The mystery & the wonder

Now we are most definitely home. We settled down to our first roast dinner - lamb as it happens. I couldn't help thinking there's something quintessentially English about the roast. And yet why should this be? After all, putting a bit of meat, fish or fowl, on a spit over a fire must be one of the most basic methods of cooking, known by earliest man once he'd discovered fire. And yet, too, I know nowhere that does a roast in the way the English do, except that is in former colonies where the English took their roast dinners with them.

I suppose the French do do their roasts but they end up tasting totally different from the English version. I can't explain the difference. Even in these days, when many English people add other flavours, garlic, spices, herbs etc to the basic joint, the meal still remains English. Indeed yesterday our version had garlic & rosemary added to make it a little different.

I suppose part of it is that we have a tradition where good quality meat at reasonable prices was readily available, unlike in some countries where it was well out of the range of the ordinary working man. And you do need a good quality of meat for a roast. The success of the dish depends on it. But maybe this availability means that we, the cooks of old England have kept in practice. Whatever the reason, it remains a mystery & a wonder.

While the salt marsh lamb was in the oven, we hastily got the tomatoes planted up. At the moment they are in a covered area. We suspect it is rather cold at night for such tender plants. I've duly gone out this morning & rolled up the cover so they can enjoy the milder daytime temperatures. The cover will come down again this evening. Today the Fox is hoping to get a few other veg, some peas & beans,planted out, weather permitting while I get on with bed-changing & sorting out the washing. He will be in charge of dinner as I will want to just collapse when I'm done.