# Did the Merch change your taste



## degsy

Reading through these threads on feeding, makes me think back to when I was a "picky eater" as me Mam used to say. Would not eat curries or Chinese grub, fish made me baulk an the thought of prawns made me go green. When she put the Sunday dinner out mine was the one with no gravy. Then I went to sea and as me Dad used to say when I came back " you would eat your way down a jigger full of s*** come back and lick the walls" he had a way with words I think it was the Irish in him. In me cupboard in me flat I have got all kinds of chilli sauces and spices. And like nothing more than trying out recipes from all over the world. My latest was Lamb Tagine from North Africa. I put it down to the Merchant Navy experience. As it was once put to me by a Chief Grocer "Its there son eat it or starve" that was at a Palm Oil Chop supper on an E. D. I did'nt starve and as long as its dead I will eat it. Another thank you to the Grocers an Cooks of the M. N.(Thumb)


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## Pat Kennedy

One meal I had never tasted before I went to sea was liver and bacon, because my mother hated liver and wouldnt have it in the house. I tried it, very dubiously, because I was starving hungry, and I loved it! I have eaten at least once a month for the last fifty years.


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## pete

Curry, used to hate it now can't get enough of it...................pete


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## paisleymerchant

I am the same it was Curries for me in fact before i went to see i would not even put pepper on me dinner !


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## Chris Isaac

And we all developed an educated palette for all manner of things from all over the world: food, beer, wine, ladies etc etc etc Many things that we would never had tried had we stayed at home with our mothers watching !


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## eldersuk

Degsy's post reminds me of my first trip to sea in ED's. The grocer's usual practice was to put on Palm Oil Chop at lunchtime on the first Sunday after arriving Lagos. The tradition was to lubricate and prepare the gullet for the coming assault by imbibing copious quantities of pink gin.

For a first tripper who had never heard of either pink gin or Palm Oil Chop this presented a serious challenge. However, like a lot of other things which cropped up in my strange new life I persisted at it until I got it right, which turned out to be very rewarding indeed.

Derek


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## TonyAllen

basic fare in our house 13 to feed so going to sea was a real education to my palette ive probely trair almost everything now i am in my seventies china boats was the best food for a young lad of 16 tony allen


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## degsy

*palm oil chop the effects*



eldersuk said:


> Degsy's post reminds me of my first trip to sea in ED's. The grocer's usual practice was to put on Palm Oil Chop at lunchtime on the first Sunday after arriving Lagos. The tradition was to lubricate and prepare the gullet for the coming assault by imbibing copious quantities of pink gin.
> 
> For a first tripper who had never heard of either pink gin or Palm Oil Chop this presented a serious challenge. However, like a lot of other things which cropped up in my strange new life I persisted at it until I got it right, which turned out to be very rewarding indeed.
> 
> Derek


I sailed with a Chief Eng. name of Evans who loved Palm Oil Chop with all the extras, Gin Chilli's etc etc. Only thing was he suffered from the Duke of Argyles, 1st Leccie went into his office one morning after a Palm Oil/Gin Orgy, Senior Officers only do, came out P***ing himself laughing. He said he could hear Evo crying in his bog as he passed the West African Acid. The Leccie said there where other sound effects apart from Evo's wailing a full trumpet voluntary as the poor man got shut. Certain foreign dishes should be taken in moderation, poor Evo was walking like John Wayne for a couple of days. One blessing was it kept him out of the engine room, there was a rumour going round he asked the Chief Steward to look at the Argyles , I can not report the Grocers response here leave it to your imagination :sweat: :sweat: (Jester)


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## eldersuk

I well remember Roy Evans, from the Mumbles area of Swansea and known as Evans the Engine, or more commonly Evans the Bed!! I'm not surprised he over indulged on the Palm Oil Chop, he did on most things, such as beer and loud operatic music on his tape recorder at 3 o'clock in the morning.
Even though he could be a nuisance, I was sorry to hear he crossed the bar a couple of years ago.

Derek


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## degsy

eldersuk said:


> I well remember Roy Evans, from the Mumbles area of Swansea and known as Evans the Engine, or more commonly Evans the Bed!! I'm not surprised he over indulged on the Palm Oil Chop, he did on most things, such as beer and loud operatic music on his tape recorder at 3 o'clock in the morning.
> Even though he could be a nuisance, I was sorry to hear he crossed the bar a couple of years ago.
> 
> Derek


Sounds like the man himself. He had his wife with him one trip, she was a real lady. We used to P*** him off in the saloon by emptying the cheese board of Danish Blue and Camembert he used to get a real cob on. The Leckie who heard his wailing was Jack Blackburn, they used to go on the beer together and have some right rows nearly came to blows one night. A very entertaining pair.


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## calvin

got a liking for far east food in the merchant navy chinese japapenese and thai now great favourites and great likinng for sushi and sake like suntory whiskey but alas cant find any importers in north east.


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## fredav1

Regarding curries I tried so many times to like it but never did. All my shipmates said you would like it in it's real home, India. So when I went to Bombay I bought one of these sooper dooper jobbies. Took one mouthful and nearly puked up. What I used to do on curry day was ask for rice only then pour a tin of shakey milk over it and make a rice pud.


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## finetune

Sailed with Stevie Clarkes for 16 years and was introduced to tripe&onions.I liked it.Never had it at home though,my mum and later my wife would'nt entertain it.Lucky they were both curry lovers.
George


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## alan ward

degsy said:


> Reading through these threads on feeding, makes me think back to when I was a "picky eater" as me Mam used to say. Would not eat curries or Chinese grub, fish made me baulk an the thought of prawns made me go green. When she put the Sunday dinner out mine was the one with no gravy. Then I went to sea and as me Dad used to say when I came back " you would eat your way down a jigger full of s*** come back and lick the walls" he had a way with words I think it was the Irish in him. In me cupboard in me flat I have got all kinds of chilli sauces and spices. And like nothing more than trying out recipes from all over the world. My latest was Lamb Tagine from North Africa. I put it down to the Merchant Navy experience. As it was once put to me by a Chief Grocer "Its there son eat it or starve" that was at a Palm Oil Chop supper on an E. D. I did'nt starve and as long as its dead I will eat it. Another thank you to the Grocers an Cooks of the M. N.(Thumb)


I echo all that,my conversion started when my Dad and I lived together in the 60`s.He couldn`t cook at all,poor soul, and having to feed not only himself but a picky 13 year old can`t have been easy.By the time I joined ED`s I less so,by the end of a year I`d eat anything,and probably had.My cupboards are the same,a thousand sauces of varying heat.It drives my missus mad,she`ll cook something and I reach for the tabasco!


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## alan ward

Chris Isaac said:


> And we all developed an educated palette for all manner of things from all over the world: food, beer, wine, ladies etc etc etc Many things that we would never had tried had we stayed at home with our mothers watching !


Hear,hear, a good all-round education in the finer things in life


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## tom roberts

Melon Jam had tins of it to myself when peggy on the British Supremecy 1954 spread on bread made by second cook and baker I think his name was Mc Cabe best baker I ever came across,took most of my life to find it again but now I have it made by a lovely old lady in France, one thing I hated was the sight of a tray of melted brawn with board of trade salad never been able to eat it.


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## alan ward

tom roberts said:


> Melon Jam had tins of it to myself when peggy on the British Supremecy 1954 spread on bread made by second cook and baker I think his name was Mc Cabe best baker I ever came across,took most of my life to find it again but now I have it made by a lovely old lady in France, one thing I hated was the sight of a tray of melted brawn with board of trade salad never been able to eat it.


What memories you lads are awakening;making brawn in the larder on the England when Brian,a Boy Cook who had worked there the previous voyage,poked his head through the hatch`Oh aye brawn eh?minced ****e you`ll poison some poor bastard one day`then he ran.


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## Satanic Mechanic

Sort of, though it happened before I went to sea.................

My father having been at sea had a taste for just about every type of foreign food especially curry in all forms and "chinee chow" the result being that I was exposed to such food from as early as I can remember, including him famously bringing containers of Bandari curry home whenever a ship with a Bandari appeared in the port. He wasn't a cook himself but he did a mean Nasi Goreng if pushed. A lot of the neighbours, at least the ones who had not been to sea, considered this some sort of child abuse(LOL)

Me? It gave me a life long love of global food and real curry in particular.


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## Charlie_Wood

Satanic Mechanic said:


> Sort of, though it happened before I went to sea.................
> 
> My father having been at sea had a taste for just about every type of foreign food especially curry in all forms and "chinee chow" the result being that I was exposed to such food from as early as I can remember, including him famously bringing containers of Bandari curry home whenever a ship with a Bandari appeared in the port. He wasn't a cook himself but he did a mean Nasi Goreng if pushed. A lot of the neighbours, at least the ones who had not been to sea, considered this some sort of child abuse(LOL)
> 
> Me? It gave me a life long love of global food and real curry in particular.


Crikey SM, are you my brother. (Jester) My (Glaswegian) pa was a BI man and I remember the nasi goring, ****** chow and curries, normally cooked at 2300 on his return from the pub. I still cook one of his specials, Macaroni cheese with tomatoes, hard boiled eggs and corned beef all added in, on a fairly regular basis. God knows where he got that one from though.

As a young uncert 3/O on the Clan Robertson the Mate, Peter Kemp was a very smooth but supercilious ****er who didn't have any other chums to go ashore with so I was always ordered to accompany him. I was never allowed to pick my own food and he went out of his way to order anything I thought I didn't like. A great education and much appreciated with the benefit of hindsight. Mind you I had to know my place, when he said he'd organised transport up the road he used to sit in the cab and I'd be perched on the dunnage he'd just flogged on the back of the lorry.


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## Thats another Story

i was brought up on pee whack scouse liver and onions. then to go to far of lands and eat fish head curry sushi stir fry was a real eye opener and Bowell opener(Hippy)(Jester)


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## NoMoss

I soon lost my pickiness. On one ship that was stored for a shorter trip than we were doing, the porage was full of weevels. Being still in my teens with an appetite to match, I thought ' You are what you eat and those weevels have eaten porage, so they are porage as well,' and down they went.


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## Satanic Mechanic

fredav1 said:


> Regarding curries I tried so many times to like it but never did. All my shipmates said you would like it in it's real home, India. So when I went to Bombay I bought one of these sooper dooper jobbies. Took one mouthful and nearly puked up. What I used to do on curry day was ask for rice only then pour a tin of shakey milk over it and make a rice pud.


I was in Bombay, ok Mumbai, last year. I went into the office where the office boss knows of my curry addiction. 

Him: "We heard you were coming, so we have pre ordered the curry, Is Indian Curry ok"

Me: "??????????- just checking - but this is Mumbai?"

Him: "Yes but now we have British Curries here as well - they are very popular"

So there you go(EEK)


next episode - taking coal to Newcastle


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## Donald McGhee

Having spent my first 5 years in Nigeria I was well used to exotic food and was really pleased to sample "new" dishes like mince and tatties, stovies, liver and bacon and fish and chips when I returned to live with my Grandparents for three years. Bit of an **** about face process for me.

Going to sea opened up a whole new box of food that was alternately altered either beyond recognition to its detriment, or turned into something approaching heaven, dependent on the cook!

Bank Line curries still can't be beat and the pepper soups, palm oil chops and groundnut stews are still some of my favourite tucker (make 'em meself). No wonder I am almost spherical!


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## GeeM

I spent my Engineer Cadetship with Turnbulls at Poplar Tech between 79 and 83When I first arrived the sight of people eating jellied eels In the East End Pubs nearly turned my stomach . By the time I finished 3rd Phase I was putting them away with everybody else.


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## alan ward

GeeM said:


> I spent my Engineer Cadetship with Turnbulls at Poplar Tech between 79 and 83When I first arrived the sight of people eating jellied eels In the East End Pubs nearly turned my stomach . By the time I finished 3rd Phase I was putting them away with everybody else.


If ever you fancy some of them again,look up a firm called Eels on Wheels and they`ll deliver them to you


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## bryanm

If I had'nt gone to sea don't suppose I would ever
have tried the likes of sheep's brains, sweetbreads or dried fish.


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## alan ward

Peoples tastes are changing faster than ever.Our chef here bought some goat and curried it.I thought it was ok but a bit cooler than I would have liked.The public went nuts for it and even took up phoning up to see it was available,no accounting for taste


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## Pat Kennedy

In Blue Funnel ships they often served an_ entree_ which was fried minced beef with a large splodge of curry on top.
I forget the official name for it, but it was universally known to the deck crowd as 'Mad Woman's ****e'.


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## Stephen J. Card

Pat Kennedy said:


> I forget the official name for it, but it was universally known to the deck crowd as 'Mad Woman's ****e'.



I know what colour it is! I was sent off by the mate on the WARWICK FORT to paint all the deck valves. Your know, green for ballast water, blue for fresh etc etc. Couldn't find any brown so I mixed my own and went to work. Bosun came up, not all pleased and said the brown I had mixed was the same colour as 'Mad Woman's ****e'.

A bit like chocolate brown but with lots more yellow!!!!


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## Pat Kennedy

Stephen J. Card said:


> I know what colour it is! I was sent off by the mate on the WARWICK FORT to paint all the deck valves. Your know, green for ballast water, blue for fresh etc etc. Couldn't find any brown so I mixed my own and went to work. Bosun came up, not all pleased and said the brown I had mixed was the same colour as 'Mad Woman's ****e'.
> 
> A bit like chocolate brown but with lots more yellow!!!!


There was often a touch of swamp green in there as well Stephen.
Pat(EEK)


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## johno

hi all you guys out there in the mess room just reading your tales of "gastronomical edification ''' have been down that long happy road 'came from back street Liverpool 8 not so fancy food place my self so took the 'bull by the horn's as the say, at 15 got a berth on Liverpool pilot boat as galley boy then deep sea[1950] 12 years British M N some real good old time ship's cooks [DOC's]in those days good teachers some of them best thing i have done in my life i reckon, i fed well;1963 went to Aus still there did 14 more years at sea cooking now at 77 a few bumps in the road but ok still feeding well still camping fishing ect life is good thank's to the B M N and the old ships cooks of the old M N thanks guys keep the tales coming johno


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## redgreggie

not only changed my taste it opened my eyes as well.

my mum was the best cook that I've ever known, she really was. I grew up in the fifties in a village between Sheffield and Chesterfield, the fare was totally traditional, roasts, stews and fish and chips, I'd never even heard the word curry.

but all that changed with going to sea, love a curry not the dead hot ones, but reasonably hot, but it's the different spices that make them so good.
I never went a bomb on tripe, I would never dream of buying it today, though I did have a taste when I was at sea.

the beauty about the food at sea was, even if you didn't like the main course you would still have other options, soup, maybe another meal as a filler like soused herrings and then of course always a sweet, so you were unlikely to go hungry.

I was in catering, mainly as a galley boy, and to this day I still do make good stews, curries and make bread from time to time, I suffer emphysema and get out of breath very easily, so doing these things does hit me and it's thanks to the wonderful cooks that I worked, and sailed with that I still bother to this day.











ray......................in Batley.


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## alan ward

Like all you lads durin the course of a long and varied career in the catering industry I have received a lot of criticism and a greater amount of thanks and compliments.However what I always found the hardest to take was that distributed with bile and aggression from Junior Engineers etc.who had just finished their time in a shipyard in Buckie or some other God forsaken spot.,brought up on a diet of Players no.6 and Milky Ways.I had been at sea cooking when they were still making tea and being shouted at by old men in flat caps and boiler suits.


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## kevjacko

Although I've been out the catering game a lot of years now, my friends and family still predominantly see me as a cook. (I correct them if they say 'chef') My style is still prdominantly MN although I'll turn my hand to anything. I like to keep in touch with my catering background and enjoy doing the entertaining bit. Invariably whenever I do a dish I picked up from my sea going days it goes down a storm mainly because it's good staple food, whether it's a curry, china chilo, nasi goring, pea and ham soup, canadian minced beef pie and chips, stir fry or the likes, and that's what most folk want to eat. Especially if I do baked jam roll for desert.
I don't mind doing the fancy dan stuff but almost alweays revert back to my MN days.


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## Varley

*Groceries*

As my figure shows, I have only been on one bad feeder - the Conoco Europe.

The old man, Don Sixto Celaya, asked my how I was getting on with Spanish food to which I replied that I had been living of beer and sandwiches for a month. He looked at me with a genuinly pained expression as though I had spat on his mother's grave:

"Davith, you do not theenk we eat this s*** when we are at home do you?!"

Only Brits aboard were me and my junior R/O. Everyone else Spanish. Every locker had a private stash of churizo strings or whole Palma hams to supplement the lamentable company grub (my sentence was 6 months, no port - SBM in Libya to STS off Caymans) 

Without Don Sixto's daily preluncheon snacks it would have been a hard lie indeed.

Best run steam ship I have known (C/E Don Vincente ???). Delayed once when deck steam warming forgotten and C/E and self tripped the job once by accidental overspeed of feed pump (electronic pulse controller). Only hiccoughs in 6 months.

On the opposite tack the aftermath of a shippers party on Eurofreighter (possibly Asialiner) given by Seatrain in Rotterdam left a huge tin of best Beluga caviar - only a few teaspoons short of full.
We got stuck into this big time - no delicate blinys but doorsteps of toast covered - in the end must have thrown away 1000 USD's worth - not knowing its longevity. A pity as I now like this stuff and would never have tried it otherwise.

Then came the Team ships (leckie), Chinese crews and Nasi Goreng (as 'fused' to China) - no meal surpasses this and I have not managed anything as good ashore.

When visiting Indian crewed vessels I would discretely let my partiality for lamb curry be known - once less than subtley and I got it every day for the fortynight I was onboard - no complaints from me!

But Indian does not always mean good feeding. My Indian colleagues tell me their common management practice is to gauge a cook by the quantity of lime pickle consumed - the more pickle needed the worse is the cook.


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## Mick Spear

kevjacko said:


> Although I've been out the catering game a lot of years now, my friends and family still predominantly see me as a cook. (I correct them if they say 'chef') My style is still prdominantly MN although I'll turn my hand to anything. I like to keep in touch with my catering background and enjoy doing the entertaining bit. Invariably whenever I do a dish I picked up from my sea going days it goes down a storm mainly because it's good staple food, whether it's a curry, china chilo, nasi goring, pea and ham soup, canadian minced beef pie and chips, stir fry or the likes, and that's what most folk want to eat. Especially if I do baked jam roll for desert.
> I don't mind doing the fancy dan stuff but almost alweays revert back to my MN days.


Kev,
China chilo! Wow that takes me back to my time with Shell Tankers. As i remember it, it was served in the following way: turned out from a coupe in layers, peas, minced lamb, boiled rice. Not too sure but it ay have had chopped egg too and finsihed of with a bashed mango chutney on top?
Mick S


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## Mick Spear

alan ward said:


> Like all you lads durin the course of a long and varied career in the catering industry I have received a lot of criticism and a greater amount of thanks and compliments.However what I always found the hardest to take was that distributed with bile and aggression from Junior Engineers etc.who had just finished their time in a shipyard in Buckie or some other God forsaken spot.,brought up on a diet of Players no.6 and Milky Ways.I had been at sea cooking when they were still making tea and being shouted at by old men in flat caps and boiler suits.


A good friend of mine - a chief cook - joined a ship coming out of refit. The ship had been in refit for quite a few months. The live on board date was confirmed and the first meal was to be lunch. Due to loading stores etc my mate made the first meal a quick and convenient one: Pasties, baked beans, and fresh chips. Some engineers in the Duty mess made some comments and my mate replied "can't understand why you are complaining, you have been living on Pot noodle and cup a soups for the past 3 months!" there was no reply.
Mick S


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## Alex Salmond

kevjacko said:


> Although I've been out the catering game a lot of years now, my friends and family still predominantly see me as a cook. (I correct them if they say 'chef') My style is still prdominantly MN although I'll turn my hand to anything. I like to keep in touch with my catering background and enjoy doing the entertaining bit. Invariably whenever I do a dish I picked up from my sea going days it goes down a storm mainly because it's good staple food, whether it's a curry, china chilo, nasi goring, pea and ham soup, canadian minced beef pie and chips, stir fry or the likes, and that's what most folk want to eat. Especially if I do baked jam roll for desert.
> I don't mind doing the fancy dan stuff but almost alweays revert back to my MN days.


Mate can I come round your house for tea one day please??I like to eat all of the above (not at the same time though ye ken) so may have to stay for a few days, I can do the dishes and a bit of after dinner entertainment if you like ..(Thumb)


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## Alex Salmond

Mick Spear said:


> A good friend of mine - a chief cook - joined a ship coming out of refit. The ship had been in refit for quite a few months. The live on board date was confirmed and the first meal was to be lunch. Due to loading stores etc my mate made the first meal a quick and convenient one: Pasties, baked beans, and fresh chips. Some engineers in the Duty mess made some comments and my mate replied "can't understand why you are complaining, you have been living on Pot noodle and cup a soups for the past 3 months!" there was no reply.
> Mick S


Ungrateful bugg#[email protected] eh Mick but what can you expect from a bunch of mechanics in their manky auld boiler suits ,probably preferred the pot noodles the Heathens.(LOL)


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## kevjacko

Mick Spear said:


> Kev,
> China chilo! Wow that takes me back to my time with Shell Tankers. As i remember it, it was served in the following way: turned out from a coupe in layers, peas, minced lamb, boiled rice. Not too sure but it ay have had chopped egg too and finsihed of with a bashed mango chutney on top?
> Mick S


That's the one Mick (LOL)


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## kevjacko

Alex Salmond said:


> Mate can I come round your house for tea one day please??I like to eat all of the above (not at the same time though ye ken) so may have to stay for a few days, I can do the dishes and a bit of after dinner entertainment if you like ..(Thumb)


Aye Alex nae botha if your ever down the Tyne, dishes though? thought that's what the missus was employed for(LOL) OOOPS I'm off out now she's just read over me shoulder.:sweat:


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## Jocko

Of course the Merch changed us, and for the better to. As far as I know, up until 1958 when I went to sea nobody in Glasgow had ever seen Chinese or Indian food. Little did I know that in no time at all I would in the States. You could go ashore with 5 dollars. For that you drank 10 cent beers (a schooner was 15 cents) all night plus a monster t-bone steak and still have enough for a taxi back to the ship. Indian food in South Africa, Japanese food as well. It was an education and as you all know that when you went home on leave the shore wallies didn`t believe you.


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## Pat Kennedy

I stopped the other morning at a roadside 'eatery' in Birkenhead, right outside Blue Funnel's Odyssey Works. I had the best sausage on toast I've tasted for years. Turns out the bloke running the place is an ex Blue Star Chief Cook. Its called 'Flaherty's Galley'. Well worth stopping for brekkie if you are in Birkenhead.
Pat(Eat)


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## degsy

Pat Kennedy said:


> I stopped the other morning at a roadside 'eatery' in Birkenhead, right outside Blue Funnel's Odyssey Works. I had the best sausage on toast I've tasted for years. Turns out the bloke running the place is an ex Blue Star Chief Cook. Its called 'Flaherty's Galley'. Well worth stopping for brekkie if you are in Birkenhead.
> Pat(Eat)


Nowt like a Dock Road Sausage Sarnie Pat.
Your post took me back to the first job I had when I left school. A place called Hughes & Ellison Steelwork on Blundell Street off the Dock Road. I worked in the Drawing Office, making tea, prints off the drawings no CAD in those days and general gofer. The first Saturday Morning Overtime I worked one of the Draughtsmen said to me " At 0930 son go down to Laytons on the corner and get the Brekkies in" . So 0930 comes and armed with me list I goes down to Laytons Transport Cafe, now this was the early Sixties and the Dock Road was a solid line of lorries heading into the Docks. Naturally the Cafe was full so I joined the queue list clasped in hand, the air laden with the smell of hand rolled baccy and frying bacon. A general hubub of the sounds of working men, effing and jeffing, the llingua franca of the Docks. When I got closer to the counter, one of the women working said to me "Your Ivy Collins youngest lad are'nt ya" , strange that most kids where known by the Mothers maiden name, a hangover from the Wash House days I suppose. Anyway she takes the list, and said to me I will do you a butty son, and winks. I gets back to the Office with me cardboard box full of toast, eggs, sausage and bacon, you can imagine the smell comeing off it . By the time I gets back me mouth is watering like a scrapyard alsatian's. Duly distributing the sarnies, ciggies and tea I settles down to my own. I unwraps this block of greaseproof paper and there is a Full English between three rounds of toast. A cholestorol laden beauty the likes of which I have never seen since. As I raised the gastronomic monstrosity to my mouth there was a gasp from the Draughtsmen and one Harry Saunders cried out "F***ing Hell he will have to dislocate his jaw to get a bite on that", the Drawing Office Staff collapsedf in laughter and I gets a mix of Egg yolk and Baked Bean juice on me trousers. Never had a butty like that again, and it was free plus I made enough for five Woodies and I was on overtime. A belting Saturday Morning.

Theres a McDonalds there now, have you ever had one of there Breakfast's, DONT!!!.
When ever I pass there I often think back to that time in my life. To the noise and bustle of a thriving Port, the forest of mast's and funnel's, the seeming endless line of lorries and the smell of baccy, red lead, dunnage and diesel .

Oh! and me first triple decker full English breakfast sarnie. Me mouth is watering now, so I will have me bloody porridge. (*))


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## Gulpers

degsy said:


> Nowt like a Dock Road Sausage Sarnie Pat.
> Your post took me back to the first job I had when I left school. A place called Hughes & Ellison Steelwork on Blundell Street off the Dock Road. I worked in the Drawing Office, making tea, prints off the drawings no CAD in those days and general gofer. The first Saturday Morning Overtime I worked one of the Draughtsmen said to me " At 0930 son go down to Laytons on the corner and get the Brekkies in" . So 0930 comes and armed with me list I goes down to Laytons Transport Cafe, now this was the early Sixties and the Dock Road was a solid line of lorries heading into the Docks. Naturally the Cafe was full so I joined the queue list clasped in hand, the air laden with the smell of hand rolled baccy and frying bacon. A general hubub of the sounds of working men, effing and jeffing, the llingua franca of the Docks. When I got closer to the counter, one of the women working said to me "Your Ivy Collins youngest lad are'nt ya" , strange that most kids where known by the Mothers maiden name, a hangover from the Wash House days I suppose. Anyway she takes the list, and said to me I will do you a butty son, and winks. I gets back to the Office with me cardboard box full of toast, eggs, sausage and bacon, you can imagine the smell comeing off it . By the time I gets back me mouth is watering like a scrapyard alsatian's. Duly distributing the sarnies, ciggies and tea I settles down to my own. I unwraps this block of greaseproof paper and there is a Full English between three rounds of toast. A cholestorol laden beauty the likes of which I have never seen since. As I raised the gastronomic monstrosity to my mouth there was a gasp from the Draughtsmen and one Harry Saunders cried out "F***ing Hell he will have to dislocate his jaw to get a bite on that", the Drawing Office Staff collapsedf in laughter and I gets a mix of Egg yolk and Baked Bean juice on me trousers. Never had a butty like that again, and it was free plus I made enough for five Woodies and I was on overtime. A belting Saturday Morning.
> 
> Theres a McDonalds there now, have you ever had one of there Breakfast's, DONT!!!.
> When ever I pass there I often think back to that time in my life. To the noise and bustle of a thriving Port, the forest of mast's and funnel's, the seeming endless line of lorries and the smell of baccy, red lead, dunnage and diesel .
> 
> Oh! and me first triple decker full English breakfast sarnie. Me mouth is watering now, so I will have me bloody porridge. (*))


An excellent anecdote *degsy*. (Applause)
Enjoy your porridge. (==D)


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## Mick Spear

Pat Kennedy said:


> I stopped the other morning at a roadside 'eatery' in Birkenhead, right outside Blue Funnel's Odyssey Works. I had the best sausage on toast I've tasted for years. Turns out the bloke running the place is an ex Blue Star Chief Cook. Its called 'Flaherty's Galley'. Well worth stopping for brekkie if you are in Birkenhead.
> Pat(Eat)


Pat
I think the same Guy has just joined SN. I will be in refit up that way next summer, i will have to try the place out.
Mick S


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## Mick Spear

degsy said:


> Nowt like a Dock Road Sausage Sarnie Pat.
> Your post took me back to the first job I had when I left school. A place called Hughes & Ellison Steelwork on Blundell Street off the Dock Road. I worked in the Drawing Office, making tea, prints off the drawings no CAD in those days and general gofer. The first Saturday Morning Overtime I worked one of the Draughtsmen said to me " At 0930 son go down to Laytons on the corner and get the Brekkies in" . So 0930 comes and armed with me list I goes down to Laytons Transport Cafe, now this was the early Sixties and the Dock Road was a solid line of lorries heading into the Docks. Naturally the Cafe was full so I joined the queue list clasped in hand, the air laden with the smell of hand rolled baccy and frying bacon. A general hubub of the sounds of working men, effing and jeffing, the llingua franca of the Docks. When I got closer to the counter, one of the women working said to me "Your Ivy Collins youngest lad are'nt ya" , strange that most kids where known by the Mothers maiden name, a hangover from the Wash House days I suppose. Anyway she takes the list, and said to me I will do you a butty son, and winks. I gets back to the Office with me cardboard box full of toast, eggs, sausage and bacon, you can imagine the smell comeing off it . By the time I gets back *me mouth is watering like a scrapyard alsatian's*. Duly distributing the sarnies, ciggies and tea I settles down to my own. I unwraps this block of greaseproof paper and there is a Full English between three rounds of toast. A cholestorol laden beauty the likes of which I have never seen since. As I raised the gastronomic monstrosity to my mouth there was a gasp from the Draughtsmen and one Harry Saunders cried out "F***ing Hell he will have to dislocate his jaw to get a bite on that", the Drawing Office Staff collapsedf in laughter and I gets a mix of Egg yolk and Baked Bean juice on me trousers. Never had a butty like that again, and it was free plus I made enough for five Woodies and I was on overtime. A belting Saturday Morning.
> 
> Theres a McDonalds there now, have you ever had one of there Breakfast's, DONT!!!.
> When ever I pass there I often think back to that time in my life. To the noise and bustle of a thriving Port, the forest of mast's and funnel's, the seeming endless line of lorries and the smell of baccy, red lead, dunnage and diesel .
> 
> Oh! and me first triple decker full English breakfast sarnie. Me mouth is watering now, so I will have me bloody porridge. (*))


*me mouth is watering like a scrapyard alsatian's* brilliant!
Mick S


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## malcolm doherty

*curry*



pete said:


> Curry, used to hate it now can't get enough of it...................pete


First curry i had was on the sandringham queen took a bit of getting used to but nothing beats a good curry on board ship i make my own while on leave


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