subject: Dipping Bread [print this page] Dipping Bread Dipping Bread
Back when I was a nipper or young child for those that dont understand the word I just used, the tradition was to have a Sunday lunch that focussed on a joint of roasted meat. It could be beef or lamb or chicken or pork. Christmas meant the turkey of course but that was always something that my grandmother would arrange so it does not apply here.
Now why write something about roasted meat and title it dipping bread?
The answer is really simple if you imagine the juices that a joint of roasted meat gives off into the roasting pan. Us kids would wait for the time that my mother would take the joint from the oven in order to baste in then crowd into the kitchen to await the treat that was about to come. This was around the time that she was making the Yorkshire Pudding batter that was always a feature of Sunday lunch, no matter what the roasted meat was.
She would cut bread into either half or quarter slices then soak this into the juices from the meat. We then got to eat that while it was still warm and it was delicious. This was dipping bread and I'd almost say that it was better than the Sunday Lunch for flavour.
This tradition was lost to me for many years because I was largely vegetarian but pressure from nippers of my own led me back to a diet that included meat. That included a Sunday roast and I ended up remembering the old dipping bread tradition. This time I did it with wholemeal bread and guess what? It was gorgeous with any meat but especially with Roast Beef.
Now, my mother would not let us dip too much bread in the roasted meat juices because she would use them to make the gravy. Nowadays I get most of the juices with the wholemeal bread though because I tend to do gravy in a different way.
It was a great Sunday morning snack and a great treat for us kids to look forward while we waited for Sunday lunch with my mother's wonderful Yorkshire Pudding.
