Bisto

"Where there's meat there's Bisto" and "Bisto browns, Bisto seasons, Bisto thickens all in one."
— from the advertising campaigns

Bisto is about as British as it comes for me. Sunday roast dinner without Bisto would have been unthinkable. It was at the top of the family's basic shopping list along with tea, salt and sugar: before leaving the house it was one of hose things one went to the larder to check for. My father's curry even included Bisto gravy, that's how important it was.

The original gravy product was launched in 1908 as a "meat-flavoured powder". These days the flavours encompass every need, be it chicken, lamb, vegetable, chicken, turkey, even bacon and (for some strange reason, Southern style and American hot & spicy). It's in practically every grocery shop and is doubtless one of the things that sells out quickly in times of panic buying. The "gravy granules" were introduced later as a "mix and forget" solution.

Making the gravy was an important task, and in our household, was Mother's responsibility. I wasn't trusted with this crucial cooking task until I was around fifteen. Mother would take a teacup dedicated to the task (the sole survivor of an old dinner service), put in a teaspoon or two of the powder, add a little hot water and stir well until it was smooth, then top up with more water. Depending on the accompanying vegetables, some of their cooking water would also be added for extra flavour before adding it to the drippings in the bottom of the roasting pan. This was put on the range on a low heat and stirred vigorously to prevent the formation of lumps before being poured through a sieve into a Pyrex jug, or sometimes transferred to a gravy boat if Dad was feeling posh, or we had guests that needed to be impressed.

Doubtless these days the hoi polloi doubtless stick the new-fangled granules in a jug, add water and microwave it, but microwaves were not considered in our house as a civilised cooking option.

The ads will certainly be remembered by folk of a certain generation. A cartoon wisp of gravy aroma, and two urchin children (the "Bisto Kids") following the cloud to the source, uttering the phrase "Ah, Bisto!"

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