childhood favourite

I was a skinny kid in the 50s and 60s and loved all dinners. The butcher delivered twice a week and apart from Sunday's dinners joint, beef or lamb the meat rarely varied on weekdays. Monday, cold left over sliced joint, Tuesday, mince and onions, Wednesday, lamb chops, Thursday, liver and onions, Friday, tripe, onions and mash. Saturday was always fish and chips from the chippy until mother decided we should all be a bit more adventurous after discovering Vesta Beef curry. Dreadful reconstituted lumps of dried meat and gritty rice.
My favourite was roast chicken but hard to believe now, it was so expensive we only had it on special occasions also salad was only available during summer months and consisted of floppy lettuce, tomatoes, Spring onions and cucumber. Happy days eh?

My Mum used to make home-made fish and chips and she always made what she called "collops" to go with them. They were simply two thin slices of potato dipped in batter together to make a sandwich then deep fried. I suppose looking back they were useful fillers for five hungry children and cheaper than putting fish in the middle to make what she called fishcakes (which she also made). She was a brilliant cook and manager and we never went hungry even when times were hard and money short.

My mother made tasty potato fritters often in the early evening. Sooooo fattening but yummy.

Annie I have never made cawl, but they serve it in a pub we go to in Solva and it is absolutely delicious. My Welsh DH won't eat it. Silly man doesn't know what he's missing!

I loved my mum's yellow split pea and bacon soup too. It was comfort food. She would then remove the meat from the ham hough and serve with cabbage and mashed potatoes.
In fact I bought a piece of ham today and I am planning to make it this week, but I know it will never taste as good as mum's.

My absolute favourite was mashed potatoes with beetroot. In later years I realised we had that when there was no meat or money or both but at the time I loved the potatoes being turned red by the beetroot. Another favourite was egg and tomato sandwiches. Mum used to skin the tomatoes in hot water first then mash with the egg. Oh and sugar sandwiches too, probably another example of the cupboard being bare. No wonder I had rotten teeth

Welsh Cawl, I make it but not as good, perhaps the veg ?

Everything my mother made was lovely - she was a good cook, and very traditional. When I was asked what I would like for dinner on my birthday, I always chose lamb chops.

After 40 years of my own marriage, I now realise how relieved she must have felt not having to think up at least one meal a year!

In restaurants, however posh, we always went for fish and chips. I later learned that my father found this embarrassing!

My Mum made a delicious dish consisting of onions, cheese and semolina .I never got the recipe ! I remember it was simmered on the hob , then baked in a slow oven , which was at the side of the fire

barmyoldbat that was always one of my childhood favourites too. My mother used to make it with meaty bacon bones from the grocers when pennies were short; in better times, a bacon hock. I still make it now, though as you say, it isn't quite the same. The hocks you buy now don't have the same cure I don't think. In the last days of my older sister's life, when she couldn't eat much, I made some for her. She managed to eat just the tiniest amount - about a tablespoonful - but she said just the smell of it was comforting .

As soon as I knew where meat came from, I refused to eat any...except for breaded veal escalopes and otherwise only pasta and vegetables. Strange child that I was!

My Italian mother's kitchen always created wonderful food, however, on a small budget, and the colours and aromas tempted even me, although I avoided meat. When I think back, that kitchen was heaven to be in. I have not inherited my mother's culinary talent, sadly.

Yellow split pea and bacon soup, just loved it with thick white crusty bread and butter. Tried many times to cook it but it never turns out the same. Also steamed pudding, in fact I might try that today.

My Mum made lamb stew as well. Best end of neck of lamb and root veg all cooked for a couple of hours on the hob. Left to cool and then the fat taken off the top, the meat removed and the veg mashed into the gravy. The meat was put back and oh it was lovely!

I could eat it now!

My mum used to cook the baked beans in the bacon fat too.
Delicious!

My mum used to fry bacon and then add baked beans to the pan and serve it with mashed potatoes. Delicious.

I want a plum sponge pudding and custard now

Oh dear, I used to be able to run off all those calories

christinefrance

Steamed fruit puddings, apple or plum. I loved Yorkshire pudding which we had as a starter with lashings of meaty gravy. I also enjoyed fresh veg which was always seasonal and full of flavour unlike a lot of fruit and veg we have now. Not sure if it's memory playing tricks though.

My husband makes a wonderful rabbit stew, yummy.

My Mum was a very basic cook, meat and veg. She rarely made gravy (she didn't like it) and not very often puds. Nothing spicy or out of the usual.
My Nan's made my favourite meals, one made the most gorgeous fish and chips - fresh fish, her own batter and crispy chips with fluffy insides. She also made lovely roasts and fab apple pies, I have tried but my pastry never turn out the same. She did teach me how to make Victoria sponge using eggs as weight measurement, I still make them same way.
My other Nan used to make a lovely lamb stew, I went to her house for dinners when I was at Junior school and was always happy to smell that when I walked through the door.

Rolly

Spotted dick, treacle steamed pudding, jam roll poly. I loved puddings and I was the size of a stick, I still love puddings but I'm now quite a knobbly branch!

We had apple trees in the garden as a child so there was always mums apple pie with custard made with Birds custard powder. Yum

My mum's roast beef dinners were delicious. I also loved fish in parsley sauce with potatoes and frozen peas or runner beans grown by dad. We always had a pudding and I grumbled like mad when it was stewed apples and custard - boring - what an ungrateful child I was.

Meat pie, mashed potato and dark, leafy greens. Mum made such good pastry, but I think the pie filling came from a tin. John West?