DAVID B wrote:
I think the making of Hard is a black art. From what I understand it is basically an oatcake recipe but the dough is rolled out very thin to something akin to a washleather.It is then hung up to dry,the traditional way was to hang it over the old clothes drying rack that most homes had in the old days.
Think that Ryvita is probably quite near to Hard.
I think that one or two pubs in the area ,and I mean one or two,still serve Stew and Hard.
THIS THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU
Ive been trying to do these for ages..
My aunt and uncle (Roy isherwood, and Joan Dickinson) were the stewards of the Sefton working mans club at the end of green road before it was shut down (around 1978), from there they used to look after other pubs when the licencees went on holiday for a few weeks. One in particular I remember, the Hole i'th wall, we movedd into for a few weeks and Auntie Joan and I (aged 7) would make stew n'ards in the back kitchen for sale on the bar, just like the ham salad sandwiches, under the plastic dome..
These things are food of the GODS!..
So, ive been trying to remember for years just exactly how she made the hard, googled recipes, fried them, baked them, put stew in them raw and just left them..
UNTIL i read this, you just jogged my memory and YES, THATS EXACTLY HOW SHE USED TO DO IT!! DRIED THEM ON THE CLOTHES DRIER!
It was in the kitchen, on pulleys, suspended from the ceiling and it was always full of "hards" drying, then we would spoon in the cold stew, thats it..
Ive now got a mop suspended between two kitchen wall units with a few "test subjects" hanging, taco shaped, going hard (I hope I got the mix right) and the stew is made, cooling...
You have made my DAY sir, cannot thank you enough