Cooking in the 1970s

[ambereeree]

I've been watching Delia Smith cookery shows from the 1970s and some things really stood out so if you were an adult then please enlighten me.
Delia introduces dried beans and lentils as a food of the future because meat is expensive and scarce and we'll all be eating more plant based substitutes. Of course we all know now meat is cheap and not great quality but people eat loads. What was it like in the 1970s?
Also most of her dishes are European-did you cook Indian/Chinese food in the 1970s?
I was born at the end of the 70s and am not ethnically English so always had non English food. I remember my mum making Indian savoury snacks and taking them into an mainly white English primary school and the teachers all excitedly gathering to have a taste of spicy foods.

My mum cooked curry, but it was a fan style one with Apple's and raisins in, saved with bowls of things like sliced banana or dessicated coconut. I remember eating a lot of lamb too.

@quirkychick

These were my mum's that she passed on to me. My mum and grandmother used to make amazing cakes for our birthdays. They had done a Cordon Bleu Patisserie course when they were still in London.

Ooh, have you got the whole set of the Cordon Bleu part work? My Mum still has them all (and still uses them). Great 1970s dinner party classics... and some of the cakes turned up verbatim in Mary Berry’s books later.

And the M&S cake book, we had that, too. I bought it online not long ago. I remember being transfixed by the picture of the gingerbread house: mind-blowing at the time. I’ve still never attempted it, but I make the apple cake all the time.

I almohad a Saturday job in Littlewoods in the early seventies in the food hall section. We had to clock in and the breakfast for staff in first break was tinned tomatoes on toast. We wore nylon overalls. I worked on the apple counter where the apples were stacked up in big pyramids and we used brown paper bags fairly often the bottom would fall out of the bag. There was a cheese counter where it was an art to exactly slice the cheese for the right weight. I graduated to checkout where items had no prices on and you had to learn the price and catch up if they had gone up that week, obviously pre barcodes! The challenge there was putting stuff through as quickly as possible. I was pretty envious of friends who had jobs in shoe shops like Ravel, Dolcis and Freeman Hardy and Willis. I used to get the train to Liverpool and sit on the floor cushions in the Virgin record shop where headphones hung down from the ceiling.

Pogostomen, I think my parents had all the Cordon Bleu, no idea if they still have (very funny about being in Mary Berry). The maypole cake and the number cake were definitely made for birthdays! The St Michael Norwegian Apple Cake is lovely, my dad used to make the apple scone and we had a Gingerbread house cake, but I think a different recipe with chocolate roof tiles and the train cake!

Confusedandshaken I'm so glad I'm not the only one who remembers Home & Freezer Digest.

My mum is a great cook and I used to love stuffed hearts but she'd never let me watch her do it as she said it would put me off eating it . I love liver and onions too and also steamed puddings which we used to have.

@BlackForestCake
@beenrumbled

Thank you!!!

I think I was conflating the two things. I'd totally forgotten about Cresta - but I still remember the bear.

Very impressed with the number of you who had fathers who were accomplished cooks/bakers. My Dad (born early 1930s)
can manage if he has to, e.g. my Mum is in hospital or ill, but he would be limited to heating things up. I assume he has basic peeling and chopping skills but I can't remember ever seeing them in action. He does everything else around the house, just not cooking. My brother, however, is an excellent cook.

It is interesting really. There is a view on Mumsnet that we were all traditional housewives and stay at home Mums in the seventies. I and all my friends worked, our children went to nursery or childminders, we shared housework and cooking with partners. We are the generation who had experienced the revolution of the late sixties, been to university and were active in the Women's Movement. I appreciate that we were not typical of all women by any means, but we did exist. A bit hippyish, growing vegetables, giving our children unusual names and sometimes eating lentils. 😂

@1moreglassplease

Confusedandshaken I'm so glad I'm not the only one who remembers Home & Freezer Digest.

My mum is a great cook and I used to love stuffed hearts but she'd never let me watch her do it as she said it would put me off eating it . I love liver and onions too and also steamed puddings which we used to have.

I bought all the Home & Freezer Digests. I haven't got them now, but I've still got 3 of their compendium books; Baking For The Freezer, Christmas From The Freezer and The Complete Freezaway Christmas Cookbook. I still make my mincemeat and Christmas pud from their recipes.

Very impressed with the number of you who had fathers who were accomplished cooks/bakers. My Dad (born early 1930s) can manage if he has to

My father (born 1920s) could cook, but meals you would only eat if you had no other option. My grandfather, on the other hand (born 1890s), was an excellent traditional cook. He retired long before my grandmother and did most of the cooking and cleaning.

Olive oil was something you bought in the chemists

Born in 1970 so that was my era. My mum was a single parent so budget was tight but she was quite an ambitious cook. We'd lived in Athens for a year in the early seventies and we had family who'd lived in Sri Lanka, so she was seen as being quite progressive. She made curries (Homepride curry sauce, diced leftover roasts) with dried coconut, raisins and one one occasion mashed banana. Her Marrow Moussaka was surprisingly yummy.

Our numerous elderly aunts kept us fattened on pies (sweet and savoury) and the saturday high tea of boiled meat sandwiches and various tea loafs and Battenburg. But like lots of busy mothers in the seventies mum embraced convenience foods.

Mince was the primary meat- she's make a huge vat, stewed in the oven and cooled to skim the fat. Homepride Italian cook in sauce and long strands of over cooked spaghetti. Vesta Chow Mein was the only asian food. Chops, sausages, stewing steak, were served alongside potatoes and lots of veg depending on the season- cauliflower, runner beans. Salad in the summer with flat lettuce and sugar and vinegar dressing Fresh breadcrumbed fish and home made chips with the pan left on the back doorstep to cool down. When mum was one one of her ongoing seventies diets she would live off cottage cheese, bolied eggs and coffee.

Sunday always a roast but the meat had to spin out to another couple of meals so we filled up on yorkies which were served with treacle as dessert. We didnt have a freezer- just a fridge box - but a real treat was a block of Neapolitan icecream in its cardboard sleeve.

There was always lots of fruit- apples and oranges. every day and lots of cereal for late suppers. Breakfast was ready brek or toast with home made jam

Hot school lunches, Blue Ribband or Club biscuit when we got home with a mug of tea. Tap water or watery squash with tea. Crisps were a massive treat maybe on a Saturday- never in the week. Saturday lunch was fishfingers or beans on toast

Lovely memories.

@BIWI

In, I think, 1976, I started a Saturday job at Safeway in Oakwood (Leeds). It was one of the first supermarkets (other than Grandways, which was in Chapelallerton and so not as close to home). They were renowned for selling more exotic fruit and vegetables, and as cashiers we all had lots of training about how to recognise them (as we had to weigh/price them at our checkouts).

We were also taught a sort of 'touch typing' approach to using the tills. In the days when they had rows of buttons that you had to push manually. I can still remember some of the finger configurations! A bag of granulated sugar was 21.5p, and a box of loose tea was 9.5p.

I worked on the till in the local co-op after school on Thursdays and on Saturdays (for which I was paid £13.50 which was an astonishing amount of money in 1979). I can remember the finger configurations too although there must have been inflation because sugar was 32 p by then. And counting out co-op stamps, four to a pound.

In the 80s, I worked in a cafe where the phone was above the cash register and once absent-mindedly 'dialled' a phone number on the cash register and rang it through. I had to leave my boss a note, explaining why the till was out by 7 figures

Two things which I remember tasting gorgeous for the first time were:

cheesecake - the frozen BirdsEye one which came topped with cream, strawberries in syrup or blackcurrants.
My mother insisted we have the one with blackcurrants as the strawberry one would be too sweet and the cream one too rich.
Naturally, I yearned for those, but the blackcurrant one was still pretty amazing.

The next flavour sensation was:

M&S prawn and mayonnaise sandwiches. Wow! Must have been late '70s/early 80s. My mother and I had been shopping in the nearest city and bought these to eat on the bus coming back.

Sadly, my mother tried to replicate them using tinned prawns in vinegar instead of frozen, salad cream instead of mayonnaise and plastic sliced white bread instead of the oaty bread.

It didn't replicate the feeling of fishy, creamy angels dancing on my tongue that the M&S ones had provided.

We always had roast chicken on Sundays followed by chicken curry (obvs with sultanas, desiccated coconut etc) or proper spaghetti with a sort of chicken bolognese sauce on Monday.
The latter had to have a sprinkling of dried Parmesan from a tub on it, even though we all hated it, because it made our bolognese-made-with-chicken authentic

At least my mother knew how to cook pasta.
I did a holiday job at a hotel in town in 1981 and for a buffet the chef made spaghetti bolognese for one of the dishes.
Of course, it was kept warm in one of the hostess trolley style things. He had no idea it would carry on cooking...
By the time people came to eat it it could practically be served in scoops like mashed potato (obviously not envy).

Since tinned pasta was so prevalent, I think a lot of people didn't realise there was a problem.

Sorry, should have said: born in the 60s.

And I do (just) remember our first fridge (gas) arriving.

Really miss Findus Crispy Pancakes now, having read about them here, especially the chicken curry and the cheese ones.
They do them now with mozzarella, not nice (well, that's how I remember it) cheese sauce. Just looked them up

@LaMarschallin

Two things which I remember tasting gorgeous for the first time were:

cheesecake - the frozen BirdsEye one which came topped with cream, strawberries in syrup or blackcurrants.
My mother insisted we have the one with blackcurrants as the strawberry one would be too sweet and the cream one too rich.
Naturally, I yearned for those, but the blackcurrant one was still pretty amazing.

The next flavour sensation was:

M&S prawn and mayonnaise sandwiches. Wow! Must have been late '70s/early 80s. My mother and I had been shopping in the nearest city and bought these to eat on the bus coming back.

Sadly, my mother tried to replicate them using tinned prawns in vinegar instead of frozen, salad cream instead of mayonnaise and plastic sliced white bread instead of the oaty bread.

It didn't replicate the feeling of fishy, creamy angels dancing on my tongue that the M&S ones had provided.

We always had roast chicken on Sundays followed by chicken curry (obvs with sultanas, desiccated coconut etc) or proper spaghetti with a sort of chicken bolognese sauce on Monday.
The latter had to have a sprinkling of dried Parmesan from a tub on it, even though we all hated it, because it made our bolognese-made-with-chicken authentic

At least my mother knew how to cook pasta.
I did a holiday job at a hotel in town in 1981 and for a buffet the chef made spaghetti bolognese for one of the dishes.
Of course, it was kept warm in one of the hostess trolley style things. He had no idea it would carry on cooking...
By the time people came to eat it it could practically be served in scoops like mashed potato (obviously not envy).

Since tinned pasta was so prevalent, I think a lot of people didn't realise there was a problem.

Oh my God yes. Cheesecake. It was like crack to me in early eighties /late seventies.

suelleker - I'm so envious and would love to go back and read some.
My mum kept loads of copies and they had fantastic Christmas cakes which she used to make. She has loads more patience for fiddling about than me! We also used to make a lovely cheesecake at Christmas which had a chocolate biscuit base and gorgeous orange centre, with orange segments on top and loads of cream and chocolate sauce on top of that. It was very rich but so delicious and only made then so very special.

She threw her copies away a few years ago as she's now on her own and really can't be bothered to cook much now.

This thread has made me very nostalgic - not only the food but also the great memories of that time.

Does anyone remember Katy Stewart? Don't think she's been mentioned yet. She was the same vintage as Delia and had a column in The Times. I've got two of her books: one seasonal and one a 'complete'.

There were at least 2 of her recipes which were passed around the family and I still use them now. Her barbecue sauce and chicken liver pate are firm favourites.

I remember being sent to the garage over the road for Neopolitan ice-cream for Sunday lunch at my grandparents. My dgf called it 'Neolopitan' as a joke. I don't remember the green stripe being mint. It was pistachio, and didn't taste of very much. Mind you, we wouldn't have had a clue what pistachios should taste like as we'd never had one as a nut.

I miss junket, which I used to make for my dcs. Different flavours in a little bottle which you added in droplets to warm milk. I loved the texture and the layer of cream that ended up on top.

My mum had a M&S Cheesecake book with savoury and sweet ones. I remember a salmkn and cucumber one that looked rather like a terrine (we didn't have that one). My parents made their own mayonnaise too, but it was very rich to my child like tastes.

Didn't have her cookery book but had a Stork one from the mid 70's, still use it and sadly it's lost a few pages.

I have memories of my parents cooking together, trying out new recipes, along with making chutney, ginger marmalade and Christmas puddings. Dad when first married in the early 60s finished work before mum so got dinner started, I guess we’ll ahead of his time. He did insist I knew how to put oil in the car and water along with many other tasks, he didn’t see gender as a barrier to not doing something.

Anyone have or inherit plastic boxes with recipe cards in them?

My mum had this box on display in the kitchen, slowly collecting greasy dust. As far as I know she never used any of the recipes.

@Straycats

Didn't have her cookery book but had a Stork one from the mid 70's, still use it and sadly it's lost a few pages.

I have a Stork cookery book from the 70's which we had to use in our Domestic Science lessons. I still use it and live the simplicity of the recipes.

Thymeout, I’ve got a Katie Stewart book which I still use.