So in another blog post I wrote where I cooked from a cook book from 1975, I mentioned two very vintage recipes in it that I said I would tackle.
As I travel back to the 70’s, join me as I open the Be-Ro book once more and tackle Tuna and Egg Turnovers, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake…
I have no real reason to make these things, only that I thought it would be fun to do a food throwback post. I wasn’t born in the 70’s, but in every picture I see everything looks very brown. My mum and dad have a pair of deckchairs covered in a brown flower pattern, and they are from the 70’s.
I don’t know… It’s not my favourite. I’m more interested in the 40’s and 50’s.
I started with the turnovers. The pastry had parsley in it. And suet. I used vegetarian suet as the thought of eating that makes me feel less queasy than regular suet. The dough came together well, I just don’t really understand why it had parsley in it? I’m still confused… I don’t really think it added an awful lot to it.
The filling was tuna, boiled eggs, mayonnaise and cayenne pepper… it was very smelly. I rolled out my pastry, cut around a saucer, popped some filling in, stuck the sides together with some milk and into the oven they went.
Here’s the thing. I like tuna. I like eggs. I like pastry. I don’t think, though, that I like them all at once. But it’s good to try these things, and if I’m ever required to pull together a savoury dish at very short notice for a 1970’s themed party then I’m all set.
My mum, dad and uncle were my guinea pigs for this and they seemed to like it which is shocking. My mum said the pastry had a nice texture. In fairness, it was quite light and it crumbled nicely, and it was super easy to make.
They all had two turnovers. I did not.
The Pineapple Upside Down cake was slightly more successful. Be-Ro seems to be very strict saying ‘a true sponge doesn’t have any fat in it,’ so this sponge was just eggs whisked together with sugar, and flour folded in carefully.
It was tasty, although it looked a bit pale so I guess for whatever reason the sugar on the bottom of the tin underneath the fruit hadn’t really caramelised. I am awarding myself bonus points for my excellent retro piping round the sides of the cake.
Fun fact: every photo in this blog post has an Instagram filter on it called ‘1977’. Who says I don’t have a sense of humour?!
It has, however, made all the food look awful so here are some pictures without the filter:
Will I make these again? Turnovers, no. Pineapple cake… maybe.