The Vent and Rant Thread

[Renate]

Turnips get complicated.
I really prefer the yellow/purple ones.
The names go backwards in different places.

I really don't like Halloween gruesome stuff.
A cute ghost saying "Boo" and hoping that they haven't scared you is ok.
Human entrails are right out.

[Quoth]

spinrut is pronounced swede

Beets are not all beetroot. Rape (plant) is from the Latin for turnip and Canada renamed the rape seed oil (produced since ancient times) to Canola. All brassicas.

I don't know if I've ever seen a manglewurzel, (a kind of beet). We used to feed our goats with some residue from beets (sugar was produced from sugar-beet). That's all gone now so as to not disadvantage sugar cane growers with an unfair subsidy. Napoleon offered a reward for improving the sugar extraction.

The goats only ate grass if nothing else (like next doors roses) was left.

[BetterRed]

We (mum, dad, brother and me) sometimes used to take a punt up the Thames for summer holidays, other times we would pick hops in Kent.

Dad's B.I.L worked at Windsor for you know who. I have a memory of him cutting the leaves off turnips and putting them into a rafia basket strapped to his back. The turnips (sliced with a hand operated mechanical contraption) went to the pigs, the leaves went to the kitchens.

Animal Farm bought to life.

Added: we went to Guernsey once, I never thought to ask Mum and Dad where they got the money for that.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Quoth

You never got cigarette ash in "fast food"?

Once a "pastie" from a "chipper" had an entire butt.

Not that I've noticed. Admittedly in food places here, smoking inside has been banned for decades and even smoking outside has strict limits on how close to doors and air intakes you are allowed to smoke. I still have unfond memories of sitting in non-smoking sections and having smoke drifting in from the smoking section. I have a vague memory that smoking in restaurants in the UK was banned in 2007 as one friend of mine griped about it from a family reunion 15 years ago—she and her husband were the type of people you see standing outside the restaurant to smoke.

Originally Posted by Quoth

YPastie= N.I. UK potato / mince concoction in batter, deep fat fried. About diameter of a 1/4 lb burger and maybe x2 thicker. They might have them in Scotland too. Never seen them in England or rest of Ireland.

Does having Cornish pasties in Truro count? Semi-circular and crimped on the side.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Curiously turnips and swedes are two related plants. One is large with yellowish flesh and is neeps; it's called turnip in most of Ireland. The related plant, usually called a swede in Ireland, is much smaller and white flesh.
In some parts of Ireland and most of England the names are reversed.

Around here, turnips are the smaller ones with purple/white exterior and white flesh. The larger ones with the yellow flesh are rutabagas (AKA Swedish turnips, wax turnips, swedes or neeps). I've used both in cooking. The rutabaga does better in cool climates.

Why does the UK seem to love using French names for foods? Sounds more pretentious?

[Renate]

Deep-fried pasties? That sounds like sacrilege. Baked.

Wow, @BetterRed, picking hops in Kent!
I've always read about that.
Kind of half a family holiday.
I suppose that's been long gone a while now.

[Martinoptic]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Does having Cornish pasties in Truro count? Semi-circular and crimped on the side.

They are proper ones. Though I recall my father having a Cornish pasty in Launceston and complained that there was gristle behind each piece of potato. I have to concur that those were horrible.

I quite like the idea of a fried mixture as @Quoth described though maybe not called a pasty - how about a mancake (m(eaty p)ancake)?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Renate

Deep-fried pasties? That sounds like sacrilege. Baked.

There is no pastry and internals are not remotely like a Cornish Pasty. Both real and counterfeit Cornish pasties are in the local supermarkets in the Mid West of Ireland.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Around here, turnips are the smaller ones with purple/white exterior and white flesh. The larger ones with the yellow flesh are rutabagas (AKA Swedish turnips, wax turnips, swedes or neeps). I've used both in cooking. The rutabaga does better in cool climates.

Why does the UK seem to love using French names for foods? Sounds more pretentious?

Interesting your area has the Scottish neeps (called a turnip here) & English naming for both roots.

<rant>
It's the big one with yellow flesh (Scottish neeps) that is turned into a Goblin head. Not pumpkins!
</rant>

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Quoth

<rant>
It's the big one with yellow flesh (Scottish neeps) that is turned into a Goblin head. Not pumpkins!
</rant>

…because pumpkins are turned into jack o’lanterns.

We’ve got rutabagas here, but it as it happens, the native pumpkin is better for jack o’lanterns. Better size, better shape.