Granny Cooks is no longer.
And here is why.
It’s partly why, and a little history of why and what I did, to continue to exist.
Part One.
GC was designed to be a continuation of catering, in a form we needed for Covid. It was needed for me, to give me a way to keep my business afloat, to give me something to focus on, and for you. To have prepared nourishing food to your door. To have variety of your diet. To enjoy great quality chef prepared food. The real chef prepared, not just the mass produced out of a bulk packet and into a serving box. I peeled the onions, stirred the soups and hand cracked eggs.
Candy Anstee, my neighbour rang me late on a night home as I was researching what New York restaurants were working out as a solution to being shut down, also trying to work out if they could stay alive in business.
Most restaurants in my area were offering the same menu items, but as a take away, and the same price that it would cost to be plated, served to them, as they sat at a linen & cutlery dressed table, and being able to walk away while someone tidied the mess. Folks bought one meal for one or two people. It was nachos, lasagne & vegie curry. Look, it was hard to get produce. My main butcher had to shut down their multi million dollar facility. The domino effect was incredible. My meat driver could not speak the day he delivered. He’d just worked out he was about to loose his job, through no fault of his own. As well as trying to navigate the unprecedented times as we now know it. From all the transport & chill distribution, the packers, meat room butchers, the administration, marketing, then the producers, the farmers, the families that depended on these farmers, the communities that all worked together, the feed suppliers, the circle breaker of this bloody cough caused.
I know how to make a mean soup. stew, casserole, dumplings, all the delicious comforting stuff, jams, puddings and scones, and I don’t know how to make them without my hands, my tastebuds and my eyes. From scratch is how I have always cooked. Anyone who gets prepared shop stuff, repacks it and sells is as if it’s their very own handiwork is in a different league than me, and they can stay there, my worth is in my work, and I know I am rewarded by this, for my own pride of self, and those who know what real food is.
I made soups, proper chicken soup with whole fresh chickens, simmered with onions, celery, parsley stalks, carrot & bay leaves from my tree. Other vegies fell in the pot depending on what was in season, zucchini, kumara, potato, corn, peas & green beans all got a go. Pumpkin, always spiced with ginger & garam masala, with coconut cream, onions, carrots and rice as a thickener, so it was gluten free and vegan. Green Pea & Ham, simmered ham bones & hocks, with dried split peas, parsley, celery & a carrot because that’s how my granny cooked. And then supercharged with a blitz of fresh green spinach & peas to bring it into the 20th century. You can do this with minestrone, I love a bright green minestrone, it freaks folk out, then they eat it anyway. I made a few batches of snow soup – fennel, granny smith apples, cauliflower & potato. White, gluten free and silky smooth, beautiful with a swirl of cream and freshly grated nutmeg.
I made casseroles – these days we label any wet dish anything other than casserole. A tagine, a ragout, a slow braise, goulash, hot pot. It’s stewed, simmered, and left to develop while the dog takes you for a walk. My favourite was the pork neck cooked in milk. Italian, and I’d always wanted to cook this dish, but never the reason till now. I marinated large pieces of free range pork with garlic, lemon rind & bay leaves, browned in a favourite old pot, and then into large braising dishes with fresh milk, onions, more garlic & sage from my kitchen garden. 4 hours later, lifted out, then reducing the cooking liquid & pureeing to portion into the foil trays ready to garnish & sit overnight to be delivered the next day.