Husman’s finds a home!

Vintage Husman's Potato Chips tin | H is for Home

We bought this extra large Husman’s potato chips tin at Thursday’s flea market. It’s made the long journey from Cincinnati, Ohio to Todmorden, West Yorkshire!

Vintage Husman's Potato Chips tin | H is for Home

The fabulous colours caught our eye from a long way off.

Potato Chip Institute seal on a vintage Husman's Potato Chip tin | H is for Home

As we got closer, we realised that it was a vintage tin with fabulous lettering and chirpy chip boy mascot! We reckon that it dates from the late 1960s era.

Cartoon image of a boy on a vintage Husman's Potato Chip tin | H is for Home

We love these branded wooden crates and tins. They’re very attractive and make for great up-cycled storage. And they also work really well as bedside or side tables.

Vintage Husman's Potato Chips tin being used as a side table | H is for Home

It’s perfect sitting alongside a favourite chair – a place for books, reading glasses, a vase of flowers, glass of wine or hot cuppa. We’ve become very fond of it in a short space of time. We don’t know how it got to our little Pennine town from Cincinatti, but we’re glad it did!

Cakes & Bakes: Butter pie

'Cakes & Bakes' blog post banner

Home-made butter pie | H is for Home #recipe #pie #butterpie #savourypie

Last week was actually British Pie Week so, being big pie fans chez H is for Home, we just had to get involved! We went for the vegetarian variety and decided upon a local, Lancashire favourite – butter pie.

It’s my meal of choice when we get a take away from Grandma Pollard’s, our local chippy. It’s a very humble pie –  😉 – the filling consists of few, very affordable ingredients – potatoes, onions and of course lashings of butter. There are free-to-pick herbs planted all around Todmorden courtesy of Incredible Edible, so we added a bit of fresh thyme too. I’ve not made it before but it proved a very quick & easy dish… and utterly, butterly delicious!

It’s a real celebration of simple ingredients. We served it with stir fried greens, drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar – pickled cabbage is another traditional accompaniment.

Butter pie

Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • For the pastry
  • 115 g/4oz plain flour
  • 25 g/1oz butter
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of white pepper
  • Ice cold water 2-4 tbs
  • For the filling
  • 2 medium potatoes such as Maris Piper or King Edward
  • 1 medium onion
  • 25 g/1oz cold butter made into curls using a peeler
  • 50 g/2oz butter for softening the onions
  • sprig of thyme woody stalks removed
  • 4 tbs milk

Instructions
 

  • Sift the flour and salt into a bowl
  • Add the butter incorporating using your fingertips or pastry blender until it resembles fine breadcrumbs
  • Add just enough cold water to make the pastry form a ball
  • Put the pastry ball into a plastic bag (or wrap in cling film/Saran wrap), press out the air and refrigerate for half an hour
  • Peel the potatoes and onion, slice the potatoes a little thicker than a pound coin, and the onion into half rings
  • Parboil the potatoes until just soft but still holding their shape (8-10 minutes)
  • Sweat the onions and thyme over a low heat in the butter until soft. Stir regularly so that they don't stick to the base or colour
  • Roll out two thirds of the pastry and use to line a 20cm/8inch diameter round pie dish
  • Trim the edges using a sharp knife around the circumference
  • Drain the potatoes into a colander/large sieve and allow to cool
  • Once cool, layer the potatoes, onions and butter curls into the lined pie dish. Season with salt and white pepper
  • Using a pastry brush, brush around the edge of the pastry with the milk
  • Roll out the remaining third of the pastry (also using the trimmings from the base if necessary) and carefully lift it over
  • Using your fingers or a fork, press the edges of the top & bottom layers of the pastry together
  • Remove any excess pastry lid with a sharp knife
  • Make a few holes in the pie top to allow steam to escape
  • Brush the remaining milk over the top of the pie
  • Bake at 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4 for 30 minutes until golden brown on top
  • Slice & serve immediately

Potato masher… we think!

Potato masher banner

We often feature mid-twentieth century items in our blog posts, but we also have a real passion for old country furniture.

We picked up this wonderful piece of rustic kitchenalia – we think it’s an antique potato masher.

detail of antique cheese maker

Perhaps Irish in origin, although we’re not sure at this stage… a bit more research is required.  It’s a very unusual piece.

BLOG UPDATE: 22nd June. We now think that the object in question is actually a cheese press. The wet cheese, contained within a cloth is pressed by the wooden block, the excess liquid draining through the holes. We’re still not sure about the country of origin. British/Irish is still likely, although continental Europe is a possibility – and we were also sent pictures of a very similarly designed piece which was in a U.S. auction of farm machinery. (Thanks to Erik Schepers).

If you like cottage interiors or country furniture, these books are well worth a look:


Irish Country Furniture (Amazon UK)
Irish Country Furniture 1700-1950 book
Irish Country Furniture (Amazon US)

English Country Interiors book English Country Furniture book
English Cottage Interiors (Amazon UK)
English Country Furniture (Amazon UK)
English Cottage Interiors (Amazon US)
English Country Furniture (Amazon US)