British Food: Classic or Dud (S&D too)

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I am a fan of the stornaway black-pudding with oats in.

Also fruit pudding (white pudding with candied fruit in)is a bizarre but tasty scottish breakfast delicacy.

Ed (dali), Thursday, 21 September 2006 09:50 (nineteen years ago)

Some additional good things: Full Scottish Breakfast (better than Full English through addition of tattie scone), Suffolk hotpot, ginger beer, malvern pudding, Eton mess, Bakewell puddings, treacle tart, LARDY CAKE, eccles cakes, Victoria sponge, clotted cream (gosh we do cakes and puds well, eh?), cloutie dumpling, my Nanna's mince pies, spotted dick, the scones I had just outside Belfast which were the best I've ever tasted ... there's tons more but I ought to do some work.

I find it highly amusing how popular crumble has become in France.

Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 21 September 2006 09:52 (nineteen years ago)

PICKLED ONIONS, proper strong ones.

Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 21 September 2006 09:53 (nineteen years ago)

now you're talking.

it's teh_kit! (g-kit), Thursday, 21 September 2006 09:53 (nineteen years ago)

Parkin; oaty spicey bonfire night cake of the gods
Cobbler

Ed (dali), Thursday, 21 September 2006 10:02 (nineteen years ago)

I think I'm going to see if I can get some treacle tart or apple pie at Konditor and Cook at Lunch.

Ed (dali), Thursday, 21 September 2006 10:04 (nineteen years ago)

Cloutie Dumpling, now you're talking. Great alternative to Christmas Pudding (which can be fab too).

Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 21 September 2006 10:04 (nineteen years ago)

Everything Mädchen said (esp. Lardy Cake and PROPER Bakewell puddings!) plus most everything in this book...
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1903018358.01._PE34_OU02_SCMZZZZZZZ_V51204762_.jpg

Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Thursday, 21 September 2006 10:05 (nineteen years ago)

I won a bakewell pudding from postapudding.co.uk

Ed (dali), Thursday, 21 September 2006 10:06 (nineteen years ago)

very tasty it was too.

Ed (dali), Thursday, 21 September 2006 10:07 (nineteen years ago)

proper bread and butter pudding with custard

haven't had a pasty (West Cornwall co. or otherwise) for ages now, missing them (much better than patties imo)

Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 21 September 2006 10:07 (nineteen years ago)

Classic anyway. Of course there's a load of crap but it's getting easier and easier to find/make the good stuff. Funnily enough Mark Hix is producing a recipe book along these very lines...
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1844002349.01._PE40_OU02_SCMZZZZZZZ_V62198616_.jpg
I haven't read it yet (it's not out till next month) but it looks scrumptious.

Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Thursday, 21 September 2006 10:09 (nineteen years ago)

I've decided that next time I go to the UK (which is next week), I am actually going to try some British food. Give me a goddamn pie!

i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Thursday, 21 September 2006 11:32 (nineteen years ago)

you could try that pie n mash cafe in Greenwich - cheap and good.

Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:11 (nineteen years ago)

Gave me food poisoning (although I was 11 at the time)

Ed (dali), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:15 (nineteen years ago)

I've eaten there many a time with no ill effects. There's one on Exmouth Market that's much closer to where you'll be staying though, Mandee.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:17 (nineteen years ago)

I can find no mention of yorkshire pudding on this thread. This must be remedied.

chap who would dare to contain two ingredients. Tea and bags. (chap), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:28 (nineteen years ago)

is it fair to say that british food is on balance softer/mushier than American? it never occurred to me until now that my chief objection to it might be textural, that my favorite meals there were in church cafeterias not because the food was very fresh and light and clean-flavored, but because the bread was crusty - i love pret, etc., sandwiches, but the bread is floppier than i'm accustomed to, almost soggy. i did have one fantastic pie in a pub, and maybe i should have done more restaurant-exploring - i was inhibited by the cost.

gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:43 (nineteen years ago)

is it fair to say that british food is on balance softer/mushier than American?

Yes, it's because we've all got bad teeth.

Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

OAT CAKES. The home-baked kind, not the pressed-sawdust discs from Walker's etc. Pref. w/wedge of Orkney cheddar.

Stephen X (Stephen X), Thursday, 21 September 2006 13:27 (nineteen years ago)

British bacon is more to the style I do bacon myself at home (everyone is correct, American restaurant bacon is kind of mesmerizing in how inedible it really is), and I love the fish but reckon you all overrate your chips rather much. Properly done bread pudding with the custard is delicious. I think, though, my problem with British cooking is that I don't fancy eating that much piggies and I can't eat all of these cakes and sweets due to dietary restrictions, so it's not really occurred to me to bother much with it. Nothing to do with reasons of thinking poorly about it! I've never had a problem getting good food in the UK, and the beef is fantastic. Stilton is delicious, as is most English cheddars.

This bread mushiness thing is nonsense, I've never had a problem finding nice bread in the UK.

Haha what is a bit of fun in the UK for Americans, going off subject for a second, is getting things that are readily available in the US but are completely different in the UK. Ex: sushi, ketchup, Coca-cola (for the record our sushi restaurants beat yours but your ketchup and coke is 10x more palatable)

Allyzay is a town of people, people who DIED (allyzay), Thursday, 21 September 2006 13:38 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.bpic.co.uk/bookrevs/yorkshire_pudding.gif

This bread mushiness thing is nonsense, I've never had a problem finding nice bread in the UK.

while its getting better in the UK, bread quality runs like this:

FRENCH BREAD>UK BREAD>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>US BREAD

Haha what is a bit of fun in the UK for Americans, going off subject for a second, is getting things that are readily available in the US but are completely different in the UK. Ex: sushi, ketchup, Coca-cola (for the record our sushi restaurants beat yours but your ketchup and coke is 10x more palatable)

my friend aaron from LA cannot stand british coca-cola (and is a straight-edge musician often touring the UK), though to be honest most convenience stores now sell coke that's bottled all over the place (cheaply imported i guess). there was a time i could tell the difference between coke bottled in the uk and in eire.

i am not a nugget (stevie), Thursday, 21 September 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

The varieties of wheat available for flour in the UK are different from those in the US - US flours are typically higher in protein (aka "strong" flours from hard winter wheat). Gives breads a different crumb/crust. I've been working through Elizabeth David's English yeast bread book and it's not always possible to find equivalent flours in the US.

The lardy cake turned out amazing, regardless.

Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 21 September 2006 13:51 (nineteen years ago)

UK and US coke are different? i thought the point of this kind of global branding was that Coke is Coke ANYWHERE IN TEH WORLD WOW.

it's teh_kit! (g-kit), Thursday, 21 September 2006 13:51 (nineteen years ago)

The US bread thing is equally nonsense, go to one (1) bakery instead of a supermarket and you're sorted out just fine for all manner of loaves.

And yeah, the things that contain copious amounts of high fructose corn syrup in the US tend not to in other countries, leading to a pretty noticable difference in taste.

Allyzay is a town of people, people who DIED (allyzay), Thursday, 21 September 2006 13:54 (nineteen years ago)

The US bread thing is equally nonsense, go to one (1) bakery instead of a supermarket and you're sorted out just fine for all manner of loaves.

you're right, of course - i've had some delicious sourdough in the states before. but the difference is you can find ace bread in UK supermarkets, which i haven't seen in the US supermarkets i've been to (but the last i visited tbh would be austin 2004). american bread i've eaten from supermarkets has been insanely nasty, airy, weirdly-textured stuff.

i am not a nugget (stevie), Thursday, 21 September 2006 13:57 (nineteen years ago)

that partly depends on the UK supermarket, dunnit?

EARLY-90S MAN (Enrique), Thursday, 21 September 2006 14:00 (nineteen years ago)

i guess, but pretty much all the supermarkets near me (wimbledon/colliers wood) have fresh baked bread in various varieties, even the Somerfield attatched to the petrol station in haydon's road.

i am not a nugget (stevie), Thursday, 21 September 2006 14:03 (nineteen years ago)

i've actually had a pie in that greenwich pie shop, but I was a vegetarian then.. and I'm not, now. So it's time to try some ITTY BITTY KIDNEYS.

i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Thursday, 21 September 2006 14:05 (nineteen years ago)

well i'm not saying there isn't nice bread - i certainly had some very nice bread (and cheese. and beer!) in churches. but i found like slices of bread to be marginally more pliable than the stuff i usually eat at home. and i found that comparable to a lot of what i ate - meats/fishes are of less 'meaty' cuts and cooked longer, the way vegetables (and potatoes) also are. all of this is the very small-n of my experience, of course, but it's true that meat is in pies more than it is in steak-knife steak, yes? and an apple dessert is a crumble-type thing more often than it is a held-aloft-top-crust pie, right? plus, mushy peas.

my point for myself was maybe i failed to sufficiently appreciate the flavors of what i was eating because i was first experiencing it through a less-familiar textural lens. (and i shouldn't have passed up the epicerie at orrery.)

gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 21 September 2006 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

The royal oak in Borough does a particularly fine steak and kidney pudding which, as any fool knows, is far better than Pie

Ed (dali), Thursday, 21 September 2006 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

Speaking of insanely nasty weirdly-textured stuff:
http://www.hnfoods.co.uk/shop/images/products/90043.jpg

Stephen X (Stephen X), Thursday, 21 September 2006 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

I used to quite like Tartex! I'm not sure that's technically British food though.

Archel (Archel), Thursday, 21 September 2006 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

True--I just think of it as a mandatory feature of UK vegetarian shops, right next to the nut roast mix. I assume it was actually developed for the Swiss space program.

Stephen X (Stephen X), Thursday, 21 September 2006 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

Tartex? Looks like toothpaste for Hobbits.

Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 21 September 2006 15:24 (nineteen years ago)

maybe the food follows from the milder climate?

gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 21 September 2006 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

What's that snack you have in the UK that's like a moist, dense bar of oats or something but then with a thin layer of chocolate or other flavored icing on top? You could find them in just about any convenience store. Man, I miss those.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 21 September 2006 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

Do you mean flapjacks?

http://www.blackfriarsbakery.co.uk/product_pics%5CFlapjacks.jpg

Not to be confused with the US pancake style flapjacks.

Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Thursday, 21 September 2006 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

Yes! I was going to say, I think they share a name with something in the US that's completely unrelated.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 21 September 2006 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

flapjacks, you mean? (one of these days I am going to give in and buy one of the ones with "chocolate-flavoured topping" on, I tend to stop and stare at them every time I'm in a newsagent)

bah xpost

ampersand, hearts, semicolon (cis), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

Those just appear to be granola bars, or breakfast bars??

Allyzay is a town of people, people who DIED (allyzay), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

I see no flap here.

Stephen X (Stephen X), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

What I like about them is that they're quite filling but don't seem too horrible for you, despite the chocolate. I think some have healthy-ish things like raisins in them. I usually bought one after class in late afternoon to tide me over until dinner.

xpost Ally, they sort of look like that, but they're way better. More cakey.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

To make a flapjack you mix sugar, golden syrup, butter, and rolled oats; i'm pretty sure granola bars and breakfast bars are more complex? Soho coffee co in Oxford used to do something called "granola bar flapjacks" which were the most awesome thing ever, tho.

ampersand, hearts, semicolon (cis), Thursday, 21 September 2006 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

A couple of websites I found described flapjacks as "oatmeal brownies" or "a cross between a granola bar and an oatmeal cookie," which is about right.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 21 September 2006 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

but don't seem too horrible for you

Haha, that's the problem with flapjacks, you think "ooh, healthy oaty goodness!" and forget there's like 1000 calories in a bar. Think about it, they weigh about 500g each.

Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 21 September 2006 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

My first ILE thread (I'm pretty sure) dealt with English food!

Read it here.

nickn (nickn), Thursday, 21 September 2006 20:51 (nineteen years ago)

I'm glad you revived that thread, if only to show people that DG wasn't always like this :)

Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 21 September 2006 20:55 (nineteen years ago)

Nah you can tell there is genuine contempt behind his comment there re British food being ousted by curry etc. The bigoted swine.

Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 21 September 2006 20:58 (nineteen years ago)

GERMAN BREAD >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>FRENCH BREAD>UK BREAD>US BREAD

ten kebabs maaaaate (fandango), Thursday, 21 September 2006 21:05 (nineteen years ago)

Literally the worst thing about Hull is chippies don't do potato scallops

GK Chessington's World of Adventure (Noodle Vague), Friday, 24 January 2020 22:06 (six years ago)

Muswell Hill (of course) has a gourmet fish n' chippy, bit out of the way for the average tourist though

it's after the end of the world (Matt #2), Friday, 24 January 2020 22:13 (six years ago)

Marmite is still made in Burton-on-Trent, I think, having outlived the brewing industry it is a by-product of there.
Yes, Guinness flavour Marmite was nothing special, but Marmite flavour Guinness is still widely available in corner shops.

fetter, Friday, 24 January 2020 22:47 (six years ago)

There's still a humongous brewery in Burton, one of the multinationals iirc, and yeah they make Marmite there too. We used to go shopping there once a fortnight or so when I was a kid, the whole town stank of yeast

GK Chessington's World of Adventure (Noodle Vague), Friday, 24 January 2020 22:53 (six years ago)

Having just visited there at the weekend I can confirm that Edinburgh still smells of yeast too.

Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Friday, 24 January 2020 22:58 (six years ago)

hmmmm... supposedly trying to make homemade marmite is "dangerous and hard to control".

Yerac, Friday, 24 January 2020 23:05 (six years ago)

Just found a "recipe" that takes 10 days

GK Chessington's World of Adventure (Noodle Vague), Friday, 24 January 2020 23:10 (six years ago)

I really miss the cheap fishcakes I used to get from the fish and chips shops in Liverpool as a kid.

kraudive, Saturday, 25 January 2020 00:25 (six years ago)

actually bought my first ever squeezy marmite yesterday, will report back on the consistency.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, January 23, 2020 9:08 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

My report is that it's just regular marmite. The pot is good though, it dispenses the very thin stream which you need.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 January 2020 22:40 (six years ago)

one year passes...

Cheesy chips at Cheltenham Town (@CTFCofficial)

💷 £3 pic.twitter.com/B3ACM7OCbP

— Footy Scran (@FootyScran) December 26, 2021

, Saturday, 15 January 2022 01:59 (four years ago)

This may be an appropriate thread for me to rediscover the enthusiasm expressed by ILX whenever DUMPLINGS! get mentioned.

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 15 January 2022 02:14 (four years ago)

Muswell Hill (of course) has a gourmet fish n' chippy, bit out of the way for the average tourist though

assuming it's the same one, somewhat impressed it's still going. there was a fancy fish & chips place there when I lived there 2003-6. I only went there a couple of times because the queues were ludicrous but it was pretty good (and didn't cost a fortune either, 17 years ago anyway)

bovarism, Saturday, 15 January 2022 02:22 (four years ago)

I had some very bland chips at Whaddon Road in 2003 with no not very melty cheese slices. My most notable memory of the day was the house right next to the football ground with a boarded up window where presumably a league two standard defensive hoof had smashed through it at some point.

calzino, Saturday, 15 January 2022 03:30 (four years ago)

ten months pass...

Pie, peas, gravy and a sausage roll at Barnoldswick Town (@barlickfc)

💷 £5.50 pic.twitter.com/21EWlCWcH6

— Footy Scran (@FootyScran) December 1, 2022

papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, 1 December 2022 23:20 (three years ago)

one year passes...

would eat

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 13 June 2024 17:19 (two years ago)

was talking about old sandwiches last night, my Irish grandad's fave one was the tomato sandwich. When he was dying of cancer and almost gone he requested a tomato sandwich and a double whiskey. A tomato sandwich!

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Thursday, 13 June 2024 17:37 (two years ago)

When I first arrived in Sydney Australia, I wandered into a 'deli' place and saw 'asparagus sandwich' on the board... I had very American notions of what a sandwich should be, but what was handed to me was: white bread with margarine and mercilessly boiled stalks of asparagus, probably from a tin.. that was it. I did finish it, but would never order again

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 13 June 2024 18:38 (two years ago)

the australia/britisher “salad sandwich” is something i miss terribly

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 13 June 2024 19:00 (two years ago)

and yeah asparagus sandwich is something i DONT miss

i didnt try fresh asparagus til i moved to the US, grew up thinking that i hated it because i had only ever had it from a can ie gross

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 13 June 2024 19:02 (two years ago)

the australia/britisher “salad sandwich” is something i miss terribly

'Salad roll'? I remember thinking 'who the fuck puts beets on a sandwich?' lol

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 13 June 2024 19:17 (two years ago)

Mmmm liver sosage

Ward Fowler, Thursday, 13 June 2024 19:31 (two years ago)

xpost yeah salad roll too!
canned beetroot = classic

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 13 June 2024 19:49 (two years ago)

I've seen that photo before and can only lament the lack of corned beef

nashwan, Thursday, 13 June 2024 19:58 (two years ago)

it's just to the left of the ham, 14p

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:01 (two years ago)

pence then, pounds now probably

octobeard, Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:04 (two years ago)

wots that milk chocolate bar with the foil wrapping? thought it was a kitkat at first glance.

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:09 (two years ago)

xp not in Hull

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:10 (two years ago)

I think that's Cadbuys BAR SIX calzino

nashwan, Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:15 (two years ago)

I think it says 'Milk Chocolate Wafer Bar' on the spine, does what it says on the tin I guess

prog's nearly man (Matt #2), Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:16 (two years ago)

Just not getting whether the cheese in the footy cheese and chips being slices is intentional. Thought it tended to be grated for a reason. Blending in with the chips and possibly garlic sauce as you eat it better.
Just seems to be less easy with square slices like.

Stevo, Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:17 (two years ago)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/38407126214

nashwan, Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:18 (two years ago)

getting Nazi vibes tbh

nashwan, Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:18 (two years ago)

xpost it just says ‘milk chocolate wafer bar’ on the spine so likely a generic knock off? Premium Golden Winder crisps though! I don’t remember pressed veal sandwiches at all shudder

Ward Fowler, Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:19 (two years ago)

lol this thread is moving fast!

Ward Fowler, Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:21 (two years ago)

I would eat all these. My depraved soul. Covid did off most of the independent sandwich shops in London. There are a couple left that look like this, one on Eastcheap I think. Corned Beef and tomato for me.

kraudive, Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:22 (two years ago)

“Footy cheese and chips” not conjuring pleasant images

subpost master (wins), Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:22 (two years ago)

even choc bar is a knockoff - the absolute chunkiness of it, that's something we've lost

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Thursday, 13 June 2024 20:26 (two years ago)

It was Footy Scran cheese and chips and was from 2021.
Not sure if it was being pictured as delightful or a mistake. Seems not to be the best preparation.

Up thread a bit.

Stevo, Thursday, 13 June 2024 21:03 (two years ago)

cheesy French fry style chips with processed cheese slices is absolutely unforgivable, easily meltable cheddar grated over chunky chips fresh from the fryer is the only acceptable version. last time I had it was at Cambridge Utd, correct kind of cheese but sprinkled lightly over cold French fries, very crap, all the food at Cambridge utd is crap.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 13 June 2024 21:12 (two years ago)


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