best food from Orwell's "In Defense of English Cooking"

so the only foods that clear BG's bar are (i) nectar and (ii) ambrosia

also haggis

this has probably actually been written, but a social history of sugar in the british diet wd be interesting: before colonies were established in the west indies (and slaves imported) most sugar in these sialdns came from sugarbeets, with honey pitching in the sweetener dept… i read once that UK consumption of cane sugar (which is what the plantations provide) went up by 600 times over the relevant timespan (like 1700-1800, i forget exactly), WHICH IS A LOT

the bulk of our puddings and cakes and jams and jellies and conserves presumably date from this rise -- not just the tendency to use sugar to preserve, but to treat staples others used largely as savouries (like rice and tapioca and sago and lol yes old stale bread) as the stodge in highly sweetened desserts

apologies for all the questions marks, i am starting to post like stevolende

DUMPLINGS!!

I want to vote cox's orange puppies because of how comprehensively wrong the entire rest of the world gets apples. The overarching focus on sweetness and appearance over taste is execrable. I think of almost all the things in the list the thing that is hardest to get a good example of outside of the UK is a decent apple.

I'm not even sure the cox is the best apple but it is a fine example. Even more infuriating is that the rest of the world doesn't value cooking apples at all.

but what about all those American pies?

cooking apples often now quite hard to track down *inside* the UK also imo: the apple is going the way of the rubbery and tasteless mass-grown tomato :( :( :(

I haven't had a good shop-bought tomato in years except for the premium brand "we actually taste of something" varieties

That is a sad development. I did track down some good cookers in Pennsylvania - eating apples make for shit pies and American apple pie is generally not good. For a superlative in American pies it has to be cherry, pumpkin or pecan.

i thought i didn't much like tomatoes until i ate them on the amalfi coast (darling) and they were so extraordinary it kinda ruined forevermore the pale imitation-of-an-imitation tomatoes we get here in the uk

in general food -- including supermarket food -- has actually improved immeasurably during my lifetime at all levels but the need for unblemished supermarket produce has come at a high price

(i still gag thinking abt the food we were served at the school when i was 8-12, tho i think it was a weird outlier enabled by a headmaster w/no clinical sense of taste or smell)

(the cook was called mr bell, an unendingly angry red-head scot: our schoolboy theory was that he was an escaped criminal who secured his job with threats of extreme physical violence towards the staff and governers)

#notallscotsmen he posted quickly

an anglo-greek friend insists it's impossible to have truly great souvlaki in the uk due to the poor tomatoes. I could stand to appreciate apples more. I like a good apple compote with salad, bit of pomegranate... not v trad english though

there was a VERY HIGH incidence of large-ball tapioca for pudding: as consequence i cannot look a bubble-tea in the eye to this day

Best tomatoes I've bought in London have been from the Turkish grocers in Harringay. Cooking apples come from my parents' garden, fortunately.

haggis won't win. the american shift will all roll in and vote for stilton or something

check

goddammit

i'd be interested to know how many ilxors have tried haggis tbh

see I've had things purporting to be haggis but let's be real

anyway I like it in principle

you used to be able to buy very good quasi-haggis at hackney M&S: plastic boiling skin tho, not a actual real sheep's stomach :(

Had haggis, neeps & tatties in a pub in Glasgow once but I'm skeptical that it was "real" haggis, it wasn't in any kind of casing and looked more like mince. Probably something like Brain's faggots vs "real" faggots, which tbh I haven't eaten either (call myself a midlander?)

i avoided haggis for a long time cuz the ingredients sound pretty foul but it really is delicious - rich and spicy and warming

Brain's faggots don't taste half as good now as they did when I was a kid, I'm guessing there's less offal in them

this really is turning into blood sausage: the thread but i'm cool with it tbh

I will state for the record that I still enjoy a mouthful of faggots

You don't eat the haggis casing, it's usually served in a heap or, if you're somewhere posh, a kind of quenelle. The only time I really see haggis in England is around Burns Night (end of January) but a lot of my scottish acquaintances will have it for a quick midweek dinner, sometimes from a TIN. It microwaves pretty well.

i support u xp

madchen didn't u once happen on gizzards in a tin or did i dream that :(

yes i am upping the blood sausage ante here

i have eaten locust and scorpion and so shall you yea

i occasionally enjoy this innovative fusion cuisine

http://www.cosmospizzas.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/pizza-haggis.jpg

a friend of mine gave us chicken gizzards one time, wasn't a big fan tbh but her refusing to tell us what they were didn't help

this was in France tho so

xxp well if it's an authentic haggis pizza how can you go wrong?

there just doesn't look like there'd be much good eatin' on a gizzard

xp i'm v much about authentic culinary experiences, as u know

authentic gizzard pizza aka gizza

bizarro gizzara

Morrison's Gizzard King Pizza

i'd accept pizzaro gizzarda, no more no less

Am sceptical that haggis is really a British food at all tbh:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSkx2jK5XMDRFTF9Kg1e1d8PmItvWd1IaCpx28Ztb1WuXqnrG6y2A

PS veggie haggis is very tasty too

haggis pakora is also bizarro gazzara-endorsed fusion cuisine, thx for the reminder ward

Mark S, your memory is impressive. Gizzards in a tin are to be found in every French supermarket, but I can't in all honesty recommend them. Gizza pizza would be a step even beyond that for me.

out of the british-is-blandest pan and into dr. strongo's neuvo cuisine

"cooking apples often now quite hard to track down *inside* the UK also imo: the apple is going the way of the rubbery and tasteless mass-grown tomato"

sad! i live in apple country. so many great varieties. and great local baking options.

"i'd be interested to know how many ilxors have tried haggis tbh"

i don't think i've ever seen one in real life. the pictures are so frightening in a cronenbergian way but i imagine they taste fine.

i voted for short-bread because american and because yum.

Ah now shortbread, that shouldn't be on here

whit

Scottish innit

Orwell was writing at a time when it was ok to describe any part of the British Empire as "English".

if you were a git.

i'm sure someone will be along in a minute to shortbreadsplain that actually it was invented in luxembourg or some shit