Your ViewsKeep your e-mails pouring in, it's good to know that there are lots of you out there with views and opinions. To help you work out what is what, are now little icons to help you see biscuit related themes. And now you can see at a glance which are the most contested subjects via this graph (requires Flash 6.0 plugin). Please keep your mails coming in to nicey@nicecupofteaandasitdown.com | If you like, you can use this search thingy to find stuff that matches with any of the icons you pick, or use the fantastic free text search, Yay! | Your e-Mails |
Greg Orwin |
Hi
I feel I need to express an opinion here. Alfahores in Uruguay may be one thing, but I can assure you that beingbrought up in Chile that Alfajores (note spelling difference) are a completely different beast. Imagine if you will two crumbly, crunchy, hob nob type biscuits. These are lovingly sandwiched together with dulce de leche (which by the way is the caramel you get from boiling a can of condensed milk in a pan of water for a couple of hours), then half dipped in plain chocolate. The problem with these unfortunately is that it is completely impossible to have just one. Inceidentally they dunk fabulously with one caveat, make sure you put no sugar in your tea as the chocolate and caramel will add the right amount of sweetness if you are a one teaspoonfful of sugar person when you have two dunked alfajores.
I will get off my soap box now.
Greg |
Nicey replies: Those Alfajores sound the business. |
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Biscuit Man |
Ahhh! McVities Royal Scots! These used to be my favourite biscuits! Very rich buttery taste, with a distinctive flavour that was similar to, but different from shortbread. This is a classic example of a product that was 'engineered' out of the market. The original recipe, from the 1960's or earlier, included small quantities of some very expensive ingredients. At various times in the 1970's the recipe went through lots of small changes, and over time most of the expensive ingredients were removed to make it cheaper to produce. Unfortunately the cumulative effect over the years was that the product evolved into something that tasted nothing like the original, and its popularity slumped. Eventually sales dropped to a level where it was discontinued. You can't even blame Marketing for this! the recipe changes came from the Production side of the company. Maybe its time for a comeback in its original format!!
Biscuit Man! |
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Justin Kendrick |
Dear Nicey,
I can only echo David Branton's sentiments with regard to Royal Scot biscuits. I distinctly remember eagerly anticipating sitting down to afternoon tea at 4 o'clock with a cup of tea and some Royal Scot biscuits - lovely and buttery. My Mum even kept them in a separate tin from the other biscuits (which were considered inferior - even bourbons!).
I assume you have high level contacts within the McVities organisation given your elevated postion in the biscuit world - can we start a campaign to bring back Royal Scot? My Mum always said that they were eaten by Her Majesty the Queen - hence the name. Is this true?
Eagerly awaiting any RS news,
Justin Kendrick |
Nicey replies: Your Mum could well be right. I expect the Queen is always getting offered biscuits of one sort or another, on a plate with a doily probably. You wouldn't want to offer Royalty a chocolate covered biscuit as that would be vulgar and would make a mess of the Queens gloves. Something with fruit in might cause an incident similar to when the Queen Mum got fish bones stuck in her throat. So a refined sort of shortbread would be ideal as a regal nibble. |
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David Branton |
I used to and visit my auntie, and have a nice cup of tea. She used to get out Royal Scott biscuits which were really nice, sweet and a bit salty. Anyway I have not seen any in the shops for ages. Are they still available? Please let me know.
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Nicey replies: I've not seen them for years, but I think they were made by McVities.
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Biscuit Man |
The biscuits remembered by Paul Mosely "They had cartoon characters faces drawn on them in slightly darker "ink" than the body of the biscuit" are probably Mr Men and Little Miss biscuits. These were small, round and flat, and had the various characters printed on them in coloured vegetable dye. They were initially sold in a big bag, but later changed to a multi-bag for the school lunchbox market. They had a stable-mate "Thunderbirds" biscuits, which were similar but had the various Thunderbirds vehicles printed on them.
Biscuit Man!
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