cooker, on minimum heat, although to be honest, occasionally I would turn the knob to maximum heat, just to get some reaction out of it. Here is a photo of the soup/stew/broth before the water was added, and another photo after the water was added. Doesn't look much different really, does it? Maybe a bit more floaty. Sorry got to dash off again, won't be long.
I waited patiently all day -apart from switching the heat settings - for it to be ready. After about 8 hours the meat was still a bit chewy, and the swede was still hard, but I was very hungry, so decided to eat some for my dinner. It was at this stage that Tricia, my lovely ex partner, the Mother of my extremely handsome son George phoned, inviting me to dinner. The soup/stew/broth was left on a low heat to cook some more. I would have it the next day.

What happened next day was, that just before I served myself a bowl of my by now cooked to perfection soup/stew/broth - I say would you mind awfully if I refer to it as just broth, I'm fed up searching for the / every time I mention it - Yola, my next door neighbour phoned, inviting me to dinner. She is a brilliant cook, so needless to say, the broth was not eaten that night either. Oh dear excuse me again. Urgent call to attend to. Back soon.

Nobody invited me to dinner the next night so finally I was able to start on my broth. It was delicious! I had some more the night after that, at which stage I added some more water, potatoes, broth mix, and an Oxo stock cube.

The next night I had some more broth for my dinner, and added some more stewing beef, ready for next time. So far my economy drive was going well.

Next night for dinner I again had some of my broth, by this time it was thickening nicely, so I had it with mashed potato on the side. Very tasty.

Must just leave you again for a moment. So sorry about this. The next night I put some in a bowl and added a little chilli powder, and ate it with rice. I then put in some more chopped potatoes and some sphaghetti, and left it once again to cook on a slow heat.

I had a break from broth the next night, it was becoming a bit boring, so I cooked some sausages, with chips and beans instead. A nice change indeed.

The night after that I again had some of my broth, although by this time it was more of a thick, really thick, stew. In preparation for the next meal I again added plenty of water, thereby changing it into more of a soup. Whoops here I go again! Back in a minute!

At the next mealtime it lacked character, so I made some dumplings and added them to the pot. They did make a difference. Quite delicious, so I had two helpings!

Today I woke up with food poisoning! I feel terrible. My poor tummy. I can't for the life of me figure out why.

I have gone off broth. I have given what's left, to Sadie the German Shepherd. Hope she'll be OK.

Maybe everlasting meals aren't such a good idea after all.

Hope I haven't bored you too much. Sorry have to rush off again. Must dash! Toilet! Bye.

15 comments:

  1. Yea, I probably would have stopped after the 3rd or 4th meal. But it sounded good in the beginning. Can you tell me what Swedes are? I recongize everything but that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes well I didn't like to think as I was reading that the mixture was starting to overextend itself. Quite amazing that your cast iron stomach held out as long as it did.
    I would have stopped before adding the next round of meat.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Swedes are also known (mainly in the states) as Ruthabuga (or something like that)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Kden, a swede is a round yellow root vegetable. It looks like a turnip, which is a round root vegetable with white flesh. Swede is far tastier in my opinion, especially when mashed.
    Hi mizmet, yes I think you are right about the meat.
    Hi Derek, my stomach feels like a ruthabuga sounds.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are brave, I would have stopped the first day. Once owned a slow cooker but never liked anything I did in it so I got rid. Hope your tummy has righted itself by now.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You are a brave soul. I never would of started :-)

    Take care and have a nice day :-)

    And thanks for your recent comment on My Blog

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the Swede explanation ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. It makes one wonder how people used to live on pease porridge, doesn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Now that is an everlasting story with a good lesson at the end.
    I had spaghetti for two days then threw it in a pot made it into soup and we will be having it for a couple more days. There is a whole lot of stretching the food dollar going on. Hope I won't have to run :)
    You sure must be a perfect guest to be invited out os much :) B

    ReplyDelete
  10. It was the swedes. You should have used an italian.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I thought you were probably living on the edge with the everlasting broth. No doubt it seemed a good idea at the time. Hope the tummy is right now.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Enjoy reading your posts. It sounds like what my hubby would cook if he is free to cook, everything in one pot. Lucky for you others would invite you over for dinner occasionally.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What's Taking place i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I've discovered It absolutely helpful and it has helped me
    out loads. I hope to contribute & assist different
    users like its aided me. Good job.
    Check out my blog - I loved this

    ReplyDelete