Fill yer Derby Kell, gal!

Eh, fill yer what? Rhyming slang son, rhyming slang. “Derby Kelly” is belly.

Pretty sure I was introduced to boiled beef & carrots (albeit mashed, natch!) by my Mum. Equally pretty sure that there were no Gerbers or similar bottled baby foods, at least for me. But I’m not going to swear to that, any memories being lacking at that age.

I may even have been that very same 6 month old, whose parents were wondering what to wean me on:

They thought of tripe, they thought of steak
Or a little bit of old cod’s row
I said, “Pop round to the old cook-shop
I know what’ll make me grow.

Boiled beef and carrots,
Boiled beef and carrots,
That’s the stuff for your “Derby Kell”,
Makes you fit and keeps you well.
Don’t live like vegetarians
On food they give to parrots,
Blow out your kite, from morn ’til night,
On boiled beef and carrots.

It is still a banging dish.