The Caterer Blog

I was a great fan of LYMESWOLD and was very sorry when it was taken off the market. I first bought it in a cheese shop in Beckenham, Kent,(James?) which at first used to specialise in English cheeses. I used to buy some every Saturday as a special treat. THEN, oh horror, it started to be sold in plastic packets and IT WAS HORRIBLE - too salty and unpleasant, so I would not buy it from anywhere which sold it ready packeted. Then James stopped selling it, and when I enquired why I was told that it was a seasonal cheese, and would not be ready until a particular month (forget which). After a few seasons, it disappeared completely and I have mourned it ever since.

Incidentally, this same shop James used to sell Italian bread, including ciabatta, and it was lovely with a strong crunchy crust, quite different from the pappy yuk sold in supermarkets (and elsewhere) which is only fit for making bread bait for fishes!

PRE-WAR CEREALS I am getting carried away, so I'll unload this complaint too. I very well remember before the war a breakfast cereal called 'Muffets' - woven strips of shredded wheat material about 1 inch wide which was wound round into a flat cake about 3 or 4 inches in diameter. It was fun to eat, as well as tasty, and no matter how long you soaked it the middle bit never got soggy. The war (WWII) killed it off, and it never came back. However, no one in my age group (80 and above) remembers it. Very sad.

WORST FOOD INVENTIONS

1. Margarine. Not really that nasty - in fact, can often taste better in cooking than butter. Do you remember the extra 2oz a week cheaper margarine which was on offer during the war? One friend's mother said it was little better than cart grease, and wouldn't even bother to buy it.

2. Spam Yuk, pale and slimy. Slightly better in fritters depending how good the batter was.

3. Hamburgers Stupid Brits want to know where the Ham is. If you've ever had real hamburgers (ie made from trimmings of best beef eg fillet steak) it would be in list of best inventions

4. Pot noodles and things like tinned macaroni cheese, and pasta rings Genuine nasties

5. Cheesesteak - never heard of it If it is a mixture of cheese and meat then it deserves to be top of the nasties list. A digusting habit in restaurants and cafes frequented by people with no taste buds and lots of microwaves. This thick blanket of cheese plonked on top of a would-be-good cottage pie swimming in oil from the cheese is DISGUSTING.

6. Kentucky Fried Chicken. I used to have this to eat before I started an evening class. It was lovely provided you only ate non chicken breast meat, ie thighs or legs and couldn't see what you were eating.

7. Ploughman's lunch. I never understood how a ploughman could cope with the loose pickle sliding around.

8. May I add "CHOCOLATE COVERED BEES" in tins (on sale in Kenya)
and English bread in general. Where is the crunchy crust? Has Hovis forgotten the lovely little loaves they used to have, with a nice tasty chewy crust, which didn't turn water brown if you soaked it?

Thanks Patricia - interesting feedback.

Can any other reader remember Muffets?

Should they be brought back?

I wanted to thank you for this excellent read. I absolutely enjoyed every little bit of it. I have you bookmarked and will be reading more.

The article is as useful as it is shown. The amount of information in this is absolutely more than enough. Nice article about what i was searching for.

@chels I know what you mean, its hard to find good help these days. People now days just don't have the work ethic they used to have. I mean consider whoever wrote this post, they must have been working hard to write that good and it took a good bit of their time I am sure. I work with people who couldn't write like this if they tried, and getting them to try is hard enough as it is.