Traditional UK cuisine

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Traditional UK cuisine

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1avaland
Bewerkt: apr 3, 2008, 2:52 pm

I thought I would open a thread for all manner of traditional cuisine from the United Kingdom.

As it happens, the last time I rifled through 15 copies of Publishers Weekly in an effort to keep current, I came across this little gem (due out here in November), which got a starred review

Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking
Kate Colquhoun. Bloomsbury, $34.95 (480p) ISBN 978-1-59691-410-0

A history of British cooking may sound like the setup for a joke, but what Colquhoun has written is an invaluable work of social history and one of the more fascinating kitchen-related books to cross the Atlantic since the Oxford Companion to Food. Colquhoun (The Busiest Man in England) begins her march through culinary Britain in the pre-Roman era, sifting through archeological evidence on the Orkney coast, and moves steadily toward the present day. Yet what could have been as dry and stale as a biscuit soon yields one interesting fact or minihistory after another. The Roman conquest brought liquamen, a fermented fish condiment and forerunner of Worcestershire sauce. The Middle Ages contributed pastry crusts, and in the court of Elizabeth I there was a total of 13 forks. Spoons, ale, fish, sugar, each makes its appearance in the kitchen or at table, and so, at various times and through various personages, did manners, morals, affectations and decadence. As the pace of innovation and progress accelerates, Colquhoun slows to take in the information, allowing the reader to linger over the provenance of sticky puddings and damask napkins. Her supple BBC-Four-meets-Julia-Child voice is just one of the book's pleasures; another is her interest in etymology. This is a triumph to savor. (Nov.)

(from the PW website at http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6471322.html)

2Eurydice
sep 26, 2007, 10:13 pm

How delicious!

3jagmuse
sep 27, 2007, 2:21 pm

Well that just went onto my wishlist! Sounds fascinating and yummy!

Speaking of yummy, does anyone have a really good recipe for sticky toffee pudding?

4Eurydice
sep 27, 2007, 3:56 pm

Like a hungry person circling a platter of tempting delicacies, my mind keeps reverting to a) the better points of British cuisine and b) this book and its buffet-spread of history. It really does sound marvelous, avaland.

Jagmuse, none here, but I do wonder if anyone can recommend a best book on traditional recipes for tea-time, or comment on Jane Pettigrew's productions in that line.

5Jargoneer
Bewerkt: sep 27, 2007, 4:06 pm

In the UK, tea-time is not time for tea (drink & snacks), it's time for TEA (dinner). So if someone says to you "I'm going home to for my tea", they are going home for an (dinner) tea.

Therefore tea-time is completely different from 'High Tea' or 'elevenses' but you could have a 'Fish Tea' for tea-time.

6Eurydice
sep 27, 2007, 4:20 pm

Hm. Well, my unintended implications aside, how about a cookbook proper to the many teas - simple things mainly and often only partly sweet - I've run across in books? I am familiar with the idea of tea as an evening meal, though often I heard THAT called high tea, v. 'afternoon' tea, or a cream tea, or mere 'tea', which often had nothing of heaviness to it: but one muddles usage very easily. I don't want frilly Americanized notions of tea recipes, but anything at all traditional which MIGHT be served with tea, the beverage, in a light meal - rather than one's full evening repast. Though I suppose even that is fine and of interest, supposing it still in the range of a spout... ;)

7Foxhunter
sep 27, 2007, 4:24 pm

Dit bericht is door zijn auteur gewist.

8Jargoneer
sep 27, 2007, 4:51 pm

Who cares about down south? They don't care about the rest of us. :-p

Sticky Tea Bread

9Foxhunter
sep 27, 2007, 4:57 pm

Dit bericht is door zijn auteur gewist.

10Eurydice
sep 27, 2007, 5:02 pm

Mmmm... yum. I'll take advantage of an online recipe converter desideo cited for me, elsewhere, and then.... today, hopefully... we'll have sticky tea bread yielding its aromas in my kitchen. :) At least I have everything. Thank you, jargoneer.

11aluvalibri
sep 27, 2007, 5:09 pm

That recipe sounds yummy, doesn't it Eurydice?
Oh, memories of my tea times when, as a young student, I was in England.....sigh sigh.....
Perhaps I could make the sticky tea bread even if I am in the US......now THAT is an idea!

12tiffin
sep 27, 2007, 6:53 pm

Ava, I have The Jane Austen Cookbook by Maggie Black and Dierdre Le Faye. It's more of a historical record rather than something I'd actually cook from but it is fun to read, discussing social and domestic life. The recipes are organized under headings like "Picnics and Visits" or "Entertaining Friends". The trifles and puddings sound quite good, actually (always a sucker for a good pudding).

Nigella Lawson has a good Sticky Toffee Pudding on p. 216 of Nigella Bites.

I have some Scottish cookbooks - the Tea Time one is a particular favourite - it's under Cookbooks at my profile.

13avaland
sep 29, 2007, 9:44 pm

Tui, I borrowed that book from the bookstore for a while during the time I was running two Jane Austen book clubs at the store. It is quite interesting, I agree.

On a related note, dukedom and I have done a bit of regency dancing at, get this, a science fiction convention. The instructor was someone from Southern California who instructs the actors in various period movies. He was excellent and explained what some of the dances were for (some are paced so individuals can get to know one aother). Some people came dressed for the occasion and some of us were newcomers and therefore not costumed. They have not done it for several years which is too bad as I think we would've continued.

14kiwidoc
Bewerkt: sep 30, 2007, 6:48 pm

My days of eating English food were mainly as a child as I left when a teen. Memories include

*bread and butter - a staple at 'tea-time' together with cake and biscuits.
*cooked hot lunches at school - often a soggy vege and meat. A bottle of milk at school breaks.
*elevenses - a compulsory eleven o'clock cup of tea with a biscuit or two - usually ginger biscuit.
*as kids we usually ate our tea about 5 o'clock - as above - and our parents ate later.
*kippers for breakfast. Never anything sweet for breakfast. So shocked to eat waffles and pancakes etc when coming to Canada
*meat pies, sheperd's pie, loads of casseroles.
*post war Mum ate alot of organ meats as per the rations and we were cooked this too - brains, black pudding, kidneys etc. I actually rather liked the taste of brains. Tongue - hated it!!!

Plus of course, my weekly dose of MALT, by the spoonful, given for the constitiution.
(No wonder the teeth in England leave something to be desired).
(NB I am now a vegetarian)

15BarbN
sep 30, 2007, 10:33 pm

Visiting the UK, my best memories are the full English breakfasts--one really didn't need to eat for the rest of the day. Eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage--absolutely delicious.

16Eurydice
okt 2, 2007, 7:49 pm

11> It does, it does. I envy you, Paola - the memories, more than the calories I'd currently amass in like sittings! :) Though I do hope to get the sticky tea bread baked soon...

14> Mmm.... and here I was craving ginger biscuits already! :) Fascinating. I've never really eaten organ meats, though tongue apparently showed up on my grandmother's table often enough, early on.

15> BarbN, sounds wonderful. Someday.

17miss_read
okt 4, 2007, 7:25 am

5> Jargoneer, in my world tea is a drink, not a meal! ;)

Thanks for the post, avaland! The book sounds fabulous!

18laytonwoman3rd
nov 8, 2007, 5:15 pm

Tongue is not an organ meat, is it? I think of it as a muscle (of course, so is the heart). But properly prepared, with a bit of hot mustard---quite tasty.

19paulacs
dec 2, 2007, 3:22 pm

I've only been to England once. I spent a month to study and my meals were provided. What impressed me the most was how many potatoes I ate -- some form or another for all three meals every day. So many potatoes, it changed my constitution! :)

20Cariola
dec 2, 2007, 5:29 pm

On one of my visits, I was chastized by a waitress for ordering bacon and a Danish for breakfast. She was absolutely revolted that a person would eat sweet and savory at the same meal.

21avaland
dec 3, 2007, 1:33 pm

Anyone have a good recipe for 'meat pie' or a meat pie?

22nickhoonaloon
dec 3, 2007, 2:04 pm

#20

Interesting - my wife has the same reaction to my eating habits. Perhaps I`m untypically English !

#19

You don`t surprise me - I once ate three bags of chips in the same day.

Incidentally, a friend of mine worked in the USA for a while and came back bearing strange tales of the far-off land he had visited. Is it right you don`t have chip shops ?

23Jargoneer
dec 3, 2007, 2:06 pm

Delia Online has a number of recipes - for steak and kidney, Shepard's, and pork, pie, for example.

This is a good recipe using Guinness with beef (if you can't get Guinness you can use real ale) - Beef & Guinness Pie.

24PensiveCat
dec 3, 2007, 3:40 pm

#22 - There are chip shops in the US, but they're kind of novelty usually, or British themed (at least in NY). I was amazed at the amount of potato based shops I saw in the UK - chips shops, jacket potato shops...not that I'm complaining! Would love more of this over here.

25lauralkeet
dec 3, 2007, 4:35 pm

>20 Cariola:: Cariola, we stopped in a McDonald's once for breakfast, and tried to order doughnuts for one of the kids, who didn't much care for eggs. It was late morning and we were told the doughnuts weren't ready yet. This surprised me until I realized doughnuts were on the lunch menu as a dessert, not on the breakfast menu as a main course.

Which, perhaps, is as it should be :-)

26digifish_books
dec 4, 2007, 12:40 am

>21 avaland: Doughnuts for breakfast! :0

27avaland
dec 6, 2007, 5:32 pm

Thanks, jargoneer. I shouldn't guessed your recommended chef! Shepherd's Pie is not new to us and I suppose the traditional meat pie has evolved here in the former colony:-) My mother made something similar but they are referred to as 'pot pies." She made a similar filling put it in a large dutch oven and covered it with a layer of biscuit dough (not cookie dough, but a nonsweet dough similar to your scone dough). Although we always had the biscuit covering, I have heard of other who used pie dough instead.

28Jargoneer
Bewerkt: dec 7, 2007, 8:52 am

>27 avaland: - when you eat out in the UK (pub grub, etc) you quite often find that your pie is not really a pie. What they do is cook the ingredients together like a stew and bake the pastry (usually puff) separately - when it is served the pastry is add on top. It just makes economic sense to do this but you still feel cheated.

When talking about pies etc we refer more to pastry than to dough, such as -
Short pastry: the basic recipe for this is two parts flour to one part fat. Just enough water is added to bind the flour and fat together. Margarine, lard, vegetable shortening or butter can be used. Ideal for pies, tarts and quiches.
How would you refer to that mixture?
There are at least another 5 or 6 types of pastry - and yes, we also use the word to denote a certain type of cake such as a Danish pastry.

Taking about scones - do you get potato scones (or bread - the Irish name) in the States?

29avaland
dec 10, 2007, 5:52 pm

that would also describe pie 'dough' (the notable New England exception is Boston Creme Pie which is really a cake;-)

We have potato bread here, sold in most grocery stores along side the white, wheat, oatmeal, 7-grain...etc. breads. Scones seem to have become very fashionable but they vary from bakery to bakery.

We recently served strawberry shortcake on my daughter's birthday. We had quite a discussion with Ian about shortcake and shortbread which aren't related. We have already traditionally used a biscuit dough (as in the one with stew above only slightly sweeter) to make biscuits which are then topped with fresh or frozen strawberries and whipped cream. Ian thought my biscuits were very close to English scones. Hmm. (to complicate the matter, different parts of the country likely have different ways to put together strawberry shortcake, the other common way around here is to use small, pre-packaged sponge cakes.

30lauralkeet
dec 10, 2007, 9:00 pm

Proper English scones are not overly sweet. And they are small and usually fairly plain, with raisins the only adornment. It seems the scones in American bakeries cater to our insatiable appetite for sweets, with all sorts of flavor combinations (cinnamon sugar, cranberry orange, butterscotch, etc.) And they are typically ginormous.

See also "doughnuts" in message #25...