A Christmas card from an old friend reminded me of the awful music
hall songs he used to sing when drunk; this was one of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mIMIUqAa3w

Boiled beef and carrots is an old-fashioned economy dish my mother
used to make during meat rationing, but I hadn't seen "boiling beef" on
sale for years until this week. So in honour of Mother, old friend, bad
singing and good dinners I made boiled beef and carrots for lunch.
Boiling beef is a cheap tough cut, a solid lump of fatty meat on the
bone. The bone is important; think collagen and gelatine.

Peel one large onion. Cut in half then slice very finely. Cut half a
dozen carrots into diagonal slices. Peel half a dozen cloves of garlic.
In a saucepan, soften the veg in oil until the onion just begins to
colour. Add the meat and one peeled potato, a handful of barley, a
TBspoonful of dried parsley, a couple of bayleaves, S and P and stock.
Make sure the stock covers everything well then bring to a very gentle
simmer, stir cover and cook long and slow on the hob until the beef is
tender. By now the stock will be reduced and onions and garlic pretty
much dissolved. Retrieve the potato, mash it and return to the pan. Take
out the meat, cut it off the bone, slice and return to pan of delicious
thickened gravy. The consistency should be thicker than a soup but
looser than a stew. Serve with steamed and buttered cabbage, perfect
comfort food on a cold dismal day. The dog got the bone.

If you can justify more calories, LOL, make some herby dumplings and
cook them in the same pan. Tis the season of too many mincepies so I
desisted on the dumplings.

Janet UK