Whatever happened to…

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

1/2 a century ago, yes, literally 1/2 a century, or 1970 if you like, I was working on my own in a one man job in a (not too) remote outstation, ie away from the city centre. Within the location was a small Belling cooker – single hot plate & small oven. And of course the kettle, after all, being civil servants, yes really, we had to have our cups of tea!

So, after all the waffling, dinner tended to be something like a ready meal for one, made by Birds Eye I think, and consisting of beef in one compartment, mashed potato in another compartment and either peas or, more likely I think, carrots in the third. Bung it in the oven for however long and very tasty it was too. Pudding tended to be 1/2 a Heinz Steamed Syrup/Treacle sponge, which came in a tin along with 1/2 a tin of Ambrosia tinned custard. I was single at the time so cost didn't matter that much.

Anyway, meals for one, or even two are still available, but whether or not Birds Eye I cannot say, probably Sainsbury's own, and so is Ambrosia Custard. But Steamed Treacle Sponge appears to have disappeared. Certainly neither the Co-op or Sainsbury's (our two local big name supermarkets) appear to sell it, although thinking about it I haven't tried Lidl or Aldi, both of which have local outlets.

So, the question is, whatever happened to Heinz Steamed Treacle Sponge?

Peter (drooling jaws) G. Shaw

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

.

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=Heinz+Steamed+Treacle+Sponge

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 20/04/2020 12:52:48

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Haven't seen Heinz in a tin for ages, but Aldi, last time I looked, which was admittedly a bit back, had an own brand version – also the jam flavour.

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Don't know about Heinz but you can get these:-

John

[Martin Hamilton 1Participant @martinhamilton1]

What happened to Smedleys tinned sausage rolls from the 1960's, they were delicious.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Morrison’s sell rather good individual ones (IMHO) in twin packs (Golden Syrup or other flavours) Microwave for just under a minute & stand for a mouth watering minute if I remember rightly from before the lockdown.

Puddings not Sausages. Gawd that’s made me really miss them now!

Edited By V8Eng on 20/04/2020 13:51:49

Edited By V8Eng on 20/04/2020 13:52:16

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Personally I think there should be something like a preservation order applied to foodstuffs that have been around a long while. It should be illegal to chanage the recipe and if the company that makes the product wishes to cease manufacture full disclosure should occur and someone else should be allowed to make it instead.

For example HP stopped producing Fruity Sauce a few years back and then reintroduced it to a changed recipe.

We could start a list with no trouble.

Marmite.

Bisto Powder

Heinz Tomato Soup

. . . basically anything that was around when we were kids.

regards Martin ;O)

[OldMetallerParticipant @oldmetaller]

Vesta Curry…

God, I loved that…with a cup of Camp coffee and for dessert, a bag of wine gums!

How the hell I'm still here, fifty years on, is a mystery to medical science!

John.

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Camp Coffee. Ye Gods! That immediately gave me a mental picture of a rather remote, but not too remote, camp site we used to use when I was in the Scouts back in the late 1950's. Unfortunately the camp site has now been either drowned under Scammonden Dam, or buried under the M62 that runs along the embankment for Scammonden Dam. I have never been able to determine which of the two.

Somewhere under there is a 1943 ex-Army clasp knife I used to own along with a small billy-can which disappeared over a small waterfall that used to exist, and which never re-appeared, the billy-can that is. Oh well, gone for good now I expect.

About 45 years after the M62 was built, I joined a choir and became aquainted with a not too tall, but broad, man who described himself as a road builder, and I could easily see him wielding a pick & shovel. How wrong I was, as I eventually discovered that he had been the chief site engineer for the section from Windy Hill into Lancashire, and I think may have had something to do with Scammonden Bridge, that very high single arch bridge carrying the B6114 over the M62. Certainly he was always ready to show photographs of the bridge.

Peter G. Shaw

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

Campbells meatballs

As a poor student who was training hard, for international sports as well as college work, my calorie needs were high. One evening my flatmate and i heard of a boozy party. So with hopes of lady success we invested in the ubiquitous Party7 and planned to go after dinner.

Back then we generally figured that a pack of food was designed for a family of four so almost enough for one of us. With frugal cash we each purchased a tin of Campbells meatballs and a bag of rice. That rice kept getting bigger and bigger and needing larger pots to cook it in. Undaunted we shovelled the resulting mound into a washing up bowl and stirred in the 2 cans of heated meatballs. We weren't into wasting food so managed to trough the whole lot and off to the party we went.

One drink and the additonal gastric swelling put an end to any romantic aspirations we might have had…

pgk

[WatfordParticipant @watford]

And having said all that – whatever happened to Lyons Individual Fruit Pies?

Came in small square cardboard boxes, in several flavours, predominately apple.

No lunch break was complete without one.

Mike

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

Aldi do nice treacle or jam sponge puddings, two individual ones in a pack. Only had treacle as I am not a great preserved fruit fan.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Frizets!

They came in a box, as a bag of powder that you mixed with water to a thick pancake-mix consistency, and you dropped spoonsful into a hot pan, preferably of bacon fat, though Trex or Spry would do. They solidified into little fritters that you cooked till light brown.

I told Mummy that when I grew up and could eat what I liked, I'd have Frizets every day. Now nobody knows what they were. People put alleged recipes on the web, but I'd no more trust those than I'd try to make an atom bomb out of red mercury…

Edited By Mick B1 on 20/04/2020 16:26:25

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

And the Corona man arriving in his lorry with sloping sides and all the crates exposed to the elements!

And dog dodo was white – what was that all about?

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

We used to take our American visitors to a local pub for lunch that had a range of traditional puddings. They were always delighted by the spotted dick of course.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

My memories aren't quite so rosy! The overall standard of ordinary British food was pretty poor when I was young. Good quality ingredients spoiled by poor preparation was order of the day, and then served luke-warm. Houses stank of over-boiled vegetables, mostly cabbage. Mashed potato guaranteed lumpy. Brown Windsor Soup. Coffee was very badly made or instant nasty and tea was liable to be stewed. Chocolate with no chocolate in it and ice-cream with no cream. Only one flavour of ice cream available, vanilla substitute. Other chemical flavourings galore. Greasy Spoon Cafes. Bangers so called because the meat is full of injected water, assuming it was 'meat'. Dry curly sandwiches with a choice between slimy processed ham or slimy cheese. Enzyme softened 'steak'. Powdered Custard. I quite liked Vesta Chicken Supreme, but it was almost nothing like the real thing! Watery squash drinks and gravy. Most dishes over-seasoned because cooks and customers alike had damaged taste buds due to heavy smoking. Sour milk, strange cloudy cask beer, Brown Ale, Liebfraumilch, Blue Nun and – best of all – British Wine, actually a horrible blend of European cast-offs. Wimpy Burgers and Bernie Inns. Landlady, Hotel, and Institutional food. My sister worked in a posh restaurant that reused waste scraped from used plates. Lard Sandwiches, fatty mince, tripe and onions, urine flavoured devilled kidney, mutton, butter substitutes, the list is endless…

Of course the advantage was we were all thin. Now we've learned to enjoy our food, we might get our bottoms wedged in toilet bowls like those giant wobbly Americans!

Dave

 

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 20/04/2020 19:20:34

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

I still like tripe and onions and I can't get mutton    

Edited By roy entwistle on 20/04/2020 19:33:05

[Sam SpoonsParticipant @samspoons83065]

Posted by Martin Kyte on 20/04/2020 14:16:31:

For example HP stopped producing Fruity Sauce a few years back and then reintroduced it to a changed recipe.

I never noticed that and I'm an HP Fruity Sauce fan

My most missed is relatively recent, Knorr Stir It Up pots for chicken, especially Chinese Five Spice and California Lemon Pepper.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 20/04/2020 19:19:57:

My memories aren't quite so rosy!

…

Chocolate with no chocolate in it and ice-cream with no cream. Only one flavour of ice cream available, vanilla substitute. Other chemical flavourings galore.

…

Dave

Well, I can remember elements of that, SOD – in particular school puddings that varied only in colouring. If it was brown, with a brownish sauce, we were expected to believe it was chocolate pudding; if pink, strawberry; if yellow, lemon sponge with custard. But we all knew they all tasted exactly the same – of nothing.

[StueeeeParticipant @stueeee]

Posted by Mick B1 on 20/04/2020 16:24:46:

Frizets!

They came in a box, as a bag of powder that you mixed with water to a thick pancake-mix consistency, and you dropped spoonsful into a hot pan, preferably of bacon fat, though Trex or Spry would do. They solidified into little fritters that you cooked till light brown.

I told Mummy that when I grew up and could eat what I liked, I'd have Frizets every day. Now nobody knows what they were. People put alleged recipes on the web, but I'd no more trust those than I'd try to make an atom bomb out of red mercury…

Edited By Mick B1 on 20/04/2020 16:26:25

I remember cooking Frizets at scout camps back in the 60's. The troop's quartermaster must have bought a truckload of the stuff many years before as I don't remember ever seeing it in the shops at the time. I think that the extreme stickiness of the mixture -it was difficult to get it to drop off the spoon into the frying pan- was due to there being a fair amount of Gram flour (AKA Chickpea flour) in the recipe.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Peter G. Shaw on 20/04/2020 12:47:29:

So, the question is, whatever happened to Heinz Steamed Treacle Sponge?

Peter (drooling jaws) G. Shaw

You just ain't looking hard enough Peter!

Neil

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Rissoles. Heinz tinned beef burgers. Russian cake.

Edited By blowlamp on 20/04/2020 20:55:57

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Speedy Builder5 on 20/04/2020 17:40:54:

And dog dodo was white – what was that all about?

Medicines that killed off the insects that would have digested it, I think!

Back to food, having been exiled to England for 33 years I have at least had the good fortune to spend the last 18 in DE14, a noble postcode as it is home to Branston Pickle (now made abroad though), and as well as Marmite and Marstons – the latter of which actually features the postcode on its labels.

Even Melton Mowbray can only muster two staples – pork pies and Stilton.

Neil

And teh pickle factory, now a B&Q depot…

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Posted by Speedy Builder5 on 20/04/2020 17:40:54:

And dog dodo was white – what was that all about?

Dogs ate bones in them days.

regards Martin

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