Nostalgic Food - Good and Bad!

L1011 · 18-08-2019 12:40am

goldlocks10 wrote: »

We always had dinner at 1 every day.

That I always found very hard to get used to when I was back with my paternal grandfather - his sister lived next door and cooked the dinner every day (he paid for her shopping at least) and it was served at 1230 or 1 at latest. Sometimes you'd barely be up and it'd be dinner time.

I can see it making sense when you're doing heavy physical labour. He built boats which is far more precision than grunt based; and she was retired when she came back to Ireland so that applied to neither of them.

Seamai · 18-08-2019 8:36am

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Better than boiled tripe.

I think anything is better than boiled tripe, we were never subjected to it but my dad used to like it, once my curiosity got the better of me and I tried a bit, vile! I can still remember the smell in the kitchen while it was cooking (and probably) for a few days, not the most disgusting smell, like a dirty dish cloth being boiled to clean it, definitely not something you should be eating.

Then there was boiled mutton with parsley sauce. I don't think anyone knew any thing about ram taint those days, it was meat and don't turn your nose up at it.

Graces7 · 18-08-2019 9:09am

England in the 40s and 50s.. no fridges or freezers and rice was only for milk puddings .. still is for me!

Chicken was a once a year treat ie Christmas. Sunday roast was beef with roast potatoes, and my mother made the best , with mashed carrot/turnip ; cold beef on Monday, rissoles on Tuesday....fish and chips ( home made) Saturday... pork chops/pork steak another day, with mashed potato. and probably egg and chips one day

My mother was a superlative baker. Every Saturday... apple pie, fruit cake... cakes.... jam tarts... her lemon meringue pie was.... never tasted the like since.

Gloomtastic! · 18-08-2019 9:38am

^ Forgot about rissoles. They were lovely. I have tried to make them but they never tasted the same. My mum had this metal mincer, that weighed a tonne, that turned leftover roast beef into perfect rissole material.

Graces7 · 18-08-2019 10:35am

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

^ Forgot about rissoles. They were lovely. I have tried to make them but they never tasted the same. My mum had this metal mincer, that weighed a tonne, that turned leftover roast beef into perfect rissole material.

Oh yes! That was what we used too.. a nightmare to clean! But wow...

McMurphy · 18-08-2019 1:31pm

Vesta Curry's, holy Jesus I forgot those things existed, boil in the bag swill :eek:

rubadub · 18-08-2019 2:56pm

Looks like Mrs Doyle in the 70's "go on, you'll have a curry"

Leg End Reject · 18-08-2019 5:18pm

I hadn't heard of Vesta curries until this thread, I feel like a missed sn important part of my childhood.

_Brian · 18-08-2019 5:26pm

I’m on a poor connection so not reading the full thread.

Anyone mention Findus Crispy Pancakes.

Something on the manufacturing ensured the temperature of the filling exceeded the temperature of the sun even from cooking at 180c.

Rumour has it this was to hide the fact that the fillings had no actual taste and were in fact all the same 😂

L1011 · 18-08-2019 6:36pm

Home made chips there reminded me further - my Dad *can* cook but rarely did it when he was working (I moved out before he retired anyway), so his two usual contributions were home cut and fried chips, executed extremely well; and a sort of vegetable stew with vast amounts of soy sauce with oven baked potato wedges coated in olive oil and rosemary.

A bit posh/fancy compared to other nostalgic stuff, and also indicative of the "big shop in Superquinn" thing!

odyssey06 · 18-08-2019 7:06pm

_Brian wrote: »

I’m on a poor connection so not reading the full thread.
Anyone mention Findus Crispy Pancakes.
Something on the manufacturing ensured the temperature of the filling exceeded the temperature of the sun even from cooking at 180c.
Rumour has it this was to hide the fact that the fillings had no actual taste and were in fact all the same 😂

Findus Crispy Pancakes have been mentioned ... like fire stolen from the gods. Yes they could burn, which is why probably why your taste buds could not taste their loveliness

dee75 · 18-08-2019 7:32pm

Rows Grower wrote: »

Calvita was cheese in a small cardboard box and was wrapped in the thinnest tin foil ever known to mankind.)

Wow, had forgotten about Calvita cheese. Can remember the box with the little flip lid!

Sonny noggs · 18-08-2019 7:39pm

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xZu63LZnoq4

Anyone remember Birds Eye Hungry Joes? They were potato and onion with a bread crumb coating, like potato rosti or a breaded fish cake with onion instead of fish.

dee75 · 18-08-2019 7:43pm

I remember those steak and kidney pies in a tin. Considered very fancy so rarely had in our house.

We had sheep on the farm so every year a lamb was slaughtered and the chest freezer was filled. Loved lamb chops. Lambs kidney was good too.

Also liver and onions- my mam used to do it with stuffing and it was delicious.

Daisies · 18-08-2019 7:45pm

dee75 wrote: »

Wow, had forgotten about Calvita cheese. Can remember the box with the little flip lid!

I wouldn't even classify Calvita as nostalgic, my Dad still buys it and eats it on cream crackers

Grandeeod · 18-08-2019 7:57pm

Daisies wrote: »

I wouldn't even classify Calvita as nostalgic, my Dad still buys it and eats it on cream crackers

I buy it the odd time too. When you were rared on it, you just can't forget it. Despite all the better cheese available I often go back to it for that childhood taste.

Anyone remember a similar block to Calvita/Galtee, it was called Champion. It was also in the variety triangle pack. Very orange, but nice.

BaZmO* · 18-08-2019 8:17pm

The only cheese we saw in our house was Easi-Singles.

I remember a friend telling a funny story about Easi-Singles. His Dad prepared the school lunches after spending too long in the pub that day. He didn’t take the plastic off the cheese slices!

r93kaey5p2izun · 18-08-2019 8:22pm

My Mam is not a good cook but she did the basics ok. Our dinners were very conservative though. Potatoes every day, no such thing as curry, pasta, rice etc.

Most days were potatoes, veg (carrots, parsnip, peas, green beans), and either lamb chops or pork chops. Bacon and cabbage with what we called white sauce most weeks too. Stew in winter which was beef in a thin soup with onions and carrots. Home made chips from the deep fat frier with Donegal Catch every Friday. Sunday was usually roast lamb or roast chicken with roast spuds. On a Saturday afternoon we had sausages, stir fried peppers and turnover bread. Fried potatoes was the dream. We rarely had dessert and if we did it was raspberry ripple icecream.

Breakfast was always porridge. Lunch was usually a ham sandwich and a Club Milk.

I didn't taste pizza, lasagne, spaghetti or any type of takeaway or curry until I was in my late teens. We never ordered takeaway of any kind even once.

phormium · 18-08-2019 11:22pm

I love Calvita, always have a block in the fridge but then mind you I don't really like cheese so it suits me fine

Recliner · 19-08-2019 2:20am

Leg End Reject wrote: »

The above has reminded me of Heinz sandwich spread. Vile stuff.

I still use this, I love it..
Having it on my sandwiches tomorrow..
:-)

Graces7 · 19-08-2019 10:32am

dee75 wrote: »

I remember those steak and kidney pies in a tin. Considered very fancy so rarely had in our house.

Also liver and onions- my mam used to do it with stuffing and it was delicious.

The flat tins? You can still get the beef pies like that.. Liver and onions with bacon was a firm favourite of my childhood too.

phormium · 19-08-2019 10:44am

Saw those pies in tins lately in Iceland, we used to have those the odd time and I remember using the empty tins for my play mud pies as a kid

BaZmO* · 19-08-2019 10:48am

My neighbour used to use those tins as makeshift dog bowls for food and water for their dog. So as a kid I always thought those pies were dog food.

harr · 19-08-2019 10:50am

Mam was a good cook and always had baked stuff on the go buns, scones or apple tarts and always home made bread.
The food was bland enough mind and the same food on the same day every week.
Saturday morning was always my dads big fry up and it was huge.
Sunday was a roast chicken, bacon or pork and and a rare occasion we got beef.
Monday was always leftovers, Tuesday was rashers and turnip, Wednesdays pork chops, Thursday a chicken or beef stew.
Friday was always fish and the odd time we got a chipper tea on a Friday or mam would bring home two bags of chips after bingo .
Same as if parents went for a pint on a Sunday night they would arrive home with a bag of crisps or chocolate.
Dad always got a 1/4 of home made bread and a bottle of milk for him to take to work with corned beef, tin of sardines or and I remember him bringing those little bottles of chicken paste.
We always had home grown veg and dad fished a lot so always nice fresh food.
Mam did a shop every day no weekly shops back then.
Still remember tasting pasta and rice for the first time.
Good times

rubadub · 19-08-2019 3:40pm

BaZmO* wrote: »

My neighbour used to use those tins as makeshift dog bowls for food and water for their dog. So as a kid I always thought those pies were dog food.

Most dogs would turn their nose up at them! (though I like them) They still do them in tesco and cheaper in dealz, they are poorly stocked in tesco so you would easily miss them.

https://www.dealz.ie/fray-bentos-chicken-pie-425g

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=255076830

I remember having "quick lunch" (I think thats the name), possibly knorr, it was an oval container with foil lid you poured boiling water into and put the foil down again, before pot noodles.

BaZmO* wrote: »

We also used to have the “wafer man” that came around at tea time me in a blue VW style van and sell ice cream sandwiched between two wafers.

I remember those being called sliders, not sure why, I guess if they melt a bit they tended to slip/slide out of the wafer

harr · 19-08-2019 3:54pm

rubadub wrote: »

Most dogs would turn their nose up at them! (though I like them) They still do them in tesco and cheaper in dealz, they are poorly stocked in tesco so you would easily miss them.

https://www.dealz.ie/fray-bentos-chicken-pie-425g

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=255076830

I remember having "quick lunch" (I think thats the name), possibly knorr, it was an oval container with foil lid you poured boiling water into and put the foil down again, before pot noodles.

I remember those being called sliders, not sure why, I guess if they melt a bit they tended to slip/slide out of the wafer

I remember those quick lunches in my College days .. luminous yellow food ...got me over many a hangover.

Dial Hard · 19-08-2019 5:11pm

Anyone remember Denny cheesy sausages? They were extremely shortlived, mostly because I suspect I was the only person that ate them. Awful, vile, ersatz cheese but I absolutely loved them.

Like many here, my mam was a terrible cook, god love her, but everything was cooked from scratch and pretty balanced nutritionally. We ate very few processed foods, to the point where Campbell's tinned meatballs (ugh!) were considered a treat. And in fairness, none of us realised how bad a cook she was until we started getting a bit older and taking turns to cook ourselves :pac

rubadub · 19-08-2019 5:19pm

Dial Hard wrote: »

Anyone remember Denny cheesy sausages?

Rings a bell, I used to get breaded turkey burgers with cheese in them.

This was our usual "gravy boat"

the beer revolu · 20-08-2019 1:13pm

Did Irish stew last night - that was a regular feature on our table growing up and everyone liked it.
I've somewhat pimped my mother's version.
Her's was just lamb. onions, carrots, potato, thyme and water.
I've added leeks, celery, turnip. I use lager instead of water and I add lots of fresh parsley and chives.

My mum's was always delicious - mine is even tastier!:D

20-08-2019 1:18pm

The pickled onion flavour were majestic.

Nostalgic Food - Good and Bad!

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