Amazing 80s

Hopping over another 2 decades we land ourselves in the 80s. A time full of neon colours and material girls. Although I have stated that this post will be about the 80s, what happened in this time when it came to food all began from the kitsch decade of the 70s. 

The fashion for pineapple and cheese hedgehogs didn't give up that easy and along with these tacky food ideas also came the revolutionary ready meal. It was during the 80s that these really took off. There are several reasons as to why this happened but here is my favourite; women started having lives. Prior to the 80s it was expected of and even desired by women to become housewives and live to serve men. However with the 80s came a massive gust of girl power which was happily accepted by women all over as they began to start having careers and travelling rather than just having a mediocre existance.

Therefore with women no longer in the kitchen, who was going to provide for all those hungry bellies? The factories of course! Off the conveyor belt came box after box of ready made, ready to microwave meals. Although at the beginning it was only "ordinary" meals like roast chicken dinner that were available, soon it was more glamorous and exotic meals like curry and chow mein that became readily available to the everyday consumer. Some tv chefs like Delia Smith recognised how much of an impact all this processed food would have and so began including some of it in their recipes. Here is one below for what is meant to be a cheats christmas cake: 

Last Minute Mincemeat Christmas Cake

Ingredients
For the pre-soaking
 150ml brandy
 1 x 400g (approximately) jar luxury mincemeat
 110g no-soak prunes, roughly chopped
 50g glace cherries, quartered
 175g dried mixed fruit
 50g whole candied peel, finely chopped
For the cake
 225g self-raising flour
 3 level teaspoons baking powder
 ¼ teaspoon salt
 1½ level teaspoons mixed spice
 150g spreadable butter
 150g dark muscovado sugar
 3 large eggs
 50g Brazil nuts, roughly chopped
 50g mixed chopped nuts
 zest of 1 small orange and 1 small lemon
 approximately 18 walnut halves, 18 pecan halves, 20 whole Brazils (or any other mixture you like)

For the glaze
 1 heaped tablespoon sieved apricot jam
 1 tablespoon brandy

Method

Even though this is last-minute, it's best to pre-soak the fruits if you can.  

So just measure  out the brandy, mincemeat and fruits in the bowl, give them a good stir, then cover with a cloth and leave somewhere cool overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours.

When you are ready to make the cake, pre-heat the oven to 170C, gas mark 3. 

Now all you do is sift the flour, baking powder, salt and mixed spice into a very large, roomy mixing bowl, then add the butter, sugar and eggs and beat with an electric hand whisk until everything is smooth and fluffy.  Now gradually fold in the pre-soaked fruit mixture, chopped nuts and finally the grated lemon and orange zests. 

Now take a large spoon and spoon it into the prepared tin, levelling the top with the back of the spoon, then arrange the whole nuts in circles or rows on the surface.

Finally, take a double square of baking parchment with a 50p-sized hole in the centre (which gives it extra protection during the cooking) and place this not on the top of the mixture itself but on the rim of the liner.  

Bake the cake on the centre shelf of the oven for 2 hours or until the centre springs back when lightly touched.  

Cool the cake in the tin for 30 minutes, then remove it to a wire cooling tray to continue cooling.

While that's happening, heat the apricot jam and brandy together and brush the nuts with this mixture to make them shiny and glossy.  

Store the cake in an airtight tin or in parchment-lined foil and it will keep beautifully.

What we can take from this time of food is that as humans we are always learning to be more efficient, more versatile when it comes to food. Although during the 80s healthy food clearly wasn't a priority it is clear to see that the fashion of ready meals and such drastic new food ideas meant the development of food was on a whole new roll.