[Epona]

I love cooking, but I'm not sure what I can say about English food really (I could give you an essay on the historical socio-economic reasons why English traditional food is generally bland and with few ingredients, but I'd bore you witless so I'll leave it).

However some of it is really nice, good hearty fare. My favourites:

Yorkshire pudding - flour, eggs and milk, whisked up and baked.

Toad in the hole - sounds disgusting, but it's actually sausages baked in yorkshire pudding

Shepherd's Pie - Lamb mince and onions with a mashed potato topping

Steak & Kidney pudding - as it sounds, chunks of steak and kidney with gravy in a suet pudding

Fish and Chips - a fillet of white fish (cod, haddock or plaice) coated in batter and deep fried. Served with chips - thick wedges of potato deep fried. This is then liberally sprinkled with salt and malt vinegar. Can have a number of accompaniments, including mushy peas, pickled onions, pickled eggs, gherkins etc.

Cornish Pasty - A shortcrust pastry parcel filled with meat and potato - and a handy way for miners to eat their lunch with dirty hands since there is a pastry ridge around the edge - they would hold the pasty by the ridge which would be discarded.

Ploughman's lunch - a chunk of hard English cheese served with a slab of crusty bread and pickle (chopped root veg pickled in vinegar and brown sugar)

Lancashire Hotpot - Chunks of lamb and black pudding cooked in a casserole with sliced potato on top

Bubble and Squeak - mashed potato and vegetables (usually cabbage) mixed together and fried

Sausages - We English love sausages - usually pork with herbs, a mix of pork and beef, or sometimes just beef. Many many varieties, popular ones are Cumberland sausage or Lincolnshire sausage. Also black pudding - a large sausage made of blood and fat, usually served sliced and fried.

Pies and puddings - I've already mentioned steak and kidney pudding, but we're very keen on all sorts of savoury and sweet pies and puddings. Pies - baked with a shortcrust or puff pastry lid; savoury fillings: Steak and kidney, steak and ale, chicken and ham - sweet fillings: apple, cherry, apple and blackberry. Puddings - flour and suet (the fat from around an animals kidneys), steamed in a glass bowl floating in a pan of water; savoury puddings: steak & kidney, bacon & sage, bacon & onion - sweet puddings: treacle (golden syrup), jam, spotted dick (suet pudding with raisins). Savoury pies and puddings usually served with potatoes and one or 2 other veg such as peas, carrots, cabbage. Sweet pies and puddings served with custard.

English breakfast - contrary to popular opinion, we don't eat this every day - usually only when we're on holiday. A combination of any of the following: Fried egg, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, fried bread, toast, usually served with tea.

Bakewell Tart - A sweet flan with a pastry base, a layer of jam, and almond sponge on top. Served hot with custard, or can be eaten cold.

Cream tea - a pot of tea served with scones, jam and clotted cream. Pile up the jam and cream onto the scones, and wait for heart disease to set in.

Chicken Tikka Masala - The most popular dish in England, is an invention of Indian restauranteurs living in England so is Anglo-Indian. Pieces of chicken coated in yoghurt and spices, and baked.

[ 02-18-2003, 08:18 AM: Message edited by: Epona ]