Hi Gaynor, I liked the details about the food your mother prepared. Country cooking has always been robust and people don't like their food 'fair isled' in a fancy way.

Going back to ail-dwymo, some peopleheated the 'ail dwymo' with the gravyin the frying pan or they put everything in the meat tin on the top of the stove.

Reminds me of my cousin (male) who was thin as a milgi (greyhound) but my, how he could pack food away.

Myaunt roasted the Sunday joint on a Saturday night in case the fire was 'pwdi' on Sunday morning. (The oven was at the side of the fire. In fact, most things depended on the fire and saucepans of food were cooked on it).) After a hefty supper my cousin (male, eighteen)would cut a tocyn of bread and dip it in the cooled fat surrounding the joint. It's a wonder there was enough fat for the gravy next day.

This cousin could eat half a loaf of bread while his mother was serving the dinner. I think because of him, I have always made hearty food, though Peter is not a big eater.

I once boned a chicken (Family Circle recipe) on the day Fergie wed Prince Andrew andmarinaded it in yoghurt and lemon. It was a fiddly job and when we'd eaten it, Peter said it was OK but he preferred plain roast chicken.

Now, with cold chicken, I make a dish of Greek yoghurt mixed with some mint sauce and mustard. It gets a vote of approval and is simple.

I stand corrected! But did you have to include the gravy? I seem to recall that my colleague did. I like the Spanish way of eating, very late at night, but that doesn't really go with our climate or culture, does it?

My mother used to cook rabbit a lot when I was young; it was cheap (sometimes free - ask no questions and I'll tell no lies!) and very nutritious. Skinning and preparing a rabbit is pretty horrific though and I once saw my mother doing it; that was the end of my rabbit-eating days. She was brought up on a farm and made her own faggots, pressed cow's tongue (enormous things!), made brawn and all those old fashioned things. We also used to go and pick cockles. It all seemed perfectly normal in those days. I once had a boyfriend (from the American South) who used to shoot, prepare and eat squirrel; thankfully, he never expected me to eat such a thing and took me to expensive restaurants instead.

All the best

Gaynor

Hi Gaynor, Peter used to like 'ail dwymo', when we were first married. It was fried inthe 'frimpan' until it had a crisp crust and then turned so the other half was fried as well.Wehad it for Sunday night supper. Peter's digestion now is not as cast iron as it was so he can't take anything re-heated soI try not to have left-overs.

For supper, I havea bananaand I sleep well, but Peter doesn't eat is awake mostof the night. I think he'd be better eating something.

Talking of old-fashioned food, I ate rabbit in Sorrento a few years ago and Peter put an order in with a butcher. He cleaned the rabbit and cooked it with an onion and parsley. Quite tasty but I think I'll keep that dish for Italy!

Hwyl Gillian

Gillian

How I agree with you about food you can recognise! I tweeted the link to Giles's review earlier yesterday so I hope that people who are not in the UK have been able to read it. Gill just likes to wind us up; it gives him something to do when he's not playing with Clarkson. I enjoy his reviews anyway.

It's a good thing that so many restaurants are returning to the hearty (and simpler) dishes that most of us really enjoy. I've been enjoying The Great British Food Revival on BBC2 recently and it's wonderful to see such down to earth people like Clarissa Dickson Wright and Gregg Wallace telling us about our native foods.

All this has, for some reason, reminded me of a former colleague whose new husband had told her, after their Sunday lunch, that he liked "cinio aildwym" so, quite naturally, she later served him leftovers which had been heated in the oven. But no, this was not what he meant - he wanted the whole lot put in a frying pan and mixed up over a high heat! I've never come across this before or since.