chapter XIII - iced treats

No trip down any culinary memory lane, would be complete without memories of ice cream, ice lollies, ice poles and any other form of icy cold cold treats. All those yummy, childhood ices, eaten during those endless summer holidays, when the days seemed to last forever, the sun always shone and we didn't have a care in the world. 

If you were lucky they came from the ice cream man. During those summer months the ice cream van would tour the streets, selling his wares. Enticing you with his van jingle (which in the UK, was more often than not a version of Greensleeves) that let you know he was in your street or close by. If we were lucky, we got just a simple ice cream cone, or the cheapest of ice lollies, but that didn't stop us from being wide eyed and taking note of all the other wonderous iced treats on offer. All those lovely pictures stuck up on his van windows; vans from company's like Wall's, Mr Whippy and Williams (the latter, I later worked for when I was a student .... yes, I used to be an Executive Mobile Purveyor of sub temperature delights AKA an ice cream man!)  

knickerbockerglory

Lets kick off this iced fest countdown with the king of them all; the knickerbockerglory. This was a special birthday treat type dessert, sold in many a shop and cafe. The picture is worth a 1000 words as to what it was; ice cream, tinned fruit, sauces, chocolate all topped with whipped cream and a fan shaped wafer biscuit. 

These were special occasion treats only. That my sisters and I might get treated to once a year. Our eyes always lit up, our mouth's drooled when we saw some lucky person have one. We weren't to know it probably wasn't their birthday, it was just that they had money and was just a dessert to them. Say what you will about money making you happy etc, some things in life are best left as treats, as a once a year special event in our lives. 

extra clotted cream

We knew as kids, never to ask mum for an ice cream when we heard the familiar tune, we knew money was tight. That didn't stop us hoping and wishing that, this would be the day she said "lets get an ice cream" though. Mum's poison was either a cone or wafer with clotted cream.

It became a tradition in our family and even though mum is no longer with is, the saying, the phrase of hers remains today; "get a cone for mum with clotted cream, and tell him extra cream please because mummy is ill". Sometimes she got that free extra cream too, who knew that us innocent kids were being used to try and con the ice cream man?

99's

An ice cream cone, stuck with a Cadbury flake. What kid wouldn't want one? And if you were SUPER lucky, drizzled with an ice cream topping and 100's and 1000's 

It might be normal scopped ice cream or the Mr Whippy, soft serve ice cream 

choc ices

A block of ice cream, dipped in chocolate and always wrapped in a foil wrapping. These were often a treat for us on the rare occasion we were taken to the cinema. The only movie I really remember going to with mum as a child, was The Sound of Music. We went when some Welsh relatives visited us, as I recall. But we did go to other movies, and when we did the family ritual was always; we could either have sweets to go in with or an ice cream at the intermission (in the days when you went and saw more than one movie; "the double feature") But whichever we choose, we always wished we had choose the other at some stage. 

coconut ice 

These came later in my childhood, and my mother loved them, as did I. They were like a choc ice but it was a coconut flavoured ice cream with flecks of coconut in it. There was also a mint version that had a light green coloured ice cream. 

lyon's king cornet

Another late comer (circa 1967) these were the start of luxury ice creams, the pre-cursor of the likes of the magnum, cornetto etc. A large sugar cone, pre-filled with ice cream, nuts and chocolate sauce, all cleverly wrapped with that cardboard lid on it. Along with the King Cornet there was also the King Stick and King Sundae, all were totally decadent for the time. They were, I remember advertised on TV by a king of UK comedy; Frankie Howerd, ohhhh, errrr, missus, no ......

happy faces

a revolutionary ice cream on a stick, made magically so that the different flavoured ice creams formed a face.  

tubs

Ice cream tubs, were the pre-cursor to the ice cream sundaes. Plain ice cream in a waxed cardboard tub with wooden (later a plastic) spoon. These are usually what we got during the intermission at the cinema. 

ice cream sundaes

A more luxurious form of ice cream tub, in various flavours like straberry, raspberry and chocolate. Flavoured ice cream in a tub with a swirl of sauce and chopped nuts usually sprinkled on top. 

salisbury road ice blocks

These were made by one of our local shops, that was just down the road from my junior school. A crude type of ice lolly but cheap. As I remember they were about 2p as opposed to 6-8p for the commercial ones. They were a flavoured syrup or heavily flavoured water, that was always one flavour layered on top of the other; orange & blackcurrant etc. 

ice poles

Still available, these are simply flavoured water in a vacuumed plastic tube that you take home and placed in your own freezer. A cheap treat during the summer. 

jubilees

These I remember from my Welsh childhood. A strange shaped frozen juice or flavoured water, that kept a child quiet for hours and always left the sides of the mouth sore and it cut into them 

cherry brandy and cider ice lollies

Can you imagine marketing anything to children these days that had alcohol connotations? Both though were packed full of flavour and did make us feel all grown up when we had them. The cherry brandy one, would leave you with an extraodinary deep red coloured tongue and lips

zoom and fab

Zooms were a rocket shaped sensation, triple layered and flavoured and aimed at us boys. 

While the FAB was more aimed at the girls, and used lady Penelope from the Thunderbirds puppet show to advertise them.

cornish mivvi
These last two were my mother's favourites, especially when we went to the cinema; orange maid and a cornish mivvi. The latter being an ice cream centre with an ice lolly coating/covering. There was something always extra special about that.

orange maid
Mum loved these, as they had a sharpness in flavour. Mainly being due I would think to the fact they were made with real orange juice and not just some flavoured water. The one thing I always remember them  for was causing your tongue to stick to them and often ending up with a red tinge when you ripped it off your frozen tongue! 

chapter XII - yesteryears childhood drinks

fruit drinks, soda, pop and others

Children today seem to have an endless supply of all manner of fizzy drinks. But to be honest its hard to recall what we drank on a regular basis as kids. We couldn't afford fizzy pop as a staple and I don't remember us having 'squash' on tap. I do remember we drank tea from an early age, and from about the age of five. Because I know we usually poured it over our weetabix breakfast cereal in place of milk during the winter. So I guess it was water, milk or tea (coffee was just for adults)

Of course we did have hot, milky drinks at bedtime ....

ovaltine

"we are the ovaltineys, litlle girls and boys ......" My mother was definately an Ovaltiney child. I don't think any 'food' brought back happier childhood times to her than hearing the Ovaltiney song. Baring in mind my mother's childhood memories like most of her era, were mostly filled with having to dodge Hitler's bombs raining down on her, nissan huts and her father having drowned when his ship went down in 1939, when she was just nine years old. 

Introduced into Britain in 1909, it was the creation of a Swiss chemist. It was introduced and prescribed by doctors as a hot nutritional drink, in times when the lower classes in the UK were nutritionally deficient. 

We often had a hot Ovaltine drink before bedtime, that lovely malted barley powder spooned into a mug of hot milk was certainly just what the doctor ordered to send us to sleep. 

horlicks

The main rival to Ovaltine was Horlicks. To be honest despite mum's fond memories of Ovaltine, we often had Horlick's in place of it. Probably because it was on special and cheaper than Ovaltine when mum had been shopping. 

This is the jar that I remember it always coming in. Of course these days it comes in some flash, bright jar vying for the energy drink market. 

It is an American version of Ovaltine, well when I say American the company was founded by two English brothers; William and James Horlicks. 

bournvita

Another popular milk based drink in my childhood was bournvita. This was the Cadbury's version  of a malted chocolate drink. Bit of late comer to the market compared to Ovaltine and Horlicks, as it wasn't introduced onto the market until after WWII. 

nesquick

Still popular today, but growing up this powdered addition to milk to form an instant milkshake was reserved as a holiday or special occasion treat. Not that I ever cared for it much; the chocolate was ok, but the strawberry, the banana flavours etc never did it for me. I can still recall the taste after 40 years. Maybe I should revisit it one day, to see if that flavour memory is real.

No Nesquik Bunny for us though, back in the day it was marketed by the use of some little strange cartoon man

corona 

Not the beer with a scungy piece of lemon jammed in the neck, but in the UK there used to be a soft drinks company by the name Corona. It came in these distinctive shaped bottles and they used to home deliver. The "corona man" and his van would come around once a week and 'the posh people' would stock up on their favourite flavours of fizzy soft drinks; needless to say we were not amongst the elite. My cousins down the road were the lucky ones however, they did have it delivered.

There was all the usual flavours plus the more exotic cherryade and shandy; which were always my favourites when I got the chance.

Even though we didn't have it delivered, the Corona man still hold sweet memories for me from my childhood. Mainly that familiar sound of the chinking of the bottles in the crate, meant only one thing; some kid was lucky!

The method of delivery was as follows, you made you initial purchases. Then every week the Corona man would call around, knock on your door, take your order, take back the empty bottles from last week, go to his truck and return with your new bottles filled with that glorious, fizzy, sweet, fruity drink. Then he charged you by adding up the price of the new purchases minus the 6d (six pennies) for each empty bottles returned,  you either paid cash or clocked it up and paid at the end of the month.

Because despite what people think these days, we were BIG on recycling back then, just about all glass bottles carried a refund policy on return. No small deal for any kid, because we knew finding glass bottles meant extra pocket money when returned to the shop.

dandelion and burdock
This strangest of flavoured drinks brings backs memories of my Welsh childhood. Nothing specific, just being a child growing up in a Welsh mining village, playing on the mountainsides, spending the endless days of summer chasing sheep, climbing cliffs, collecting frog spawn, catching frogs and slow worms (a type of limbless salamander.

It is, strange as it may seem, as the name suggests; flavoured with extracts from both dandelion and burdock.


vimto
Still popular today as it was when I was growing up. Created by John Noel Nichols of Manchester, UK in 1908. The name comes from a combination or shortened version of its original name; Vim Tonic

It contains juice from raspberries, grapes and blackcurrants. Well originally it did, these days like Coca Cola, it comes in a cherry version to name one, and it is also available as bon bons, lollipops, chews and all manner of sweet items

Again no specific memories of it, except it being part of my childhood

coca cola & 7 Up

Coca cola never came under my radar until approximately 1972, when my mother, myself and younger sister went on our one and only overseas holiday. My first flight ever took us to the lovely island of Malta, where we went to visit and holiday with my Uncle Vic and family (my father's brother). He was there due to a posting with the RAF. 

That flight over also started my love affair with olives, when I ate my first one as part of the inflight meal. My mother and sister didn't care for theirs, oh well all the more for me! 

But back to the coca cola. My cousin's had it so sweet I thought, besides living all around the world previously, they were now living in sunny Malta. even more to that was they had coca cola almost on tap. Well Uncle Vic & Aunty June seemed buy it like tap water, there was always bottles of it, along with 7 Up in the fridge. In individual bottles too! How lucky were my cousins? It was, from memory the first real time I had enjoyed the pleasure of ice cold pop of any kind. No one in the UK chilled their drinks. But the taste of that ice cold Coca Cola and 7 Up, when it was so scorching hot outside lingers to this day. Along with the memory of drinking it at an outdoor cafe under an umbrellad table, who eats and drinks outside? Certainly no one in the UK in the 60's and 70's, how exotic, how very European! 

tree top

One of the other beverages with bitter sweet memories was a concentrated squash by the name of Tree Top; again another one for the elite or posh people! It came in a 'futuristic' pyramid type shaped bottle, with the novel creation of a large white, plastic screw top lid, that doubled as a measure. One top full of the concentrate to one pint of cold water, or something like that.

The concentrate was sweet, very concentrated and really tasted of the fruit it portrayed. As such it was the creme de la creme of what in the UK we call fruit squash.

chapter XI - yesteryears commercial foods

Mum sold up in Wales after just a year in the new bungalow (pictured here are myself and my elder sister at the bungalow with my new bike) We moved to Plymouth, where mum was from and where all of mum's family lived. I guess like any child, I never realised growing that we were 'poor', I knew we weren't rich, and I knew other families had a lot more than we did. They went on holidays, they had a car etc, we never really wanted for anything and if we did, we knew never to ask. I am sure we did from time to time, but we accepted for the most part that, that mum just couldn't afford things. We never really went without, we always had full bellies, we were always clothed and always greatly loved. 

Mum was never what you would call a great home cook, there was certain dishes she knew and she stuck to them. She was never the type to bake her own biscuits or spend hours making loafs of breads, if she baked a cake it was a packet mix. So like many, our main meal of the day in the evening was the likes of fish fingers, chips and peas. 

Convenience foods were still in their infancy in the 60's, certainly compared to today. Ready made meals or TV dinners were something we only saw in American TV shows. Back then, it was simply pre-made faggots, fish fingers, burger patties etc, main fish or meat items, things with which to make a meal with. Back then we still made our own yorkshire puddings, chopped our own onions, grated our own cheese, made our own chips, ate mostly fresh vegetables apart from frozen or canned peas and corn.

Before going into and putting up recipes for those home cooked meals that mum did do, AND do very well, lets take a trip down 'convenience foods' memory lane. What did we eat in the late 60's and early 70's? What were my favourites? What do I remember? Lets have a look. Being newly back in the UK after decades abroad, I wonder how many of them are still available? 


broken biscuits

Not really a convenience food, but ........ But we never had posh biscuits, not like we had when we visited various aunties and uncles. To this day my Aunty Marg, god bless her, would always bring orange Club biscuits out to me in New Zealand and will now always have them on hand for me when I visit. Often biscuits in our house was a mixture of loose biscuits, not those posh packaged ones, because mum would buy them from Woolworth's, as they would sell loose, broken biscuits dead cheap. Digestives, rich tea, Garabaldi's, fig rolls, a type of shortbread, custard creams, malted milks and sports biscuits. The latter being the same malted milk biscuit but in place of the cows, had silhouettes of different sports on them.

frey bentos pies

The original company Anglo, was established in 1899, in Fray Bentos, Uraguay (presumably by a Brit) who shipped beef products back to the UK, mainly tinned corned beef that I will allude to later.

These believe it or not are, (because I know they are still sold) are steak and kidney pies with a puff pastry top. Not unusual? No, except they are tinned!

The meat etc is cooked but the pastry is raw. Cooking instructions?... open the tin and place into a hot oven for 30 minutes. Then, voila! Out comes a pie with a crisp puff pastry top. We only had the choice of steak and kidney, but they do all sorts of pies. 

vesta chow mein

Very exotic! Still available and no doubt selling strong, simply empty packet, add water and simmer for 10 minutes. I must get around to trying one to see if they evoke any memories or if they have faffed around with it over the years. But it was a favourite during my teen years. It was my introduction to soy sauce, very exotic for those times and I loved the crispy noodles. It took me years to find a soy sauce that was as tasty, I ended up thinking it was just a childhood memory and that was why it didn't taste as good or the same. Then I discovered mushroom soy sauce and wow! There was that all familiar saltiness and flavour again.

tinned spam

The name comes to us as a derision of 'spiced ham'. Another cheap form of tinned meat protein. Now this is definately one that provokes my favourite food saying of "mmmmm, no more for me chef, I'm full'. 

But it was a favourite of my mother's. In sandwiches or served with chips and peas as a fritter. Yes folks, fatty meat, dipped in batter and fried! Mum would often make this delicacy with slices of corned beef too. 

recipe - spam fritters

001 can spam

001 cup self raising flour

002 pc   eggs

              milk

recipe - method of preparation

Slice the spam thickly and set aside. Break the eggs into a bowl, add a slash of milk and break up with a fork, add the flour and beat into a batter, adding more milk if required. Heat approx 3cm of oil or lard in a frying pan over a medium high heat. Dip the slices of spam into the batter and place into the heated oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes until golden brown, turn over and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove and serve. 

tinned soup
When we were sick as kids, there was nothing better than a tin of soup, always Heinz. Cambell's was also a popular brand but more expensive than Heinz. Cream of tomato was lovely, cream of chicken was special, oxtail was a treat and Mulligatawney was exotic. Served on a tray with a side dish of hot buttered toast, given to us while we were laid out on the sofa with our pillow and blanket, ahhhhh no better way than that to make us feel better, better, comforted and much loved


toast toppers

these culinary bad boys came in a small can; same small diameter as a red bull, but only 1/2 or 1/3 the highth. They were a thick creamy (veloute) based sauce with 'bits' in (ham, chicken etc) and came in various flavours that included ham & cheese, chicken & mushroom and mushroom & bacon. 

Directions were simple, lightly toast some bread, spread a thick layer of the toast topper (often ours was thinly spread, so get the most out of one can) and then pop back under the grill until it bubbled and went golden brown. Very exotic! basically a tinned version of Welsh rarebit. That more often than not would leave a blister on the roof of your mouth OUCH!  or at the very least; burnt and sore for an hour or so. 

Automatic pop up toasters were not a staple of househoulds, so toast was made under the grill part of the oven (remembering have to do that?). so it meant toasting one side of the bread, watching it very carefully so it didn't burn, (which often it did and we had to take it outside and try and scrape off the burn, thus leaving the yard covered in a light coating of black dust)

tinned salmon
Nothing unusual, still popular today. But it was a special treat for us. Usually reserved for sandwiches for our Sunday afternoon tea, where mum would empty it into a bowl and season it up with salt, pepper and Sarson's  malt vinegar. The sandwiches would be made (sometimes with thin slivers of cucumber), and invariably we would devour them up with crisps (potato chips) crushed inside them. One of my secret delights still to this day.


salad cream
Probably a totally UK thing, but anyone of my age group will remember with fondness (or horror) the taste of Heinz salad cream. When is a mayonnaise not a mayonnaise? When its Heinz salad cream.

A creamy, pourable dressing / sauce that has just an extra degree of sharpness than mayonnaise. Its has a very distinctive flavour. We had in sandwiches, drizzled over a ham salad or as an accompaniment to boiled potatoes, especially new boiled potatoes with the salad.


sandwich spread
Another 'great' culinary delight from the Heinz stable. This jarred product was all manner of diced / shredded vegetables; onion, carrot, gherkin, celery and red peppers all bound in the afore mentioned salad cream.

I guess its a form of coleslaw when one thinks about it. It must still be quite popular as its still sold in every supermarket.

It was a staple for a quick filling sandwich at teatime, as a cheap filler for sandwiches for a packed lunch or for picnics to the beach. On the rare occasion we had baked potatoes, a spoonful usually went into it along with some grated cheese.


branston pickle and piccalilli
What a treat when we had supper, usually mum's favourite of a hunk of cheese, some crackers and either pickled onions, branston pickle or picalilli. Hunkered down in front of the electric fire and TV. I love cheese of any kind, but cheddar with pickles is still one of my favourite snacks.

Branston is a selection of diced vegetables in a thick, brown pickle sauce, made from apples, tomato and dates. Great with cheese and awesome with cold meats. I remember sneaking in from playing with my friends on Sunday, going to the fridge after we had, had roast pork for dinner and getting a slice of the left over pork and slavering it with Branston. And then quickly disappearing back out to play.

Picalilli meanwhile is rough cut vegetables, including small florets of cauliflower and baby silverskin onions in a bright yellow, mustard sauce with quite a vinegar kick to it. It was this vinegar kick, it's tartness than made it a favourite of mum's.


meat & fish spreads
"Mmmmmmm ...... no more for me chef, I'm full"! God knows what goes into these little jars of meaty yuminess. These little jars of meat paste were another staple for those lunch box sandwiches.

Screw tops are the norm these days, but when I remember them as a kid, the lids had a snipped edge, that one had to lever off with a spoon or knife, probably the reason why everyone's knive's back then had a warped end.

It came in small jars and in all sorts of flavours; including devilled ham, ham, chicken and ham and beef. There was also fish paste versions too; salmon being the one that is embedded in my memory of flavours, but there was also one that was quite a dark brown in colour. God only knows what that was; sardine maybe?


peanut butter
How great is peanut butter? How weird is it that masses of people have suddenly become allergic to peanuts? How much weirder is it that peanut butter jars carry a warning that it contains 'traces of peanuts' ?

Peanut butter I discovered on a visit to the family of my father's brother, my Uncle Vic. He, Aunty June and her kids were living in Hemel Hemstead. A jar appeared on the breakfast table along with the usual jam, marmalade etc for our toast and my cousins got stuck in. Not wanting to appear out of the loop, this 10 year old copied and I have been hooked on the creamy, crunchy, salty, sweet ambrosia ever since

I also discovered melon on that same trip. My Uncle Vic had been (or maybe still was at that time) in the R.A.F. and had been posted all over the world, therefore they were use to foods and dishes outside the UK norm. One day my Aunty, for a special afternoon tea or dinner presented us with a Meze. A selection of foods placed on the table that you just helped yourself to, the buffet concept was mindblowingly new to me, to us.


frozen corn cobs
It seems silly now, it seems laughable, but corn features heavily in my childhood memories. They were a revelation, a taste sensation. Not sure why we as a family were maybe late comers to corn, and especially  on the cob. Maybe it was because the UK didn't grow them? But for some reason I don't they were frequently used vegetable in most households. After all they don't go well with bangers and mash, the Sunday roast, steak and kidney pudding etc. We just weren't eating the dishes, the type of foods corn is so suited to.

Indeed, in the UK they, believe it or not featured on many a menu as an appetiser! Yes, corn on the cob as an appetiser. But there again, so was half a grapefruit (demi pamplemousse), Florida cocktail and tomato juice!!  I remember going out for a meal as a teenager and a friend'd girlfriend ordering them, to this day I have never seen anyone strip a corn cob so clean with just her teeth, she stripped it clean, not a thread of the cobs left.

My first recollection of them however, was when for some reason mum bought some frozen corn on the cobs from  (I think) British Home Stores. Again, I have no idea why I recollect us buying them from there, its just a memory I have. I have been passionate about corn ever since. They were also a feature on the odd occasion we were treated to KFC, either steamed cobs with butter or a pot of sweetcorn salad; essentially corn kernals bound in mayonnaise, yum!


baked beans and spaghetti
A staple in our household growing up was the good ole can of Heinz baked beans. With bacon and eggs, with bangers and mash, on toast, with scorching hot slices of fried bread and later mum discovered the culinary delight of adding grated cheese to them as they were heating up. Of course the posh kids, had the luxury of baked beans with tiny sausages in them.

I never understood the logic of the spaghetti, what made someone think that spaghetti in a can was a good idea? What makes it such a popular item in the UK. For those not familiar with this concept, its not like the spaghetti (in the same tomato sauce they use for baked beans) is in lengths, its small, chopped pieces, usually no longer than a few inches. <shudder>


bird's trifle
The previously mentioned Sunday afternoon teas, would not be complete without one of my mother's specialities; a trifle. But not just any trifle, but a Bird's trifle. An instant or convenience mix. In this box came the following; a packet of dehydrated sponge cake, a packet of jelly crystals, a packet of custard powder, some sprinkles or 100's and 1000's. and a packet of Bird's Dream Topping. The latter could also be purchased separately, it was a powdered cream mix, that you added milk to and it whipped like cream.

Often mum would 'spice it up' by adding some canned fruit when she made it. Maybe peaches, but usually pears or manderin segments. The latter being the one my sister's and I liked the most and a firm favourite,

It came in a selection of fruity flavours like strawberry or raspberry. Then they brought out one that had a chocolate custard and also special one's (usually at Christmas) like chocolate rum and the one I have pictured; a sherry trifle version.


birds instant whip & angel delight

The mere thought, the memory of this sends me into shudders. I hated it and it seemed I maybe was the only kid in the UK that did. Because it seemed to get guzzled down at every kids birthday party I ever went to

A packet mix, that was a form of instant  mousse I suppose. It came in just about every fruit flavour along with chocolate and caramel

You simply added the flavoured powdered mix with milk and whisked it until it thickened, poured it into cereal bowls or fancy glasses if you had them and chilled it down. Mind you every household in the UK I think, had glasses like this one in the pic


bird's custard powder
No kid's party or Sunday afternoon tea would not be complete without something served with custard. At that custard was made from a packet mix from that ever so popular, ever so famous dessert company "Bird's". Originally made by the company's owner; Alfred Bird circa 1837 for his wife who liked custard but could not eat eggs, hence (for better or worse) it is still egg free to this day

In our household one of mum's specialities was banana custard. Shhhhh ..... but the secret recipe was as follows

recipe - ma's banana custard
slice bananas into a glass serving bowl, make a really thick custard by doubling the amount of powder to milk ratio stated on the tin so that it really thickened and pour over the bananas. Either place into the fridge as is so the bananas sit on the bottom or give it a slight stir to mix the bananas through. When chilled and just before serving, make up some Bird's instant whip and spread over the top. 


victoria sponge
Mum always called the meal at mid-day dinner; a friendly argument we had until the day she died. While I was caring for before she passed away, she would say something like "I feel like soup for dinner" or "shall we have fish and chips for dinner", to which I would reply "is that dinner or lunch"? That comment would always kick off the same retort from mum "its breakfast, dinner and tea" ..... she never had a reply when I asked her when she ate lunch then. Well, not apart from telling me I wasn't too big or too old for her to give me a thick ear ;-)

Anyway my point being, on occasion after our Sunday family roast dinner (ate around mid-day), mum would on occasion bake a sponge. A packet Victoria sponge, sandwiched with jam and on occasion cream too, but always sprinkled with sugar, not fancy icing sugar but just normal, everyday granulated.


brains frozen faggots
How I love faggots, which begs the question; why have I not ate more of them since being back home in the UK? Hmmm, note to self - eat more faggots.

Those that have followed this blog will know all about faggots (see chapter IV) But for the uninitiated they are a type of meatball and a very popular item in chip shops in the UK.

My mother would usually have Brain's faggots in the freezer. I would love coming home from school, yelling "mum, i'm home, whats for dinner" and hearing the reply "faggots". Served in a deep rich meaty gravy, perfect with peas and instant mash potatoes or home made chips.

On occasion mum would buy some fresh faggots from a butcher in the market when she went into town shopping and make her own gravy, mash her own potatoes or serve them with 'rounders' and mushy peas.

recipe - rounders
partly boil potatoes or take left over boiled potatoes, slice them thickly. Heat an inch of lard in a frying pan, and carefully place the rounds of sliced potato into the hot fat and fry until golden brown on both sides

chapter X - apples & scrumping

the best things in life are free ....

After the tragic early death of my father, the family moved to the nearby township of Newtown, a township just across the river, at the bottom of the other mountain that made up our valley. While we had lost so much in that tragic fire, we didn't lose a home. At the time of the fire, my parent's were having a brand new bungalow being built. This was the house I mentioned that was built at the base of a slag heap, which can be seen, centre right in this photo, along with the cliff face (to the right of the slag heap) that we would climb up every weekend. Health and safety? What's that?!?

We didn't get to move into it straight away, as it was still being built. Initially we stayed with our grandparents in the next street over for a wee while, before us children were sent away for several months. Michelle to Plymouth to our Uncle Arthur's and Aunty Pat; (my mother's sister).  while Donna and I went to London to mother's brother, out Uncle Pete and his wife Aunty Mary.

Londinium The only food memories I have of my time in London, was that of chips, chicken soup and bovril. With my older cousins we used walk to a nearby indoor swimming pool, where I remember the excitement and amazement of getting a plastic cup of soup or bovril from a vending machine. Technology I had never seen back home in li'l ole Wales. Bovril for the uninitiated is a sticky black fluid, a beef extract that is a U.K. favourite. 

Either as a sandwich spread, spread on hot toast soldiers with your boiled egg breakfast or added to a cup of hot water for a great 'beef tea', that will always warm the cockles of your heart. Flasks of this was always consumed in vast quantities at football matches, and remains to this day one of my favourite comfort foods.

On the walk back home from swimming, we would often stop at a Chinese chip shop and warm ourselves with a bag of chips. I don't know why, but those chips always tasted just amazing. I never knew why until tasting something similar on one of my trips to Hong Kong. I had some crispy noodles, and the flavour sent me screaming back to that childhood memory. It was I decided, because the same fat used for frying the chips was the same fat that was used for frying the likes of pork etc for sweet and sour and would have taken on the flavour of Chinese five spice and the likes. 

apple crumble
When we returned to Wales and into our new home, although we were in a new village we still went to the same school as before; Penguylan. Remembering I was only six years old at the time, myself and my elder sister would cycle to and from school everyday by ourselves. The school would be approx. where this photo was taken, and our bungalow at the base of that slag heap. We had school meals everyday, that I have fond memories of apart from one dish; apple crumble. That crumble texture filled me with dread and I would gag and dry reach at being forced to eat it. Strange then that these days, I absoloutly adore a good crumble. In fact, I would go as far as to say it is my favourite of desserts

recipe - apple crumble

250   gm   stewed apple
200   gm   flour - all purpose
100   gm   butter
050   gm   sugar - soft brown

preparation method
Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Arrange the fruit into individual ramekins, casserole type dish or pie dish until 2/3’s full. Place the sifted flour, butter and sugar in a food processor and blitz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the apple and place on a baking tray. Bake until crumble is golden brown (approx 30 minutes). Remove and allow to cool slightly and serve.

                                                                                                                                           

scrumping. apples and all
On those daily bike rides to school, we would often start and finish by riding through a gully or back lane, that ran behind a bunch of houses and in front of a set of allotments. The first allotment ran beside our garden, and my mother many a time would send my elder sister and I on night time raids. It was a veritable supermarket of seasonal produce; gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, apples, rhubarb, potatoes, carrots etc along with a good selection of flowers.

We would sneak out when dusk came, hop over or crawl under the fence and scrump and plunder whatever it was mum had asked us to get. All very secret agent, exciting stuff for my sisters and I. It was one way to supplement our diet. There was no easy government handouts as there are today, so I guess we saw it as fair game to 'borrow' some of nature's goodies. Never taking too much, or so much that it might get noticed by the owner and always in the hope of not getting caught by the owner. The trouble is when mother came to sell the bungalow a year after moving into it, she found out that in fact, we owned that allotment !

To get from one side of the valley to the other, one could walk over the old colliery area. At one stage, we would have to walk over a large steel bridge to transverse the mighty Cynon river (all 10 - 20 feet of it). One end of the bridge started (or finished depending on how you look at it) at the end of Harcourt Terrace, the house situated at the bridge's entrance would always transfix me. For in the window, there were always toffee apples for sale. I don't know why, I always presumed it was a little old lady supplementing her income. But whoever made them, whoever was selling them, sure emblazoned a memory in me. Whenever I see a toffee apple now, I am transported back to being that five or six year old.


recipe - adult toffee apples

200  gm   demerara sugar
001  tsp   balsamic vinegar
002  tbs   golden syrup
020  gm   butter
030  gm   sesame seeds

preparation method
place all of the ingredients into a thick bottom pan (a non stick omelet pan is ideal). Place onto a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently without stirring for 5-6 minutes, until a caramel is achieved (to test if the toffee is ready, put a drop of the mixture into cold water. It should harden immediatley. Remove from the heat, add sesame seeds and swirl pan gently to mix. Dip the apples (skewered on a lollipop stick) to coat. Allow any excess to drip off and place on a lightly oiled baking tray, baking tray lined with greaseproof paper or onto a silicon mat to cool and set hard.

                                                                                                                                           

less fun on the allotment
That was not the only allotment incident however. On the return from school one snowy, winter afternoon, it was already coming in dark and we were walking down the lane by the allotments. In one allotment we spotted something that scared the living daylights out of us; a long mound of snow with feet sticking out. We ran as fast as our little legs could carry us, until we got home and in breathless panic telling mum. Had a local tramp, curled up to sleep and died of hyperthermia? Had an allotment owner collapsed and had a heart attack? The local Bobby (policeman) arrived on his pushbike, heard our story and off he went to investigate with our next door neighbour, who's allotment it turned out to be. The body, the corpse, turned out to be a prank by our neighbours sons. nothing more than a dead snowman with welly boots.

spuds and tatties
There is but one food incident from when we lived in that bungalow. It involved instant mash potato, which was a fairly new product at the time My mother's first attempt at it, was making some as part of our dinner or lunch and managed to add a wee bit too much water. Well, when I say a wee bit, I mean that sarcastically. God bless her though, never one to waste anything, she still served it up and expected us to eat it. I don't remember if we did or not though.

cod balls
Around this time, I remember there was one food that became a firm favourite of mine, known as cod balls. Made by Findus or Bird's Eye or one of those frozen food providers, they were battered balls of cod. They had a flavour like no other fish I had tasted. Memories of my sister's not liking them and swapping my chips and peas for theirs still brings a smile to my face, sitting there with a pile of them and just ticking in. 

fresh bread
We didn't live in that bungalow long, but while we did, in the nearby township of Mountain Ash,  Tesco opened a supermarket. A big event back then, as most shopping was done at the local corner shop or Co-op (pronounced kop in Wales). In that new supermarket, Tesco's installed an instore bakery. What an innovation that was, for circa1966. What an experience it was for me too, to see fresh breads being baked and sold. what aromas there were. Not to mention experiencing the taste of warm bread for the first time ever.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

chapter IX - the best damn chip shop in the valley

dai's chip shop ....

For whatever reason, my parents decided to buy a fish and chip shop and with it the house next door. It was the best damn chip shop for miles and miles, Not an empty boast either, because I am told people would go out of their way to get their fish supper from dad’s chippie. A frequent visitor was none other than Mr Tom Jones, of course all long before he became famous that is. He lived in the next village, and so I am told would often be chastised by my father for being drunk and causing a nuisance on a Friday or Saturday night. Not that was unusual back then for anyone of the same age, I guess he was just one of many, dad would oust on their ears.

Maybe this is where I got my love of food from, maybe this is where my culinary skills and learning really began. This photo shows the road that we lived in, unfortunately the photo was taken in the wrong direction to show our house and chip shop.

The chip shop was next door to our house on Penrhiwceiber Road and sadly we lost that chip shop, when I lost my father. One Sunday, May morning, a fire broke out. Not only totally gutting the house but taking with it, childhood toys and memories, precious photograph albums, in fact almost everything we owned and cherished, top of that list was of course, my father. Who died trying to save the cash takings from the chip shop. In the middle of the swinging sixties, my poor mother was left a young widow with three children to raise.

chips with everything

At some point when my father owned the chip shop, we were all packed up into our little car; a white Ford Anglia and went on a day trip to the seaside. For some reason I am thinking it was Swansea. Not a usual family day out at the seaside, we did go to the fair all be it my first ever food trade fair. I remember this so distinctly because there were lots of free samples, mainly fish and/or chips. I am presuming they were either promoting oils and fats for frying, maybe batter mixes etc. Whatever it was all about, my memories are of wandering around and consuming copious amounts of free samples of the most tastiest of battered fish ever. All served on small cardboard rectangular plates, and eaten with a small wooden, two pronged fork. 

chips
My own memories of that time are brief, but very strong. I do remember we had no fancy, schmancy machinery, the potatoes for the chips we sold, were hand peeled and hand chipped. My elder sister and I would spend many a long hour with our mother during the holidays or on a Saturday morning, sat by an old, large, oval shaped, tin bath full of water and potatoes, peeling and chipping the potatoes. 

I often wonder who the lady in this photo (with the basket) is, the lady behind the counter being my mother (circa 1965). The chips we sold always tasted extra special. On the weekend, or of a night time, Mum would often bring us in a pile of hot chips all wrapped in newspaper. A practice of course, that has long since stopped, these days they have to be wrapped in hygienic white paper that has been especially produced. Which is strange really given we are always told to recycle products, save the planet and the trees and the rain forests etc. Nothing smells better than that salt and vinegar steam, that comes from fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.

Strangely enough, there are many recipes for chips these days. Double cooked, tripled cook, and so on and so on, etc etc. Basically chefs getting overly trendy. At the risk of sounding like one of those chefs, here is a simple recipe for the home cook. For the home cook that likes home made chips, but is somewhat apprehensive about all that hot fat, placing wet potatoes into it, having it bubble over etc.

This recipe, or to be more precise a method, takes care of this by placing the chips in cold oil. You would think that this would result in greasy, fat laden chips. But in fact they are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. More importantly it prevents you from placing cold wet chipped potatoes in hot oil, and therefore preventing any mishaps. Any moisture that might remain, will be taken care of as the oil warms up, the potato chips start to cook during this time also and it cuts down on wasted energy usage.

recipe - chips, safe frying method
Choose a good floury potato, like a maris piper. king edwards or a desiree work well. Wash and peel (optional) and cut into even sized chips. Place into a colander and rinse thoroughly to remove any starchiness. Drain and tip out onto a clean tea towel and dry thoroughly (important - they must be very dry).

Using a large saucepan, just under half fill with the potatoes and then pour in cold oil straight from the bottle (a good frying vegetable oil such as safflower, soya, sunflower). Using enough oil to just cover the chips (the oil level should still only half fill or just over half fill the pan strange as it may seem)

Place on a medium high heat and allow to heat until oil is bubbling. Cook until the chips are golden brown. Remove, drain and season as required. In place of salt, try using one of the following: cajun spice and salt, garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt.



recipe - chips, peppered low fat
Choose a good floury potato, like a maris piper. king edwards or a desiree work well. Wash and peel (optional) and cut into even sized chips. Place into a saucepan and cover with cold, salted water (optional - take two large cloves of unpeeled garlic, bash with a knife to break open and add to water)

Bring to a boil and gently simmer for 5-7 minutes. Tip into a colander and drain well, allowing steam to escape, shake gently to roughen up the outside (this will help form a crisp outside when cooked)

Place in a single layer onto a large baking or roasting tray, spray with olive and lightly dust with paprika and cracked peppercorns. Bake at 200C until golden brown and crisp (10-15 minutes depending on size of cut). Remove and season as required



mushy peas
There are four other distinct flavour memories from those fish and chip shop era, three quarters of which are cholestrol filled, fat saturated and salt laden, but all typical of that era. Firstly, of course no Welsh chip shop worth its salt (pun, fully intended) would be complete without faggot, chips and mushy peas.

Mushy peas are a staple of any Welsh chip shop, for serving with faggot and chips, or piping hot over chips with plenty of salt, pepper and copious amounts of malt vinegar. Easily and readily available now in tins or frozen, but there is nothing like making your own as my father would. 

That fact, was a great benefit to a six year old boy, because it meant that I never ran out of ammunition for my pea shooter! Those were the days when every boy's pocket held at the very least, a pea shooter, a pocket knife, a length of string and an empty box of matches in their pocket (the empty box was usually for keeping a caterpillar in!)

recipe - mushy peas

250 gm dried marrowfat peas

002 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)#

preparation method

place into a large saucepan and cover with boiling water from the kettle, stir in the baking soda. Leave to soak for a minimum of twelve hours. As they swell, add cold water to keep them covered. After 12 hours, drain and place back into the saucepan, cover with cold water and place on a medium high heat and bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer until the peas soften, turn mushy and the water evaporates. Stir frequently during cooking to prevent the peas sticking and burning on the bottom (more water might need to be added during cooking)

but if you want fat ....
Both of my given recipes for chips are centered around fat or the lack of. The Scottish may have 'invented' deep fried, battered mars bars, but in wales we were battering and deep frying all sorts decades beforehand.

A favourite in our chip shop, as in any other local chip shop were beef burger patties, not neatly grilled and served with lettuce, pickle in a sesame seed bun etc, but the meat patty battered and deep fried. On a recent return to Wales (Oct 2012) my cousins decided we should have fish and chips for tea. I went with my cousin; Dean, to collect them and lo and behold that local chip shop of theirs sold just the very thing still. Needless to say, I had to have one even at the risk of spoiling a wonderful childhood memory. But there it was, a battered, deep fried burger patty, hot, highly salted and dripping with fat when bitten into, but oh so delicious!

meat pies

Also deep fried in dad’s chippy, were the meat pies. Commercially made, individual steak and kidney pies. There were none of the fancy heat cabinets or microwaves we have now, so deep frying them to order was the quickest and easiest way of reheating them. And they were delicious too! I have have not tried one since, but I must get around to it one day.

scrittlings
Known by many names all over the country no doubt. For some reason they seem to be a secret shame these days. people love them, but no one seems to sell them, people love them but are afraid or ashamed to ask for them. Scrittlings are the bits of batter left over after frying the fish etc. As a kid, one would go into a chip shop and ask for a penny bag of scrittlings. For that penny one would get a huge bag of these crispy, deep fried morsels, all salted up and smothered in vinegar.

chapter VIII - breakfast at Granma's

Every child should have fond memories of being at their grandparents', and everyone of my age group should also have fond memories of food with them. Because back then, grandmother's always cooked from fresh, they always baked and my paternal grandmother was no exception. My maternal grandmother I never knew as she died when I was very young, and my maternal grandfather went down with his ship; HMS Courageous, just days into WWII. 

My father's parents however, lived near us in wales, in a terrace house like any other, just like you would see in films like How Green is my Valley, or TV series like Gavin & Stacey. Where, lingering in the air was the smell of a coal fire burning, instantly noticeable as soon as you walked through the front door. Like most houses in Wales in the 60's, it consisted of, the kitchen with a huge coal burning oven, the living or front room and 'the best room'. The latter, was where all your best china was kept, immaculate furniture and your most prized possessions were on display. It was only ever used for special occasions; when the local vicar or other special guests visited, when there was a birthday etc or where someone was laid to rest. As such, as kids we were very rarely allowed into that room. 

The heart of the home though was always the front room. It housed the TV and all the comfy furniture. Their front room was no exception, it always had a coal fire burning, a standard grate with a mantlepiece that housed a glass dome clock, with a rotating 3 brass ball pendulum, and two china dogs amongst other things. If the fire had died down, it would often be roared back to life by the practice of placing sheets of newspaper across the fireplace, to cause a vacuum and draw the fire.

a welsh cooked breakfast

When my grandfather wasn't off fighting the Bosch (as Stephen Fry might put it), he like most males in the valleys, worked in the local mines, they worked at the pit. As far as I am aware, no matter what hour his shift started he would always leave the house with a full belly, he would always have had a full cooked breakfast. Sitting at my grandparents table to a cooked breakfast, is a special memory for me. Eggs, sausages, slices of smoked back bacon, tomatoes and fried bread, and while all fried in copious amounts of dripping or lard no doubt, it was never greasy. Very tasty and filling, but never greasy.

I don't remember them ever having been included for us kids, but a full Welsh breakfast would often also often contain laverbread and strange as it might seem cockles. Laverbread is a delicacy I only discovered later in life, a delicacy I adore. For those not familiar with it, laverbread (bara lawr in Welsh) is a type of edible seaweed. It is collected, cleaned, boiled and then minced or pureed. The great Welsh actor referred to it as 'a Welshman's caviar' and I am not going to argue with that. It is not just the Welsh that prize it as a food source; as it is of the same family as the Korean 'gim' and the Japanese 'nori, which is what is wrapped around sushi.

In wales however, it is either simply reheated with plenty of pepper or a squeeze of lemon or oats are added to bind it, before rolling it in oats and then shallow fried like a fish cake. For the best flavour, it should be fried with bacon dripping. As one might assume, it has a briney flavour and is glutinous in texture. Perfect when eaten with crisp fried bread for breakfast. It also perfect when used as a base for a sauce for cockles or other shellfish, and also compliments roast Welsh lamb brilliantly!

recipe - laverbread with cockles & bacon

250 gm short pastry

150 gm laverbread

150 gm bacon

150 gm cockle meat

150 ml cream

002 pc eggs - whole

002 pc egg yolks

preparation method

Blind bake a flan case - roll out the pastry and line a lightly buttered flan dish, with a fork gently pierce all over (this prevents air pockets and bubbles appearing). Cover cover/line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans (if you don't have baking beans, use dried peas or similar or use a handful of loose change from the piggy bank). Place in a pre-heated oven (180C) for approx 20 minutes, gently remove the paper with the baking beans and allow to continue baking for 10 minutes until a golden brown. Remove and allow to cool.

Cut the bacon into small strips and dry fry, until nicely browned and crisp. Drain and combine with the cockles and laverbread, taste and season if required. Pack into the cooled pastry case. Combine the cream, eggs and yolks until no streaks of egg white are evident, pour over the laverbread mix. Bake at 180C until lightly set (approx 30 minutes) taking care it does not over brown - if required, lightly cover with tin foil.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving. Remember, it will carry on cooking after it is removed from the oven, so a slight wobble in the centre when initially tested is fine. 

pie in the sky

My grandfather enjoyed one of these breakfasts, everyday of his married life as far as I am aware. He survived 6 years fighting in the desert in WWII, working down the mines, smoking unfiltered Woodbine's (the strongest cigarettes known to man I think) and this cholesterol packed breakfast.He was quite a slight man, with hardly a waistline to speak of. Hmmmmm ... makes one wonder. My only real memories of him, were him breaking the news of my father's death to me when I was six, the fact he read the newspaper etc with it almost touching his nose and that he once took me to the annual coal miner's Xmas work do. Every year he would take a different grandchild, every year we came back with a present from Santa. The year, I went, I was shy and timid (maybe because of my father's death) and didn't want to go and see Santa. Grandad kept saying if I didn't go soon I would end up with a silly, left over present like skates. He was right, that was exactly what I got! I do remember the party food, there was all the usual children's fare of the era; biscuits, cake, spam sandwiches, sausage rolls and jelly and ice cream. 

Unfortunately, my maternal grandmother passed away when I was fairly young, so my memories of her are brief. She was knitter, a prolific knitter at that. She would more often than not be found sat by the open fire knitting needles click clacking away furiously. She could knit a full jumper with amazing stitched designs in a matter of days. She doted on everyone, wore a housecoat constantly, had the whitest of white hair and was the most typical of Welsh grandmother's in everyway. My culinary memories of her, amount to three dishes; her breakfasts, her Welsh cakes and for some reason a meat and potato pie she made and usually served for lunch.

recipe - gi's meat & potato pie

400 gm short pastry

200 gm mashed potato (three cups)

200 gm sausage meat   (three cups) 

001 pc  onion

001 pc egg

preparation method

Roll out the pastry very thin and line a lightly buttered flan ring/case, allowing a good two inches hanging over to form the crimped crust. Combine the remaining pastry and off cuts and roll out to a circle big enough to form a lid. 

Finely chop the onion and combine with the sausage meat and season well with salt and pepper (Gran, always seemed to add extra pepper) Lightly press the sausage meat into the pastry case, ensuring an even layer. Cover with the mashed potato (having seasoned and beaten with copious amounts of butter)

Brush the pastry hanging over the edges with the beaten egg, and place the pastry lid on top. Crimp or roll the pastry together (Gran, always had a thick crust around the edge probably because nothing ever went to waste. But feel free to trim and crimp) Cut a small hole in the middle, and brush the top with the eggwash.

Bake at 170-180C for approx.1 hour. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly and serve with copious amounts of tomato ketchup, bread and butter and a strongly brewed, hot, sugary tea!