[Vwoolf] grilled bone

[Jillian Clare]

Meat on the bone is tastier, and to grill over an open wood fire - red hot coals not flames - gives by far the best flavour to any meat. 

Here in Aus, wire frames were used to hold the meat over the coals. And beautifully made long wire toasting forks toasted the bread or mushrooms to go with it. As a child, I loved doing this at my grandparents farm house where there was an open fire beside the wood-fired stove.

I grew up with a wood-fire stove. Mum would remove the round top plate giving access to the fire-compartment. She used a hinged wire frame, about 30cm square, to grill the meat. And T-bones and lamb chops always included the bone with the marrow. Delicious. Modern stoves might be easier to use but they don't give anything in terms of flavour. 

In some households where money was scarce, after the meat had been eaten the bones could be boiled with onions, celery, carrot, parsley, bay leaves, etc, and made into stock for soup. Even today, good cooks still roast bones before they boil them with herbs and vegetables to make a stock. 

After all that.... Well not a lot would be left. Even "a good stayer" would, I suspect, "be beyond looking like anything", except maybe for a dog to have a chew on. 
A fun thread. Thanks everyone. 
Jillian 




> On 25 May 2015, at 3:21 am, Stuart N. Clarke <stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com> wrote:
> 
> I really like this; one feels one is edging very slightly towards comprehension.  It has been suggested to me that, with the emphasis on *bone*, the implication is that there’s not much meat!  That’s one reason I feel unhappy about steak.
>  
> In response to Anne Fernald, of course I want to know what a grilled bone is in English.  Once I know that, I can find out what Jacob should’ve asked for in French – thus, a fuller note!  (Could one *grill* a bone marrow, rather than roasting it?)
>  
> Slightly off the point and showing my ignorance even more, how *did* you grill meat in a kitchen in 1914?  You have a grill over an open fire?  Like a BBQ?  My experience has always been with electric cookers: the meat is in a tray below the electric rings.  How do you grill with a gas cooker?  In a similar way, I think(?).  More to the point, how could you grill with a *range*?
>  
> Stuart
>  
> From: Jeremy Hawthorn
> Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2015 5:59 PM
> To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] grilled bone
>  
> Here's an example from A. A. Milne, so nearer the date of Jacob's Room. What is frustrating about this is that it might be mocking the maid for believing that grilled bone is grilling what's left of the joint when there's no meat left, or it might really be this. I suspect the former.
> 
> Jeremy
> 
> 
> Nancy: (Without looking up.) Yes, Mary? 
> Mary: It's about the dinner, ma'am.
> Nancy: (With a sigh.) Yes, I was afraid it was.
> It isn't a very nice subject to talk about, is it, Mary?
> Mary: Well, ma'am, it has its awkwardness like.
> Nancy: (After a pause, but not very hopefully.)
> How is the joint looking?
> Mary: Well, it's past looking like anything very much.
> Nancy: Well, there's the bone. Mary: Yes, there's the bone.
> Nancy: (Gaily.) Well, there we are, Mary. Soup. 
> Mary: If you remember, maam, we had soup yesterday.
> Nancy: (Wistfully.) Couldn't you " couldn't you squeeze it again, Mary ?
> Mary: It's past squeezing, ma'am " in this world 
> Nancy: I was reading in a book the other day about two people who went out to dinner one night " they always dine late in books, Mary " and ordered a grilled bone. It seemed such a funny thing to have, when they had everything else to choose from. I suppose our ...
> Mary: Grilling wouldn't do it no good, ma'am. 
> Nancy: (Trying to be fair.) Well, I suppose we mustn't blame it. It has been a good joint to us.
> Mary: A good stayer, as you might say.
> Nancy: Yes. Well, I suppose we shall have to get another.
> Mary: Yes, ma'am.
> 
> (Milne, A. A. Three Plays: The Dover Road, the Truth About Blayds, the Great Broxopp. 1922. Reprint. London: Forgotten Books, 2013. 194-5. Print.)
> _______________________________________________
> Vwoolf mailing list
> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
> _______________________________________________
> Vwoolf mailing list
> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20150525/2cb493b7/attachment-0001.html>