Marie Cookpad

  One thing I always have plenty of in the freezer are sausages.  I buy them in large packs at Costco and then break them down into 8 sausage packages, packing them into double freezer bags, ready to cook whenever the mood hits.  Costco has really good sausages, both Italian and regular.   School dinners were not part of the school day when I was going to school. We had to bring our lunch from home, and so it was always cold sandwiches.  Todd, however, was always privy to School Dinners.  In fact his parents relied upon them to make sure he had a decent hot meal every day.   He says he always loved them.  I have heard tales from both sides of the coin.   Some people loved them, others hated them.  I think I would have come from the love camp.   Curried sausages is not something I would have ever thought of making prior to coming here to the UK.  We didn't do curry very much at all, but it was something we enjoyed occasiona...

  I had taken some sausages out of the freezer to cook for our supper last night, thinking I was going to cook them with some onions, apples and apple juice, only to discover today that I had no apple juice. I really should have checked before I took the sausages out . . .    I have had this Mary Berry Cookbook, called Mary Berry Absolute Favourites, based on the television series of the same name, and I am ashamed to say I haven't used it.   I just love Mary Berry, don't you?  I really miss seeing her on the GBBO. To me, its just not the same without her.  I love all of her television shows as well. She seems like a genuinely nice person.  This book contains over 100 brand new, simple and satisfying recipes from one of her latest cooking series, and I really have no excuse for not having used it before, as the recipes in it all seem sound and quite delicious!   I was drawn to the bright colours of this dish!   I also liked that I was ea...

  My husband is a real meat and potatoes fan.  He could quite happily have meat and potatoes every night of the week and never tire of it!  He especially loves pork chops or sausages!     They have beautiful sausage here in the UK. They have nasty ones as well (think cheap and filled with lots of fillers, pasty textured, blecch).  But I think that is the same anywhere. If you are open to paying a bit more there are loads of beautiful sausages you can buy for your family.    In my opinion a good sausage will contain at least 70% of good quality meat with the remainder being seasonings, fat (you need fat in a good sausage) and rusks or bread crumbs. I have had really low fat sausages and have always found them to be hard and dry.  You need fat in a sausage or why bother to have one!  Fat adds flavour and is a part of what makes them succulent and delicious.   Here in the UK there are literally hundreds of different kinds/flavours...

  Sausage wasn't something I enjoyed very much when I was growing up. I am not sure why.  I never really began to enjoy them at all until I was a grown woman and cooking my own.  I liked them almost burnt on the outside with catsup for dipping. My father enjoyed them dipped in mayonnaise.  As a child growing up in Canada, in my experience at least, there was only one kind of sausage.  Ordinary breakfast sausage, long thin cylinders of meat, stuffed into skins, fatty and flavoured with nutmeg and poultry seasoning. That was it. Growing up in the 50's /60's and early 70's in small communities meant that we were not exposed to outside flavours or choices.  We had what we had, and that was that. It was not until I was an adult that I experienced another kind of sausage. My sister-in-law who lived in Toronto had studied at the Cordon Bleu and was considered to be an expert in cooking.  We spent the weekend at hers once, and she cooked sausages for us for br...