Thursday 26 April 2012

Food of the Gods...

Cold, wet afternoons - grey skies, grey television, grey blanket covering and keeping me warm - baked beans on toast for tea. Ah, baked beans, the foodstuff of memory.

My childhood was spent watching Blue Peter and eating beans on toast for tea. I think that I must have eaten beans on toast at least four times a week, maybe more. I loved them. Baked bean juice soaking into the buttered toast, slightly burnt toast, it had to be a little bit burnt – it tasted better. A couple of times a week I’d have spaghetti on toast, but baked beans were my favourite. Once in my teens as an experiment I tried a baked bean/spaghetti mix – never again, definitely a one-off gastronomic experience.

Back then Beanz really did Meanz Heinz, I guess there must have been other brands - but supermarket own brands were years away. I do seem to remember that the Co-op on the high street sold beans in light blue labelled cans, but the beans were pale, the juice all watery. Smedley, down at the little shop, sold Heinz – letting us buy our beans on tick as he wrote it down in the little red A6 exercise book, all to be paid for on a Friday - the same day as the Friday man came around with his black book.

They claimed to have 57 varieties, but I didn’t believe them – Smedley only had about 15 on his shelves and that included salad cream, ketchup, and oxtail soup.

The cowboys on TV ate beans. “Fine beans and bacon” they’d say, eating their beans from tin plates sitting by the chuck wagon, beans cooking in a hanging pot over the campfire. The cook’s name was always Chucky and he had a grizzled white beard and the injuns, or rustlers, or coyotes, or horse thieves were never very far away.

Yes, a million housewives every day (and Chucky) opened a tin of beans and said…well, you know what they said, and of course beans could be added to any dish to stretch the meal a little further – for when your kids bring their friends around unexpectedly.

These days I put pepper on my beans, occasionally vinegar, and dependent on my mood Worcestershire sauce – never ketchup though, beans and tomato ketchup aren’t complimentary for some reason. For a while I liked cheesy beans – I probably still do. (now there’s a thought!)

We get our beans from Aldi now, Aldi own brand and they are delicious, not enough salt, but then nothing has enough salt these days. I don’t have them for tea any more (unfortunately), but when I have a slight hangover or I’m feeling down, late sleepless nights, when I’m feeling snacky, beans on toast are my choice - real comfort food, the food from the grey blanket days of my childhood.

Yes, baked beans on toast – food of the Gods.

15 comments:

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    1. Sparkle - two comments removed.. was it the 'F' word again as in F**T?

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    1. Ah, beans are a UK tradition made popular by American cowboy movies in the forties and fifties and then Rawhide, Maverick, and Wyatt Erp on TV. Yes, an American invention which caught on big here - we even and often (almost always) eat them for breakfast which most American's I've met find very strange. Without the baked bean a whole generation would have had Brussels sprouts for their tea.

      I also have fond memories of Tuna sandwiches on a Sunday afternoon which I may blog some time soon.

      Kissy-Kissy Missy.

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    1. I really hate New Blogger - don't work on chrome and is bland, bland, bland! Old Blogger was so much more twiddly - like a Tardis control panel.

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  6. Facebook comments:

    Alan Shorrock
    Guess what i had for my tea tonight.... Yes Heinz beans with chippy chips and a pepper steak pie. Lovely!

    Paula Braham
    I remember Smeds and the book. If we were lucky on a Saturday night for tea we would have beans on toast with a fried egg on top yum yum

    Andrew Height
    Happy days Paula.


    Tony Payne
    banana & peanut butter sarnie

    Andrew Fisher
    Bacon and Italian tomatoes on crusty with brown sauce and a steaming mug of coffee.....

    Lindsey Messenger
    yes i do remember smeds, and we did have a book.Ann and John Smedley, they were nice,so friendly. I really like cheese on toast, havent had it for ages though!

    Vicky Sutcliffe
    Got to be beans on toast with a glass of ice cold milk!

    Kingsley Roberts
    Toast, smoked salmon and a poached egg on top or bacon with a good sprinkle of vinegar

    Andy Lloyd
    Branston's beans on thick wholemeal toast with a bit of black pepper.

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  7. I love beans on toast too but I need a swirl of HP sauce on top. However my food of the Gods has to be profiteroles. the slight bitterness and crunch of choux pastry and the sweetness of dark chocolate and fresh dairy cream. I could eat them until my stomach goes all Alien.

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  8. Steve Bishop on facebook: "Mine is cheese and tomato on toast, but Dens is "Waitrose lardy cake and/or banana and passion fruit cake.... Heavenly""

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  9. Tricia Kitt on facebook:
    "yuk - scrape off the beans and add a couple of lovely fresh poached eggs - and a splosh of ketchup..."

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  10. Vicky on Facebook: "Bean dip was our staple at college.... Tin of beans, onion and as much chilli powder you could take!"

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