Potatoes and point
Our Loose Blogging consortium includes:- Anu, Ashok, Conrad, Gaelikaa, Ginger, Grannymar, Helen, Judy, Magpie 11, Maria, & Ramana.
Our topic today was chosen by Magpie 11
Potatoes and beans…..
This topic takes me full circle. Let me explain. A few years ago I left a spontaneous comment on a fellow Irishman’s blog. It was: “Just give them three jumps at the cupboard door!”** - You don’t need to know all the details as the story might lose the flavour in the retelling.
Some months, if not a year later a certain gentleman was searching for the origin of said phrase and landed up on my blog. At times he may rue that day because he has never been allowed to leave. Not alone has he stayed, but listened to my nagging, and started a blog of his own. Today he is a very well respected member of the LBC and responsible for the choice of topic today.
Over the past couple of weeks I have had fun dipping back into some old cookery books that came from my childhood home. One book in particular was a Thirty-Seventh Edition, printed in 1950. The first was in 1927. On several occasions there were revised and enlarged editions half way through a year.
On page 194 the heading for the chapter was Sauces, Dressings and Stuffings (Including Batters and some Miscellaneous Recipes). Sauce recipes covered eight pages, I lost count of the actual number of individual recipes and intend returning to this at a later date.
The sauce ‘To serve with Butter Beans‘ nicely fulfils the criteria for our topic today and I will reprint it verbatim. 
Ingredients:-
1 saltspoonful of French mustard*
¼-½ teaspoonful salt
⅛ teaspoonful pepper
1 dessertspoonful creamed potato
4 tablespoons salad oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
A few drops of Worcester sauce
Milk
Mix the mustard, salt, pepper and potato and gradually add the oil, mixing well with a fork or small wooden spoon. If the oil is added too quickly and not absorbed, add a little extra potato. Stir in the vinegar and Worcester sauce. Add sufficient milk to thin to the required consistency.
I assume you pour the sauce over the cooked butter beans. There is no mention of cooking, heating either the sauce or the beans.
* Does anybody use a saltspoon these days?
Now had our canny Magpie 11 chosen Brains instead of the vegetables, I found a recipe in there for Brain sauce! :roll: Anyone want to bequeath their brain so we can try it?
** The phrase ‘Three jumps at the cupboard door’ was the reply given by my late mother-in-law then a very young Jack asked “What’s for dinner?” In translation it means if you don’t get out from under my feet there will be no dinner, and you will have to jump up to the cupboard and see what you can find!
My mammy’s version of the above phrase was ‘Potatoes and point‘, it translated as ‘You will be lucky if you get boiled potatoes and you can point at what ever you fancy and imaging you are eating it’!
gaelikaa said,
July 30, 2010 at 3:04 pm
You came up with a great one again - a bit of social history and a recipe too. Who’s the fellow you were talking about? I bet I can guess..
Rummuser said,
July 30, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Gaelikaa, I plead not guilty. I suspect I too know the gentleman. Grannymar, I too use a similar tactic when someone asks me what is for dinner or lunch or whatever. I usually say, telephoning for some pizzas!
nick said,
July 30, 2010 at 5:16 pm
I like “Three jumps at the cupboard door”. It reminds me of my mother’s frequent reply when I asked what was coming after the main course. It was invariably Wait-and-see pudding.
Nancy said,
July 30, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Grannymar,
I wish I had known your expression “Three jumps at the cupboard door” when my children were young and always pestered me to know what what for dinner. My standard answer used to be “Fried Ice”.
I like yours better….
Magpie11 said,
July 30, 2010 at 11:24 pm
You forgot the “Dry bread and scratch it”!
I love Butter beans (Italian Flava?) like so many foods thay are delicious on their own if cooked carefully. I love them with a good Parsley Sauce.
Why is it that so many people believe the calumny that cooking in Great Britain is boring when we can have such simple delights?
Brownieville Girl said,
July 31, 2010 at 12:13 am
Our equivalent expression was “a run around the table and a kick of the cat”!!!
Baino said,
July 31, 2010 at 12:50 am
Sorry but the sauce sounds horrible but we were chastised similarly for asking ‘What’s for dinner?” (or tea as we used to say). My mother would reply “Kippers Eyes and Custard!”
Maria said,
July 31, 2010 at 1:22 am
Here’s another one though it does not pertain to food or dinner. When I would ask, “What is that for?” and my mother would not want to tell me. She would say, “Cat’s fur to make kitten britches.”
Wow, I am so embarrassed to have written on the wrong subject this week. I will try harder next week.
Grannymar said,
July 31, 2010 at 8:16 am
Gaelikaa - Do you not recognise our Magpie.
Ramana - That is a good modern take on the line, “What’s for dinner’?”
Nick - Another wonderful phrase ‘Wait-and-see pudding’!
Grannymar said,
July 31, 2010 at 8:29 am
Nancy - Did you serve the Fried Ice with chips/fries or roasties?
Magpie - I did forgot the “Dry bread and scratch it”! There were so many variations on the same theme.
BV Girl - “A run around the table and a kick of the cat” is a new one on me! I really must collect all these phrases together.
Grannymar said,
July 31, 2010 at 8:33 am
Baino - “Kippers Eyes and Custard!”, would put me off food for life!
Maria - I am sure you will have and interesting read for us, these mistakes can happen to any of us. I hope the medication is helping Lucky!
Maria said,
July 31, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Grannymar,
I am going to stick with Communications instead of beans and potatos. I worked too hard on the video and am dying for you to see it. Besides, I am going to be busy cooking all the wonderful bean recipe that you all wrote about.
Judy Harper said,
July 31, 2010 at 3:39 pm
I have never seen so many variations of potatoes and beans recipes! And they’re perceived as basic meals. I guess, though, back in the really rough days, having to live on potatoes and beans, one comes up with a way to enhance or change the taste so it doesn’t seem the same food is being served every day! I wonder what a saltspoonful looks like? I so enjoyed your post!
Grannymar said,
July 31, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Maria - You add the variety to our group this week, after all we can only take so many beans!
Judy - Vintage salt spoons were common when I was a child.
bikehikebabe said,
August 1, 2010 at 1:22 am
I remember when my son got up from Thanksgiving dinner–you can’t imagine how much we can shove down– And my son said, “What’s for dinner?”
paulo1 said,
August 1, 2010 at 1:45 am
In our house back in the middle ages the question ” whats for dinner ” got the inevitable response ” a doll and a drum and a kick in the bum and a chase around the table”.
paulo1 said,
August 1, 2010 at 2:01 am
I just remembered, that was also the response to ” what am I getting for Christmas, my birthday, my first communion etc. In fact I don’t think it had anything to do with dinner at all. Oops, sorry, it was a long time ago.
Grannymar said,
August 1, 2010 at 7:53 am
BHB - Maybe your son had hollow legs like my brothers!
Paulo 1 - One phrase fits all. I like it!