Help, my Leo peas are bagless...

[Povester]

Its Saturday night, its our turn to cook Sunday dinner tomorrow for the family and so, of course, the Leo peas have to be steeped.

All going ok...I've poured the peas into the pan (I did like it better when they were sitting happily in the box and not in an unecessary plastic bag), I've unwrapped the bicarb tablet and popped it in. The kettle has boiled and I've covered my peas. I am just about to tie the bag around the end of the saucepan handle ready for the morning. When I get that sinking feeling, I shake the box, I check the floor (did it fall out?), disaster, no bag!

As a child we had Leo peas every Sunday until I left home. And in a particular drawer there was always a store of spare bags and tablets, hey, sometimes you get two and the experienced pea steeper knows you always hold onto those for the lean times (like tonight). These days we don't cook Sunday dinner every week and so we're just not building up the stores. Some weeks we go to my sisters' and some of them are doing frozen (my dad must be turning in his grave).

So, we are bagless, the family arrive tomorrow, what can I do? I fear total mush without a bag.....

I am hoping that at least one or two people will know what I am talking about...

[safronsue]

i certainly don't, but am intrigued!

[Rosendula]

I've never come across a bag for cooking peas before so I'm not sure my suggestions are appropriate. Do you have a muslin square or other cloth that would suffice, perhaps tied with string? Would a stocking work? I, too, am intrigued

[MKG]

Use an old pair of tights (clean, of course).

Mike

[Povester]

Thanks for the suggestions, I did think about a stocking. Luckily I found another box lurking in the back of the cupboard complete with bag. So I've used that but obviously I am a bag short for next time. I will have to keep buying boxes until I hit the jackpot and get a doubler. I think it might feel a little like winning the lottery....

Just a little...

For the uninitiated:
http://www.whitworths.co.uk/our_product ... dried_peas

[Rosendula]

Thanks for the link, Cath. I've often used dried peas, but never had a net with them. I suppose it will help with draining them. I'm not sure how they stop them going mushy though. Is there an explanation for that? I might have to dig my old fishnets out.

[Povester]

The net seems to help the peas keep their shape while making them mushy at the same time. And yes, helps with draining. For me its just how its always been and I like the ritual of it all. I'm sure fishnets would work just as well!

[Mustardseedmama]

O.K.,...so I'm guessing this is an acquired taste? What is in the "steeping tablet"?

[Povester]

I guess it probably is, like tripe if you grow up eating it you love it. The steeping tablet is sodium bicarbonate I think. I'm guessing you don't have then in the States...

They are perfect with faggots too, do you have those?

[Mustardseedmama]

After googling faggots, I can tell you that I've never had them, and never heard of anyone making them over here. My sweetie is from Cajun country, and we do make Boudain, which contains pork liver, rice, onions, peppers, and lots of seasoning. A lot of the true Cajuns like Boudin Noir, which has quite a lot of blood in it, but I can't handle that one. It's also very hard to get up here in the Midwest.

I'd like to try some of these other foods someday,...

[Millymollymandy]

Bizarre thread. I was just thinking, why don't you just cook your peas in water like everyone else.

Then it seemed to turn to mushy peas and I was even more lost. Perhaps Leo peas are not peas from the supermarket called Leo's.

[MKG]

It's a hangover from pease pudding days, when you'd put your split peas in a bag and suspend it in the water in which you were cooking a ham. Then you could take out the ham, take out the bag of peas, and still have a base for soup for the next day, rather than a pea-infested thin gloop.

The introduction of the steeping tablet (sodium bicarbonate), for the benefit of MSM, was to make sure that the structure of the peas broke down in cooking so that you ended up with a thick gloop. It's one of the puzzles of history as to how that was ever discovered. But mushy peas are delicious, especially when they're liberally soaked with vinegar (an acquired taste, I'd imagine). My mother used to put bicarb in with the cabbage too, with the intention of producing a smelly, grey mess which no-one liked eating. Thank goodness that habit has disappeared into the dim, distant past.

Mike

[that_sarah_girl]

does anyone know if you can make mushy peas from a tin of processed peas..?
Would it be like making them from dried peas but without soaking?