Porridge

[DavidWW]

The memory above all others that comes back for me, and it's associated with probably the most powerful sense in terms of memory, - smell, - is of the paraffin heater that used to sit out in the hall in the winter months.

A typical house of the time, with a fireplace in the living room in daily use in cold weather (with a "back boiler" for hot water production, - there was an electric immersion heater as well) and while there were fireplaces in the 3 upstairs bedrooms, these were very rarely used.

In the coldest of weather you were allowed to take the paraffin heater with you into the otherwise freezing cold bathroom !! ...............

David

[emanday]

Oh, Yes! The paraffin heater!

We lived in a prefab until I was 10. It had to have been one of the dampest houses in the world. Our paraffin heater was only ever used in the bitterest cold, just before bedtime, in the hallway with all the bedroom doors open. After about an hour, the windows were streaming with condensation and it had to be turned off again.

I hated that smell, still can't stand it!

[AndrewP]

For a number of years, we had the paraffin heater in the hallway. Then we went "modern", we got a Calor gas heater. Now that gave off a lot more condensation than the paraffin heater, and it gave off a dreadful smell when the gas was running out, and the flames were orange instead of blue. Probably unhealthy.

I was glad on two counts when we got rid of the calor gas heater. (1) the smell and dangers of the gas running low and (2) it was usually me that had to go out for a new gas cylinder and carry it up two flights of stairs.

Back to the paraffin. We used to get the paraffin from the ironmonger's shop, which was in the ground floor of a tenement building. I'm sure health and safety would never allow such storage of paraffin in a shop (with all these flats above) nowadays.

All the best,

AndrewP

[emanday]

Andrew, my mother worked in a hardware shop in Dalmarnock Road and they sold paraffin from a tank in the back shop.

Bearing in mind that there were a fair few families living in the tenements above and alongside, it was certainly an accident waiting to happen - but never did!

[Russell]

We lived in Musselburgh for a few years and our paraffin was delivered by horse and cart. , and this was in the early fifties

The drysalter had a horse drawn van with sliding side doors kitted out like a shop. At the back was a big rectangular tank with a tap at the bottom and you carried your paraffin tinnie out to him. If the neck was too narrow he had to fill a big jug then use a funnel to fill your tinnie.

Anne was talking about potted hough but does anyone still make ox-tail soup ? or tripe, or boil up a ham hough for stock.
I discoverd my grannies secret soup ingredient though It was celery salt.
What a difference it made to any soup.

We never have soup out of a tin. Must be home-made.

We still can get Jack Frost patterns on the windows on occasion but then we don't have central heating and bed-rooms are supposed to be cool -
Aren't they

Russell

[LesleyB]

The drysalter had a horse drawn van with sliding side doors kitted out like a shop.

...which makes me remember the mobile shop. (mid 60s) A van kitted out like a grocer's shop with all manner of things, which you stepped up into, with a "drop down" hinged counter: there was butter, milk, biscuits, cereals, household cleaning stuffs and hundreds of other items all crammed into the bursting shelves in the shop - you name it, Davie Langlands had it in his van! Those were the days when just about everyone's mum was at home during the day and shopping was done on a daily basis ..and hardly anyone had a car to go to the shops - you walked!! Those mobile shops must have been a great timesaver, even if you maybe paid a little more for the convenience of it coming to your door.

Best wishes
Lesley

[emanday]

Any time I see a ham hough I buy it and still make stock for soup. Very occasionally you'll see them stuck in a corner of the meat counter in the supermarket, even down here in Bristol.

[AndrewP]

I discoverd my grannies secret soup ingredient though It was celery salt. What a difference it made to any soup.

Sure it makes a difference. In my opinion, celery is delivered directly from Satan. Mum, after finding that I fished out pieces of celery from her home-made soup, thought putting celery salt in would be the answer. I could still taste it - yuck!

We never have soup out of a tin. Must be home-made.

Mum made a big pot of soup every weekend. My brother and I must have been ungrateful. We would regularly ask "when will we get real soup, from a tin like other people get?". On high days and holidays we would get the treat of that well known brand of Cream of Tomato Soup.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Jean Jeanie]

I've always made soup from the carcas of a previously roasted chicken.

When I moved to England I took a flask of soup in to work and the girls I worked with loved the smell! Anyway a few of them tried it and asked me how to make it. I gave them my recipe (my mother in law's) They all said it tasted ok but not as good as mine. They were convinced that I had left out a secret ingredient.

It took me a long while to realise what the secret ingredient was. I always stuff my chicken/turkey with homemade oatmeal and onion stuffing, made with beef dripping.

That made all the difference to the soup.

Still stuff my chicken/turkery the same way and have even converted three daughters in law (all English) to make the same stuffing.

The grandchildren love it!!!

Jean

[Russell]

Hi Jean

For turkey stuffing I always add a shake of dried sage and a chopped apple. Keeps in juicy.

Real chicken stock makes the best lentil soup. My daughter has just moved to Wisconsin and had the devil's own job trying to find red lentils.
they didn't know what she was talking about.

Russell