RS & Parcelforce

[Andy Burns]

True, they tasted like cardboard after the new recipe, either they've queitly gone back to the old recipe, or you *do* get used to them.

[Tim Watts]

Arfa Daily wibbled on Saturday 10 July 2010 01:36

Wonder why? Did they switch to using the ox's other "tail"?

[Arfa Daily]

Never come across them before. They have been duly CTRL - D'd into my faves ! :-)

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

What about Pot Noodles ? Everyone knew that they were just artificially flavoured grated cardboard, and had the nutritional value of a lump of cardboard, but they tasted great, and filled a hole quickly when they needed to. Hell, even the makers traded on the fact that they were crap with their tongue in cheek TV ads. Then what did they do ? Tried to get all healthy by taking all the salt out. And then tried to use the same style of advertising to convince us that was good ! But afterwards, it tasted like shit, and all I did was to put half a pot of salt back in. But now they seem to have gone back as they were, so I guess their new 'improved' recipe, wasn't a success ...

Arfa

[Steve Firth]

Nowhere near as drastic as the change Baxters made to "Royal Game Soup" in the 1980s. It used to be a decent game broth using game (pheasant, venison, hare) and very little else then Baxters decided to keep selling it at the same price but to change the ingredients to well, mostly vegetables and "rusk". It's now even more s**te than it was then as a result of "new improved recipe".

[Alan]

In message , D.M.Chapman wrote

Many companies use RS etc. because they can trace the source of the components as well as getting them the next working day. With design/development engineers costing a company £50+ an hour a few quid extra on the cost of components is insignificant. In the large company I work for 'trusted' engineers can buy on a company credit card which is much cheaper than going through the official procurement department route which would probably cost £100 minimum for the bureaucracy alone.

[Alan]

In message , Arfa Daily wrote

Surely all this proves is if you add enough salt to crap you can sell it? That's why the "quality" meals available at premium prices in supermarkets "designed" by celebrity cooks taste so salty.

What's KFC's secret recipe for their coating - mainly salt with a bit of garlic.

If you watch any of the day-time food programmes on TV you will often see the "pinch" of salt added for seasoning is equal in quantity to the World Health Organisation's recommended amount for a whole year :(

If you are used to over salted foods anything without salt will taste inferior, even if it is better quality. However make a conscious effort to avoid food with salt for a few weeks and then the reverse is true - food with salt with taste strange.

[chris French]

In message , Arfa Daily writes

Not necessarily. It depends on what contracts they have.

A friends has a mail order toy/crafts business, and from what I understand , for most things they will contract to say send upto X parcels upto Y kg in weight per month. So it can all depend

[pete]

And fat! watching some of these professional cooks sometimes makes me feel that their recipes should carry a toxic waste warning. So often they toss half a packet of butter into a pan, then add cream or more butter or oil. Rarely (very rarely) they'll get challenged and dismiss any criticisms as "well it's a treat / special occasion"

[Tim Watts]

pete wibbled on Saturday 10 July 2010 11:35

You should have seen the caramel slices I made once (to a recipe):

Butter in the base biscuit.

Butter in the caramel.

And luscious chocolate on top. Used around 1lb butter making a 2x2 foot tray's worth. They were delicious, but you wouldn't want more than a 2x1" slice or you'd pretty much have a heart attack on the spot!

[Jim K]

"Pre BSE, it was a cheap offcut, and then of course it disappeared for several years. Now it's back, it isn't cheap anymore!"

Jim K

[Owain]

Nothing wrong with good fresh butter, cream, eggs, suet and lard. Good "builds you up" food.

Owain

[ARWadsworth]

I could not agree more. See

Adam

[JTM]

My wife makes a mean 'butter pie': butter, potatoes, onions and (did I include) butter. Seasoning and melted cheese on top.

Friends just love it and we've never needed to call a paramedic until after the meal has ended.

[dennis]

I do similar but I would never put butter in it as I hate butter. Blue cheese tastes nice in it but it can look a little spotty.

[Phil L]

That sounds de-lish, savouries have always been my weak spot and I could eat that right now even though I've only just had my dinner

[Bob Eager]

My 15 year old son had his first go at a raspberry parfait yesterday...relatively healthy!

white disc is chocolate)

[Arfa Daily]

We actually own a family food business, and a lot of rubbish is spoken about the adding of salt, mostly by people who think that they understand all about health. The addition of salt is pretty much essential to much food, in order to season it. This is not about tasting the salt, but 'bringing out' the flavours of the other ingredients. A lot of food that you get in restaurants these days, is bland, because it is being cooked by people who are not proper chefs / cooks, and don't understand the concept of seasoning. They think that they are being 'healthy' in their cooking by not adding salt, but actually, all they are doing is turning out inferior tasting food. Just look on any of the cookery competition programmes that are on TV these days. The contestants are continually being admonished by the proper chefs who are judging their food, for it not being seasoned correctly. This is usually met by a totally blank look from the contestants.

Likewise, anything that we produce that requires a fat content, is made using 'proper' fat - that's butter or cream. There is no reason that this should be considered unhealthy. It's the lifestyle that goes with it that causes it to be so. When we were kids 40 years or more back, we all used to eat butter, cream, pork and beef dripping, bacon with fat on, pork with fat on, drink full cream milk and so on. There was no obesity problem, and nothing like the levels of coronary disease that we have now. Attacking the food because it contains fat, is wrong. I would personally far rather have proper dairy in my food, than some 'alternative' fat that has been manufactured from god knows what in some factory deep in one of the eastern states. Apart from this, many of the alternative 'manufactured' fats, just don't work the same with the other ingredients, leading to cakes with the wrong consistency or pastry that won't crisp up, and so on.

Arfa

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember [e-mail] (Steve Firth) saying something like:

Baxters soups have generally gone downhill, ime, but the RG is the most disappointing, I agree. I used to have an image of Ma Baxter slaving over a huge pot, churning it out, but for decades it's been a giant industrial process, just like every other maker. I see they sold off the chilled soups to Northern Foods in 2008. Hohum, more industrial muck.

[Alan]

In message , Arfa Daily wrote

That's the problem with too much salt in food. People in the business are addicted to salt and tasting it all day doesn't give them salty "hit" so they always add a bit more... and then a little bit more ...and then a little bit more. Like all drug addicts a reasonable amount doesn't satisfy their cravings.

Perhaps those in the business shouldn't be the ones deciding how much salt is included food?

It's not about health it's about taste.

If the food tastes bland it is because it is bland in the first place, or of poor quality. Modern processing of food doesn't let flavour mature. It is no longer permissible to hang meat in the traditional way. It now has to be kept chilled within an inch of its life. Fruit and vegetable varieties have been bred for their "class 1" looks rather anything to do with taste.

Adding salt doesn't improve ingredients, it just disguises the fact that many people in the food business use the cheapest ingredients they can get hold of .

Professional TV cooks are part of the problem. They are also addicted to the overuse of salt. The blank looks by the contestants are because they don't believe that anyone would want to make food so inedible by the use of so much salt.

For those who like salty food the salt can be added after cooking.

The average Mcdonnalds 99p meal contains the same amount of fat and salt as a family's fat and salt ration for the week 40 years ago:)