Bovril on toast

Eaten Bovril toast for breakfast 95% of my mornings since I was about 5.

Reported

<dry retch>

<Adds Bovril to shopping list>

Bovril is a drink.

Bovril is a drink.

I tried making it as a drink when I was younger. Even now I recall the results being very disappointing compared to having it on toast.

Not Marmite?

Pretty sure the Bovril of today is not the Bovril of yore.

I can see a few scenarios where a cup of Bovril or even on toast would be acceptable or even welcome, but they are very niche and almost certainly involve exceptionally bad weather, a very unpleasant experience and mountain rescue

Bovril on toasted seeded bagel is food of champions.

I've been on keto diet since April so not currently eating bread based stuff but Bovril on toast / bagel has been my breakfast for most of my adult life.

Not Marmite?

Indeed. Why anyone would choose the boiled down remnants of unmentionable bits of hoof when the scrappings of a beer vat are on offer is just plain odd. And marmite also makes an excellent drink.

Not Marmite?

Definitely not Marmite. Vegemite ftw!

I'm reporting the Marmite/Vegemite apologists who think that they are a bovril alternative. It's like saying peanut butter is the same as pate just because they look similar!

peanut butter is the same as pate just because they look similar

I don't even want to think about what kind of paté you must be eating if it looks anything like peanut butter!

Bovril is a drink.

Marmite is a spread.

</thread>

Definitely not Marmite. Vegemite ftw!

I'm a huge fan of Marmite, I could eat it straight from the jar with a spoon.  I tried Vegemite for the first time relatively recently and was disappointed, perhaps it's a case of "what you're used to"?  It's an odd texture and it tastes kinda like burnt Marmite.  It wasn't bad exactly, I quite liked it, but I ended up tossing out the rest of the jar because it was never going to get eaten whilst I had Marmite in the house.

This is a Bovril thread. Take your Marmite/vegimite chat elsewhere please.

@cougar reported for closing the thread and then continuing the thread without using <thread>, and also for trying to constrain Bovril to a cup diluted in boiling water, and also for banging on about unrelated and inferior foodstuffs. Disgraceful.

Also:

Bovril and cheese on toast :yum:

You're lucky I'm no longer a moderator. (-:

As for Bovril,

I've been veggie most of my life. One of the very few meaty things I miss is Bovril. It was a staple of my childhood, being packed off to high school with a Roughneck Thermos of Bovril.

When the BSE crisis hit, Bovril went vegetarian. It was ace, exactly how I remembered it. Then afterwards they went back to the beefy recipe, I'd have stocked up if I'd known.

I like the occasional Marmite on buttered toast but I prefer Vegemite, to me it's less salty and I prefer the firmer texture to the runnier Marmite.

Bovril is nice on toast too but I think it's a gopping drink.

This is a Bovril thread

Threads go where threads go...

But, isn’t anything on toast truly delicious?

Bovril is fermented wasp puke. Fact.

When the BSE crisis hit, Bovril went vegetarian. It was ace, exactly how I remembered it. Then afterwards they went back to the beefy recipe

Didn't know it went veggie for a while. Considering cow as lumps of flesh was available during BSE, that's pretty proof positive that the black goo that is bovril is made from the stuff that's a step beyond the l&a (lips and arseholes) normal bottom of the rung.

Is there such a thing as chicken Bovril or was it just a really bad dream?

Packing a few cubes of Bovril in your rucksack for when camping is a must. But avoid the low salt type, that just does not have the same depth of flavour.

I don't mind the occasional teaspoon of Bovril.

Another Bovril on toast, with egg(scrambled) fan, Also liked drinking it,after a cold morning grafting outside.

But, isn’t anything on toast truly delicious?

Chips on toast certainly agrees. Topped with beans

My grandparents used to.mix a spoon of bovril in with scrabled eggs. I used to like it but haven't had it as an adult.

My parents crumbled an oxo.cube on scrabled eggs which in some ways is even stranger

My parents crumbled an oxo.cube on scrabled eggs which in some ways is even stranger

You’re not wrong, I mean, scrabled eggs is even weirder than scrabbled eggs!

Toast & Bovril... The food of champions!

Glad it's not just me...

Probably ideal that I don't these days given I'm 44 and my metabolism is a LOT slower, but as a teen I used to sit through half a sliced Wholemeal loaf at a time, buttered and then with copious amounts of Bovril spread over every slice... All washed down with mug after mug of semi-skimmed milk!

It's literally the only time I will ever drink milk on its own. I have a bit in tea/coffee, and I put it on cereal on the rare occasion I eat cereal, but I'll sit drinking pints of the stuff when eating Toast & Bovril!

I must have been the bone thing with bovril and bse. Remember you couldn’t until fairly recently buy  a t bone steak in the uk.

Nah, it’s just that you couldn’t export beef from Britain during bse. Exports are apparently quite a large proportion of Bovril production so they went Vege for a bit.

I like the occasional Marmite on buttered toast but I prefer Vegemite, to me it’s less salty and I prefer the firmer texture to the runnier Marmite.

I love Marmite. Tried Vegemite once... never again. Astonishingly vile.

Fun fact: Marmite is not kosher because of some of the factory equipment being shared with Bovril.

Only certain sizes are kosher: tiny 70g jars (not made any more I think), giant 600g tubs, or anything manufactured in SA (can't be sold in the UK).

We get the giant tubs regardless 🙂

I had bovril on toast at a sleepover when I was kid, I enjoyed it, like strong smoky marmite. Everyone I'd spoken to about it since thinks I was making it up. Glad this thread popped up, might have to get some and see if it takes me back 30 odd years. Not had any since

You are all missing the best way to consume Bovril, Marmite or Vegemite. A spoon of it on the side of the plate when you are having macaroni cheese, or mixed in with buttery, peppery spaghetti.

 I tried Vegemite for the first time relatively recently and was disappointed, perhaps it’s a case of “what you’re used to”?

My old boss went out of his way to get Vegemite just so he could tell people it's better than Marmite. It isn't and he's a dickhead. As a result I'm fully in on Marmite. Bovil is Satan's urea.

Marmite on toast and bagels, powdered Bovril to drink

Bovril on toast is perhaps the largest barrier between me and vegetarianism. Eat it most days.

When it went veggie during BSE it tasted pretty good (if not quite the same). I'd happily make the switch to veggie bovril if it was available.

Tried Vegemite once… never again. Astonishingly vile.

I do much prefer Vegemite but Marmite's okay, and I don't think they're entirely dissimilar. I'm genuinely surprised a Marmite lover would think Vegemite "astonishingly vile"rather than "not quite as good".

After this thread I'm going to get myself a jar of Bovril, I've not had any in ages and I'm inspired by the love on here to give it a go again. I'm not expecting to like it better than Vegemite, I think it'll be something a bit different for a change though.

I do much prefer Vegemite but Marmite’s okay, and I don’t think they’re entirely dissimilar. I’m genuinely surprised a Marmite lover would think Vegemite “astonishingly vile”rather than “not quite as good”.

"Not quite as good" is a fair-to-generous description.  Vegemite wasn't vile, I'd eat it (and I'm a funny bugger with food) but I wouldn't eat it by choice unless there was no Marmite.

After this thread I’m going to get myself a jar of Bovril, I’ve not had any in ages and I’m inspired by the love on here to give it a go again. I’m not expecting to like it better than Vegemite, I think it’ll be something a bit different for a change though.

I know I haven't helped here but I don't really understand why Marmite and Bovril get talked about like they're competing products, their only similarity is that they're both brown and gloopy.  One might as well argue "I like Vegemite so I'm going to get a jar of Nutella."

One might as well argue “I like Vegemite so I’m going to get a jar of Nutella.”

Your Nutella must be a lot more savoury and salty than any I've tried.

A better analogy is "I like strawberry jam, I'm going to give that raspberry jam a try". That sounds fair enough to me.

Jimmy Saville loved the stuff.

Bovril is a childhood drink for me - always had it after swimming or whilst watching sunday morning football in the depths of North East winters in the 1970/80s

I'm a marmite hater but might have to try Bovril on toast after this thread

always had it after swimming

If thats the stuff came out of a machine usually found at the baths, im not sure it qualifies as Bovril.

Especially the little rubber bit that always seemed to come with it.

 “I like strawberry jam, I’m going to give that raspberry jam a try”

Ok. Which jam is made out of beef?

Marmite has a different viscosity. If I spread the same amount of marmite on a slice of toast as I use for bovril I’d be sick afterwards. And most importantly, they taste very different:

Bovril tastes like the caramelised bits you get at the edges of the dish a slow cooked beef stew or bolognese was cooked in. Marmite tastes of salty disappointment.

@Dyna-ti

Mine used to be when I got home, the vending machine at the leisure centre always seemed to be bust 🙁

Your Nutella must be a lot more savoury and salty than any I’ve tried.

A better analogy is “I like strawberry jam, I’m going to give that raspberry jam a try”. That sounds fair enough to me.

Perhaps, but that's entirely the opposite point to the one I was making.

Local food van used to cook Lorne sausages and then leave them sitting in a tray of Bovril, most folk wouldn't take a freshly cooked Lorne but wanted one that had been soaking in the hot Bovril liquid for at least a half hour.
It was amazingly tasty...

You're all perverts!

Perhaps, but that’s entirely the opposite point to the one I was making.

Nope.

You’re all perverts!

Don't knock it til you've tried it.

And try bovril toast too.

Lorne Sausage sat in Bovril sounds next level dirty! Incredible.

Ok. Which jam is made out of beef?

Given that for a time Bovril wasn't made with beef, or any meat products at all, and pretty much nobody noticed, it's mostly the yeast extract that you're tasting. Whilst Bovril is its marketed as tasting 'beefy' and obvs contains beef broth (except for when it didn't) then its not the key flovour - in the same sense I'm not sure that beef wouldn't be described as tasting like bovril.

That's an interesting premise.

Marmite is yeast extract - it comes from leftovers from beer brewing - and tastes almost nothing like Bovril.  A quick google suggests that Bovril is 50% "beef broth" and 27% "yeast extract."  Looking at Marmite's ingredients would suggest that it's not unreasonable to say that Bovril is one quarter Marmite.  Both contain "flavourings," so read into that what you will.

Amusingly, Google also suggests that local supermarkets have it in stock...

Vegemite. Waaaay nicer.

(Although not when you're super drunk and your wife tells you it's a spoon full of Nutella.... That was a shock!)

I used to enjoy a Bovril and pepper hot drink, but never enjoyed it as a spread.

Marmite on hot buttered crumpets, or with cheese sandwiches/toasties are exceptional.

I'll often eat a packet of cheddar biscuits dipping them into a jar of marmite.

And .. Tesco & Morrisons own brand Marmite is, in my opinion, better than the original.