Joe Gray and Lord FitzWalter's rabbits

Thoughts on the fate of Grandad's potatoes, the field of onions and Lord FitzWalter's rabbits.

Quotations from' East Kent- within living memory' compiled by the Women's Institute.

Dad worked at Snowdon Colliery:

"Mum used to make a vegetable dish with sliced potatoes, onions and gravy."
"Our Christmas dinner was wild rabbit, roasted with stuffing."

Another speaker:
"My mother used to cook sliced onions and potatoes in gravy, sometimes adding sausages, she called it "Joe Gray"

And another:
"We lived in a mining community in the 1930's. We had meat one day of the week and my mother made rabbit stew with dumplings. These were wild rabbits."
' East Kent within- living memory' compiled by Womans Institute.

Lots of traditional working man's dishes based on sliced potatoes and onions with meat or sometimes cheese if either were available. Lancashire hotpot, Irish stew, pan haggerty- all similar. So I tried making this tonight, just potatoes and onions cooked slowly in a casserole with gravy and lots of butter spooned over (miners would use reserve meat fat) before taking the lid off to brown for the last half hour.It was pretty good. My husband complained that miners wouldn't eat it with tempeh but what does he know?

oops! husband pointed out today, his Barnsley Grandads were miners. I must learn to keep my mouth shut. 10th Oct