British Recipes & Cookbooks

How to Cook dishes from the United Kingdom

• 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).

• 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.