Old seventies menu,when melons were gondolas

[ChrissyShenkle]

This was posted on my local Facebook from a hotel that's now closed
Hard to believe that fruit juice was a starter, and what the hell are eggs indienne?

I'm sure there were many abysmal restaurants and cafes, but as with anything else if you picked carefully there were also many gems. We didn't eat out that much as a family in the 1970s but when we did it was sometimes at Berni Inns or similar, but often at small independent restaurants, often Italian-owned, where the food was excellent. There was a really good small place we went to a few times in a village outside Leeds (I wish I could remember where, and the name, and the names of the couple who ran it, but I can't). They served top notch French-influenced British food, probably inspired by Elizabeth David, as so many good cooks and chefs were at the time. I still remember a birthday meal there where I had pork braised with plums. Absolutely delicious.

@eyesopenwideawake where was the Savoy in Nottingham. I was born early 80's so can't remember it.

I do remember going to the Charde on Melton Road for family meals in the early 90's. Duck a l'orange!

@Crabwoman It's now the Mercure Nottingham Sherwood Hotel on Mansfield Road. No idea where the "Sherwood" bit fits in!!

When did broccoli become popular in the UK?
I have no recollection of eating broccoli as a child in the 70s and 80s.

I don't recall eating broccoli ,,
I'm going to recreate a 70s menu

I don't recall the brocoli we commonly have in the shops now until the late 70s and it was a real change. However, we always had purple sprouting brocoli but not for very long and it was a treat. I can't remember whe it was in season.

My mum bought a block of frozen broccoli in the late 70s. Terribly soggy. Fresh was much better. I can't remember when that became commonly available. It was commonplace by the 90s.

Possibly during the 1990s? I don't recall eating it as a child but remember serving it after we married and my ILs saying it was a 'posh' vegetable which surprised me as it was fairly common by then .

I was wondering similar in respect of salmon - agreeing with the poster yesterday who only had it in tins growing up .

So many things on our every day menus now that weren't around growing up .

Thinking back to all 70s memories I had some dinner sets belonging to my mother. The size of the plates ! So much smaller . Perhaps it would be a good idea to reinstate 70s portion sizes too.

Yes, salmon was a real treat. My grandfather used to bring smoked salmon and sometimes fresh salmon home from trips to London in the 60s. It became more readily available, more cheaply in the late 80s/early 90s due to farming. DH and I used to have trout regularly in the 90s. I used to grill it with a marinade of lemon, garlic and crushed capers.

Similar to salmon, chicken portions, breasts, drumsticks and thighs weren't around in the 70s/80s. Chicken portions were, complete with skin and bones. It had flavour.

Pasta was very unusual in the 60s/70s. Salad was also hard to find outside of summer then. It was Chinese leaves in winter and very expensive imported tomatoes.

My favourites as a child were stuffed marrow with tomato sauce, usually served with boiled potatoes and a green veg. Also cauliflower cheese with pork chops and proper deep fried chips. My mother regularly made chips, I never have.

I first saw salmon when my mother had a milestone birthday in 1983 and a side of salmon appeared at the party to huge excitement. We did have tinned salmon and tuna though.

We still try to eat seasonally by only eating UK fruit and veg wherever possible: some things we don’t manage that but we only eat British asparagus and strawberries for example. It’s nice to get that thrill. I remember as a child hating new potatoes and being miserable all summer until ‘old’ potatoes came back.

Pasta was very unusual in the 60s/70s.

Except in the form of Heinz spaghetti hoops - tinned in tomato sauce! I loved tinned ravioli, which was sometimes served at school dinner as a main course with roast potatoes and tinned green beans, always (oddly but delectably) followed by steamed jam roll. I've always loved stodge (not spaghetti hoops, though).

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g well yes, you are absolutely right. When I was single in the 80s I often had a tin of buitoni ravioli with toast for supper!

One of the few things my Dad ever made was orange jelly whisked with evaporated milk, then poured to set in a chocolate cornflake mixture crust!

That sounds AMAZING 😍.

Unfortunately the only 1970s/80s childhood favourite my family hasn't turned their nose up at is butterscotch Angel Delight, but I'm sorely tempted by evaporated milk/chocolate crispy goodness.

@lavenderlou that sounds lovely! Did he just make up a slab of chocolate cornflake cake and then put the whisked jelly and evaporated milk over it?

There was an actual recipe for it - will have to see if I can dig it out next time I'm visiting. It was a chocolate cornflake mixture with golden syrup added, then this was spread into a pie dish or similar and left to set, then the jelly/evaporated milk mixture was pure in. It looked kind of like a cheesecake if I recall - the cornflake mixture made sides as well as a base.

Reading through some of these books I bought and I've noticed tuna is always referred to as "tuna fish" and avocados as "avocado pear" I wonder when that stopped?

My mum used to make delicious (more 80’s though I think) vol au vonts with chicken in some sort of white sauce.

My mum used to make these too. She also did prawn and mushroom fillings but chicken was my favourite.

My parents definitely grew brocolli in the 70s so they must have been used to eating it then.