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Food

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rod
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Rod

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In another posting I think about Manners someone brought up the subject of food. Can you remember Sunday Tea? There would be pressed meat sandwich's, mom pressed the meat herself. Pickles, but not out of a jar, sliced onion, cucumber left to soak up vinegar, smashing on a sandwich. If we were lucky we might get tinned fruit with carnation milk tipped over it. I recall dipping bread and butter in this? The thought makes me gag now, but back then..............
Faggots from the faggot and pea shops, tripe, pickled herrings etc etc etc What can you remember, did things taste better then? Is food better now....
 
FOOD....MY FAVOURITE SUBJECT

My nicest recollection and my fondest memory of a dear neighbour of mine when i was 'little', was brown bread and honey sandwiches. We never had brown bread in 'our house', so it was a special treat.
My husband recalls visiting his granparents as a child for Sunday tea, and being given a piece of bread and butter to eat with his pudding.....usually jelly or fruit and cream.
It was 'grandma's law' that the bread and butter was eaten 'with' the sweet. :?
 
:D i also remember the cucumber in vinegar and having bread and butter with fruit. also we use to have sugar on bread and butter. when we had no money for sweets. visited the dentist for years after still do.
 
If we had roast beef for dinner on Sunday, then it was always toasted bread with beef dripping for tea!
I can feel the fat running down my chin now !!
It was bread and lard in the week. :!: :!: :!:
 
As kids we used to fight over who's turn it was to have the lumps in the gravy. :lol:

If anyone was coming to Sunday tea the sandwiches would be cut diagonally into quarters, the bone china would be brought out and we kids would be sent out. :cry: We didn't mind. Going to the park or playing in the street was far better than being stuck in the house with a load of boring adults, eating sandwiches that were barely a decent bite. :wink:
 
Food Fights

Paul we used to fight over the crusts, in fact I still enjoy the crust of a loaf. At one time George Baines would sell the crusts from loaves which had been used to make sandwiches.
 
With ref. to my previous posting re beef dripping.
My sister, (aged 81 :!: ) reliably informs me that we were never able to afford beef,and that the dripping was bought from the butchers :oops:
It appears that neck of lamb stew was the more likely.
Sorry for this error, it seems that lamb is not so good for the memory :!: :steaming:
 
When we got rich (the older ones got jobs), we used to distribute our surplus beef dripping to the neighbours. :P

Then when the girls started courting they decided it wasn't sophisticated enough for them. :wink:
 
In our house too there were squabbles over who had the crust, and also who had the skin off the rice pudding and the custard.

Does anyone remember having a mixture of cocoa powder and sugar in a
bit of paper we used to lick our fingers and dip into it, this was when sweets were on ration.
 
Cocoa and sugar

Oh yes Sylvia...I remember that. It must have been Fry's cocoa mixe with granulated sugar. Fry's cocoa was quite chocolatey tasting I remember. Lovely stuff.
It was always quite puzzling that shops that sold chocolates and had some rather grand displays of chocolate boxes in the windows never actually had any chocolate in the shops when the sweets were on ration. Just boxes with letters printed underneath saying "dummy". A smart advertising ploy no doubt to keep the high profile chocolate suppliers in the public eye during the rationing period that went on for l4 years, if you count the end of sugar rationing. We very rarely saw chocolate but since my Mother loved chocolate she used to tell us all about how you could buy any amount before the war :D It seemed unreal somehow.
My father worked at Bournville Power Station throughout the war. He
wasn't called up for the Forces because he was trained in electrical power transfer and was required to keep the power generated to supply the power not only to households but to the main "war effort" factories in Birmingham. At night he used to walk around the area on his break and often met another fellow who worked at Cadbury's who used to be on the same shift times. This fellow told him he would obtain some chocolate for him. It was being made mostly for war orders at that time with a very limited product line, I believe.........my father arrived home late one evening and produced from his overcoat inside pocket several large bars of Cadbury's chocolate that this man had given to him.
It was amazing to see this and great to have some samples. I believe
my father gave this man cigarettes in exchange. It only happened once
but it was truly memorable.
 
toast

can you remember the taste of a piece of toast, toasted in front of an open fire using a home made toasting fork made out of wire it some how used to infuse a taste of the hot embers into the piece of crispy toasted bread with a good dollop of margarine or beef dripping or lard with plenty of salt on the lard I often fancy a piece of toast now but some how not quite the same the middle seems to be soggy now, never mind I can still dream of tasty piece of toast done in front of the old blacklead grate
 
Toast made on the fire

John, that sounds so lovely. That dripping used to keep for quite a long while in cool pantry. The beef dripping was excellent. We used to have it on doorstep bread toasted on the fire in the winter with fire toasted tea cakes. The tea cakes were much larger than today's offerings for which you need a magnifying glass to find the latter items. OK,so now we will add those to the list of "I really fancy" list along with Faggots and Peas, Corona Dandelion and Burdock Pop, Masons Jafferade Pop. Anyone got
any other memory foods, etc. to add that they sometimes fancy?
 
Toast

John, during the sixties sometime I can remember mom saving up and buying a reconditioned gas fire from the Gas Board Showroom at Perry Barr. It was called a Gas Miser. It was old when we bought it! but it had an ingenious, yet simple device fitted to the front of it. You could put in a peice of bread, and leave it to toast, then with a simple opening a reclosing of the device, it magically turned the slice of toast over so the other side was toasted. The toast always tasted nice, but maybe thats because it was exciting to do? as a small child......

Incedently, I think, although I can't be sure the fire was purchased just after our house was set on fire by our then dog Nicky, who was a puppy. Up until then we had had an open fire.

As for fancying food Jenny Ann, do you remember butter sold loose? it had a fantastic taste, butter just doesnt taste as good now. I used to love Chitlins with bread and margerine, home made pressed pork on Sunday evenings, and sausage and tomato sarnies made with crusts!!
Last but not least was Cheetems pop? the "first for thirst" not sure I spelled it correctly, but its something like that. Usually bought with money earned from snow clearing, or fetching an errand for a neighbour.
 
ROB'S DOG CHOW GOURMET FORMULATION

:wink:
At the now defunct V-B Forum site, Rob, you posted - it seems like at least a century - your recipe for Dog Bisquit, which you routinely concoct for the hound.
Would you post that again, please?
If I recollect - squinting - you incorporated the organical free range eggs, live yoghurt, brewers' yeast.
To paraphrase the music hall compere, 'twas "A multifarious miscellanae."
 
Living in Oztralia like what I do, I really miss things like REAL black pudding (with the lumps of fat), Gammmmmmmmmmon, Manns brown ale, North sea cod, cockles, English sausages, Lardy cake, Jellied veal, and try explaining 'Dandelion & Burdock' to this lot!...... and 'Faggots & peas' leaves them with a confused and dibelieving look on their dials. :? :roll:

Perhaps a food parcel could be organised by some kindly folk :wink:
 
Sylvia's post has just reminded me about fighting over the jelly in the dripping, the cabbage stork (uncooked), the heart of the celery and, at times, even the lumps in the gravy. :wink:
 
:D When I was in Brum in the 1980's we obtained a recipe for 'Faggots and Mushy Peas' from The Black Country Museum 8) , may be some kind person could find it again from there. Mine is packed away somewhere as we have moved house lots since then and only my son and I liked them and he no longer lives at home. Never say Faggot to any Kiwi it means Homosexual here. :)
 
You cant have one without the other???

FAGGOTS

1 lb. pig's liver
2 medium onions
4 oz. fat pork
Pinch of thyme
Generous 1/2 teaspoon powdered sage
Pinch of basil
Salt and pepper
Pinch grated nutmeg
1 egg
Breadcrumbs
Pig's caul

Slice the liver, onions and pork thinly. Put in a saucepan with the thyme, sage, basil, salt, pepper and nutmeg and barely cover with water.
Simmer for 1/2 hour, then strain off the liquid and save for the gravy.
Mince the contents of the stewpan finely.
Add the beaten egg and sufficient breadcrumbs to make into a fairly firm mixture and mix thoroughly.
Form into balls and enclose each one in a piece of caul.
Place in baking tin, and add a little gravy.
Bake at 400 until nicely browned.
Serve with a good thickened gravy.
If preferred, the mixture can be pressed into a well greased baking tin and marked into squares. Cover with caul and cut into squares after cooking.


DRIPPING CAKES

Dough
1lb Strong White Flour
½ pint Lukewarm Milk
8oz Currants
4oz Sultanas
2oz Sugar
1oz Lard
1oz Fresh Yeast
1 tsp Salt
Filling

4oz Lard
4oz Soft Brown Sugar
Caraway Seed
Mix the flour and salt together, rub in the lard.
Dissolve the sugar in a little of the milk and use to mix the yeast into a smooth thin paste, then add to the remaining water.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the liquid.
Mix together well until it becomes a smooth, elastic dough.
Shape into a ball and place in a warmed lightly greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes to allow it to rise.
Lightly knead the currants and sultanas into the dough.
Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes.
Mix together the soft brown sugar, lard for the filling.
Roll the dough into a long rectangle approx. 18 ins by 6ins
Spread the filling over two thirds of rectangle 18 ins by 4ins
Fold the section which has no filling into the centre of the rectangle and then the remaining section to the centre. Sprinkle lightly with the Caraway seed ( this produces that distinctive old fashioned taste)
Roll out the dough again to the same size as previously.
Starting at the short side 6ins, roll as if a swiss roll.
Cut the roll in half to produce two pieces each 3 ins wide.
Place each piece in a well-greased 6ins round baking tin, cover and leave in a warm place for 35 - 40 minutes to allow them to rise
Preheat oven to 200°C: 400°C: Gas 6 and bake for 35 - 40 minutes.

Caution: The filling will be very hot, so care must be taken as you eat them, if your anything like me, you won’t be able to resist them………


· 8 ounces Plain or unbleached flour
· 1 teaspoon Salt
· 1/2 ounces Fresh yeast or 1 1/2 teaspoon dried yeast
· 1 teaspoon Sugar
· 5 fluid ounces Warm water
· 1 teaspoon Butter
· 5 fluid ounces Warm milk
· 1 Egg, beaten
Sift the flour and salt into a warm bowl. Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in the warm water. Melt the butter in the warm milk and beat in the egg. Stir the yeast liquid and then the milk mixture into the flour. Mix into a smooth batter and beat well. Cover and leave in a warm place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the batter is thick and bubbling. Warm the bakestone and grease with a piece of lard on a fork (use a piece of fat back if you're short of lard). When a drop of water sputters on the bakestone, it's hot enough. Stir the batter, then use a ladle or a jug to pour it onto the bakestone in round "puddles|, leaving space in between so that the pikelets will be easy to turn. The yeast batter will not spread as much as pancake batter. Cook over a moderate heat until bubbles break the top surface and the underneath is pale gold. Flip over the pikelets and cook the other side until honey-colored. Keep wach batch warm in a folded cloth in a low oven. Serve with butter, honey or preserves, or for a savory dish, with cream cheese or grilled bacon, or little sausages. To reheat, crisp under the grill.
Extra Information: No information available for this recipe.
 
:D Thank you Rod 8) . Daughter's comment "More food for the cat I see", as she was here when I linked up to the 'Forum'. Kiwi's what would they know, they call 'Liver', 'Lambs Fry' anyway. :!:
 
Pom you must try the cakes too........ They do taste like the real thing, not the sad reflections sold in shops nowadays.
 
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