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[derekwarner]

Welcome Barny.....according to % & the Law of Averages  ......if you go to your favourite Restaurant & don't order


.....'natlings and chitterlings' 'or skate wings" you should be OK to post more about your builds here on MBM

Derek

[Baldrick]

Jellied eels and mash .. Once tried never forgotten. Can still get it served up with liquor up the Portobello Rd and one or two other places

[tica]

Most of my childhood food memories is of overcooked vegetables and meet 

But my grandmothers home-made Citron Fromage (Danish Lemon Mousse) and her cooked salted pork belly is 2 of my good memories.
Working hard on replicating those recipes.

[Mike S]

Most of us remember our mother's baking, my favourite memory is of freshly baked cheese scones, warm from the oven, slathered in Jersey butter, Mmmm . . . .

Those of use growing up in the 1960's probably have rose tinted memories of convenience foods from those new-fangled supermarkets, you know, the stuff crammed with trans-fats, salt and sugar.
My favourites were Heinz 'Toast Toppers', a small can of gloop which you spread on buttered toast and grilled,  and Findus 'Crispy Pancakes', the cheese ones had the consistency and taste of yellow wallpaper paste, still, happy days!


Cheers, and stay safe!

Mike

[radiojoe]

yeah I do remember the little tins of Heinz toast toppers the bacon one I recall had the colour and consistency of brick laying mortar but actually tasted quite good.




Joe

[mogurnda]

Fish finger sandwiches, Birdseye crispy pancakes..... and my mums cornbeef hash...   tin of cornbeef, potatoes, chopped onions and a tin of chopped tomatoes all mixed together and cooked in the oven.... 30-40 minutes..... 10 mins before removing from oven sprinkle with cheese return to oven for final 10 minutes..... then enjoy.

David

[roycv]

Hi all, the memories from the late 50's and 60's really reflect the rationing that was our previous situation.  I can remember my mother scraping the very last of the butter or perhaps it was margarine from the wrapper and then putting the wrapper on top of a pie so nothing was lost.
 The only meat not on ration was rabbit, which is something I cannot eat now.  To not have to take a ration coupon with you when buying sweets was a new world.
I remember breadcrumbs going into make the scrambled eggs go further, but then you should try it, its OK!

I went into the RAF in 1957 to find the cooking at Boot camp atrocious the NAAFI did well with evening meals.  I was posted to RAF Germany again the food was so bad there was a refusal to eat on one Sunday, you had to go to the meal, but you did not have to eat it!  There was an enquiry and it was found that the Catering NCO was selling our rations to the locals.
We had new NCO's and the food was now as good as it gets!  Same money spent it is what you do with it.  I used to get up early for breakfast it was as good as 4* hotels I frequented in the 1980's.  Then I was posted to RAF Lyneham and the food was even better, they used to win the Catering trophy every year.
So memories of childhood meals do stay with you and nearly all the posts are about home cooking I think just one about some tinned food.   We have been weened onto fat and sugar and fast food and look at the consequences!
We can all choose what we wish to eat just make it an informed choice.
Sorry about that, bit of a rant really,
regards to all
Roy

[Mike S]

Not a rant at all Roy. I'm really enjoying your reminiscences, I was born in 1954, which, purely co-incidentally, was when sweets finally came off the ration. Back in the 1950's and 1960's
a greater proportion of the household budget was spent on food, with meat being particularly expensive. These days in terms of relative cost and variety 'we've never had it so good', as somebody
once said, but some people make the wrong choices. Meat has never been as cheap, but it certainly doesn't seem to taste as good as back in ye olden days.


Cheers,

Mike

[davejo90]

I was born in 1953 and I remember my Mum cooking hearts which were like trying to eat old leather and liver which to this day I still hate the taste of, the only difference now is that I can choose not to eat it.

My other hate is sprouts and white cabbage, I've had so many people says 'you'll like them the way I cook them' no I wont I have tried all different peoples cooking methods and I still don't like them, so don't tell me again.

A couple of comical stories for you.

My Mum used to make great bread pudding. One day she had a brainwave of an idea for getting the excess water out of the bread. She put all the wet bread into a pillow case and put it inside the new spin drier that they had bought. She closed the lid and flicked the switch on the wall. She help the top for a short while then let go. The spin drier then started to walk around the kitchen as the contents had all collected on one side of the drier's cylinder. She was running around the kitchen panicking until she realised to switch it off at the wall.

Not long after Mum and Dad were married Dad went out to work and Mum said to him what do you want for dinner tonight and he said a he'd like something with baked beans, I say that because I cannot remember the exact request.
So Dad got home and Mum dished up the dinner. My Dad looked down at the plate and was confused and said 'where is the tomato sauce from the beans?' to which my Mum replied 'I thought you had to rinse off the tomato sauce' 

[roycv]

Hi all, as far as home cooking goes I am not bad at it, BUT I am used to the oven etc and cook accordingly.  I was with my son in Oz and I was requested to make what they enjoyed most roast lamb and roast potatoes etc.  It came out awful, I was embarrassed to say the least.
The digital temps on the oven did not conform to our oven either one could be right/wrong etc.  The next time my daughter in law said they always went for 20 degrees higher than the recipe said!  So much for Miele!

As far as leathery hearts go I am afraid they are over cooked and possibly at too high a temperature, I remember stuffed sheeps hearts with paxo stuffing and they really come out quite tender, when the children were young these were eaten along with fried liver and onions.  My wife denies ever eating liver so a rather selective memory!  But daughter is all but vegan my wife will only eat lamb and no other red meat and is shocked at some of the things I used to cook.

I do like lambs kidneys in sherry and I do remember when I was about 11 cycling up to the market in NW London to buy pigs fry!  This is all the bits plus the brains you would not be offered today, I liked it then as did we all, however not so sure now!
Today I break my rules as I really do like Charlie Brighams Cottage Pie, the lasagne is not bad euther. 
Many of the cooking dishes and tins do not suit a two portion oven cook and having watched the 3 Christmas Childrens lectures I am trying to eliminate waste food.  I am wary of where our food comes from, as I really do not trust unknown sources any more. 

About 30 years ago I occasionally worked with my brother who is a qualified bakery engineer (I did the electronics) and we would go and fix the equipment at a large bread company who exclusively sold to the well known hotels in London and the like.  When we were finished we were always offered any bread we wanted.  The bread was never meant to last more than the day and all I can say is if you are used to wrapped sliced bread you really do not know what you are missing.

The nearest I have come to a decent loaf is from Morrisons the Wheat, Rye and Spelt loaf, this is excellent.  It was recommended to me by my nephew who is a Baker working for Morrisons.  I have made my own bread and with 4 of us at home it was economical but with just the two of us it would not be worth doing.

So when my loaf is 2/3rds used the rest goes into making another bread pudding and I agree with the mum trying to get excess liquid out of the bread when soaked in milk (we are up market)!  It has to be done.  Now if you want building up, OK, to put on some weight, I recommend bread pudding, (try soaking the dried fruit in brandy for an hour).
What a way to go!
regards
Roy

[mrzippy]

I also remember mother serving stuffed hearts in the 60's and it was quite nice when slow cooked,
however there is a meat product that sticks firmly in my memory - none of the family liked it - dreaded TRIPE !

The smell of this weird substance cooking was plain awful and lives with me to this day,
mother tried in vain to encourage us to eat the weird honeycomb rubbery plate of horror -
threatening to resurrect the pig's trotters and cow's heels she ate as a child - if we didn't eat it.  Happy Days !!

Paul

[roycv]

I remember tripe the only one who liked it was my mum and when she had it she was banned to the kitchen and the door shut until the smell cleared away.
Regards
Roy

[warspite]

My favourites were Heinz 'Toast Toppers', a small can of gloop which you spread on buttered toast and grilled,  and Findus 'Crispy Pancakes', the cheese ones had the consistency and taste of yellow wallpaper paste, still, happy days!

Mike

As far as I am aware both are still available - though the toast toppers might have gone since, need to check ASDA next time I am in, findus pancakes were reported to being removed from the shelves a couple of years ago due to a lack of customer demand and they suddenly found a resurgence so kept them going, last time I had them was last year, though I only go for the mice beef or beef with onion, there ok and a cheap addition for a light meal (4 for a £1 last lot we got)

[Mike S]

Hi Warspite,

You're right about Findus Crispy Pancakes, they brought them back by popular demand! I actually contacted Heinz about Toast Toppers (how sad is that!) and got the following reply 'The Heinz Toast Toppers Range has been discontinued - thanks for your interest'.


Cheers,

Mike.

[Mark T]

Oh my goodness crispy findus pancakes - my Mum used to cook these all of the time - but there again she could and still could burn water 


I left home when I was 17 I think and findus has a lot to answer for 


 I still love marmite on toast though and fish finger sandwiches are always a winner 

[Martin (Admin)]

......  and Findus 'Crispy Pancakes'
Mike

Oh yeah, remember those!

[ballastanksian]

I have had Ox hearts once casseroled in gravy with onions and it was very nice. Like with Liver (best with bacon and onions) if cooked properly it is lovely, but like all food you can't like everything.

[BrianB6]

Not me, but our youngest daughter.
One Sunday evening about 6 pm. when my wife was pregnant, she had a craving for salt fish.  You know how it is.
Yours truly, had to go out to find some and the only place that was open was a local Chinese corner store.  "Yes, they had some"
Well my wife did eat a bit but it was so salty and tasted terrible.   The smell was disgusting as well.

Since her birth, our daughter has absolutely refused to eat seafood. 

[warspite]

Findus Crispy pancakes - most always split and contents like lava if they didn't, many a scorched tongue

[tigertiger]

Marmite on toast soldiers, dipped in a runny boiled egg. When you were still encouraged to eat runny eggs.

[Colin Bishop]

Runny eggs are the ONLY eggs.

They don't very often make YOU runny unless you pick the wrong hen...

Colin

[Martin (Admin)]

Findus Crispy pancakes - most always split and contents like lava if they didn't, many a scorched tongue 

Yeah!   

[Jonty]

  I suppose I was privileged in a way, but the food at prep and later at boarding school in the 50s and 60s was pretty dire. The only thing I remember enjoying was 'treacle stodge' - steamed golden syrup pudding.  Luckily by that time my father's business was going well, so the holidays meant good food at home and meals in some pretty fancy restaurants.  Blackcurrant puree - anyone remember that? It came in tins as part of the rations and was great in semolina. I actually remember the end of rationing and being given the unused ration books and a pair of scissors to play with.

[BrianB6]

NHS Orange juice.   My mother was a Health Visitor and brought us the bottles that mothers did not want.   Also Virol YUM

[roycv]

I remember that Orange juice, highly concentrated, bright orange and very nice.  Virol and molasses only seemed to come at school where undernourished children had a large spoonful every day.  The cod liver oil was pretty ghastly and I had to have a spoonful every day swiftly followed by the OJ.
My brother and I would demolish a 2 lb. tin of baked beans with sausages, in from America, if I remember correctly for breakfast whenever it was available.
We once had a food parcel sent out via GPO (1950?) to all families from Canada, full of stuff we had never seen, it was great, always been fond of the Canadians ever since.  It does show what a small act of kindness can do!
I also remember a daft argument between my mate's mum and me.  We had been asked to bring a sealable container for an issue of drinking chocolate at school.  I took a 1 pound tin (ex cocoa) and she supplied a 2 pound jam jar.  The tin's volume was clearly a bit larger than the jam jar but she insisted that they had twice as much, as hers was marked 2 lbs!  As I found out, adults always won arguments!
It is easy to forget that many adults in those times had left school at 14 or even earlier so we did become a priveliged generation and although on rations we were all a lot healthier than previous generations.
regards
Roy