Traditional British Food

Traditional british food
Traditional British food but also English ‘modern’ cuisine is becoming more popular
these days. While most British people eat a lot of pasta, pizza and dishes influenced by
Indian and Chinese cultures – like curries and stir fries – some of the old favourites are
still on the menu, even if they’re not eaten every day.
Top British foods
The Sunday roast – and all the trimmings
Once, most families in the UK would sit down together for a big roast lunch every
Sunday. This doesn’t happen so much now but the Sunday (or any other day of the
week) roast is still a very popular meal. Beef, chicken, lamb, pork or, especially at
Christmas, turkey is roasted in the oven. It’s served with a selection of vegetables like
roast potatoes, carrots, cabbage, roasted onions, Brussels sprouts, peas, as well as tiny
sausages wrapped in bacon called ‘pigs in blankets’ and gravy made from the meat
juices (‘the trimmings’). Roast beef is traditionally accompanied with a peppery
horseradish sauce, English mustard and Yorkshire pudding (a batter of eggs, flour and
milk which rises up in the oven). Roast pork is often served with an apple sauce, while
roast lamb tastes delicious with a mint sauce or redcurrant jelly. The next day, people
fry up the leftover vegetables to make ‘bubble and squeak’ and eat it with slices of the
cold meat.
Fish ‘n’ chips
Brits have been eating fish and chips since the 19th century. This is street food,
best eaten with the fingers, which used to be served wrapped in a piece of white paper
and newspaper. These days the local chip shop or ‘chippie’ is more likely to hand it over
in a polystyrene dish and with a little wooden fork. The fish, usually cod, haddock or
plaice, is dipped in batter and deep-fried; the chips are cut thicker than French fries
(more like American ‘home fries’) and deep fried twice: once to cook the potato; second
to crisp up the outside. Eat sprinkled liberally with salt and malt vinegar, and as an
accompaniment perhaps a pickled egg or onion, a giant pickled cucumber called a
‘wally’ or some curry sauce.
Puddings… Most of the traditional desserts, puddings, ‘sweets’ or ‘afters’, as
they’re called in the UK, are not for those on a diet. In apple crumble, apples are
covered with a crumbly flour, sugar and butter mixture and served with custard made
from eggs, milk and vanilla. Bread and butter pudding is made from sliced bread
interlaced with dried fruit and baked in custard. Spotted dick is a steamed suet pudding
with dried fruit and served with custard. Trifle is a cold pudding made from layers of
sherry-soaked sponge cake, fruit, custard and cream. Summer pudding is sliced bread
layered with fruits, berries and fruit juice, and eaten with cream. Get the picture?
…and pies
There are so many different pies from around the UK: cottage pie (minced beef
with a mashed potato topping), shepherd’s pie (using lamb instead of beef), steak and
kidney pie made with a suet-based (beef or mutton fat) pastry case, pork pie (famously
made in Melton Mowbray) which is eaten cold, and the Cornish pasty – meat, potato
and vegetables wrapped up in a semi-circular pastry case which is a meal in itself.
The fry up – or ‘Full English’ breakfast No one in the UK would eat this breakfast
every day but most people admit to indulging every now again. A ‘fry up’ may consist of
fried or grilled bacon, a sausage or two, a fried egg, baked beans (tinned beans in a
tomato sauce), grilled or fried tomatoes, a slice of fried bread (or toast), perhaps some
slices of fried black pudding (sausage made from pig’s blood), and fried mushrooms –
eaten in any combination, with a dollop of either brown sauce or tomato ketchup on the
side. Other traditional English breakfasts to try are smoked kippers, scrambled egg on
toast, kedgeree (a rice and smoked haddock dish from the days of the British Raj) – or
just a bowl of cornflakes and milk.
Haggis
Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish, which is always eaten on Burns Night, a celebration
of Scotland’s national poet Rabbie Burns, author of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and the poem
‘Address to the Haggis’ which is recited at the start of Burns’ Suppers on January
25th. A haggis is the stomach of a sheep (or an artificial casing) stuffed with a mixture
of chopped sheep’s heart, liver and lungs, oatmeal, onions, suet (fat), stock and
seasoning. It’s eaten with ‘neeps and tatties’ (boiled and mashed swede and potato)
and washed down with a dram (glass) of Scottish whisky.
The British banger
Unlike European sausages, most British sausages (‘bangers’) are made from fresh
meat rather than smoked or cured and then grilled, fried or baked. Sausages are usually
made from casings filled with pork or beef and flavoured with herbs and spices and
come in long ‘links’ or strings. The classic Cumberland sausage, originally from what is
now Cumbria in the north of England, is a long, coiled sausage made from chopped
pork, and seasoned with pepper. Chipolatas are thin sausages. Popular sausage dishes
include ‘toad in the hole’ (sausages baked in a dish of batter) and ‘bangers and mash’
(sausages served with a pile of mashed potato and eaten with English mustard and/or
an onion gravy).
Cheese
The two most famous British cheeses are Cheddar and Stilton. Cheddar takes its name from the
West Country’s Cheddar Gorge caves where it was once stored. It’s a hard, yellow cheese with
a nutty flavour and often enjoyed in sandwiches, grilled on toast or eaten with a hunk of bread,
salad and chutney in pubs as a ‘ploughman’s lunch’. Stilton, on the other hand, is traditionally
eaten after a formal meal with a glass of port. Made in north of England, it’s a creamy pale
cheese with blue veins radiating from the centre of its famous cylindrical shape. Other cheeses
to look out for include the Welsh Caerphilly, Wensleydale, Red Leicester, Double Gloucester
and Cornish Yarg.
Lancashire hotpot
This stew, which originated in the north west of England, is made from mutton or
lamb and vegetables, topped with sliced potatoes. It’s simple to prepare and cheap to
make, but cooked long and slow so that the meat is succulent and tender, it tastes
delicious. It’s often eaten with pickled red cabbage or beetroot. Other similar stews are
scouse from Liverpool, Irish stew from Ireland and cawl from Wales.
Cream tea
The cream tea is a teatime treat associated with the South West of England,
especially Devon and Cornwall and served in cafes and tearooms all over. It consists of
a pot of tea – Earl Grey in preference – drunk black with lemon or with a dash of milk,
and scones. These are dense, bread-like cakes made from flour, butter and milk, served
with strawberry or raspberry jam and clotted cream, a rich yellow cream with a crusty
top. Simply cut the scone in half, spread it with jam and clotted cream – and enjoy.

Traditional British Food

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Traditional British Food

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Traditional British Food

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Traditional british food

The Sunday roast – and all the trimmings

Fish ‘n’ chips

The British banger

You might also like