Episode 2, Sheffield…dinner party 2 trials

So looking back at mum’s planner, there are just 2 pages of notes…

We’ve got the first mention of a starter that we as a family still have today, a salmon mousse, and beef stroganoff comes up 5 times. Mum is also branching out with desserts: there are now 2, sometimes 3, being served at each dinner. Cheese pie (well, cake) and brandied fruit, as well as Black Forest.

So, I’ve made the salmon mousse a few times, so that’s ok; I’ve done mum’s cheesecake recipe a number of times as well, and brandied fruit is pretty simple…

I wanted to get a particular group of friends for this meal as one is a vegetarian. Mum and dad didn’t have any vegetarian friends, so no meals would automatically fit …but I know there is a mushroom stroganoff which is supposed to be just as nice as the beef stroganoff. So I’m doing beef stroganoff AND mushroom stroganoff…the beef one my mum’s recipe, and the mushroom one a modern recipe.

Slight problem: I’ve never cooked beef stroganoff, so a trial run was done last night. Quite a lot of rookie mistakes…over-crowding the pan, not as tender as I would like, not enough flour leading to a need for cornflour to thicken the sauce…just a bit all over the place! So 2 more trial runs are being done, one being more careful with the traditional method, and one trying out a slow cooker version. This might actually be better for a dinner party, as it can just mulch away all day, no last minute prep.

Because the dinner was slightly short notice, no time to practice Black Forest gateau, so I’m going to incorporate the flavours into/onto mum’s cheese cake…hope it works!

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