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How to Cook dishes from the United Kingdom
Although it is sometimes under-appreciated, or even denigrated,
British cuisine has much to offer. Traditional British cuisine in fact incorporates many wonderful dishes and great variety
from the different corners of the United Kingdom.
Moreover,
British culture (and cooking!) have also been greatly enriched by immigration and overseas influences.
When considering British cuisine, it should be remembered that
the United Kingdom is a union
of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, each of which has their own distinctive
cultural and culinary traditions. Additionally, as already mentioned, immigration and trade with
other nations have greatly influenced British food, and caused the emergence of new culinary styles
such as Anglo-Indian.
British, and especially English cuisine, has not always had the highest reputation abroad. For example,
in 2005, the then French President,
Jacques Chirac described English food as the second worst in Europe
(he considered Finnish cuisine the worst). However, while it's true that there are still some poor quality
restaurants, it's also true that there are in fact many excellent British restaurants too
(in 2005, Restaurant
Magazine said 14 of the 50 best restaurants in the world were in the
United Kingdom).
Furthermore, there is
a tremendous willingness
among the British population to experiment with new cooking styles and dishes, both when at home and when
dining out.
Some popular British recipes, dishes, meals, and foods include:
- Apple Crumble - A pie-like dessert
made from apples topped with a loose sweet pastry. Variations on the dish include
blackberry crumble and
apple and blackberry crumble.
- Arbroath Smokie - A smoked haddock, from Arbroath in Scotland.
- Balti - Balti is an Anglo-Indian dish originating from Birmingham.
A thick curry made using chicken ("balti murgh") or lamb ("balti gosht") and served
in flat-bottomed iron or steel pot ("balti" means "bucket", hence the name). To eat it, naan (Indian bread) is used to scoop up the sauce.
- Bangers and mash - Sausages with mashed potatoes, usually
with served with
gravy.
- Chicken tikka massala - An Anglo-Indian dish made by cooking chunks of marinated chicken in an Indian-style curry sauce.
Chicken tikka massala is usually eaten accompanied with naan (Indian bread), or rice, but so popular has it become that
versions of it are even sometimes used for pizza toppings and sandwich fillings!
- Cock-a-leekie soup - A traditional Scottish soup made from leeks and potato with chicken stock.
- Cornish pasty - A baked pie with a distinctive shape, traditionally filled with beef, onion, potato
and swede (rutabaga). Cornish pasties are said to have originated as a meal eaten by
the miners who were working in the Cornish tin mines.
- Fish and chips - Battered and fried fish (often cod or plaice) with
French fries. mushy peas (a green "soup" made from peas) is a popular accompaniment.
The dish is usually flavored with salt and vinegar, although
ketchup or
Tartar sauce may sometimes be used.
- Full English breakfast -
Sausage,
bacon, eggs
(usually fried eggs or
scrambled eggs), fried bread, fried mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, black pudding (a type of blood sausage) and baked beans.
The exact elements of the meal may vary somewhat.
It should also be noted that basically the same meal is sometimes described as "Full Scottish breakfast"
in Scotland, as a "Full Irish breakfast" in Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland), etc.
- Haggis - Perhaps Scotland's most famous traditional dish, haggis is made using a sheep's heart, liver and lungs (collectively known as the "pluck"), ground ("minced"), and mixed with oatmeal, onions, suet, spices and stock, and then boiled in the sheep's stomach.
- Kedgeree - Smoked haddock with boiled rice, eggs and butter. The dish is believed to have
originated during the period of the British Indian Empire.
- Kipper - A split smoked herring.
They may be grilled, and are most often eaten for breakfast.
- Lancashire hotpot - Meat, onion and potatoes baked in a casserole dish for a prolonged period on low heat.
- Mince and tatties - A popular dish in Scotland. it is ground ("minced") beef and mashed potatoes.
- Pie and mash - A hot pie containing ground ("minced") meat, traditionally served accompanied by mash potato.
In the East End of London,
such pies were traditionally made with water left over from stewing eels,
and the eels were then served with the pies as a cold side dish ("jellied eels").
- Pork pie - A pie containing pork and pork jelly in a pastry crust. It is normally eaten cold,
often as a snack.
- Scotch egg - A hard-boiled egg, coated in sausage meat and then bread crumbs, and then deep-fried.
It is then allowed to cool, stored refridgerated, and eaten cold.
Scotch eggs are normally eaten as a snack food, and are readily available from convenience
stores as well as supermarkets. Despite the name, Scotch eggs are not originally from Scotland, but were
first created by Fortnum & Mason
(a famous food shop in London)
in 1738
- Shepherd's pie - Ground ("minced") lamb, covered with a layer of mashed potato, and sometimes
cheese. Versions of the dish can also be made with beef ("cottage pie") or fish ("fisherman's pie").
- Steak and kidney pie - A pie containing diced beef steak and ox, lamb or pork kidney, in a thick
sauce. The sauce is usually made from beef broth with onions, flour and seasonings. The dish is served
hot and is known in the British army as "Baby's Head".
- Sunday roast - Oven roasted meat with
roast potatoes and vegetables
(such as brussel sprouts).
This is a traditional British Sunday meal.
There are several common varieties:
roast beef (beef with gravy,
horseradish sauce and
mustard,
served with Yorkshire pudding - a dish made from baked dough),
roast lamb (lamb with mint sauce or redcurrant jam),
roast chicken (chicken with chipolata sausages (small thin sausages), bread sauce, and cranberry sauce or redcurrant jam),
and
roast pork (pork with "crackling" (crispy cooked pork rind), and
apple sauce),
- Toad in the hole - Sausages cooked in Yorkshire pudding batter.
- Welsh rarebit (sometimes called "Welsh rabbit") - Grated cheese mixed with beer, milk and butter, and then spread on toast and grilled (broiled).
Some popular British desserts include:
- Bakewell tart - A traditional English pudding, consisting of a pastry shell, filled with jam
(fruit preserve) and a sponge-like filling.
- Christmas pudding
- This a traditional steamed dessert eaten at
Christmas,
especially on
Christmas Day.
It is made from suet (congealed fat) with dried fruit and nuts mixed in, and alcoholic
beverages usually poured in (for example brandy). The pudding is extremely dark, almost black,
and keeps very well, so is traditionally prepared many weeks in advance of
Christmas.
Christmas pudding is often eaten with
brandy butter (a sauce made from unsalted butter, sugar and brandy), cream or custard.
- Mince pies
- This is a traditional British pastry eating during the
Christmas period.
They are usually small in diameter (about the size of a cupcake) and contain
minced fruit and nuts (chopped raisins, currants, apricot, cherries, walnuts, etc., with spices in
suet)
and are traditionally eaten with
brandy butter (a sauce made from unsalted butter, sugar and brandy).
- Rice pudding - A pudding made from rice, milk, cream and sugar. Cinnamon, nutmeg or vanilla
are often used to flavor the dish. Rice pudding can be eaten hot or cold, and made from fresh
ingredients or bought ready-to-use in cans. The dish was probably inspired by
Indian cuisine's kheer, during the period when
India was ruled by
Britain.
- Spotted dick - A traditional English steamed pudding containing dried fruit and raisins, and usually served with custard.
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