Old-fashioned foods which should make a comeback

[BarbaraVineFan]

I am just making a cheese and potato pie for lunch, which I last ate circa 1988. It's basically mashed potatoes mixed with an egg and a fuck load of cheese, more cheese on top and then baked in the oven. Bloody lovely, relatively cheap and filling.

Which other old-fashioned foods do you make /have you made recently which you think should make a comeback?

Thanks, but I only advised the alternative, as I know zero about blancmange….
I really hate the texture.

Yes Chorley cakes , not sure if the difference between a Chorley cake and a flat cake, maybe Mum just called them flat cakes instead, I certainly recognise your description. That was Bolton.

Yes, my DF was the only one in our house who would eat tripe. There was a special little shop locally that literally sold just tripe.
Milk puddings were eaten all the time, a treat was Queen of Puddings which was white breadcrumbs soaked in egg and milk, baked until firm, jam on top and then meringue which was flash baked. I used to like sago and tapioca, though I know that many people hate it. My GM used to put evapourated or condensed milk in the mik puddings and I think that made it more creamy.
I think that power was relatively cheap back then and people used to put the oven on to cook just one thing.
One of my neighbours is a little older from me and from NZ. When people get together she often bakes delicious little traybakes and cakes. I think it's perhaps more of a tradition there, less so here now.

Good point about the oven being used a lot.

@ForGreyKoala
I agree re too much mayo in sandwiches. Now I do like cheese and onion sandwiches but not shop bought for the reason that they are far too soggy. You could wring them out in a bucket!!

I too find everything far too sweet but must admit I still like sauces and gravies. When I used to do Christmas - it was the bread sauce, cranberry sauce and the gravy plus all the pickles that I particularly liked,

I love bread sauce. I've been meaning to make a loaf of spelt bread since I can control what's in it, and all the gluten-free breads have far too many ingredients. If I freeze a good chunk of it I can make bread sauce - I have thyme and bayleaves in the garden.

The power thing is true and has been mentioned recently with regard to "cheap cuts of meat" The advice used to be that they made an economic nutritious meal. This changed when the energy needed for the long slow cooking got more expensive, and changed again with the advent of slowcookers.

Yes, so many bought sandwiches are wet, I also don't like granary bread, it goes soggy so quickly and has those little lumps that damage your teeth.
I'm definitely one for my gravy, but real gray not this stuff out of a jar. Same goes for cranberry and bread sauces, so easy to make and so much better.

My airfryer is also a pressure cooker and can slow cook, maybe people will get back into the habit of using cheap cuts of meat if they can buy them anywhere?

I found a free download of an old version (16th edition) of the Bero cookbook if anyone's interested: d-a-v-e.org/documents/Be-Ro_CookBook.pdf

It's interesting to observe the differences in nomenclature of foods, with obviously the version one grew up with being the right one! There's a dish labelled gypsy tart in the thread wnich is nothing like the school one, and a homemade honeycomb mould which is not the one I grew up making.
Now I've got a problem food which has a name confusion which I don't know if it's regional, or just Mum.
French Toast in other's repertoires is what I call Eggy Bread (which we had under that name at Guide camp), What Mum called French Toast was left over bread and butter if we didn't eat it all at tea, toasted under the grill. This is actually quite like the French Toast one can buy in Waitrose, which is undeniably French -Jacquet makes it - and undeniably toast - dry oblong slices. No trace of extra fat like Mum's butter though, And we had no Waitrose.
When the subject comes up, I shut up.

Oh I really fancy some mince and tatties now. As kids our best treat was when granny made soda farls and tattie bread on her griddle. Toasted soda farls with loads of butter, tattie bread fried with a bit of bacon. Best treat ever although if any family had been back to Ireland and brought us some bags of dulse it was a close second.

Just had a look and I could order some dulse on ebay, haven't had any for years so might get some and see if I still like it.

I love this thread!

"a treat was Queen of Puddings which was white breadcrumbs soaked in egg and milk, baked until firm, jam on top and then meringue which was flash baked."

QoP is a perfect example of how ordinary ingredients come together to make something sublime. I just wish I could be bothered to make it more often (blancmange and milk jelly too. I have got too lazy with the ready availability of palatable things in pots.)

My Nan who used to describe herself as a 'good plain cook' and who used to be a housekeeper for rich old ladies, did a variation of the cheese pie in the OP - she stirred a little rich tomato paste into a cheese, fried onion and mash mixture and sliced tomatoes onto the top before sprinkling with cheese and grilling. It was so simple and so delicious.

B&M have them.

Yes I agree, the Q of P I mentioned was one of my GMs recipes. She had been a proper nanny before the first world war and travelled all over the world with her two girls and their family. All her recipes were simple, nutritious and delicious and she could make a single home-reared chicken stretch to feel about a dozen people by serving it with delicious vegetable dishes, bread sauce, home made stuffing and any trimming you could imagine. All her meals were cooked in a Belling oven which wasn't much bigger than a "Baby Belling", I've no idea how she managed it all.
My mother had some of her recipes but I've never been able to replicate the delicious parsley and thyme stuffing which she made every year. She also made a lovely Surprise pudding (lemon sauce inside), a lemony honeycomb mould and the best Scotch pancakes ever.
One simple non-english pudding that I make now is pannacotta, made with buttermilk rather than cream when I can buy it. It's the epitome of a simple pudding - or as my GM Nanny used to describe it "digestible". I do also sometimes make little pots of chocolate blancmange because my GC love it.

Gypsy tart is a Kent thing can still be bought in Asda Broadstairs . Lardy cake I remember buying in Sainsburys and it was lush but haven't seen it for many years .

Egg and bacon pie. Pastry top and bottom with bacon and beaten eggs inside.
Terry's Spartan chocolates. Whatever happened to hard centred chocolates?

Oh and Mr Kipling apple pies with custard in

I th

I thought i'd dreamt those! No one ever remembers them.

I mentioned waaaaay back upthread that DM used to make chocolate buns based on the weight of an egg and lots of people commented.

Just to say, many thanks to whoever posted that MacDougall's flour recipe. Made a half-quantity this afternoon in the Yorkshire tin a la DM. Fabulous. Thank you.

Have already eaten four.

when my waistline has recovered I'll try the version someone else posted with a tablespoon of cocoa.

Just catching up on this post! Asked my hubby to make this for me today as I've been feeling rubbish! Can't beat it.. I hate egg 'mayo' just this is so much better.
I always ask my mum for a fried egg sandwich, she always makes them better than me!

Jam tart buns, always baked along with a myriad of other treats.

@angela1952 , I’m not keen on mayo in sandwiches, either - though I do use some in homemade egg and cress or lettuce sandwiches - eggs mashed with mayo. Butter is nearly always nicer in everything else IMO.

There still seem to be a lot of home bakers here, although I live in a rural town which might have something to do with it. There were a few young women at my workplace who would bake delicious cakes and bring them to work to share, so the baking tradition is still kept going, which is good to see.
I too like sago and tapioca, but haven't had them for years. Btw I frequently put my oven on to cook just one thing!