GRANDMOTHERS' COOKING

I spent all day today in the garden. Not my own, but my mother-in-law's, who lives nearby. The family's collective Christmas present to her was a day's free work. So at 9am up popped her five daughters, two of her sons-in-law, a few of the elder grandchildren, and a tractor and trailer loaned from a local farmer. We cleaned the gutters, dusted off cobwebs, loosened the moss on the lawn using a machine, raked it all up (which filled the trailer), trimmed the borders, weeded under the hedges, swept the yard, relaid the paving stones around the flower beds, washed the windows, and cleaned all of the doors and cupboards inside. She was very pleased.

Her job was to keep us fed during the day, which she did, admirably as usual. Which led me to think about cooking. Both my mother and my mother-in-law have had tough lives, which have affected their attitude to food. My mother experienced the Coventry Blitz as a teenage girl, plus post-war rationing. When my father suddenly died young at the age of 36, she was forced to feed, clothe and look after three children under 5, plus her 80-year old father, who lived with us. My mother-in-law was the second oldest of nine siblings on a poor farm in rural West Jutland. And when she later married a farmer, she had to feed a succession of hungry farmhands, who lived in, plus a husband and five children of her own.

As a result, both of them look upon preparing food as a functional process rather than a gastronomic delight. Portions are large; although my sons now tower above them, both grannies still think they need "fattening up". Recipes are old-fashioned and decidedly national. Garlic is rarely, if ever, used, exotic spices never. Meat should be well done, not namby pamby pink. Fancy metropolitan novelties such as fennel, rocket, and veal, and most things having a French description, draw blank stares.

Yet what they do, they still do very well, even though one is in her mid-70's and one her mid-80's. In some cases, not only better than any other person I know, but better than any restaurant I know. So, in a tribute to grandmothers' cooking, here are some of the things they do best. In the case of my mother, Yorkshire pudding, home-made mint sauce, brisket, mince pies, fried bread and custard. And in the case of my mother-in-law, meat balls, venison, apple cake, and - what we had this evening - beef stew with mashed potatoes, and strawberry "porridge" with cream. Yummy.

Walter Blotscher