Great Britain English Food

English food as we know it owes a big debt to the Victorians. Like other northern european cuisines, it majors heavily on meats, dairy products, wheat and root vegetables and a diet conducive to manual labour and red-faced citizens. The nineteenth century idea of a varied diet was one with different sorts of meat in it. Milk and vegetables were regarded as not only inedible raw, but highly dangerous until boiled thoroughly. To a certain extent this is understandable. In an era without refrigeration, when typhoid and cholera could strike even the wealthy, over-cooking everything was probably a sensible course to take.

The Victorian propensity to send splendidly choleric officials to war on and rule over farflung corners of the empire, and then later to retire them to the home counties, added a number of colourful foreign words to the vocabulary and foreign dishes to the table, which were gradually adopted and anglicised. For instance India provided the English language with curry, chutney and kedgeree while ketchup came from the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). The aristocratic european tour also gave us the omelette, blancmange, marmalade, mayonnaise and macaroni to name but a few.

In England we tend to underrate our own food, slighting our cookery because it is homely and familiar. We no longer recognise the traditional food we still eat as a cuisine or celebrate it and our food manufacturers bastardise the great traditional dishes with microwave-ready synthetic imitations. Our enthusiastic adoption of foreign food which has so enriched our cuisine, has almost made spaghetti bolognaise the national dish. Yet a moment's thought can bring to mind traditional English dishes in everyday use which at their best can still impress foreigners. The sandwich, fish and chips, pies like the cornish pasty, trifle, the sunday roasts and their accompaniments- mint sauce, apple sauce, cranberry sauce, horseradish, English mustard, Yorkshire Pudding, Sage & Onion Stuffing. Sometimes they have strange names- Fool, Bubble & Squeak, Toad-in-the-Hole. Scrote hopes you will find some old friends here.

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Apples- Baked Chocolate Mousse Pork & Beans
Apple Sauce Chowder Pork, Apple & Onion
Apple Crumble Corn on the Cob Roast Breast of Lamb
Apricot Fool Duck Breast, fried Stuffing
Bacon Knuckle Dumplings Gravy
Onion & Parsley Sauce Egg Custard Roast Chicken
Bacon Roly-Poly Scotch Eggs White Sauce
Bangers & Mash Scrambled Eggs Seaweed
Bread Sticky Gingerbread Lentil Soup
Bread and Butter Pudding Kedgeree Peapod Soup
Garlic Bread Liver & Bacon Tomato Soup
Bread Sauce Pancakes Sussex Smokies
Bubble & Squeak Shortcrust Pastry Steak & Kidney Pudding
Cheese Sauce Cheese Pastry Steak: Tournedos
Cauliflower Cheese Cheese & Potato Pasty Toad-in-the-Hole
Cheese Straws Cornish Pasty Trout with Leeks
Chicken in Creme Fraiche Smoked Mackerel Pate Union Jacks
Chicken Kiev Shepherd's Pie Venison in Red Wine
Chicken with Leeks Pickled Onions Welsh Rarebit
Poor Knights Yorkshire Pudding
Potatoes
  • Potato, Bacon & Onion Hotpot
  • Potato, Tomato, Onion & Cheese Casserole
  • Baked Potatoes- with Cheese
  • Potato Cakes
  • Mashed Potatoes
    • Pommes Duchesse
    • Champ
    • Colcannon
  • Tatties & Bashed Neaps
  • Roast Potatoes
Salads
  • Blue Cheese Dressing
  • Chinese Salad
  • Coleslaw
  • Coronation Chicken
  • Green Salad
  • Potato Salad
  • Waldorf
  • Warm Salad
Sandwiches
  • Bacon Buttie
  • Ploughman's
  • Egg Mayonnaise & Cress
  • Tuna & Mayonnaise
  • Chicken Mayonnaise
  • Smoked Salmon & Lemon
  • Pitta Salad
  • Cheese on Toast
  • Cheese & Ham Toastie
  • Cucumber
  • Cream Cheese & Chives
  • Camembert Baguette
  • Jambon Cru
  • Cheese Salad Stick
  • Egg Salad Stick
  • Rare Beef Salad Stick
  • Steak