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Food

Revisiting food from your youth.

(170 Posts)
Daddima Wed 09-Aug-17 18:42:01

Tonight, I cooked a Fray Bentos pie, of which I had fond memories from my youth. It was awful.
I also remember enjoying Heinz Cream of Tomato with macaroni for Friday Kafflick lunch at my granny's in the 60s. Also awful.
Another favourite " quick tea" was tinned hamburgers with processed peas, served with chips. I have tried a couple of brands of burgers, to no avail.
Is it, as some have said, that the taste buds have died, or that the manufacturers have greatly reduced the salt and sugar content?

jollyg Fri 11-Aug-17 13:48:46

Another Butterscotch angel delight fan here.
OH liked ox tongue and dutifully I went to the "offal' shop, stupidly took the kids. The smell in the shop was awful.

Said tongue was prepared and skinned and put in a bowl , under a weight.

It was tasty, but kids refused to eat it.

Sadly the 'offal' shop shut down with the advent of foot and mouth. I do still buy ox tail as it is such a flavoursome dish, all that tail flicking to get rid of the flies

GannyRowe Fri 11-Aug-17 13:40:36

Great minds think alike! I have often wondered if I could recreate Rice Creamola by having ordinary custard powder with ground rice added. Might be worth a try I guess!

devongirl Fri 11-Aug-17 13:20:45

In case no-one's mentioned it yet - Heinz Salad Cream!

Sheilasue Fri 11-Aug-17 13:08:25

I love Heinz cream of tomato soup still have it on occasions. Brings back memories when I was a little girl, if I had a cold my mum always made me a bowl of soup. Can't remember someof the names but we had tin peas, shippems paste for sandwiches my favourite was sardine.
Usd to buy angel delight for my children.
Vesta curries as well. Happy days.

Bluecat Fri 11-Aug-17 12:42:51

My nana cooked some really nice stuff, particularly her fruitcake, but some of it was awful. There was something called "pork bones", which occasionally featured in pies but (even worse) with baked beans which mixed horribly with the gravy. God knows what cut of meat "pork bones" were - I remember they were very fatty and you had to pick out the bits of meat and avoid the little bones.

Never really liked Angel Delight, though we had it pretty often, but I would kill now for a Kunzel cake.

Anyone remember Findus frozen pancakes? We had them frequently too.

devongirl Fri 11-Aug-17 12:26:46

On Boxing Day my mother fried Christams pudding slices in butter and served them with a generous dollop of clotted cream - heart attack on a plate but so yummy!!

Reading back over this, I'd forgotten about sandwich spread - memo to self, must get some to put in my lunchtime sarnies!

strawberrinan Fri 11-Aug-17 12:17:41

School used to take all the unsold cakes, mash them up, cover them with chocolate and sell them the next day.

goldengirl Fri 11-Aug-17 12:10:00

My nan used to make lovely roast potatoes - using lard which I never use nowadays but my mum always did mashed potatoes which were OK but I longed for roast ones with the Sunday lunch so I now always have roast potatoes with a Sunday roast. Why she never roasted the potatoes I don't know.

I was one of the few people at school who actually liked pink custard! In fact I liked semolina too - another of my mother's favourites.

And yes, I remember the milk at school warming around the turtle stove - quite liked it. I wasn't a fussy child - wasn't allowed to be. Do find that the GC are fussy about food. Perhaps it was because of war shortages that we weren't.

devongirl Fri 11-Aug-17 11:59:01

Ah butterscotch Angel Delight! My DD and our cat loved it! (She's an adult now but no doubt would still enjoy it, sadly our cat has passed now.)

Diggingdoris Fri 11-Aug-17 11:55:25

Oh what memories these posts have uncovered! No wonder my teeth are not good as I was brought up on bread and butter with sugar or condensed milk on. I used to give my children Angel Delight as they didn't like drinking milk, and Butterscotch was the best flavour. Vesta meals were trendy when I was first married as dried foods were just emerging. What were those dried peas called? They tasted so sweet. Being hard up with 4 children, one tin of Spam sliced thinly and battered could feed us all with chips, all deep fried of course! Oh how things have changed.

devongirl Fri 11-Aug-17 11:51:38

Raw tripe - ooh yuck yuck yuck!! I remeber my father liked cooked tripe, my mother hated it because of the smell!

Before becoming veggie I used to love the Fray Bentos pies and Brains Faggots though.

GrandmasueUK Fri 11-Aug-17 11:44:31

Loved raw tripe with vinegar, like my dad. Had oysters, whelks, prawns and cockles (not at the same time) that were sold by the cockle man who went round the pubs. My dad used to bring them home for me when I was young. We had a Fray Bentos Steak & Kidney pie with new potatoes and peas last night. Still love them occasionally.
As a teenager I went to Weightwatchers and we had to have liver once a week. The recipe they pushed was liver cooked in tomato juice in the oven. Bleurgh!!

HMarie Fri 11-Aug-17 11:39:42

My mum used to cook Fray Bentos pies/puddings when I was a kid, but on one famous occasion she forgot to pierce the tin before steaming one of them and the damned thing exploded and spewed its contents all over the kitchenette ceiling.

I'm vegetarian these days, but my partner bought a Fray Bentos steak pie a few years ago, when I was in hospital. It's still sitting in the cupboard, now way out of date. One of these days I'll surreptitiously bin it along with all the even older (some by about 20 years!) tins.

GrammaH Fri 11-Aug-17 11:31:49

Ooh yes, I'd forgotten all about Manchester tart which we used to have at school & I loved it! Also, like so many others,I loved butterscotch Angel Delight. The things I hated most were the nasty pink sausages mum used to cook every Monday & Tuesday - disgusting! No relation to the tasty artisan sausages we can buy today & I shudder to think what they were actually made of!

stevej4491 Fri 11-Aug-17 11:25:50

QD stores sell Vesta curries for about a £1 and Iceland have the Fray Bentos pies for not much more than a £1.I do'treat' myself now and again although they are'nt on Slimming World plan!!!

toscalily Fri 11-Aug-17 11:24:13

Only ever tried a Fray Bentos pie once was not at all keen. As for Tabioca pudding at school, terrible we used to call it frogspawn. We used to keep chickens so always had the eggs and when the hens got older they went in the pot smile

Never even heard of Rice Cremola but here is a recipe to try, if anyone makes it let us know how it tastes to your more mature tastebuds.

Rice Cremola
2 heaped tablespoonfuls of ground rice
1 tablespoon of custard powder
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 pint of milk.
Vanilla extract
Mix together the rice and custard adding a little milk to turn it into a smooth paste. Add vanilla extract. Heat remainder of the milk until it boils. Add milk to mixture. Stir. Return mixture to pan and simmer. Keep stirring. Once it becomes an even thick mixture it is ready to serve. The mixture can be baked and sprinkled with nutmeg.

craftynan Fri 11-Aug-17 11:06:54

Thought I'd already posted but it's not shown upconfused. Mum and dad liked tripe and onions - I hated it and used to cut it into small pieces and swallow it whole. Disgusting stuff.

LouLou21 Fri 11-Aug-17 11:03:22

I loved the Royal lemon meringue pie mix, it came with a little capsule of lemon oil that you stirred into the mix until it dissolved and made an amazing smell, best lemon meringue pie I've ever had.

cheneslieges132 Fri 11-Aug-17 10:59:38

You can still get Vesta Chow Mein - I love it and sometimes a whole pack to myself when I am eating alone on a Wednesday, when dear husband is out playing Squash! The crispy noodles are fantastic!!

W11girl Fri 11-Aug-17 10:58:55

My mother was a typical 1950s Irish woman and never purchased tinned or packaged foods.....it was bacon and cabbage all the way and boiled potatoes, cheese and hot door steps of bread from the bakery, home cooked corned beef, lamb neck stews etc. Its probably why I don't eat processed foods...and I still eat lamb neck stew with loads of pearl barley and vegetables..yum...my favourite!!

cheneslieges132 Fri 11-Aug-17 10:57:48

GannyRowe Ooh yes! I had just added my comment about this and then I saw that you had posted about Rice Cremola already! Like you, I absolutely loved it!

cheneslieges132 Fri 11-Aug-17 10:55:00

Does anyone remember Rice Cremola? I loved it but it was discontinued 30+years ago - sadly miss it! it was just Ground Rice, which you made up with milk, but it had a wonderful yellow colour and the flavour was incredible - I have tried making "ordinary" Ground Rice as a quick pudding, but it is bland and boring. Wish I could still buy Rice Cremola!!

maryhoffman37 Fri 11-Aug-17 10:51:11

My mum had been a cook before her marriage so we didn't have any of the above! I did try Vesta curries once or twice as a teenager. I'm a vegetarian now though I wasn't when my mum cooked for us. I can't face ready-made meals.

EthelJ Fri 11-Aug-17 10:49:17

I used to love luncheon meat in batter, i only had it for school dinners never at home but loved it. Also loved the cheese and egg flan we had for school dinners it was pastry case with a hard boiled egg on top covered in cheese sauce. But my favourite was a tart that I think may have been called Manchester tart. It was pastry, jam. Butterscotch custard with a dollop of cream on top. I've never tasted anything as delicious as since!

GannyRowe Fri 11-Aug-17 10:42:06

Rice Creamola! It was a sort of cross between custard and ground rice, and you made it like using custard powder. My sister and I adored the stuff, made as thick as possible, then left to cool so there was a decent skin on it. We had to go halves on the skin, one would carefully cut it in half, and the other then chose which half they wanted, on Dads orders after too many squabbles! I'd simple sell my soul to have some now, but the company have gone out of business sadly!