My mum’s standby cookery book was not Mrs Beeton, although she had a copy, it was the BeRo flour book; her own mother, my grandma had a copy and the little girl pictured on the front looked so like mum, she thought it was her when she was little! I’m sure if mum had had a copy of the national Mark Calendar of Cooking she would have made lots of the recipes, and I can just imagine her making these… they sound so simple, I can just imagine her making them when we got home from school! We had our main meal at lunch time but we would have a light meal usually something on toast such as beans, cheese, sardines, fried tomatoes, mushrooms…
I can almost smell the aroma on a chilly February afternoon when we come in from school, as I imagine her making:
Cheese Aigrettes
- 2 oz grated cheese
- 2 oz flour
- 2 eggs, separated – the whites whipped stiffly
- 1 oz butter
- ¼ pint water
- ½ tsp Worcester sauce
- 1/8 tsp salt
- melt the butter in a saucepan with the water and boil
- sprinkle in the flour, stirring vigorously to prevent lumps
- continue stirring until the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of the pan
- beat in the yolks one at a time and add the cheese, Worcester sauce and salt to taste
- fold in the egg whites carefully
- deep fry by teaspoonfuls, taking care not to fry too many at once
- drain on kitchen paper when golden brown
- serve while hot with a fine grating of extra cheese
I think I might add dry mustard to the mixture and a few grinds of nutmeg over the finished aigrettes
Lois Elsden 