British classic meals

British food gets a bit of a bad rap in the culinary world from foodies and people who have never tasted our food but heard some joke. I believe the traditional full on British meal can’t be beaten and we should celebrate our food to the non-believers.

 

The reason for my sudden interest is that I was watching a programme on the Food Network about British chefs trying to win Americans over with some traditional British fare. The Scotch egg was well received along with the pork pie has the Americans lapped up the taste of Britain.

 

I am not thinking about that high-end stuff, fancy food with a dash of dew and reduction crap but good honest food at reasonable prices with good quality ingredients. Good quality cuts of meat and fresh vegetables are easy to find so are small producers of prepared food like pies and burgers. I am not a fan of supermarkets, soulless places but sometimes you have to sleep with the devil even if you don’t like it.

 

Here in no particular order is my favourite five British meals I would feed to any visitor from abroad.

Fish and Chips: Perhaps one of the best-known dishes around the world and one of the most popular of all British meals. Takeaway or homemade it is top of any list. A nice loin of cod from the fishmonger with homemade batter a joy and for an island race cod can be pricey but the best costs.

 

I prefer my fish shallow fried in a frying pan than cooked in a deep fat fryer, and for the non-health conscious, lard is the best fat to use for cooking it. Of course, it’s served with chips again, they taste better cooked in lard, but it wouldn’t do much for your arteries. On the side, traditionally you have garden peas or mushy peas I prefer the latter.

Bangers and Mash: Sausage and mashed potatoes possibly one of the simplest meals to make unless you plan to make your sausages but why if you have a good butcher.

 

I find Desirée potatoes the best for mashing and good quality pork sausages fried or over baked but most go for fried. Some fat left over from the Sunday roast is best to make the gravy or you could fat use to fry the sausages and the onions. If you use the oven, maybe add some fat to get some liquid to make some gravy then fry up some chopped onion, mix it into the gravy, and let the flavours soak in.

Pie and Chips: Again another simple British classic and a favourite of mine with the right pie. I am not a fan of the mass-produced like Peter’s pie or others I like small independent bakeries, other outlets and butchers, which I find the best.

 

We have a local butcher, who sells a top-notch pie, and makes them on the day and once they sell out that is it until the next day. You can’t get any fresher than that. Chips have been mention before and I like a side order of mushy peas with my pie and chips.

Sunday Dinner: Thanks to this obsession with food, I’ve learnt to make a mean Sunday Dinner and I don’t mind which meat we use. It could be beef, lamb, pork, chicken or a few nice pork sausages they all are as good as one another if they are from a quality butcher.

 

There are masses of amounts of different sundries you could have with a good Sunday Dinner like roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and stacks of vegetables of all shapes and sizes. The gravy must be thick and we put a twist on ours by adding a few dashes of melt vinegar and mint sauce in for added flavour.

Bubble and squeak: A traditional dish made with the shallow-fried leftover vegetables from a roast dinner. The main ingredients are potato and cabbage, but carrots, peas, Brussels sprouts, or any other leftover vegetables can be added.

 

You could add some diced up cooked bacon or some people like to put a fried egg on top. Fried in a pan together until the mixture is well cooked and brown on the sides or make patty cakes and fry both sides.

Wildcard Curry: I added it and called it a wildcard because if you think about it the British curry was made for the British market and is nothing like the curries from South and East Asia.

 

It was nothing like the curry that was served up to the British memsahibs and family in colonial India in the 19th century. I like a chicken curry myself although the number one Indian dish is Chicken Tikka Masala.

 

Then we have Chinese curry again designed with the British palate in mind.

Any comments?