Acronyms ,like daily bread are a big part of my life. For those, I'm lucky enough to call my new friends will know of my 180 centigrade for twenty minute approach to survivalist cuisine. s.h.i.t.e or "simply heated, inedible tastes excellent" method is something I like to adhere to in day to day life too and this thought takes me back a few years when out on the less travelled roads.
I was in my Land Rover travelling through a remote region of Luxembourg. The scenery was as epic as it was hugely vast and every bump was a teeth gritting experience. Just when I deemed to be in the middle of the country in all its vastness , the now all to familiar clunk of a broken drive chain clunked on me. Not good...With France now several metres behind me and Germany just out of view, obscured by a privet hedge, panic started to rise. The training kicked in Stop, Think ,Breathe. My best bet was to try and shout to France to get some attention as the closest RAC unit was located there. But I knew from experience I could be in for the long haul of some time if not several minutes before help would be on hand. Once done it was a matter of keeping Calm, un-rattled near transport. Well anyway, looking up at the sun I saw that luncheon was fast waning and I might very well miss it altogether if I wasn't sharp. Against all training and common sense I decided to leave my vehicle and join some of the indigenous people who quite rightly were tucking into something in a big communal pot, it seemed to be some sort of national dish consisting of some kind of pork and boiled root vegetables. They offered a bowl and yeah, I liked it, tasted a bit like chicken. Just at that point help arrived in the form of that ever trusty RAC. So I never did get the recipe.
It's not quite the same these days but with shoulder pork soaked overnight in something, add veggies, 180degrees for about 20mins its close ish and it's close enough. It makes me smile to remember that rustic dish I first tasted years ago and gives one hope that if things do indeed get dire and desperate, with just a little forward thinking a banquet can be forged with just a lump of pork,a handful of veggies and a bucketload of my favourite acronym S.h.i.t.e.
Siobhan
