A new cut

That is to say a chance purchase from the Waitrose meat counter, where they seem to be making a point of having a small number of interesting cuts of beef.

With this one being 850g of something called beef featherblade from Aberdeen - or at least from a cow named for Aberdeen. The lady behind the counter explained to me that long cooking was the idea.

In the event, I sliced into strips about a quarter of an inch thick, and started it with some melted butter around 11:05. Slightly worried about the layer of gristle which I had not cut out. Added some finely chopped onion and maybe 3/4 of a pint of water at 11:35. Added a little celery before the meat was declared cooked at 12:30, at which point I strained the meat and put the latter aside to stand.

Made the liquor into gravy and gently cooked some mushrooms in the gravy before adding the gravy back to the meat.

Greens, with stems chopped in the now usual way, 5 minutes. Rice, 25 minutes.

Ready to roll.

On the plate. Very good it was too, and with what had appeared to be gristle cooked down to something quite tasty.

Stewed plums for dessert. After all of which I slept for an hour or two.

Enough left for a retread for one the following day. I think BH took a dive in the freezer.

An excellent discovery.

In the margins, I also discovered the the Internet is quite fulsome about this featherblade. Odd that I had not heard of it before - so all credit to Waitrose. For the Internet, see, for example, reference 1.

And at about the same time, a trip to town for plums from Waitrose, apples and oranges from a new to me stall in the market. Large satsumas, on the watery side. Very large apples from Poland. Rather good. I don't recall ever having Polish apples before.

'Flavour fall' plums from Spain. Rather curious texture and taste for a plum, not really on a par with a proper English plum, but not bad. Investigating this afternoon, it seems that they are a cross between a plum and an apricot, for which see references 2 and 3.

And then down the passage behind the Ebbisham Centre, where I passed but failed to capture a Waitrose trolley.

And then the other end of the mural first noticed at reference 4. Probably the reason why I went down the passage in the first place. To find that it was a rather more elaborate and rather better effort than I had thought from the bird end. I suspect that we have a series of eminent Epsom ladies, with the one at the left being the rich eccentric Lady Sybil Grant, to be found at reference 5. Also keen on dogs. Next along, Kathleen Riddick, an Epsom musician, leading light in the Surrey Philharmonic Orchestra (probably better known and regarded then than now) and winding up in Ashtead rather than Epsom. Next district.

Slightly odd to have such a grand theme for a mural in such an obscure - and often tatty - passage. Notwithstanding, I think I would rather have it there than full frontal in the market place.

References

Reference 1: https://www.salterandking.co.uk/products/featherblade-steak?variant=30145558541.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluot.

Reference 3: https://www.frankpmatthews.com/advice/plumcot-pluots-and-aprium-hybrid-fruit-a-comprehensive-guide/.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/08/around-epsom.html.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Sybil_Grant.