DS Forums

 
 

Anyone else grew up being given perfectly adequate but utterly plain food?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 14-12-2010, 23:26
indianwells
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,236
I feel your pain Parthy!

Growing up, all I can remember is frozen cod in parsley sauce, Findus pancakes, Birdseye cod balls in batter (we were from Grimsby in case you hadn't guessed!), whatever my gran managed to nick from the chip shop she worked in, tinned peaches, Carnation milk and an occasional Vienetta (a real treat!). I will credit my Mum with the most amazing chocolate cake though, and still legendary amongst family members! She couldn't cook anything else for shit though...

Resign yourself to it and cook for yourself, they ain't gonna change. And actually why should they? They like the stuff they've always eaten and if they are happy with that then who are we to change them? The older generation don't like change in my experience, i've been cooking for my 76 year old MIL for about 5-6 years now, and although i've managed to alter her opinion marginally, i'm never going to change her tastes completely so i'm not going to try.

Boiling mince in water for an hour? My God, you have my utmost sympathy!
indianwells is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 14-12-2010, 23:44
parthy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,010
They're only in their 50s though!

And yeah, I never realised mince could be lovely if cooked properly 'til I started cooking for myself!
parthy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 02:18
LaVieEnRose
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 6,516
When my mother does bacon and cabbage, it's boiled bacon, cabbage boiled in the same pot to the point of sogginess and boiled potatoes, and THAT'S IT. No flourishes.
Oh my, I do know what you mean! I had Irish in-laws for years and the older generation of them cooked everything for hours until there was no flavour or texture left whatsoever.

Bacon and cabbage is a lush dish which I still often cook myself - yes, I cook the cabbage in the same water, but only after the bacon is cooked and resting - then I bring the water back to a fast boil and put in the cabbage, cooking it till just tender. I always make onion sauce to go with it, that's lovely with the boiled spuds. And have mustard and chutney on the table.

Auntie M's method on the other hand - she would place the raw bacon joint AND the cabbage in cold water and cook both together right from the start. What an unappetising grey sludgy mess that used to turn out. They wouldn't have anything to do with sauce, either - if I offered to make some, I got it all to myself.

The other thing was that by the time the food was dished up and on the table, it was practically stone cold (and served on cold plates, naturally!)
LaVieEnRose is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 02:55
indianwells
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,236
Oh my, I do know what you mean! I had Irish in-laws for years and the older generation of them cooked everything for hours until there was no flavour or texture left whatsoever.

Bacon and cabbage is a lush dish which I still often cook myself - yes, I cook the cabbage in the same water, but only after the bacon is cooked and resting - then I bring the water back to a fast boil and put in the cabbage, cooking it till just tender. I always make onion sauce to go with it, that's lovely with the boiled spuds. And have mustard and chutney on the table.

Auntie M's method on the other hand - she would place the raw bacon joint AND the cabbage in cold water and cook both together right from the start. What an unappetising grey sludgy mess that used to turn out. They wouldn't have anything to do with sauce, either - if I offered to make some, I got it all to myself.

The other thing was that by the time the food was dished up and on the table, it was practically stone cold (and served on cold plates, naturally!)
If I remember rightly you only had to go a little further back and you didn't have a plate. The mashed spud was dolloped on the table, a well was punched in the middle and any filling you had was put in there?
indianwells is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 03:10
Pixie Queen
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: My Own Little World
Posts: 1,102
Parthy.... I admit I assumed your parent were lots and lots older than I am. My Mummy is in her 80's now and the way I see it that's how she was taught/told/showed to cooked mince (boil it for an hour at least) and make sure the veg were well cooked all the way through( name a veg and by the time my mammy has cooked it it is soft and has a certain taste) 'cos that's what my 80 something year old Mummy was taught how to cook. My Daddy was a different kettle of fish... he travelled all over the world (he was in the armed forces) and experienced different foods and really enjoyed the different methods of preparing and cooking food.
He got back on civvy street... mince was the dish of the day.... My Mummy done boiled for a few hours mince and tatties.... my Daddy would make a Keema Curry.

My Mummy would make rice pudding.... My Daddy would make Nasi Goring(spelling people please)

I still dream about butterscotch angel delight...... I've never seen it in years and I don't know if it can still be bought. The fish finger, frozen chips and spagg hoops in tomato sauce meal I had at a friends when I was about 9ish was crowned with angel delight butterscotch flavor.

I'm a wee bit younger than your parents but I honestly thought they were LOTS older than me.

I have to thank BOTH my parents for feeding me best they could with fresh from the garden veg and doing best they could on a very limited budget and choice. Not to mention the variety of food experiences they gave me.
Pixie Queen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 03:25
indianwells
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,236
Parthy.... I admit I assumed your parent were lots and lots older than I am. My Mummy is in her 80's now and the way I see it that's how she was taught/told/showed to cooked mince (boil it for an hour at least) and make sure the veg were well cooked all the way through( name a veg and by the time my mammy has cooked it it is soft and has a certain taste) 'cos that's what my 80 something year old Mummy was taught how to cook. My Daddy was a different kettle of fish... he travelled all over the world (he was in the armed forces) and experienced different foods and really enjoyed the different methods of preparing and cooking food.
He got back on civvy street... mince was the dish of the day.... My Mummy done boiled for a few hours mince and tatties.... my Daddy would make a Keema Curry.

My Mummy would make rice pudding.... My Daddy would make Nasi Goring(spelling people please)

I still dream about butterscotch angel delight...... I've never seen it in years and I don't know if it can still be bought. The fish finger, frozen chips and spagg hoops in tomato sauce meal I had at a friends when I was about 9ish was crowned with angel delight butterscotch flavor.

I'm a wee bit younger than your parents but I honestly thought they were LOTS older than me.

I have to thank BOTH my parents for feeding me best they could with fresh from the garden veg and doing best they could on a very limited budget and choice. Not to mention the variety of food experiences they gave me.
You sound lovely! I think you should have called yourself Faerie Queen!
indianwells is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 03:45
Pixie Queen
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: My Own Little World
Posts: 1,102
You sound lovely! I think you should have called yourself Faerie Queen!
I should have been wiser and called myself Crabbit Bessom


I've been a lucky lucky child, girl and woman. I had two parents who loved me and all they wanted was me to be happy.

The food I experienced from both as I grew up was mind blowing to many of my (then) peers.. top me it was normal
I do remember the olives.... I said to my friends...they are olivies.... you wont like them.... they said ..OH Grapes

THEY DIDN'T LIKE THEM

The keema curry my Daddy cooked...sweet heaven if only I could get that exact spice mix

<My Mummy still make the best soup this side of the moon as far as I'm concerned..... her cock-a-leekie ...paradise in a bowl

I was and am a very lucky woman to have parents like mine.
Pixie Queen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 08:18
RootsFran
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Fens
Posts: 455
Butterscotch Angel delight is still available, had some yesterday from tesco!
RootsFran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 10:13
Frood
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 12,882
Chuckled at bol og nay se

My mum was born in 1931. So taking account of the during and post WW2 availability she was a good plain, but uninspiring, cook. In that time the shortage of food meant dishes often went towards the 'filling' end of the spectrum rather than tasty.

I was amused watching a Jamie Oliver programme when he observed that for many a salad was iceberg lettuce (yuk), tomato, cucumber, onion, pickled beetroot and salad cream (big yuk). The range of salads you consider now were beyond them. And the idea of mixing and oil and vinegar for a dressing

I haven't had liver in years - although I must try sometime because I now know how to cook it - quickly - not to produce that horrid. grey, leathery thing I grew up with
The most 'exotic' thing I ever saw cooked in the family home was Duck a l'orange. Don't know where that came from......

She actually did some roast beef last year that was properly cooked - a soft pink in the middle. I was shocked.

I compared notes with a friend recently and we agreed the following:

The only 'spices' we ever saw were (Saxa) salt and that horrid white pepper

No idea what black peppercorns, paprika, tumeric, cardoman, fenugreek etc were

The only herb you ever saw was mint, and that in a sauce with lamb

Wouldn't have the first idea what to do with basil, coriander, dill, rosemary or the rest

Potatoes were boiled, roast, fried, chipped or mashed - and as pointed out no waxy ones

Other vegetables were boiled - end of

Sauces? Do you want HP, tomato or mint?

Oil was used for deep frying. What's olive oil when it's at home?

You don't want French ot Italian cheese.......... Horrid smelly stuff.

Flavoured bread?????

Vinegar was Sarsons. Red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar

Garlic was evil (biggest sin of all)

What's pasta? Oh, that stuff you get in rings or letters swamped in tomato sauce.........

Curry smells dreadful - well yes, if all you use is curry powder (and lots of it) that may be the case

What's a 'wok'?

What's an aubergine/pepper/chilli/red onion/sweet potato?

Rice - oh, you mean Uncle Ben's

I started cooking when I moved out of the 'family home' and do things in the kitchen (when cooking you dirty minded people) that my mum couldn't contemplate. Thinking back to 20 years ago there is so much more in the shops now.
Frood is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 10:20
joules22
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,542
I grew up eating my mum's delicious cooking, but boy was it plain and predictable!

Every main meal was served with potatoes. We had beef practically every Sunday for Sunday dinner, followed by cold beef sandwiches for tea. Monday was always cold beef and chips, or egg and chips if there wasn't enough beef left. Occasionally we had lamb on Sunday and I really enjoyed the change. Eating so much beef has put me off roast beef, oh and to be fair mum overcooked it for my tastes. If I have beef, I prefer it rare.

We never, ever, had pasta or rice. I remember her cooking mushrooms once!

She was brilliant at making cakes though. I never eat cake these days because my mum's cakes were so good and I don't want to eat anything that's not as good.
joules22 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 10:39
AppleJuice:)
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Playing with Lego
Posts: 2,660
From a lot of your answers it looks like I was lucky, my Mum was a great cook when I was growing up in the seventies and eighties.

Some kind of roast every sunday, sometimes risoles with the leftovers, yummy egg and bacon pie (I now know its called quiche lol), spag bol, toad in the hole, shepards pie, home made chips, gammon and cauliflour cheese. I still love all this food but I also make different stuff too.

I haven't had tinned fruit with evaporated milk since back then though lol.

And she cooked for a family of six from scratch every day for years!!! Dunno how she did it.
AppleJuice:) is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 10:58
Frood
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 12,882
I haven't had tinned fruit with evaporated milk since back then though lol.
Ahhhh the classic dessert......... custard on a 'posh' day
Frood is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 11:39
parthy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,010
I was amused watching a Jamie Oliver programme when he observed that for many a salad was iceberg lettuce (yuk)
I hate iceberg lettuce too. Bleurgh.

Potatoes were boiled, roast, fried, chipped or mashed - and as pointed out no waxy ones
This is adventurous compared to what I grew up with!
parthy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 12:13
Frood
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 12,882
I hate iceberg lettuce too. Bleurgh.

!
If I was ever on Room 101 I would want iceberg lettuce sent down..........
Frood is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 12:17
parthy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,010
If I was ever on Room 101 I would want iceberg lettuce sent down..........
I love good old round leaf lettuce. At least it's not flavourless, watery muck.

I think basically what it is is that it's hard when a person who has lived away from home for a while, returns to the nest, for both that person and the parents.

They're set in their ways, and in a way, I am too! The ways I've learned since moving out!
parthy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 14:27
KidPoker
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Winnersville
Posts: 4,058
As a student that lives at home I get my own food. No, not Pot Noodles, Super Noodles. I actually really enjoy nice food. My brother makes lasagne and other dishes etc, but my mother sticks with the basics really.
KidPoker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 14:29
molliepops
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: woking
Posts: 21,660
Sometimes it isn't just stuck in their ways though because some of us actually like bland foods, personally I hate spices (unless it's mixed spice in a cake or bread) only occasionally use herbs and cook potatoes almost everyday. Detest the idea veggies should have a crunch so yes they are cooked for at least 20 minutes. It's the sort of food we enjoy !
molliepops is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 14:30
Frood
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 12,882
I love good old round leaf lettuce. At least it's not flavourless, watery muck.
That's the final nail (not that you could 'nail' it, horrid watery stuff) in the coffin of iceberg lettuce.

It drove me away from other leaves for many years.

Rocket - absolutely sublime, such a long time wasted
Frood is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 15:05
parthy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,010
As a student that lives at home I get my own food. No, not Pot Noodles, Super Noodles. I actually really enjoy nice food. My brother makes lasagne and other dishes etc, but my mother sticks with the basics really.
So you're kinda like me then. And I loathe instant noodles.
parthy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 15:06
parthy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,010
Sometimes it isn't just stuck in their ways though because some of us actually like bland foods, personally I hate spices (unless it's mixed spice in a cake or bread) only occasionally use herbs and cook potatoes almost everyday. Detest the idea veggies should have a crunch so yes they are cooked for at least 20 minutes. It's the sort of food we enjoy !
Fair enough. But with my parents, they just won't try things or will go into trying them deciding beforehand that they won't like them.
parthy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 15:11
Shrike
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nottingham
Posts: 11,478
...I started cooking when I moved out of the 'family home' and do things in the kitchen (when cooking you dirty minded people) that my mum couldn't contemplate. Thinking back to 20 years ago there is so much more in the shops now.
Quality post, Frood. My family were much the same in the '60s&'70s, but I like to think they are open to trying new things, just back when I grew up a lot simply wasn't readily available. Olive oil was something you only got in the chemist - for earache! Herbs - well there was dried mixed but that was about it, we grew mint, parsley and rosemary but no others.
The UK was one of the first industrial societies so by the '70s we were generations away from our countryside ancestors who knew about native herbs etc.
It was european travel becoming affordable that opened up the worlds cuisine to the British, along with telly cooks and Sunday supplements.
So a big thanks to Grahame Kerr and Fanny Craddock
Shrike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 15:24
Whirliegig
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: the Celtic Fringe
Posts: 2,730
At home growing up, an onion was as exotic as it got when it came to adding flavour to cooking.

I rememebr when pizza first arrived, and it was called pizza-pie, and it was deep fried from the chippy.
Whirliegig is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 15:30
molliepops
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: woking
Posts: 21,660
Fair enough. But with my parents, they just won't try things or will go into trying them deciding beforehand that they won't like them.
I see what you mean - we have tried many foods and just find what people these days see as bland are what we really like.
molliepops is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 15:33
parthy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,010
At home growing up, an onion was as exotic as it got when it came to adding flavour to cooking.
Have to admit though, I'm an onion devotee and despite the more exotic things available now, I still think it's a great flavour enhancer.
parthy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2010, 15:34
parthy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,010
I rememebr when pizza first arrived, and it was called pizza-pie, and it was deep fried from the chippy.
Isn't that still a thing in Scotland? It's called a crispy slice or something.
parthy is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply



Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 22:38.