Tomorrow marks one year since I began "The British Chef. So, I thought it only fitting to go back to the beginning and re-post my first ever food blog...The English Breakfast!!! It is how any Englishman should start the day. It is so simple and so scrumptious. Some people refer to it as a "heart attack on a plate". They are right in the aspect that it is all fried up in a skillet. The slang term for it is a "fry-up". You start out with frying up some bacon and sausages in a skillet. You then add some Black Pudding. For those who don't know, black pudding is a sausage made from coagulated pig's blood mixed with herbs and spices. When you cook it it turns black, hence the name. You also fry up some tomatoes, mushrooms, potatoes and eggs. All of this is also served with some good old Baked Beans. The common brand is Heinz. It is hard to get Heinz Baked Beans here in the US. You can however find them online and at some specialty food stores. Once all this is done, you then make fried bread. Just take some sliced bread and brown it in the pan drippings. It is then all served up with some tea, and a bottle of HP Brown Sauce. It is delicious not only at breakfast but at any time of day. If you would like to find some of these products online, I would suggest the British Food Depot. They have everything from sausages and black pudding to HP Sauce and Baked Beans. Click on the link below to go to their site. Cheers!!
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Since yesterday was my 21st Birthday, I thought it only fitting for my next food post should be a cocktail. After many hours of research, I found this cocktail to be a uniquely British cocktail. It consists of Vodka, Triple Sec Liquor, Apple Juice, and Simple Syrup. You combine all of these ingredient in a shaker with diced apples and lemon wedges. Then, you muddle the ingredients together. This releases the natural apple and lemon flavor. Then, you add ice to the shaker and shake until properly chilled. Then, you strain the cocktail through a sieve and serve over ice in a chilled rocks or martini glass! All you then have to do is garnish it with a slice of apple. The original recipe I found uses Gin, but I felt that Gin would be too powerful and would overpower the taste of the other ingredients. You want to be able to taste the triple sec and apple. With Vodka, you have a neutral tasting alcoholic beverage. If you were using Gin, you would probably think you were drinking Pine Trees that suddenly grew apples! I am serving this at my upcoming British themed Adult Culinary Class! I hope you will enjoy it as much as they will! Cheers!
This is a classic English Dish. It is a great way to use up any sausages left in the refrigerator. It is basically sausages baked into a Yorkshire Pudding. This recipe I found on Food Network. You start by baking the sausages in a buttered cast iron skillet until they are almost cooked through. You then pour on a nice batter and bake until the Pudding puffs up and gets all nice and golden brown. Then you have to decide what to serve with it. It is traditionally served with mashed potatoes and a nice gravy and caramelized onions. Personally, after a long day at the Cafe cooking, I like something simple with little or no effort. So I just open up a tin of Heinz Baked Beans and heat and serve along side it. If you prefer condiments I would go with some HP Brown Sauce or some Yellow English Mustard. This is one of the simplest entrees to make. It is also very delicious. The recipe for this is below. Bon Appetit!
The exact origins of this dish are unknown, but it is believed that the Welsh have loved the idea of toasted cheese since the middle ages. The origin of this dish doesn't matter. What does matter is that this is a delicious dish and is not as boring as it sounds. Some people just like to place mounds of cheddar or American cheese on toast and broil it. I believe a more complex amount of flavors should be obtained through this dish. So I was writing recipes for my college menu project and I was revisiting the ingredients of a soup we serve in our student restaurant. I arrived at beer, onions, bacon, and of course the cheese! You start out by cooking up some bacon, then you saute onions in that fat. From there, you go on to make a Bechamel type of sauce with flour, cream, and cheddar cheese. You then add beer and seasonings to this sauce and allow it to thicken. You then serve it over some good toasted bread and top with the bacon and some chives or herbs. A simple yet delicious and elegant dish. Bon Appetit!
I think aside from Fish and Chips, if you were to ask an American to name another classic British dish they would say Shepherd's Pie. This is a go to meal to make if you want to have a one dish meal. We have made this a many number of times for lunch at Allegany College of MD. Originally designed as the poor man’s dish in the late 18th century in Britain, the Shepherd’s Pie or Cottage Pie is one of the greatest dishes born in Britain. It was designed to incorporate potatoes into every meal. It was an option when food was scarce. This is my recipe made American style with peppers and cheese! You start out by making mashed potatoes. The recipe comes with a method for mashed potatoes, but you can make them any way you want. Just make sure you don't make them too liquidy. Once it bakes with the meat mixture it will thin out. You then make the meat filling. Brown your ground beef, and then saute your vegetables. You thicken it by adding flour. Then you add beef stock, cream or milk and your seasonings. Once thickened, you pour this mixture into a baking dish. You spread your mashed potatoes on top. Cover with foil and let it bake for 20-25 minutes. Then, you remove the foil and top with cheddar cheese and let it melt under the broiler for a minute. Normally the British don't put cheese on it, but when in America, where anything is better with melted cheese, I had to do it. You then can serve it plain as is, but I like to eat it with a nice drizzle of HP Brown Sauce. If you are in need of a simple dish, this is perfect for you. Bon Appetit!
I made this a few semesters ago when I was researching British food for my International Cuisine class. We each chose a country and we spent a semester doing research on cuisines of that country. We also had to take one recipe we found and make it for the students to try. It was recieved with a lot of skeptiscism, but a lot of people enjoyed it including myself. I have been making it ever since. Coronation Chicken is a great way to use up leftover chicken. It is basically curried chicken salad. It is lovely served with a rice salad, as a baked potato filling, and great for lunch boxes, picnics and buffets. How versatile! The dish was designed for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 as a representation of the, then, colonial nature of the British Empire so includes fruit, curry and mayonnaise. There may no longer be a British empire but this recipes remains a firm favorite all over the British Isles. Coronation Chicken has made something of a comeback with a resurgence of interest in serving it at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. If you are interested in that curry flavor, this would be the perfect dish for you! Bon Appetit!
Aside from fish and chips, this is a classic pub dish. In my opinion this is British comfort food at its tastiest. It may sound simple but there are a few complex flavors. For example, the baked beans. I would not suggest some highly rich beans like "Bush's". I would suggest getting a neutral flavored brand of beans such as "Campbells" or "Heinz". Like I have said before, you can only get traditional Heinz Baked Beans through the internet or in a specialty food store, due that they are made and sold exclusively in England. If you wish to find them online, I would suggest the British Food Depot. Their link is below. These beans are in a simple tomato sauce. I like to doctor them up a bit myself. What I would add to them is some tomato ketchup. This enhances the flavor of the tomato. Then, add a little bit of salt and pepper. This simplicity of the beans may be boring to some but it is just delicious. Another reason, you don't want to strong of a flavor is because in the end you drizzle some good old HP Brown sauce over the whole lot. The HP Sauce you can also find online.
Then, you have the deal with the Bangers, or sausages which we Yanks call them. I cannot stress this enough...DO NOT BUY SWEET OR HOT ITALIAN SAUSAGES! They simply do not belong in any other dish that is not Italian in origin. Besides, I in general don't like Italian sausages in any rate. What you want to buy is some good beef or pork sausages. They can sometimes be found under the name English or Cumberland style sausages. Something with a nice flavor but again not too strong. Once you have the first two things taken care of, then you just have the Chips (french fries). I don't think I have to explain anything further. Except, just get good fries. By that I mean straight forward fries, no shapes or crinkle cut. Homemade are the best option. Just fry up the sausages and chips. Make the beans and doctor them up. Then, just plate up the chips and bangers and spoon the beans on or beside them. Serve with a bottle of HP Brown Sauce and a nice pint of beer or cider. For all of the products such as the Heinz Baked Beans, HP Sauce and even the Sausages, check out the British Food Depot below. Cheers! On such a wonderful sunny day with a nice breeze, what could be better than a good Ploughman's Lunch. Its good in a nice corner of a London park or right in your back yard right here in the good old USA. This dish is a traditional composed meal that was taken into the fields of the hard working ploughmen. It was a quick bite to have on the go. It is just a mixture of meats, breads, fruits and or vegetables. This is served with a variety of condiments. I will give you a list of all the different items for a great Ploughman's Lunch.
The great thing about this is you don't have to have everything on the list. You can have just an apple and some cheese and bread, or whatever you happen to have in your fridge. For a complete recipe, click on the picture below. Bon Appetit! Here is the final part of my blog post: British Food Products in the USA! Obviously this is only the tip of the Tower (pun intended), but this is just a basic knowledge of the most well known brands common to Britain. 11. Walker's Crisps - The thing to know if you go to Britain if you want Potato Chips, they are called "Crisps" over there. If you say "chips" they will give you what we call french fries. Walkers is the biggest name in Crisps over there. They are owned by PepsiCo. and are the British Brand of our Lay's Potato Chips. They come in a number of flavors, such as: Salt and Vinegar, Pickled Onion, Prawn Cocktail, Worcester Sauce, and Tomato Ketchup. These are just a few. 12. Bisto - This is basically just instant gravy mix. They have many numerous flavors over there. They come in resealable containers. The flavors include: beef, chicken, vegetable, cheese sauce, parsley sauce, white sauce, roast onion, and Chip Shop Curry. 13. Haywards Pickled Onions - If you like onions for a snack, these are for you. they are small white onions, pickled in a brine. They are delicious as a snack with some cheese and crackers, or with a Ploughman's Lunch. I highly suggest you try them. 14. Jaffa Cakes - My friend will kill me if I don't mention Jaffa Cakes. They are one of my favorites. They are small bite size sponge cakes topped with an orange jelly and coated in dark chocolate. They are oh so good. They can be addictive. There are a few brands: McVities', Jacobs. Try them immediately. 15. Irn Bru - Pronounced "Iron Brew". Irn-Bru is a soda from Scotland which is extremely popular in the UK. In fact it’s Scotland’s number 1 selling drink, outselling even Coca Cola. Irn Bru has a unique rusty orange color and a sweet rustic scent making it distinctly different from other drinks. It’s quite fizzy and tastes especially wonderful when icy cold. Apparently it’s great for hangovers too. The joke is that they say, the only thing with more sugar, is a 5lb. bag of sugar. Once again, you can find all of these products online at the British Food Depot. Click on the button below to go there now. Try these and you will like them. I can guarantee it. Cheerio!
Here is part 2 of 3 of my discussion on a few British Food Products. Again, all of these can be found in some specialty food stores and online. If you prefer to get them online. I would suggest the British Food Depot. You can visit their site by clicking on the button at the bottom of this blog post. 6. Hobnobs - These are one of my favorite British snacks. They are sweet oat biscuits that come either plain or coated in milk chocolate. They are perfect with a nice cup of tea or a glass of milk. Simple and yet so delicious. 7. Marmite - This product is one of those things where you either love it or hate it. It is a highly concentrated yeast extract. It is probably the closest thing to salt. It has a unbelievably strong taste. Most Britons eat it on buttered toast. I personally am not fond of the taste, and I have found another use for it. You can dissolve it in water and use it in a soup or stock in place of salt. It adds an earthy taste to savory dishes. It is a stronger version of the Australian product Vegemite. 8. Black Pudding - This, like the baked beans, is an essential part of an English Breakfast. To some it may sound revolting, but it is delicious. It is a sausage that is made from a mixture of beef or pig's blood, oatmeal or breadcrumbs, fat, herbs and spices. It is boiled in a casing until it becomes firm like a sausage. You slice it and fry it in a skillet. It starts out a reddish brown color and when it cooks it turns black. It can taste different based on how long you cook it. If cooked correctly it has the taste and texture of a normal sausage, if cooked too long it becomes gritty. Just think of it as sausage with more herbs. A good way to serve it is with HP Brown Sauce. It must remain frozen or refrigerated until ready to cook. Try it and I will guarantee you will like it, just don't think about what it is. 9. Heinz Salad Cream - Americans, I think shall enjoy this, it has a similar taste to Miracle Whip. It is a little more tangy. It is great for sandwiches and salads. I use it myself as an ingredient into potato salad. It, like Piccalilli, will be more familiar than different to Americans. If you like Miracle Whip, give this a try. 10. PG Tips - This is probably the only product that is sold anywhere, in any supermarket. It is England's number one brand of tea. It is very good and soothing. Go to your local market, and you will most definitely find this. The perfect thing to unwind on a cool evening, a cup of PG Tips and a biscuit. Check back soon for the final part of this three part blog post. But for now, if you want to find these products, click on the button below to go to the British Food Depot.
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