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Tuercas viejas

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Well the other day I found on offer in World Market in Littleton, HP Sauce @ $3,00 per bottle no less!.
Now I haven't daubed this on food for decades.
So I tried it, really it was like meeting an old friend.

First taste impression was vinegary, possibly too vinegary for most Americans' tastes & possibly why it was on offer !
But the flavour was definitely memory lane Brit! Fru 'n Fru !
Of Transport cafe's up on the Cotswold's by the A38 near Norleach of the 1960's!
Freezing fingers stinking of diesel having fixed a frozen fuel line on a BRS Leyland truck .
Truckers who were called lorry drivers fugging the air up with old Holborn roll yur own fags, or Woodbines!

Then the crowing glory, a hot toasted double banger & bacon sandwich lathered in? --yes ouzing HP sauce, truck mechanics' diesel food of old, with some fried eggs and a piping hot mug of tea !
I reckon the UK economy would have faltered postwar, if it wasn't for the nationwide transport cafes & toasted sausage sandwiches with HP sauce on the tables .
Tuerca viejas
 
Much as I like HP I've not touched the stuff since they moved the factory making it from Aston, Birmingham over to the Netherlands. This factory was profitable, they just wanted to make more money...... so they will do it without mine (big wow I know). I find the Batts sauce at Lidl are just as tasty
 
I can well imagine how that bottle of HP sauce brought those memories ,flooding back,I had been in Italy and Brazil for a few years,and coming back in a cold December,I pulled into the Rose Cafe on what used to be the old A12 just past Chelmsford and had a full english breakfast with bread and butter and a mug of tea,I knew I was home,that breakfast is one of the great meals of the world,
 
Egg Bacon Tomato's 🍅 and a fried slice, with two of toast and a big f#_k off mug of tea on the side, all in for less than half a crown. Happy days 🤗. No matter where you go in this world, someone somewhere will have it on their menu, but, it's never quite the same as your own "Greasy Spoon caff" on the A2. 👍
 
Cawl.

A thin lamb broth with crusty bread and a chunk of cheese.

No point trying to make it or buy it because it will never be the same as Mam's.
 
We used to serve a full English breakfast at our bar.
Heinz Ketchup was easy enough to get but our British guests would bring over the Brown sauce (with the Big Macs).
 
Tattie scones.
Proper tattie scones, not the Tesco ones.
the memories come flooding back.

And I well remember the HP sauce sign as you came round Dartmouth Circus and dropped onto the Aston Expressway.
 
Mums Stovies , wifes attempt doesn`t come close but lets keep that quiet shall we.

K
 
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Much as I like HP I've not touched the stuff since they moved the factory making it from Aston, Birmingham over to the Netherlands. This factory was profitable, they just wanted to make more money...... so they will do it without mine (big wow I know). I find the Batts sauce at Lidl are just as tasty
Some reports recently that they are bringing sauce manufacturing back to the UK, but at Heinz's Wigan plant. It will definitely make ketchup and mayo, but can't find any details about whether HP will return to the UK. Still not the same as driving into B'ham in the old days and seeing the HP sign on the old factory...
 
We used to serve a full English breakfast at our bar.
Heinz Ketchup was easy enough to get but our British guests would bring over the Brown sauce (with the Big Macs).
Oh ketchup, or in Iraq it was "Catsup" a local equivalent on the tables at the Brit Club in Baghdad , but I rarely partook.
However , the bottles always looked "full" every time I sat down to eat.
Then one day I found out why!
I needed to have business meeting the with some visitors from the UK without being disturbed or overheard .
The Brit Club dining room before opening time was a good ideal venue.
Sat at a table with the delegation, I watched Shamoon the janitor, cleaning the tables, and yes filling the ketchup bottles.
Watching him, he would fill them up as much as he could from a container as he moved from table to table , then poke his grubby finger into the bottle neck to fill & tamp down voids in the "mix"! .
Followed by putting his finger in his mouth, and sucking the sauce off on his grubby digit --YUK!!:eek:
From that day to this I pause when reaching for ketchup!
Memories of "The Red Poop-On" !o_O
Tuercas Viejas
 
Working in Saudi in the 80s, if you were flying out to go east you often ended up in Bahrain Airport to switch to a decent airline - one that served alcohol inflight! First stop in Bahrain airport was always the bar for a pint of draft beer and a bacon sandwich. To be honest, neither the beer nor the sandwich were much good, but when you'd been without either for a long time then it would have been a shame not to try both at the first opportunity.
 
Working in Saudi in the 80s, if you were flying out to go east you often ended up in Bahrain Airport to switch to a decent airline - one that served alcohol inflight! First stop in Bahrain airport was always the bar for a pint of draft beer and a bacon sandwich. To be honest, neither the beer nor the sandwich were much good, but when you'd been without either for a long time then it would have been a shame not to try both at the first opportunity.
I used to stop in Bahrain fairly often in the early 90’s when I was in and out of Goa. It always seemed a bit more relaxed than other Arab nations and I thought at the time it could definitely become a middle eastern playground.
Sometime like Dubai turned out to be.
 
I used to enjoy Dubai but then it just went downhill for me from the late 1990's. Oman though i really like, Yemen not so much though the scenery is amazing.

Back onto foodstuffs though - i've always had a liking for malty things and used to love Farleys Rusks. When i was small i'd have them in hot milk so they kind of half dissolved but you'd still get slightly crunchy bits. I have to admit i occasionally buy the odd box as a snack, still love them. I actually used them on a sportive bike ride once instead of energy bars/gels. Worked ok as long as you washed them down. Better than my other experiment of fueling a long ride just on marzipan.

The other thing i would love to try again but i don't think it's available is Virol! I used to love it. Again, i think it was a bit malty tasting? I think it's actually made out of marrow bones or something. 🤮
 
Be
I used to enjoy Dubai but then it just went downhill for me from the late 1990's. Oman though i really like, Yemen not so much though the scenery is amazing.

Back onto foodstuffs though - i've always had a liking for malty things and used to love Farleys Rusks. When i was small i'd have them in hot milk so they kind of half dissolved but you'd still get slightly crunchy bits. I have to admit i occasionally buy the odd box as a snack, still love them. I actually used them on a sportive bike ride once instead of energy bars/gels. Worked ok as long as you washed them down. Better than my other experiment of fueling a long ride just on marzipan.

The other thing i would love to try again but i don't think it's available is Virol! I used to love it. Again, i think it was a bit malty tasting? I think it's actually made out of marrow bones or something. 🤮
Best reason for having children, so one can eat their rusks!😃
 
The other thing i would love to try again but i don't think it's available is Virol! I used to love it. Again, i think it was a bit malty tasting? I think it's actually made out of marrow bones or something.
Just don't confuse it with Virolax !! o_O
 

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