Arm & Leg Soup
This is getting too morbid. Time to liven it up a bit with more tales of craziness.

When I was a nipper, my mum used to make "arm & leg soup". Basically, this was a stew made with the remains of the Sunday joint that was tossed into a huge pan along with water, various veggie shit and barley. This was then boiled to death and then left on simmer all week with water added to it whenever it got a bit too thick. Nobody *ever* ate this shit and it would be thrown out every Saturday night before the next batch was made on Sunday evening. One of the most enduring memories of my childhood is the smell of "arm & leg soup".

But one week my mum decided to get high-tech on us and cook the soup in a pressure cooker. Usual ritual was followed - fill pot three-quarters full with water, add remains of joint and other shit and then fit lid and screw down firmly before turning gas up to full.

You can see what's coming can't you?

Yup. Mum had put waaay too much stuff in the pressure cooker and the inevitable happened. The safety seal blew and this gunk fountained into the air and splattered off the ceiling before settling down to it's volcano impression that spewed molten lava out around the seal in a complete circle. This shit was spraying out at about 300 degrees and promised 1st degree burns to anyone who tried to get near it to turn it off.

I can still see this now in my minds eye. My mum covered in a load of coats and with gloves on to protect her hands crawling across the kitchen floor getting covered in this shit. She eventually made it and turned off the cooker and then laboriously made her way back to safety while we gave the volcano time to cool down.

And people wonder why I started cooking for myself at about 7 year old.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Wed 22 Aug 2007, 12:03, Reply)