New BBC2 Back in time for dinner

moneyistooshorttomention

honeythewitch wrote: »

I don't mind her being incompetent.(or moaning) We cant all be good at everything, after all. But its a puzzle how anyone could get to that age and to never once see chips cooking so that you know that the oil/fat has to actually cover them.

Would it have been considered cheating to do Sl*mming W*rld chips? - ie as those get baked in the oven. Personally, those are the only chips I have ever cooked and they're manageable - without worrying about heated fat. Not that any of them need a diet - for which much relief - as I'd never have watched my way through even the first programme if they did...

Lizling

honeythewitch wrote: »

I don't mind her being incompetent.(or moaning) We cant all be good at everything, after all. But its a puzzle how anyone could get to that age and to never once see chips cooking so that you know that the oil/fat has to actually cover them.

I think she did know that the oil needed to cover them. That's why they wanted to add more lard, but couldn't because the instructions said under no circumstances to more than half fill it with fat or it'd be a fire risk. Looked like a situation engineered to go wrong.

I'm a few years younger than her but the only time I've ever seen a deep fat fryer used at home was on one occasion when mum tried it for the first time and didn't do any better. Burnt to dark brown on the outside and crunchy on the inside! We went back to oven chips after that. I've never used one myself.

thriftwizard

I'm pretty sure we didn't have oven chips for most of the 70s. There were frozen chips, but you still had to fry them. Basically, we only had chips on the very rare occasions that we had takeaway fish & chips - usually on holiday in some draughty caravan by the Cornish coast, where our grandparents lived. Takeaway food was a once a year treat, for us - I couldn't believe it when I went off to study in Edinburgh in 1977 and discovered baked potato shops! Baked potatoes still feel like a "treat" food to me now.

One thing my Mum did that they haven't mentioned - in fact I think they've only mentioned leftovers once, and that was rather horrible cold fried liver - was re-fried potatoes. Basically she would boil up twice what we needed for one meal, and the next night we'd have them sliced & fried up with a dusting of salt & pepper & mixed herbs - they were delicious! I still do this regularly, though I'll often do it with baked potatoes rather than boiled, which OH & the kids don't like much, and it's a great favourite with the whole family, eaten with sausages (top quality, local produce, inexpensive from the local market) beans (green & baked) and home-laid eggs.

Has anyone spotted any leftover dishes in the programme? We probably ate them 3-4 times a week! I plan my week's menus round leftovers to this day.

Pollycat

thriftwizard wrote: »

I'm pretty sure we didn't have oven chips for most of the 70s. There were frozen chips, but you still had to fry them. Basically, we only had chips on the very rare occasions that we had takeaway fish & chips - usually on holiday in some draughty caravan by the Cornish coast, where our grandparents lived. Takeaway food was a once a year treat, for us - I couldn't believe it when I went off to study in Edinburgh in 1977 and discovered baked potato shops! Baked potatoes still feel like a "treat" food to me now.

One thing my Mum did that they haven't mentioned - in fact I think they've only mentioned leftovers once, and that was rather horrible cold fried liver - was re-fried potatoes. Basically she would boil up twice what we needed for one meal, and the next night we'd have them sliced & fried up with a dusting of salt & pepper & mixed herbs - they were delicious! I still do this regularly, though I'll often do it with baked potatoes rather than boiled, which OH & the kids don't like much, and it's a great favourite with the whole family, eaten with sausages (top quality, local produce, inexpensive from the local market) beans (green & baked) and home-laid eggs.

Has anyone spotted any leftover dishes in the programme? We probably ate them 3-4 times a week! I plan my week's menus round leftovers to this day.

We used to call these scollops (or scallops).

If you Google 'scalloped potatoes' it brings up lots of recipes.

Mojisola

thriftwizard wrote: »

One thing my Mum did that they haven't mentioned - in fact I think they've only mentioned leftovers once, and that was rather horrible cold fried liver - was re-fried potatoes. Basically she would boil up twice what we needed for one meal, and the next night we'd have them sliced & fried up with a dusting of salt & pepper & mixed herbs - they were delicious!

Monday dinner was always cold meat from Sunday's roast, fried potatoes (boiled on Sunday and kept by) and reheated veg.

Monday was wash day and having a 'left over' dinner made it much easier for Mum.

suki1964

thriftwizard wrote: »

I'm pretty sure we didn't have oven chips for most of the 70s. There were frozen chips, but you still had to fry them. Basically, we only had chips on the very rare occasions that we had takeaway fish & chips - usually on holiday in some draughty caravan by the Cornish coast, where our grandparents lived. Takeaway food was a once a year treat, for us - I couldn't believe it when I went off to study in Edinburgh in 1977 and discovered baked potato shops! Baked potatoes still feel like a "treat" food to me now.

One thing my Mum did that they haven't mentioned - in fact I think they've only mentioned leftovers once, and that was rather horrible cold fried liver - was re-fried potatoes. Basically she would boil up twice what we needed for one meal, and the next night we'd have them sliced & fried up with a dusting of salt & pepper & mixed herbs - they were delicious! I still do this regularly, though I'll often do it with baked potatoes rather than boiled, which OH & the kids don't like much, and it's a great favourite with the whole family, eaten with sausages (top quality, local produce, inexpensive from the local market) beans (green & baked) and home-laid eggs.

Has anyone spotted any leftover dishes in the programme? We probably ate them 3-4 times a week! I plan my week's menus round leftovers to this day.

Mmmmm fried potatoes, still do them to this day, with egg and beans usually for a cheap easy supper

Left overs was always Monday My great aunt would mince up the tiniest bit of left over Sunday beef or lamb, mix it up with the left over veg and gravy and make two pie plates. I used to hate Sunday dinner yet mixed up in a pie I would scoff it down. Thinking about the Sunday joint it wouldn't have been 2lb in weight before cooking yet it would feed 3 kids and 3 adults two days. She could slice it that thin you could read a book through it lol

Another left over meal would be the remains of a casserole. In the liquidiser it went and it was soup for lunch

I don't think we had many left over meals in the week because only what was needed was bought and cooked and we had to eat it. Bubble and squeak would show up quite often, sometimes even on the weekend breakfast , but that was because there was always a ton of veg cooked for every meal

Pooky

I've really enjoyed the series so far. It's been fascinating to see how foods changed so quickly. Not something I remember at all - I was born in 1973 and my parents struggled for money....even now my parents still only eat the sort of foods they were serving up in the 50's/60's. A slice of corned beef with a bit of basic salad and some boiled potatoes seemed to be a standard in our house and I hated it - with a passion. Monday night was always egg and chips, fried in lard in a chip pan - we were allowed a bit of bread and butter that night too - but not any other day as bread wasn't for evening meals. We didn't often have a roast but "posh sausages" were a staple - "posh" just meant they were cooked in the oven with the roast potatoes done around them, it was Mums way of keeping the costs down but still providing a meat and roast veg meal...there always seemed to be a pot of stew on the hob too - always lamb (blugh) always more swede than anything (double blugh) and after 3 or 4 days there'd be no dumplings, no meat and lots of gristle left but it filled bellys.

I had aunts and uncles living near by with cousins and we had what I thought was quite an idyllic childhood spending lots of time altogether as a family at my grandparents house - what I didn't realise until a few years ago was that the entire family were so broke that we'd meet up to share what little food there was - my grandparents had a veg garden and one aunt worked in a greengrocers so they provided the veg/fruit - my other aunt was married to a fisherman so we'd get the crabs and fish that were too small to sell and my mum would provide a lump of cheese or a tin of beans and from it all they'd feed us kids first and then cobble something together for the adults. Quite shocking really when I realise now but at the time I just felt so lucky to spend so much time with my extended family.

Goldiegirl

I was on holiday when this series started, but it sounds very interesting. I'll have to catch up on iPlayer.


I'll read everybody's comments about each episode after I've watched, so don't worry if I suddenly go back to the 50's!

sammcg

I just love this programme, however I can't cope in my kitchen, (i don't cook, i have a dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer all the mod cons and yet i don't cook)

honeythewitch

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Would it have been considered cheating to do Sl*mming W*rld chips? - ie as those get baked in the oven. Personally, those are the only chips I have ever cooked and they're manageable - without worrying about heated fat. Not that any of them need a diet - for which much relief - as I'd never have watched my way through even the first programme if they did...

I wonder when they were invented? I think Slimming world was started in the seventies, wasn't it?

Lizling wrote: »

I think she did know that the oil needed to cover them. That's why they wanted to add more lard, but couldn't because the instructions said under no circumstances to more than half fill it with fat or it'd be a fire risk. Looked like a situation engineered to go wrong.

I'm a few years younger than her but the only time I've ever seen a deep fat fryer used at home was on one occasion when mum tried it for the first time and didn't do any better. Burnt to dark brown on the outside and crunchy on the inside! We went back to oven chips after that. I've never used one myself.

Oh I see. Yes come to think of it the chip pan they gave her was far too small for her to do all the chips in no matter how much lard she put in.


I loved all the brown and orange tiles but I have never in my life seen a kitchen quite THAT much orange and brown. I preferred the pretty sixties blue decor.