It's a mockery

well, a mock goose... Actually it's a Vegetable Goose, despite the lack of any real vegetables (onion is not really a vegetable).


But before we get there, let's have a look at what Mrs Beeton has to say about the origins of vegetarianism.


"From the earliest ages the doctrines and practice of vegetarinism have been observed, from necessity, as a religious duty or on grounds of health. In England the question has come to the front on the ground of dietetic reform, and a number of persons known as "Vegetarians" abstain from animal foods altogether, or take it only in such forms as milk, cheese, butter or eggs."


Interestingly, the concept of vegetarianism was so novel in 1923 that it didn't need delineations like vegan, or pescatarian, or pesca-pollo-tarian, or fruitarian. You either ate meat, or you didn't. And coming from a book that has 12 chapters exclusively about meat and only one on vegetarian cooking, I imagine that most people ate meat.


And now, VEGETABLE GOOSE (I served mine with roasted vegetables...Mrs Beeton left no serving suggestions)



INGREDIENTS - 1/2 lb of bread soaked in cold water
1 onion
1 tp chopped sage
30g vegetable butter
pepper and salt
60g chopped walnuts


METHOD - Squeeze the bread nearlydry, and mash it, mix in the other ingredients, chopped small. Grease a Yorkshire pudding-dish, put in the mixture, and bake in a good oven for about 3/4 of an hour.


TIME - About 1 1/2 hours. SUFFICIENT for 3 persons (actually about 5, depending on how much you like mushed bread)
My recommnedations: Actually quite tasty for a fauxst (faux roast), basically just a pile of stuffing. Needed a bit more salt. Maybe not a gold medal winner but certainly tasty...and a good way to use up any leftover stale bread.

I had the left over goose and potatoes for breakfast today, sort of fried into a fritter thing... it was also good.