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

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.

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.)

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

Not to be confused with the US pancake style flapjacks.

bah xpost

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

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.

Read it here.

i remember no bread from my one trip to Berlin. only sausage. plenty, plenty sausage.

I think the joy of British food is that there are still distinct regional identities e.g. ask for Stargazey Pie outside Cornwall you'll get blank looks. Bath Chaps, Pan Haggerty, Pond Pudding etc. Some British foodies get all weepy eyed over the distinct cuisines of other countries (well you simply can't compare Calabria to any other region etc yawn) and forget that we have our own.

British food haters = ill informed.

this isn't true everywhere in the world?

i admit that i am scared of words like treacle and suet and "marrow jam". reminds me of that famous brit offal dude with the famous restaurant. the whole pig dude.

(Bit surprised that Orwell says back there that if you want a good cheap meal you'd go to a Greek or Chinese restaurant; I'd been led to believe you just didn't find such things until at least the 70s. Maybe you only did in London.)

things that are readily available in the US but are completely different in the UK

Saw a webpage recently that was some American kid going "holy crap WTF look at all the weird shit the Brits eat! Here is the British food I have been eating on my holiday" and it was, like, "Coke! In funny-shaped metric bottles! Salt and vinegar crisps, gross! [picture of a tin of Pringles] Curry sauce?! [picture of McDonalds sauce sachets]". Still not sure whether it was a joke.

The Royal Oak in Borough is good for pies as I think I mentioned up thread and i really like the square pie company chain doing take away boxes of pie, peas and mash.

My minging flatmate once bought some, and left half a loaf mouldering in a cupboard - the mould infected the wrapper too, crawled through the wrapper, and spread itself over the inside of her cupboard.

Scottish things and people that I like

It is horrible. My husband loves it and keeps buying it. It doesn't even fit in a toaster!

Yeah I think they did a champagne Marmite one time and that tasted just like regular Marmite, 😥

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Just found a "recipe" that takes 10 days

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

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.

Cheesy chips at Cheltenham Town (@CTFCofficial)

💷 £3 pic.twitter.com/B3ACM7OCbP

— Footy Scran (@FootyScran) December 26, 2021

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

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)

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.

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

💷 £5.50 pic.twitter.com/21EWlCWcH6

— Footy Scran (@FootyScran) December 1, 2022