Anybody got some of the old stuff I can try? Made from actual cows?
I’ll have to try Bovril as a drink, but I must admit I’m surprised that it’s marketed that way. It just seems perfect as a spread.
Of course, as a youngster, I enjoyed nibbling on beef boullion cubes, so go figure.
BTW, does anyone really like Promite? I keep a jar handy so my yeast extract collection is complete, but really, it’s sort of icky.
Not a fan of it either, so you’re not the only mutant in that respect! HP Sauce is pretty yummy, I have to add.
:smack: Toast…
and this is anchovette paste , or “fish paste” as it’s known
Anytime. Check out some of the other salty stuff on that site too…
A cup of hot Bovril and a meat pie was always the traditional half-time sustenance at British football matches (and probably still is).
It’d be a few years old. The beef was removed from Bovril after the British BSE episodes, and the manufacturers claim most people can’t tell the difference. But then they would say that.
My favourite potato crisps as a young 'un were Bovril flavour. I haven’t seen them for years.
Vegemite contains caramel as well as yeast extract, and so is a little milder than Marmite, which traditionally has more bite. Except for the products of non-UK Marmite licencees, who often tweak the product to suit local tastes.
I have a friend who swears UK Marmite has become milder in the past few years, possibly in an attempt to win over people who prefer Vegemite. It’s a shame if they have, because although I prefer Vegemite myself, it’s nice to have the choice of something with a bit more bite.
Cheese and Marmite sandwiches are just the finest thing. Or even cheese and Vegemite.
Are you sure that beef was removed from Bovril that far back ? The BBC item I posted was dated last year and it seems to imply it had only just happened.
Then, you’d probably have to go for Bonox (which nobody seems to have mentioned yet). It’s like Bovril, and as far as I know, it still has beef in it.
I hope I’m not preaching to the converted but another one you might like are Oxo cubes these enrich sauces etc. (I use them in chilli con carne). You might like to crumble one in a mug though, and drink it as per Bovril. I apologise if these are well known in the US, if they are, just forget I spoke 
They look like our Wyler’s boullion cubes. http://www.wylers.com/bouillonfaq.asp
I always found them yummy.
I used to filch them out of the pantry whenever mother wasn’t looking, chicken as well as beef. I’ve always wondered if I’ve some mutant halophilic gene or something.
I’ve got marmite, vegemite, Branston Pickle, and HP sauce in my kitchen right now. (Plus salad cream!) Now obviously I need to get some Bovril.
I’m skeptical of claims that beef was removed from Bovril, but I don’t have a jar handy to check, what I do have is a supermarket own-brand imitation (quite likely manufactured by the same company, albeit usually in these cases to a different recipe.
Anyway, the ingredients on this 240g jar of Tesco ‘Beefy’ are:
Concentrated Beef Stock (51%), Yeast Extract, Hydrolised Vegetable Protein, Beef Extract (6%), Salt, Colour (Ammonia caramel), Celery Extract, Pepper Extract.
So plenty of beef in there, by my reckoning.
To those of you recoiling in terror at the thought of all this nastiness, let me ask you; have you ever scraped those salty/crispy/gooey/golden bits out of the bottom of a chicken roasting pan and greedily consumed them? That’s what Marmite is like, only rather more so.
I’ve got Marmite, Vegemite, Promite, Bovril, fish sauce, lemon grass soup boullion cubes, a big old container of MSG, a liter of soy sauce, 3 bottles of hickory smoke flavoring, over a dozen hot sauces, birch syrup, spruce tip jelly, jalapeno jelly, a can of gulab jamen, along with some kasha and anchovy paste.
But now I gots to gets me some of that HP sauce and Branston pickle. Oh, and some Bonox now, too.
If only there was World enough, and time!
You probably shouldn’t keep all those things in the same cupboard, QtM, in case they reach some sort of salt/umame critical mass and asplode.
Or combine into some new form of mutant life…
They are carefully segregated. At present, the yeast extracts are separated one from another by wood slats, bottles of rice vinegar, and bottles of hot sauce. The anchovy paste is kept near the tahini, the gulab jamin is with the shiitake broth, and the fish sauce is just left by itself in a deep, dark corner.
Branston Pickle must be had, also look out for strong pickled onions. A sharp cheddar, branston and sliced picle onion sandwich is a delightful thing of beauty.
P.S. what do people think of Carr Valley cheeses? are they good?
