I agree that there are many dishes no longer seen on restaurant menus that should be relegated to room 101. Remember the powdered soups served as a starter or the egg mayonnaise with the ubiquitous dark ring around the yolk?
However there are things that IMHO should be reintroduced.
I have a glut of freshly picked brambles and remembered that grand dessert “Charlotte Russe” the boudoir fingers, beautiful berry bavarois and a topping of cream and berries.
I would love to see it on a restaurant menu but it’s unlikely so I’m probably going to make one tomorrow!
What old favourite would you like to come back in vogue?
I haven’t seen a Coquille St Jacques on a restaurant menu* for ages - did see a frozen version in a French supermarket recently though. *Invariably my choice for a starter when I did see it.
I found some samphire in the herb section at a local garden centre and bought a pot - quite small but with instructions on how to water with salt water. It’s in a pot outside and doing very well. Probably enough for a meal now!
We used to pick it when we lived in Sufolk. One day my nieces were with us (then children) and were gobsmacked that we were eating such stuff.
Grandmabatty is that what we would call brawn here in Northern England? My mother used to buy potted meat in our local butcher's shop. I loved it although my sisters didn't.
I think fancythat was saying her mum would’ve preferred the meringue, cream and fruit served differently. My mum used to make fancy cheesecakes for dessert and mousse, I remember a blackcurrant one, I loved it. The lamb cut with the little white hats on the bones? I don’t recall the name, was a dinner party favourite.
I’m in for a proper knickerbocker glory. I make them at home sometimes and they are a firm family favourite. So is a trifle made with proper custard - easy to ale as long as I give myself enough time.
I would like to find a Manchester pudding/tart. My grandma, who lived in Manchester, used to make them when we visited. I don’t recall seeing it on a menu though.
I remember sitting on a beach at Blakeney waiting for a beach to pick us up, surrounded by samphire, and picking bits to nibble. A lady nearby asked me what it was, so I told her. She said she’d only ever seen it in Borough Market and it was twenty three pounds for a small bag! I said you can buy a large bag for about a pound in any of the villages around here. This was going back a bit too.
I went with my mum to a cafe last week. She likes meringue. We had eton mess.
She would have liked to have seen meringues, topped with raspberries and cream. I said we would have to be back in the 80s for that.
I love an Eton Mess and do it often for dessert when we have people over . It’s so easy .
Meringues topped with cream etc are NOT Eton Mess. By definition it is a mixture of broken meringues fruit and whipped cream. The clue might be in the name
I found some samphire in the herb section at a local garden centre and bought a pot - quite small but with instructions on how to water with salt water. It’s in a pot outside and doing very well. Probably enough for a meal now!
The Charlotte Russe, would be lovely and Rum baba. Though I rarely have a dessert these days. Still popular in this area is corned beef pie served with veg and gravy. Yummy I used to love going to a Chinese restaurant that did a set menu on a lunch time , you could choose a starter, soup/ fruit juice/ prawn crackers, mains chow mein,/ Curry or a fried Rice dish. Ice cream for dessert. My sister used to "treat" me when I went to visit her.
My mum used to make a mean lemon meringue pie using a tin of condensed milk for the filling. She would add the rind and juice of one lemon and two egg yolks to this with tow egg whites for the meringue.
She also made Queen's Pudding and Poor Knights pudding. The latter were jam sandwiches, fried and served with cream or evap.
We lived for a time at the back of Kensington Square and I used to shop in Harrods' food department where I would buy scrag end of neck of lamb for a stew. I figured that this meat would come from the same carcass as best end etc and I was right. It was excellent quality.
I also used to buy venison for making casseroles. There was a butchers in Soho where I could get it and it was cheaper than similar cuts of beef.
I think that a lot of venison now finds its way into Europe rather than onto the English market, which is a shame.
We get venison from our local farm shop. We also get venison sausages , burgers, mince and steaks. It’s much leaner and healthier than beef .