UKC

A few weeks of lockdown have seen me open things that have been sitting at the back of the cupboard for months or years as I avoid going to the shops.

The obvious stuff like tinned peas and carrots went ages ago, and now I hear the sound of barrels being scraped...

One thing that will not be opened is the can of Baxter's Royal Game Soup that my mum gave me when I went to university in 1993...

Any other special discoveries?

I keep looking at bits of Parmesan rind thinking "Surely that's had it now " but then I remember Treasure Island and Ben Gunn.....

Nice find, man! 1993 was a very good year for Royal Game Soup!

We have been playing the chest freezer mystery game, I swear we have things in our freezer that pre date household freezers.

Unfortunately I am the pickiest eater in the world so I'm not looking forward to food boxes if things get that far but I suppose hunger will out way my pickiness and I may end up a far better eater after all this. 

This can is getting handed down.

Parmesan rind added to soups is a great way of flavouring them.

Andy F

I made some bread rolls with flour from 2008.  I think I'd have got away with it if it was white flour.  Being granary it wasn't great.  Tasted a bit funny.  

How about 120 year old beef  youtube.com/watch?v=jZoHuMwZwTk&

Our discoveries have been limited to a rather shifty looking pair of Fray Bentos pies. I know not where they came from, and I know not what they want from us. So far I am just doing my best to avoid eye contact and hoping they leave of their own accord.

Coincidentally I watched that last week. How is he alive?

I don't know! I wonder if he is more aware than he lets on though and is playing up to the camera a bit. He does know the basics about avoiding bulged packaging for botulism etc. 

I don't know why I find those videos interesting. I quite like the idea of ration packs, just having everything you need for the day in a bag you can pick up. I think they would be great for big climbing days, imagine having one of the really generous ration packs for the welsh 3000s or the Cullins. 

It would be nice to have one you could just pick up and take to work as well. 

This one looks a treat and would be great for the hills https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7OoIFo9qbM&t=2s

I'm pretty sure the custard with mixed fruit is the same as the expedition foods one. Looked identical to me when he rehydrated it.

OK. I might start making my own for weekend trips. 

Philippe Patek watches have got NOTHING on Royal Game Soup

I found a beer at the back of the fridge I'd forgotten about. It's been there since yesterday.

Andy F

I've uncovered a tin of goblin meat pudding, bbe feb 04.  Any takers, or is this joining the family heirloom list?

With all this time on our hands we've been cooking and eating excellent food. Far too much of it really considering our reduced exercise. Tonight we are barbecuing some fresh mackerel.

I thought goblins were extinct.

I brought a tin of Oskars' Surströmming home from Norway as a souvenir once. It's staying that way. Locals told me not to buy a tin that hadn't blown. Call me a big jessy but when I did try to eat some once (different tin!), a number of self-preservation reflexes worked to stop me putting it in my mouth. It'll be the last thing in the house that ever gets eaten, if at all.

And now we know why...

I’ve just thrown out a jar of pickled bats....

I found a frey bentos steak pie, I messed it up though as the pastry didn’t puff up. Was nice enough. I have always maintained a months worth of tinned food in the house (since 2k lol). So I often have tinned soup as I will use tins when approach use by date, which I can make into a hearty both by adding leftover meat to it. A typical tin stash will include chicken soups, potatoes, sweet corn, peas, tomatoes, chick peas, kidney beans, corned beef. 

If they are pickled they should be fine.

Yes since early 2004

While sorting out drinks cupboard a few days ago I came across a bottle of beer I must have been given as a present several years ago. Malheur Biere Brut - Belgian - In a fancy bottle with a champagne cork, inside a fancy box. - 750ml. - 11% alcohol. Here's the problem. - Best before 15/10/ 2004. Is is drinkable without causing serious harm?

The general rule with that sort of thing is that it will either taste obviously bad or be fine.

Thanks! problem is now that I'm not much of a drinker nowadays and I'm not sure I could handle beer so strong, even if drunk slowly and with food.

Anybody want a frozen gooseberry?

Thought not, and I'm weeks away from another thousand or so

Surströmming actually tastes much nicer than it smells (OK, that is easy, but still). I recommend Röda Ulf....

Eat it on a bit of bread with sour cream and chopped onions, tastes like summer holidays in Sweden!

CB

Give it a go, will be pretty obvious if it’s not good, I drank a bottle champagne that had been clogging our fridge up for 5 years, tasted fine.

Thanks.

It would have to!!

Cabbage juice is like that- stinks frankly, but tastes clean and sweet.

Whereas 1992 was an Annus Horribilis

Not in a cupboard, but cleaning out the shed and in it was an old fishing bag with a packet of what seemed like perfectly fine ham, unopened, from 2009! Didn't eat it though.

Wrong gooseberries!  You want the desert variety, sweet and lovely rather than sour and needing to be mixed half and half with sugar to make them vaguely palatable.  I planted a couple of sprigs last year and was pleasantly suprised when I tried them to find them delicious and have spent today gardening around them and looking forward to the time when I can have them on my breakfast.

I've delved into my cupboard this evening. A pouch of tadka dal from 2007 went in the bin, along with some whitworths dried bananas, oats and polenta. Some other stuff might still be consumed, including long-forgotten pasta...

we finished a jar of honey that was 24 years old and had survived 2 house moves, crusty but very tasty. The tin of artichoke hearts of unknown vintage did go in the bin though.

I wouldn't mind actually. Would be quite keen to make gooseberry jam if sugar ever returns to my local shop. I somehow doubt that collection of gooseberries from internet persons counts as essential travel though.

i made gooseberry vodka for three years on the trot a few years ago, Just like making sloe gin, pierce them and steep in vodka for six months ( added sugar) Called it "Goosegrog" and gave most away, very well received.

I'm stealing goosegrog.

You're welcome. I'm flattered.

I have a bottle of "Redpoint Ale" brewed in Boulder Colorado which I was given as a birthday present about 25 years ago, very touchingly. Far too precious to drink 

Well the Mcains roast potatoes I found in the freezer dated 2009 weren't great but they were edible.  Dad informs me they were just as bad when they were in date and that's probably why they had lingered in the freezer for so long. 

Serves me right for being too lazy to peel potatoes.  

What kind of heathen peels spuds for roasting? The crispy skins are the best bit!

24 years is still some 2,976 years younger than the perfectly edible honey found in Egyptian tombs.  

No 1 son decided to do some baking - he produced a fine product.  It needed a little food colouring and he used a bottle of green colouring he found in the larder.  We wondered how long it had been there - best before 1995, it said.  Originally bought to colour a dinosaur cake for his third birthday. 

Does it have E102 on the ingredients list? It would be a very bad idea to feed me any if it does.

I'd always fancied a summer holiday in Sweden. Up until I read your post.

Nearly everyone does?  Will try without peeling them next time.  

Try chopping and parboiling without peeling, then roasting with rosemary. The parboiling isn't strictly necessary but it makes the skins separate slightly and cuts down cooking time.

In the interests of transparency I must confess that I am now officially a heathen. In my defense the potatoes in question were sprouting rather more than is desirable but a heathen I have become!

Jeez must be bad where you are. Beef Madras curry night Friday, BBQ Saturday, Roast beef with all the trimmings Sunday, BBQ Monday, Need to think about tonight?

When I wrote that I had just spent a week quarantined. Went down with a bit of a cough just before my scheduled shopping trip and the cupboard was getting bare.

Things are mostly ok here apart from a lack of flour and the knowledge of the things I found.

Or wash, parboil very briefly, cut into wedges, mix with olive oil and plenty of hot Italian chicken seasoning (or creole BBQ spice mix or similar), then roast.

Should take less than 40 min in all.

CB

There is a jar of chicken jalfrezi curry - it's 'best by' was quite recent by this standard - last year. Reckon it will be OK!

We ran out of milk the other day and delivery wasn't due for a few hours. Looking for something milky to put in my coffee I decided to try creme fraiche. I forced myself to drink half of it but I wouldn't recommend it. I think it was the wee fatty globules floating around that put me off....

I found an unopened bottle of South African port with a fancy-looking label. Tried it and found it rather sugary. Checked with a SA friend who confirmed that it's rubbish; cheap wine fortified with cane syrup and extra ethanol.  I was getting that characteristic taste in my mouth that you get after consuming sugary stuff so I poured the rest down the drain. 

Now for the bottle of Venezuelan rum I also found.  After that I've got a small bottle of Nigerian Orijin, which is based on bitters.  Not sure how far my courage will go with that one.

You should market that as “Extra Bulletproof Coffee”, some people would pay a fortune for that.

https://www.evolutionorganics.co.uk/brands/buy-bulletproof

A friend of mine brought back some sort of home made distilled cabbage drink from a business trip once. When he finally opened it his entire house was instantly filled with an acrid brassica stench.

I have no idea what happened to the bottle but I'm confident nobody drank it.