Food's disappearing?.

karadekoolaid said:
That's probably because it's a National Treasure! If in Britain, you must have a Sunday roast, a pint of bitter and some Fish & Chips. If you go to Italy, I imagine pizza and a classic pasta have to be on the wish list (although I can think of a dozen things I'd prefer); in Greece, you have to try the Souvlakis, the Moussaka and the Tzatziki; a tagine in Morocco and an arepa, plus pabellón criollo, in Venezuela!
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Sunday dinner in America back in the day was often some kind of roast. In our house it could be roast beef, roast lamb, roast chicken, ham, turkey...

It was usually served with some sort of potatoes, and one or two veggies.

Of course, everything was way overcooked in our house. Shoe leather meat and mushy veggies.

CD
 
Craig's German granny, oma, used to boil corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes, so we do that every once in a while.

She'd also make sauerbraten, which is pickled beef. Not my favorite by any stretch of the imagination, but I'll make it for Craig once in a while.
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
Apart from puddings, for some unknown reason we did have a good line in puddings like steamed syrup sponge, spotted dick, jam and coconut sponge with custard, chocolate sponge with mint custard, lots of different but good crumbles, jam rolypoly, treacle tart , pineapple upside down cake, bread and butter pudding, rice pudding, knickerbocker glory, banana split and some truly great gateux.
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That spotted dick just doesn't sound like it would be visually appealing, given the name (yeah I know it looks better than it sounds, LOL). But I am not a fan of raisins anyway. Not something we have over here.
 
karadekoolaid said:
That's probably because it's a National Treasure! If in Britain, you must have a Sunday roast, a pint of bitter and some Fish & Chips. If you go to Italy, I imagine pizza and a classic pasta have to be on the wish list (although I can think of a dozen things I'd prefer); in Greece, you have to try the Souvlakis, the Moussaka and the Tzatziki; a tagine in Morocco and an arepa, plus pabellón criollo, in Venezuela!
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I love roast, but it doesn't have to be on a Sunday!

I have told this story elsewhere in the forum in the past, but when I first met my husband and moved to Ohio, I made a roast for him and my stepkids. It was wonderful: tender, juicy, and flavorful, with a delicious gravy, accompanied by the typical carrots, potatoes, and onions that we do in the US (I typically don't like cooked carrots but will eat them in stews or soups--otherwise only raw).

Well it was a weekday, and he had been gone all day at work and asked me what was for dinner when he got home. When I said, "pot roast" he flipped out and told me how much he hated pot roast and said he would just open a can of soup or eat some leftovers. He seemed a little angry and distraught. I was flabbergasted, and then I asked him later why he hated pot roast so much (the kids loved that roast, BTW). He told me that when he was growing up his mom made pot roast a lot and it was always dry, stringy, tough, and bland, and that his mother, father, and brother would all eat it and loved it, and she made him sit at the table while they all went to the family room to watch TV. After an hour or two she let him go to his room (without supper) but I guess it really traumatized him. I explained to him that his mother must not have cooked it long enough or cooked it too long and at the incorrect temperature. I assured him mine was juicy and delicious, but he refused to give it a try.

Well about 6 months later my youngest stepdaughter asked if I would make that roast again, and I said sure, but we are going to change the name of it to "beef stew" because your dad doesn't like pot roast, and I said that was going to have to be our little secret. I explained to her that I was just going to cube everything up when I cooked it, and that's what I did. He came home and asked what was for dinner and he didn't raise an eyebrow when I said we were having beef stew.

Guess what? My husband loved my beef stew and does to this day! :laugh: I eventually fessed up about 15 years later about the name change and deception, and we both got a good laugh over it.
 
In the UK it can't be a roast without roast potatoes and for many they really prefer to have Yorkshire pudding with any type of meat not just the traditional beef.
Roasted joint of meat and roast potatoes are the two non negotiable components in a Sunday dinner. However meat on the bone like shanks are also good.
How the potatoes are roasted is often a topic of conversation but no-one cares so long as they're super crispy on the outside and fluffy inside.
The veg can vary, you often have more than one type of potato (mash or dauphinois/gratin) but the roast potatoes are the make or break item. Make bad roasties and and you've flopped. If someone goes out for a Sunday lunch the first sentence after will start with "the roast potatoes were..." 😆

Also a must is good gravy which is an area where things go often awry for many since everyone stopped cooking joints of meat to death and decided the meat juices were better in the meat 😂
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
In the UK it can't be a roast without roast potatoes and for many they really prefer to have Yorkshire pudding with any type of meat not just the traditional beef.
Roasted joint of meat and roast potatoes are the two non negotiable components in a Sunday dinner. However meat on the bone like shanks are also good.
How the potatoes are roasted is often a topic of conversation but no-one cares so long as they're super crispy on the outside and fluffy inside.
The veg can vary, you often have more than one type of potato (mash or dauphinois/gratin) but the roast potatoes are the make or break item. Make bad roasties and and you've flopped. If someone goes out for a Sunday lunch the first sentence after will start with "the roast potatoes were..." 😆

Also a must is good gravy which is an area where things go often awry for many since everyone stopped cooking joints of meat to death and decided the meat juices were better in the meat 😂
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I have done roasts where I didn't put the potatoes in the pot with it, generally prime rib roasts (always served medium to medium-rare). I will either mash potatoes or bake them. Hubby doesn't really like baked potatoes (I love them) but I like mashed just fine so I just usually go with whatever he wants unless we have company who like baked potatoes. I also like au gratin potatoes. Sometimes I will make what they call "twice baked potatoes" where I take all of the inner parts of the potatoes, mash and mix with sour cream, roasted garlic, and cheese, then stuff the insides back into the potato skins and bake, then top with crumbled cooked bacon and chopped chives or spring onion. And there is always, always gravy!
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
In the UK it can't be a roast without roast potatoes
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I estimate we went for Sunday Roast about 25 times last year. My brother-in-law just LOVES a roast dinner. That goes for Sunday, but also, any other day of the week.
You're right - apart from the meat, there have to be roast potatoes and Yorkshire pud. The veg? Well I'd probably expect carrots, parsnips and something else, I suppose. Most GastroPubs seem to have a trained chef these days, so any place you go and the meat is overcooked, the veg unseasoned, the roasties soaked in oil.... nah, not happening.
However... a Roast Dinner is not actually rocket science. It's not like you were making a complicated French dish, or Chiles en Nogada, or something concocted by Heston Blumenthal. You just need to watch it, and time it. Almost everything's in the oven and there are no complex sauces or foams or powders to be made.
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
UK food from the 1970’s- 1990’s was absolutely nothing to write home about.
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I could debate this at length. But it depends on how you grew up and largely to what class you belonged (class was and still is to some extent a big thing in the UK). The 70's was when UK food saw the beginning of the fantastic gourmet food we now have here. In the 50's and 60's interesting food was mainly for the middle classes - see wonderful cooks/writers such as Elizabeth David and Claudia Rodin. But around the 70's package holidays became very cheap and working class people began to experience European food from France, Spain Italy etc. and wanted to eat it when they got home. Of course, this didn't apply to everyone - but it was the beginning of a big change.
 
Morning Glory said:
I could debate this at length. But it depends on how you grew up and largely to what class you belonged (class was and still is to some extent a big thing in the UK). The 70's was when UK food saw the beginning of the fantastic gourmet food we now have here. In the 50's and 60's interesting food was mainly for the middle classes - see wonderful cooks/writers such as Elizabeth David and Claudia Rodin. But around the 70's package holidays became very cheap and working class people began to experience European food from France, Spain Italy etc. and wanted to eat it when they got home. Of course, this didn't apply to everyone - but it was the beginning of a big change.
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Ok I’d amend that to the majority of food was nothing for the majority of people to write home about.
There were small seeds planted here and there that started to bear fruit but the majority of restaurants, hotels and home cooks were very far away from the variety and quality of food that came later.

Nigel Slaters book Toast sums up the changing landscape over the decades to me.
I think geographical location had a far larger influence for many over class.
The meat and two veg culture was followed like a religion in the West Country regardless, a place that remained fairly isolated until about maybe 15 years ago.

Tradition plays a strong part in many areas. You’re talking to someone who went to a CofE school that still made corn dolly’s for harvest festival, so comfortably entrenched in tradition they still hadn’t let go of paganism 😆
Move towards the cities where there were ports and it’s a different story but it’s widely acknowledged by the chef’s of that era that the general standard wasn’t great.

I went through ‘The Prawn Cocktail Years’ and truly loved some of those dishes back then (and still do now) but largely I think the UK’s food standard didn’t improve until travel and embracing the cuisines of the UK’s multicultural cities happened much later on a larger scale.
 
Morning Glory said:
I could debate this at length. But it depends on how you grew up and largely to what class you belonged (class was and still is to some extent a big thing in the UK). The 70's was when UK food saw the beginning of the fantastic gourmet food we now have here. In the 50's and 60's interesting food was mainly for the middle classes - see wonderful cooks/writers such as Elizabeth David and Claudia Rodin. But around the 70's package holidays became very cheap and working class people began to experience European food from France, Spain Italy etc. and wanted to eat it when they got home. Of course, this didn't apply to everyone - but it was the beginning of a big change.
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My first visit to the UK was in 1978, and just London. Other than the fish and chips from the local shops, the food was not good. By the time of my last visit in 1995 (other than layovers at Heathrow), the food had gotten much better. Granted, I could afford much better restaurants in 1995 than in 1978. But, during my two visits in the 1980s, I saw noticeable improvement, and I had enough money then to eat at good restaurants and pubs.

I never had a roast dinner there. I did have a few full English breakfasts. I didn't care much for the bland baked beans, but enjoyed the rest.

CD
 
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Morning Glory said:
I could debate this at length.
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So could I. Born in a council house, brought up in a working class environment, no privileges, school meals.
Food in the UK in the 70s was crap. Full stop.
Right towards the end of the 70s, there were a few (and I emphasise, a few) places in London that spiced up one's miserable life :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:A Thai place in Chelsea, Borscht n Tears, Good Friends in Brick Lane, and the Blue Dolphin off Tottenham Court Rd. Unless, of course, you were rolling in money and could afford absurd prices in Mayfair and Kensington.
My home town hadn't even got a McDs in the 70s!! But we did have a Chinese and the Curry Inn.
 
karadekoolaid said:
So could I. Born in a council house, brought up in a working class environment, no privileges, school meals.
Food in the UK in the 70s was crap. Full stop.
Right towards the end of the 70s, there were a few (and I emphasise, a few) places in London that spiced up one's miserable life :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:A Thai place in Chelsea, Borscht n Tears, Good Friends in Brick Lane, and the Blue Dolphin off Tottenham Court Rd. Unless, of course, you were rolling in money and could afford absurd prices in Mayfair and Kensington.
My home town hadn't even got a McDs in the 70s!! But we did have a Chinese and the Curry Inn.
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Count yourself lucky to not have McDonald's.
 
karadekoolaid said:
Food in the UK in the 70s was crap. Full stop.
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I'd more or less agree, if you mean restaurant food but in some homes great food was being cooked. I can vouch for it!

I met my previous partner in the mid 70's. Like you I grew up in a council house and hadn't ever experienced really good food. But he had. He had Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson and Claudia Rodin cookery books on his shelves and cooked many mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes. He inspired my interest in cooking and I soon started to add to his collection of cookbooks. The first book I bought was Poor Cook by Caroline Conran and Susan Campbell, first published 1971. I still have it and it contains excellent recipes for dishes such as stuffed vine leaves, Greek meatballs, shoulder of lamb with avgolemeno sauce, bouillabasse, squid risotto and piperade (to name but a few).

It took a long while for provincial restaurants to catch up with the food being cooked in (some) homes. You could get good food in some London restaurants in those days, particularly Greek and Italian and French. Soho springs to mind...
 
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