Food from your early years as an adult or child?

[AndyT]

One food that I only ever had at school and never saw anyone eat anywhere else is gypsy tart. A kind of burnt sugar and pastry dessert if I remember correctly. It was good, but not so good that I’ve ever had the desire to track it down or recreate it, I guess.

Same here. It came out quite often but half the kids didn't like it so those of us who did could have several portions. It was so sticky you could pick it up by just touching the surface with the back of your spoon.
I think it was a mixture of brown sugar and condensed milk on a pastry base.

 

[ebiker]

I was born during rationing after WW2. I can just about remember National Health orange juice and egg powder in those violet tins.

Someone taught our mothers to boil the bejaysus out of every vegetable known to man. My mum even put a sprinkle of washing soda in the cabbage saucepan!

When I got to grammar school in 1961 and had my first school dinners, I probably tasted things for the first time!, especially proper gravy!

My dad's mum used to make all the family's Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings. Never measured anything. Nothing has ever come near to tasting as good.

Was it bicarbonate of soda- that's what my wife uses even now

 

[Steve Maskery]

Spag bol, when it made its rare appearance, came out of a tin labelled Heinz and was served on toast.

 

[DaveL]

The thing I remember is mums ginger bread. It used to be baked in a large flat tin about 1" deep, then cut into 1" * 3" pieces. It had a slightly shiny top and was best left in the tin to mature for a few days.
Mum also made really good bread pudding

I remember from primary school dinners was semileaner (spelling?) we used to call it wall paper paste, it was the least like 'afters' we used to get.

 

[Tellurian]

My mum wasn't the best of cooks, fish fingers were always burnt one side and served with the burnt side down.
But, she did as a special treat make a lovely bacon pudding that my three sisters and I all enjoyed.
I've not had it for many years but have just found the recipe online. https://grandadscookbook.co.uk/bacon-and-onion-roly-poly/
I may give this a go but am some trepidation that it might not be as I remember it.

 

[chataigner]

Mussels. We lived 50yds from the beach in W Sussex and I used to go collect the mussels, scraping them off the wooden breakwaters with a spade. Collected shrimps too. This would have been around 1955, presumably far too polluted now...

 

[Malc2098]

Was it bicarbonate of soda- that's what my wife uses even now

No. It was a couple of small lumps of washing soda. I can still remember the cardboard box it came out of; blue and white with black print.

 

[TrimTheKing]

How on God's green earth, as a chef/cook, have you never had prawn cocktail!!?? It's my go to Christmas dinner starter when given a choice, every time!

Shred the lettuce really finely, in the bottom of the glass dish, tons of prawns mixed in with the sauce on top, sprinkle of cayenne or paprika (or both), couple of halved cherry toms and a slice of lemon.

Seventies decadence and nostalgia in a glass!

 

[Steve Maskery]

Marie Rose sauce - add a dash of Tabasco.

 

[Tiresias]

You wanted dishes from our childhood that are particularly remembered. It’s a bit complex.

Lusaka – can’t remember most of the meals (I think they were cooked by our nanny). But I do remember barbeques (we never called it a braai). The boy was sent down to the market for some charcoal, and my father lit it by the simple expedient of pouring petrol on it and lobbing a match on it from a great distance. My brother and I thought this was the only way to start a meal. Beef normally, possibly some of the less challenging bush meat. That and being introduced to things such as aubergine (we called it egg plant), mealies, okra (to us ladies’ fingers) and sweet potato before they became ubiquitous in the UK. All of which I still prepare and eat.

Cairo – my absolute favourite was lamb heart brochettes, very lightly spiced (cumin, coriander and paprika) and slightly under done. But we had to be quite careful, as my mother did not approve of many of the ‘restaurants’ we liked. Luckily my father was much more laid back. Only had something similar once in a sadly defunct Moroccan restaurant in Edinburgh. I have cooked it myself, but my partner doesn’t really like heart. Freshly squeezed mango juice – Zavalaki’s on the corner; again not approved by mother. And this is a weird one – we regularly went to a swiss restaurant not far from our flat in Mohandiseen. Favourite dish there was a sort of veal (?) escalope, with gruyere, fried in bread crumbs. Never tried to recreate. Someone mentioned Black Forest Gateau. Had some at the Nile Hilton. Result: the most gruesome food poisoning I have ever had. Rather put me off that delicacy.

Boarding School – the head cook was Italian. So very good ragu sauces. The take on other dishes was a bit curious. A very fine sausage meat pie; unusual pastry, very short and egg glazed. I’ve tried to remake it but can’t get the pastry right. The absolute worst was the liver. Like eating a carpet tile. Funnily enough I rather like liver now. Puddings -anything with suet in it: spotted dick, jam roll, treacle pudding, and a curious one we called ‘dead man’s leg’. Never make them myself now, too much boiling/condensation. As an aside when visiting relatives during a half-term black pudding from Bury market with English mustard. Sublime. And charcoal grilled fat tail sheep (eccentrically butchered) with wild thyme in Cyprus (used to fly out there to meet our parent for some half-terms, as it was a sort of middle ground between UK and Egypt. Before it became as touristy as it now is).

Singapore – Oh, where does one start. The British Club’s mee goreng and nasi goreng. A dish of beef and pea aubergines from the hawker centre nearest our flat. Lobak (a Nonya pork dish). Satay (chicken for preference) of course. Beef rendang. All of which I still make.

And then I grew up. Apparently.

 

[Just4fun]

I may give this a go but am some trepidation that it might not be as I remember it.

Give it a go - you may surprise yourself. I made some pea soup that came out just like my mum used to make. Bloody awful!

 

[duke]

Cabbage rolls, not the big ones but the thumb sized ones, filled with meat and rice covered in home made tomato sauce.

 

[Mike G]

........nasi goreng. .....

Oh yes. My favourite! I make a damn good nasi goreng, which almost no-one else will eat (other than with a great deal of moaning).

 

[AJB Temple]

I’m assuming sweetbreads are on the banned list now? Strong 70s vibes for me. Home cooked.

No, my butcher gets me them to order, either calf or lamb, and you can get upper and lower (or throat and heart some butchers call them). They are popular again in nose to tail foodie circles and I for one really like them. Prep is a bit time consuming.

 

[AJB Temple]

How on God's green earth, as a chef/cook, have you never had prawn cocktail!!?? It's my go to Christmas dinner starter when given a choice, every time!

Shred the lettuce really finely, in the bottom of the glass dish, tons of prawns mixed in with the sauce on top, sprinkle of cayenne or paprika (or both), couple of halved cherry toms and a slice of lemon.

Seventies decadence and nostalgia in a glass!

Well....there is a reason. When I was little my parents would never dream of eating something like prawn and although I had obviously seen it, I never had one. Nor crab, or lobster or any fish except chip shop fish and chips. When quite young post uni I got really big deal food poisoning from shellfish in what they called a "red tide" in Cape Town. Hospitalised. Long term side effects. Until maybe 10 years ago the thought of prawns would make me feel ill. By the time I started work in the City in London, prawn cocktail was a distant memory in restaurant cooking, and even though I have been a super keen cook all my life and done many restaurant stages, it was never on the menu. The closest was a few weeks working for Joyce Molyneux at the Carved Angel in Dartmouth (the original one - not the John Burton-Race re-incarnation) and she had a dish of lobster shells stuffed with langoustines. I made it several times but never ate it.

PS tomatoes have no place in a prawn cocktail. Get a grip man.

 

[AJB Temple]

Oh yes. My favourite! I make a damn good nasi goreng, which almost no-one else will eat (other than with a great deal of moaning).

Ok then, share the recipe and method.

I love the stuff. You Tube is full of people arguing about how to do it. Even though we've been to Bali and Indonesia generally, I think we only had stuff adapted for supposed western tastes. I am not allowed to make it properly - also due to moaning.

 

[Mike G]

If we start with the Hairy Biker's recipe, I omit the garlic and sugar from the spice paste, and use left-over meat for the main. I also use a lot of chopped leek, and use up any tired veggies from the fridge, chopped small. I use a lot more pepper (capsicum) than them. I also cook my eggs as a flash-fried omelette in the same pan, first, and set aside, rather than frying them whole and plonking them on top.. The rice goes in last, not first. As with many rice dishes, the subtlety of cooking that right is the key. It should be just about caramalising in the "sauce", making it a little nutty and very slightly chewy .....NOT mushy........and that's why the ketjup manis and soy sauce goes in right at the end as the rice is added to the mix and the heat cranked up to max.

Nobody I ever cook for likes it, other than me. If L goes away for a week, I cook a batch on day one big enough to do 4 or 5 meals, as it reheats nicely.

 

[AJB Temple]

Why don't they like it?
Wok or no wok? (I use a wok but I don't have a proper wok burner).
I agree re cooking the egg first - it's really the only way without a high power burner.
Agree traditional way is add the sauces last - and only round the outer edge so they catch the wok heat quickly.
Why no garlic? I use lots of garlic but I usually confit it in bulk so it is mild and smooth.

 

[AJB Temple]

I think this was about 12 heads - I quite like the pinky, papery peelings. Cloves cooked in olive oil over lowest heat for a couple of hours. They then keep very well and can be used easily. They are extremely soft so disintegrate when added to a sauce or dish.

 

[Mike G]

Why don't they like it?

For some reason everyone here seems to dislike mixed-up food, where every mouthful is roughly the same. It's not the taste/s, it is the uniformity, from what I can gather. Even when we have a great curry, my family seem to want a bit-of-this and a bit-of-that, so that every mouthful is different. I mix up the curry and rice and shovel it in. If I "de-constructed" the nasi goreng and put the ingredients in separate piles around the plate, they'd probably quite enjoy it.

Oh, and yes, I use a wok, on the wok burner.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

That's intersting. I used a very similar method but used a tomato puree (from home grown), horseradish root and confit garlic. Otherwise the same. The pink colour is a bit strange. The recipes I found suggested micing half the sauce with the prawns, and spoon a bit more on top, with a sprinkling of cayenne.

Marie Rose sauce? It's always been salad cream/mayonaise, tomato ketchup and worcestershire sauce. That's a recipe used commercially over a few decades. I've never heard of horseradish or garlic being put in it, but a sprinkling of of cayenne or (usually) paprika on top.

Lobby? Loblolly?

 

[AJB Temple]

Well, I looked up Prawn Cocktail tonight in the definitive guide for people of a certain age. (Aka old ). Robert Carrier's cookery published in 1963. I had no RC in my library so I bought 3 off Abe for under a tenner a week or so ago. Inexplicably there is no mention of Prawn or Shrimp Cocktail, or Marie Rose sauce.

Phil. Mate. Please. Salad cream???

Maybe PC was invented after 1963. Perhaps in a drug induced orgy in the summer of love. Pink. Why?

 

[AJB Temple]

For some reason everyone here seems to dislike mixed-up food, where every mouthful is roughly the same. It's not the taste/s, it is the uniformity, from what I can gather. Even when we have a great curry, my family seem to want a bit-of-this and a bit-of-that, so that every mouthful is different. I mix up the curry and rice and shovel it in. If I "de-constructed" the nasi goreng and put the ingredients in separate piles around the plate, they'd probably quite enjoy it.

Oh, and yes, I use a wok, on the wok burner.

Mmm. I know a few people like that. My FIL for instance eats each ingredient on a plate fully before proceeding to the next one. He leaves the best thing until last, when it is cold and he is full and I am astounded.

 

[Robert]

Not much I remember of childhood meals. I do remember Mum making stews and me not liking it much - lots of pearl barley and butter beans etc. I'd probably like it now. Once in a blue moon my Dad would make his version of a stew and I did like that. Skinless sausages cooked in a mixture of tinned soups. Guess it was sweeter than real stew.

Oh and another +1 on the washing soda in the greens. Can't recall seeing bicarb in the house.

Just remembered - Yorkshire pudding was a large rectangular almost cake like thing that was cut up for portions not the puff balls we have now. Made by pouring the batter into a dish of red hot fat (nearly said oil but back then there was only fat) and it rose and had a light texture but no big air holes.

 

[CHJ]

Mid 1940's onward remember Rabbit or Pheasant (or partridge/pigeon) stew with whatever root veg were available, with Suet Dumplings.

Chitlins, (fresh washed at the well pump) when we killed a pig, or from Checketts the butchers in Ombersley.
And Tripe from same source all served up with a good helping of Onions.

Home dry cured Bacon

Rock Cakes, Bread pudding and Bread and Butter pudding as and when some dried fruit became available.

 

[AndyP]

Ah yes, bread and butter pudding. Funny how it is the desserts I remember, and long for, most. I’m dreaming now of grandmother’s trifles, or splodge as we used to call it. The noise that spoon made as it was extracted, hard to replicate.

 

[Mike G]

Mid 1940's onward remember Rabbit or Pheasant (or partridge/pigeon) stew with whatever root veg were available, with Suet Dumplings.....

I don't need to remember that far back. We had precisely that (with pheasant) a couple of weeks ago. It's regular fare here through the winters. And mum's rock cakes were legendary........mind your toes if you dropped one!! Great with custard, though, for pudding.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

An interesting one from Michel Roux' Sauces (1996), from when he worked in Paris so presumably is fairly old. Bagnarotte Sauce.
Mayonnaise
Tomato ketchup
Worcestershire sauce
Cognac
Double cream
Tabasco
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper.

 

[Phil]

Mom would make a Mac&Cheese with some finely cut onion mixed in, plus bacon bits, fried beforehand, and red cayenne sprinkled on top before being baked in the oven.

Sunday was either leg of lamb or roast chicken with roast potatoes, pumpkin smothered in butter and cinnamon, green beans cooked with a potato + onion + some lamb and then mashed. Cauliflower/broccoli/sprouts and white sauce baked in the oven. And not to forget the rice either white or brown and the gravy. Also a mixed salad.

Summertime was braai and salads

Puddings – bread & jam, malva + warm custard or cream or ice cream, in summer fresh fruit and ice cream. Trifle would be an Xmas treat.

Mid 1940's onward remember Rabbit or Pheasant (or partridge/pigeon) stew with whatever root veg were available, with Suet Dumplings.

Mid 1940's bit before my time.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Glynn Christian, the NZ Author of Real Flavours (one of the very best food reference books - Nigel Slater says it's one of the only ten books you'll ever need) speaks of carpetbags - a whole fillet, slit down the side, stuffed with oysters (3doz, iirc) and baked. He says it's wonderful, but (in the '50s) you got tired of eating it three times a week.

 

[Phil]

Glynn Christian, the NZ Author of Real Flavours (one of the very best food reference books - Nigel Slater says it's one of the only ten books you'll ever need) speaks of carpetbags - a whole fillet, slit down the side, stuffed with oysters (3doz, iirc) and baked. He says it's wonderful, but (in the '50s) you got tired of eating it three times a week.

Only in smart restaurants. Tried it once, a bit on the rich side. Not an oyster fan.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I didn't like it either. I detest oysters to start with, but had to try it.

 

[Phil]

Bean soup slow cooked with a lamb shank, pea soup with ham.
Vegetable soup with barley and some lamb.
Can't afford lamb nowadays.
So it's chicken or pork.

 

[wallace]

Pinackelty, a big pan of it would feed a family for 2 days. Tastes better on day 2

 

[Lurker]

If we have Yorkshire pudding, mine is put to one side and I have it as a desert with golden syrup.
I’ll be having it today during the family lunch.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I did really tasty stew one day. My daughter was about three and asked what it was - I looked past her at the fridge freezer and said it was samsung stew. A year or so later when she learned to read she realised - it was anything in there that needed using at the time. I did one recently - I asked the builders working for me if fancied something hot for lunch and one said yes, please, he hadn't brought anything. He said it was delicious, he'd never had stew with beansprouts in it before.

 

[Lurker]

Is it just me or do stew like foods always taste better the next day!
Her majesty makes chilli at least one day in advance.
Does anyone else put dark chocolate into the chilli?

 

[Malc2098]

What about legendary school dinners?

Charlie's (the woodwork teacher) dog ends - little tubes on macaroni.

Frog spawn - one of them ricey/semolina puddings.

 

[Lurker]

Frog spawn = tapioca IIRC

 

[HappyHacker]

I too can remember NHS orange juice, horrible stuff. My childhood memories include, Soda bread, potatoes cooked and served in their skins, fish on Fridays and my mother's apple pie. School meals: cheese tray bake served to the table in the tray. 1/2 the table including me would not touch it so the other 1/2 got double helpings. It put me off cheese for years now I love cheese apart from the blue stuff. I also remember sugar sandwiches, golden syrup on toast, tomatoes straight from the plant, pinched from the local market gardener. We also used help him scutch his lettuce for which we would get paid 2 shilling and sixpence and a lettuce.

Prawn cocktail was the height of sophistication, I like it but usually prefer other things. Chicken and chips in the basket or scampi (usually small bits of left over white fish in breadcrumbs) with chips were the main pub food in the late 60's early 70's. Prior to that the best you would get would be a packet of crisps although the real pubs would often have pickled eggs.

Having eaten in all sorts of restaurants over the years and had lovely meals, my most memorable meal was in a cafe in a small town in Ireland in the 70's. Having got off the ferry in Dublin early, without breakfast, I stopped for an early dinner. I ordered the ham and boiled potatoes, when it came I thought I should have ordered the burger and chips. A couple of slices of ham cut from the bone, a potato boiled and served in the skin and some peas, all just plonked on the plate. However each item tasted wonderful and as they should. I do not think I have tasted ham so nice since and even the humble potato tasted excellent. The peas reminded me of eating peas freshly picked straight from the pod. Good ingredients properly cooked, wonderful.