English Cuisine ??

Great to see London hosting the Olympics. One of the most historic and significant cities of the world !

BUT.....I have to ask.

I've had Mexican, Italian, Greek, Chinese, French, Indian, German and even Irish food, along with the typical 4 page menu of what we call American restaurant food.

But what is English food ??

There has to be more than fish and chips, a roll of meat and such.

 

Bangers and mash is good, their meat pies a tasty and filling, I don't think I'd like Haggis, but that is a dish of the Scots anyway. They do tend to boil and fry many of their dishes. My uncle Richard brought home a "war bride" from Cornwall named Margaret (she liked being called Maggie), her pasties were great and the first time I ate a scone was at her place, filled with jam and clotted cream. One of her pasties was the first time I ever tasted a turnip, it had beef, potato and turnip in the center. I wasn't overwhelmed with that combo.

 

In common with other Northern European countries, our National dishes tend to centred on 'winter' ingredients such as meat, pastry, etc.

Hence dishes such as steak-and-kidney pie, rabbit, venison, game pies, wild salmon etc. Bread and butter pudding can be amazing and other desserts include fruits such as blackberries and - of course ! - strawberries and cream. Roast beef and roast lamb.....potatoes, roasted, baked, mashed......and breakfast is the traditional 'English', with good quality eggs, sausages, tomatoes, black pudding ( one of the few fried dishes to remain really popular ).

As will any country, it all depends on quality of ingredients and cooking. Any of the above ( except possibly strawberries and cream which don't need cooking) can be disgusting, or quite delicious.

When I was young, 'English cooking' was - justifiably - looked on as a joke. But in the last twenty years, a new generation of skilled chefs such as Rowley Leigh, Steven Bull and Jason Atherton have revived interest in traditional English ingredients and recipes. I remember when 'going out for a meal' automatically meant Indian, Greek or Italian food. Thankfully, that's no longer the case......

 

But you can't beat a good old-fashioned chip buttie....chips laid on a freshly-buttered bread roll.
Works for crisps too!

 

Yorkshire Pudding, the only good thing my dear old granny ever made. Her veggies were boiled to mush and her roasts were cooked until they turned to wood. The English can bake but they cannot cook. Only Swedish food is worse.

KTK

 

If all you have ever had is Lutefisk, then you are forgiven. Good Swedish Meatballs are to die for, Limpa bread is super, as are Swedish Potato Pancakes. Now there are lots of variations on Salmon, but their varieties of Gravad Lax are all good, this is a Swedish dill-cured salmon dish which uses a salt-sugar cure, and the fish is flavored by dill and either a gin or congnac alcohol mix. Every nation has their own "great" to "ho-hum" dishes.

 

Have great folks of the UK ever tried to Bar-B-Que ??

 

... what? No mention of "Bubble & Squeek"?

 

Of course, when in the UK you can visit McDonalds...and eat s**t.

 

I agree on Peppakocka and Swedish Pancakes but then again we almost talking baking. Swedish meatballs I'll give you but throw in Rootmoose and at best it might reach the lofty heights of English cooking.

KTK

 

Martin, I assure you I am embarrassed to say that McCrap came from the USA...

 

Easy. English Cuisine is just a different style of cooking, something you can easily try and do at home.

Typical examples:
1. Put three pots of water on the stove at 7:00 AM. Add diced potatoes to one, add green peas to the second and Brussels sprouts to the third.
Leave on slow boil until you return from work to eat at 7:00 PM.

2. Slaughter a 25 year old sheep that has been bred as often as possible throughout her life.
Roast all day long. This is mutton. Serve with above vegetables after mashing them.

3. For dessert, try this Suet Pudding Recipie. (Pork fat / suit has the best flavour.)
Slice and serve, covered with a generous topping of whipped Devonshire Clotted Cream

4. Grab two slices of the blandest white bread you can find.
Add a thick layer or two of French Fries. Cover with Ketchup.
This is a chip sandwich. (For those who aspire to higher cuisine than a "chip buttie.") Yum!

5. Fry one pound of bacon for breakfast.
Place a slice of the blandest white bread you can find in the accumulated fat. Stir. Flip over when browned. Stir. Brown the other side.
This is english toast.

6. English tea: how to make.
Put a pot of water on the boil. Add a heaping tablespoon or two or three of tea.
When boiling hard, add one full cup of full homogenized milk.
Boil until the milk turns into one lump and boils to the top three times in a row. Serve.

This was how the English learned how to make water (and milk) safe to drink in the early Empire days in India.
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See 100 War Time Recipies at: http://1940sexperiment.wordpress.com/100-wartime-recipes/
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I love cooking!
It's a sociably acceptable way to play to with knives and fire!

 

... "Bubble & Squeek" is completely eat-in, it's the anti-McDonald's breakfast; unless of course it's cooked up by someone named McDonald! Surely someone else here has eaten it, or knows what it is???

 

When Michelin issued its first Guide to Great Britain and Ireland in 1975, only a handful of restaurants rated even a single star.

In the 1992 edition, the UK boasted a pair of three-star restaurants. Yep. Two. Plus five with two stars and 34 with one. Yum!

IMHO at the present date... some 50% of UK restaurants are curry shops.

Great Moments in British Cuisine

 

Can you take Gordon Ramsey Back? Please!

 

You dare insult one of our cultural Icon's! I will be thoughly put out for at least two seconds!

 

Only time it ever stopped raining long enough was the drought of '76.

 

Now Gramps he could make a breakfast. Fried tomatoes, fried jowl, fried potatoes and onions, fried eggs and burn't toast (white bread of course) said it was good for the teeth but he didn't have a tooth in his head.

Lived to 97 though.

KTK

 

All this talk of English groceries is getting me hungry. There's an English pub in town called "The Londoner". Might have to go and give it a shot. It is supposed to be the haunt of English ex-pats in the region. Any suggestions on what to try apart from the beer?

 

This explains a whole lot about my British mother's cooking when I was growing up. I thought it was just her, but maybe it was due to her upbringing....It also explains the Brussels sprouts.

For the record I don't eat at McDonald's here, so it wouldn't be at the top of my list while visiting another country.

I did enjoy the Guinness Shepherd's Pie last time I was there.