Looking back

[RustyHinge]

I used to rather like savaloys.

Of course, *proper* savs can't be got any more (in UK, at any rate)
because of BSE precautions.

It was only because the modern 'savaloy' was so different from what I
remember getting from hot food stalls in Lodnol's East End, especially
round Stratford in the late 1950s, now gritty and granular with
ground-up chicken bones and connective tissue that I investigated and
found - *YEUCH!* - savs were basically minced-up pigs' brains, heavily
dyed and squeezed into sossidge skins.

Doesn't pay to ask too many questions innit.

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

[John Williamson]

On 19/10/2021 12:28, RustyHinge wrote:
> I used to rather like savaloys.
>
> Of course, *proper* savs can't be got any more (in UK, at any rate)
> because of BSE precautions.
>
> It was only because the modern 'savaloy' was so different from what I
> remember getting from hot food stalls in Lodnol's East End, especially
> round Stratford in the late 1950s, now gritty and granular with
> ground-up chicken bones and connective tissue that I investigated and
> found - *YEUCH!* - savs were basically minced-up pigs' brains, heavily
> dyed and squeezed into sossidge skins.
>
> Doesn't pay to ask too many questions innit.
>

As I still like them, I am happy to have found that two chippies in
Stoke on Trent actually sell reasonable ones. The only problem is that
because they sell so few, they keep them in the fridge or freezer and
microwave them to serve, instead of the time honoured hot water bath in
the warmer.

And, yes, I have always known what is in them, just as I know what
should be in haggis, which I also like a lot, if it's good quality.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[RustyHinge]

On 19/10/2021 12:42, John Williamson wrote:
>
> And, yes, I have always known what is in them, just as I know what
> should be in haggis, which I also like a lot, if it's good quality.

Ah, haggis!

Take a sheep's pluck and remove the gall bladder from the liver.

Put half the liver aside for other use, then chop liver, lights and
heart into walnut-sized pieces.

Peel 6 On!ons and put with chopped-up pluck, cover with water and add
salt to taste, bring to the boil in a big pot and simmer for about 3 hours.

When cooked, the traditional recipes split.

Recipe 1 (which is the one I follow) uses the onions. In Recipe 2 they
are discarded. Otherwise the recepies are practically the same.

Take the chunks of liver, heart and lights, fillet-out and discard all
the larger toobs, then mince or chop very finely.

I recommend following one of Elizabeth Craig's recipes for other
ingredients and quantities, but from memory, medium oatmeal, beef suet,
white pepper, ground nutmeg, use the water the pluck was cooked in, mix
to a very stiff paste and squeeze into a cow's caecum.

Tie orifice(s) and simmer the lump in water.

Serve with bashit neep, boiled potato (Pref bontata dubh) and a good
whisky. I favour Linkwood (Speyside).

[Ben Newsam]

RustyHinge wrote, though the Organization header says "Diss
Organisation":

>I used to rather like savaloys.
>
>Of course, *proper* savs can't be got any more (in UK, at any rate)
>because of BSE precautions.
>
>It was only because the modern 'savaloy' was so different from what I
>remember getting from hot food stalls in Lodnol's East End, especially
>round Stratford in the late 1950s, now gritty and granular with
>ground-up chicken bones and connective tissue that I investigated and
>found - *YEUCH!* - savs were basically minced-up pigs' brains, heavily
>dyed and squeezed into sossidge skins.
>
>Doesn't pay to ask too many questions innit.

Now, I always assumed that saveloys, being an East End food, was
originally a Jewish thing and so would be cow or similar rather than
pig, but what do I know? I sit corrected.
--
Ben

[RustyHinge]

May well have been bovine brians, but not *all* East-end food was
Jewish. I have a feeling that (eel) pie and mash and gravy aren't
kosher, BICBW. Even in the 1950s fish and chips was rather popular. As a
young Scoutmaster I acquired two of my best Scouts (twins with a *very*
rough reputation) when they fell into step beside me on the Isle of Dogs
with a "Gissa chip then..."

One parent was going to take her son away from the troop until I
suggested that rather than M. and A. being a bad influence on her boy,
he might be a good influence on M. and A.

[John Williamson]

On 20/10/2021 19:45, RustyHinge wrote:
> On 20/10/2021 16:59, Ben Newsam wrote:

>> Now, I always assumed that saveloys, being an East End food, was
>> originally a Jewish thing and so would be cow or similar rather than
>> pig, but what do I know? I sit corrected.
>
> May well have been bovine brians, but not *all* East-end food was
> Jewish. I have a feeling that (eel) pie and mash and gravy aren't
> kosher, BICBW. Even in the 1950s fish and chips was rather popular. As a
> young Scoutmaster I acquired two of my best Scouts (twins with a *very*
> rough reputation) when they fell into step beside me on the Isle of Dogs
> with a "Gissa chip then..."
>

Saveloys were always pig based.

Eel has fins and scales, but is not Kosher, as the scales are embedded
in the skin and can not be scraped off. It is, however, Halal.

Battered fish was introduced to Britain in the East End by Portuguese
Jews fleeing religious persecution, as the fish could be cooked on
Friday for consumption cold on Shabbat, so avoiding lighting a flame on
the sacred day. The batter was to protect it from nastiness in the days
before refrigeration as well as to hold it all together. Then it caught
on as a cheap and reliable way to celebrate payday when someone worked
out a cheap way to cook it in bulk and sell it to the neighbours. When
it was first introduced, the Sunday roast often had to be cooked in the
local baker's oven, as very few had gas cookers or a decent range to
cook on, and ovens were rare.

[Ben Newsam]

RustyHinge wrote, though the Organization header says "Diss
Organisation":

> I acquired two of my best Scouts (twins with a *very*
>rough reputation) when they fell into step beside me on the Isle of Dogs
>with a "Gissa chip then..."

Not Reggie and Ronnie I hope.
--
Ben

[RustyHinge]

Even Reggie and Ronnie were adults then. This was 1959. I'm only 81, you
know...