Gastronomic treats around the UK.

[Gob]

The Midlands

Staffordshire oatcakes

A regional British treasure, the oatcake, or ''oat flannel'' as it is sometimes known as, fuelled generations of workers in the Potteries. Quite different from its crisp Scottish cousin, the Staffordshire oatcake is more like a dense pancake made from batter containing three types of flour and oats. As the ceramics factories have disappeared, so, too, have the bakeries that provided their workers with this sustaining breakfast. However, there remain a dozen or so producers and between them they still make 350,000 oatcakes a year, nearly all eaten within the boundaries of Stoke-on-Trent. At the Oatcake Kitchen, former ceramics worker Chris Bates expertly griddles up to 1000 oatcakes a day. Try one the local way, stuffed with cheese. Eat in, or take away as the workers would have done as they rushed to the factory. Delicious.

See www.staffordshireoatcakes.com.

Melton Mowbray pork pies

If I were stranded on a deserted island, I would dream of Melton Mowbray pork pies. The hand-raised, hot-water pastry; the fresh, seasoned pork; and the jelly from trotters make the most perfect combination. Last year the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association (see mmppa.co.uk) finally attained European PGI (protected geographical indication) status after more than a decade of trying. The name and recipe are now protected. If you want to see the fine art of hand-raising a pork pie for yourself, head to Dickinson & Morris in the town of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. It is one of the oldest pie shops and gives demonstrations.

See www.porkpie.co.uk.

Fish and chips

Like so much of the best of British food, fish and chips is a product of immigration. Portuguese-Jewish refugees brought their skills in the fish-frying department and collided with their Belgian and French counterparts who knew about frying potatoes. The dish was one of the few not to be rationed during World War II, so detrimental would it have been to the nation's morale. I tried examples in dozens of places but my favourite was in the unlikely surroundings of a Birmingham shopping centre. Great British Eatery was created in 2007 by two Brummies, Conrad Brunton and Andrew Insley. They fry their fish and chips in beef dripping and the smell as you walk through the door of their takeaway goes a long way to explaining why the place is a huge hit.

See www.greatbritisheatery.co.uk.

Northern England

Lancashire hotpot

Few sights are more appealing than that of a hotpot being taken from the oven, its meaty lamb juices bubbling through the golden potato crust. Yet so few people have actually tried a real one. It is a slow-cooked reminder of hard-working times and deserves to be treasured, particularly when made as well as it is by a terrific young chef, Warrick Dodds, of Hastings in Lytham St Annes. Order it with a side dish of pickled red cabbage and a pint of local ale and follow it with an Eccles cake.

See www.hastingslytham.com.

London

Jellied eels

People either love them or loathe them. Unfortunately for the few remaining jellied-eel stalls in London, the latter seems more common. This is a shame because eels, cooked with water, salt and parsley, then set in the gelatine they release, are delicious. Tubby Isaacs's family has been selling eels on Goulston Street, near Petticoat Lane in London's East End, since 1919. This is the perfect place to learn the art of eating jellied eel. You might not like them as much as I do but you'll be sampling a piece of history.

See www.tubbyisaacs.co.uk.

Potted shrimps

Brown shrimps with clarified butter and a hit of mace have been a staple of British cuisine since the late-Victorian era. Nowhere is this made with more care than at London's oldest restaurant, Rules, in Covent Garden. The shrimp is sauteed, set in butter and lobster oil and served with lemon and a slice of brown toast.

See www.rules.co.uk.

Scotland

Arbroath smokies

Arbroath smokies are cleaned and brined haddock that have been hot-smoked over oak chips until their skin is golden and the flesh beautifully white. Iain R. Spink and his mobile smoking set-up are a regular sight at the farmers' markets of Fife and he is well worth seeking out for one of the finest tastes of my whole trip. The markets are on Saturdays, rotating between Kirkcaldy, St Andrews, Dunfermline and Cupar. It is worth getting here early to see Spink and his enthusiastic crew at work and to buy a hot smokie straight from the fire, with its juices still bubbling under the skin.

See www.fifefarmersmarket.co.uk; www.arbroathsmokies.net.

Haggis

The haggis by veteran Edinburgh butcher George Bower in Stockbridge are made with the whole ''pluck'' - lamb's heart, lung and liver - simmered in game stock and then minced twice with fresh onions, pinhead oatmeal and spices. The offally end result might not be to everyone's taste but there is no doubting that it is the real deal. See

www.georgebowerbutchers.co.uk.

Chicken tikka masala

The owner of the Shish Mahal curry house in Glasgow, Ali Ahmed Aslam, has a strong claim to be the inventor of chicken tikka masala. He created the dish in the mid-1970s using a tin of tomato soup to make a spicy gravy when a customer complained that his meal was dry. The rest is history. So much so that last year a Glasgow member of parliament tabled a motion to apply for protected status and to have the dish renamed the Glasgow Tikka Masala. That might be a rather silly notion but a sizzling bowl of tender spiced chicken, cooked in the tandoor then coated with a fiery, tomato-based sauce, is a British treasure. Ali Aslam and his two sons can still be found at the Shish Mahal, carrying plates of their most famous dish to hungry Glaswegians.

See www.shishmahal.co.uk.

Northern Ireland

The Ulster fry

The great British breakfast can be a thing of beauty but is all too often a plate of stodge floating in grease. Not so at Georgian House in Comber, south of Belfast. Unassuming chef Peter McKonkey has three decades of experience in Ireland's best kitchens and has one of the best ''frys'' in the country. The whopping plateful includes organic eggs, dense meaty sausages, thick smoked bacon, local black pudding, tomatoes, mushrooms and - just to make sure you wobble out the door - the best soda bread and potato farls I have tasted. Georgian House, phone +44 28 9187 1818.

Yellowman sweets

A treat for sweet-toothed Belfast boys and girls for generations, yellowman was originally created by Peggy Devlin and sold at the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle. As the name suggests, it is a lurid yellow candy made from caramelised sugar frothed with bicarbonate of soda and allowed to set before being broken into jagged shards. The best-known source for yellowman is now Aunt Sandra's candy shop in Belfast. David, the nephew of the original owner, still makes most of the sweets the shop sells and gives regular demonstrations.

See www.auntsandras.com.

Wales

Faggots and peas

They might not have the most appealing name (it comes from the Welsh for ''little bundle'') or be made from the most tempting ingredients but these cricket ball-sized parcels of minced pork lung, liver and belly wrapped in bacon or caul (the lining of the stomach) are delicious. N.S. James family butchers has made award-winning versions since the shop opened in 1959. Local restaurants such as the Beaufort Arms (beaufortraglan.co.uk) have them on their specials menu but I think there is no better way of eating them than straight from the butcher's oven as a takeaway, doused with vinegar and a hit of white pepper.

See www.nsjames.co.uk.

Welsh cakes

The chance to join Pat Maddocks as she prepared a batch of 1000 Welsh cakes in the small kitchen of her Gower home allowed me to relive a slice of my childhood. The smell and taste of her flat, fruit-laden griddled cakes (like small scones to look at but more delicious), taken hot from the stove and spread with butter, transported me back to the days when my own grandmother prepared them. Pat and her husband, Anthony, have recently opened a tearoom where you can sample Wales's finest baked goods, including cakes made with a shot of Penderyn Welsh whisky.

See www.cakesfromwales.com.

Eating for Britain: A Journey into the Heart (and Belly) of the Nation, by Simon Majumdar, is published by John Murray.

[loCAtek]

There goes my appetite!

[dales]

Can I enjoy my faggots and peas in the privacy of my hotel room?

[Gob]

Whatever butters your muffin, Dales.

[@meric@nwom@n]

The UK, Germany and northern Europe all have in common the lack of anything decent to eat on the menu.

Well I guess there are Swedish meatballs but that is about it.

I have the fat ladies on TV tonight. Pickled walnuts! Gag.

[Gob]

Nonsense, here's a typical Brit menu;

LIME GROVE
Nitro Poached Green Tea and Lime Mousse

RED CABBAGE GAZPACHO
Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream

JELLY OF QUAIL, CRAYFISH CREAM
Chicken Liver Parfait, Oak Moss and Truffle Toast

SNAIL PORRIDGE
Jabugo Ham, Shaved Fennel

ROAST FOIE GRAS
Gooseberry, Braised Konbu and Crab Biscuit

MOCK TURTLE SOUP (c.1850)
"Mad Hatter Tea"

"SOUND OF THE SEA"

SALMON POACHED IN LIQUORICE
Artichoke, Vanilla Mayonnaise and Golden Trout Roe

POWDERED ANJOU PIGEON (c.1720)
Blood Pudding, Potted Umbles, Spelt and Pickles

MACERATED STRAWBERRIES
Olive Oil Biscuit, Chamomile and Coriander

THE "BFG"
Kirsch Ice Cream and the smell of the Black Forest

WHISK(E)Y WINE GUMS

http://www.thefatduck.co.uk/The-Menus/Tasting-Menu/

[SisterMaryFellatio]

Faggots....I want Mr Brains faggots. Potted shrimp with a good french stick, smokies and haggis for me dinner!!

Oh and I will have a pasty chucked in too.


i don't miss my family I miss food from the UK!

[Lord Jim]

Like so much of the best of British food, fish and chips is a product of immigration. Portuguese-Jewish refugees brought their skills in the fish-frying department

And yet one so rarely sees a restaurant with the sign:

AUTHENTIC PORTUGUESE-JEW STYLE FISH AND CHIPS

Just doesn't have much of a ring to it....

it is a lurid yellow candy

I can honestly say that's the first time I've ever seen a candy described as "lurid".....

The whopping plateful includes organic eggs, dense meaty sausages, thick smoked bacon, local black pudding, tomatoes, mushrooms and - just to make sure you wobble out the door - the best soda bread and potato farls I have tasted.

Now that sounds right tasty.....

[dales]

They all sound so unique.

Aquired taste I'm sure.

Peanut butter, anyone?

[loCAtek]

Take good food and add fat, seems to be the key to English cooking.

[Gob]

The "Birmingham Balti" could soon have its name protected by an EU scheme, if a private bid is successful. But what sets the popular "British fusion" dish apart from other curries?




"You won't get the 'Delhi belly' with the Balti food," said Mo Ahmed, owner of the Al Frash Balti restaurant in Birmingham's Balti Triangle.

The Birmingham Balti Association (BBA) has made an official application to the EU Protected Food Names scheme so the local favourite is given Traditional Speciality Guaranteed Status.

If successful, the Birmingham Balti will join the protected ranks of "traditionally farmed Gloucestershire Old Spots Pork" and "Traditional Farmfresh Turkey".

The Birmingham Balti originated in the city during the late 70s, when curry chefs started to make their dishes lighter, healthier and served faster to suit Western tastes, the BBA said.

A true Birmingham Balti must be served in the same thin steel bowl it is cooked in over a hot flame, as it is this "Balti" bowl that gives the dish its name, according to the BBA.

The purpose of the Balti dish is to keep the curry hot after it has been cooked over a high heat.

"People like (it)... sizzling and hot and with the naan bread," said Mohammed Arif, owner of Adil Balti and Tandoori Restaurant, in the Balti Triangle in Birmingham.

Mr Arif claims to be first man to introduce the Balti to Britain - after bringing the idea from Kashmir - when he opened his restaurant in 1977.

He said that before he "recommended the Balti in the UK" in the late 70s, "there was different curry" in Britain, "not like this fresh cooking one".

Before the Balti method of cooking was introduced, chefs would put curry in a "big pot in the morning and then serve them on a plate" after heating them up "in a microwave", he told the BBC.

As well as keeping curry sizzling, the metal Balti dish retains all the dish's flavours. The curry should then be scooped up and eaten with a naan bread instead of using cutlery, in a traditional fashion.

"Pieces of naan are traditionally torn off by hand and used to scoop up the hot sauce from the pot and wipe the bowl clean at the end," according to the BBA.

The high heat method of cooking Balti is thought to have stemmed from Western customers' expectations to be served their meal quickly.

Traditional curry flavours like tikka masala, tandoori, rogan josh, korma can all be cooked in a Balti style.

Mo Ahmed, owner of Al Frash Balti house, agreed that the Balti style of cooking was not only quicker, but also a lighter and healthier version of a traditional curry.

"It's very much like stir-fried cooking," he said.

"It's a lighter alternative for what people have been used to, which is a heavy, rich sauce, quite oily, (which) sits quite heavily on the stomach."

This is because the Balti pioneers of the 70s and 80s switched from using traditional ghee, which is high in saturated fat, to using vegetable oil.

While ghee is the traditional cooking ingredient used on the south Asian sub-continent, the use of vegetable oil in Birmingham Baltis is stipulated as a key unique feature in the BBA's application to EU.

It requires that all Birmingham Baltis must use vegetable oil instead of ghee.

Another requirement is for all meat to be "off-the-bone" to allow it to be cooked quickly over the hot flame.

This off-the-bone preparation of meat sets the Balti apart from the more traditional "on-the-bone" meat used in the "one-pot" style of cooking from the Indian subcontinent.

While "one-pot" curries might take hours to cook all the ingredients, Balti chefs add meat and vegetables to the dish one ingredient at a time.

And freshness of ingredients is crucial to real Balti connoisseurs.

"Pre-prepared generic commercial curry pastes and powders are not used and not permitted" in any true Birmingham Balti, according to the BBA.

Baltis can vary from restaurant to restaurant as each Balti house prepares its own "restaurant sauce" to use as a base.

Mr Ahmed said the sauce used in his Al Frash Balti house was "partly trade secret", but revealed that it was made with a base sauce of garlic and onions and a mixture of spices.

"You got turmeric, you got garam masala - which is a mix of masala," he said.

If the Birmingham Balti is successful in gaining EU Traditional Guaranteed Status, restaurants with Birmingham Balti on the menu will be annually inspected to ensure they meet the correct curry criteria.

But with Balti being served up as a popular dish across the UK, the BBA said it was concerned that variations of the dish could lose the quality of the Birmingham original.

The Balti differs in its fresher "cleaner" taste when compared to many "Western-style curries", which are sometimes served "using a highly coloured, thick cloying sauce which can overpower any of the individual flavours", it said in its application.

Mr Ahmed agreed that the true Birmingham Balti cooking style should be protected.

"You know there's a lot of restaurants out there that will say they create Baltis. What they're actually creating is curries."

[rubato]

UK gastronomic treats = "fat wrapped in lard fried in suet" or "foreign cuisine dumbed down for the locals".

yrs,
rubato

[Sean]

That is a very uneducated, ignorant and bigoted post Rubato. Are you back to your 'anti-all things British' tirades?

[Lord Jim]

That is a very uneducated, ignorant and bigoted post Rubato.

Yes of course, but that's what he does.....

One could post :

"That is a very uneducated, ignorant and bigoted post Rubato."

as a follow up to his posts without even reading what he wrote, regardless of the subject, and 90% of the time the response would fit perfectly.....

It's like predicting that a cow's going to moo.....

[rubato]

That is a very uneducated, ignorant and bigoted post Rubato. Are you back to your 'anti-all things British' tirades?

I've been to England, France and New Orleans. Your native cuisine is nothing special. Get over it.

The great cuisines of the world are: Indian, Chinese, Thai, French, and New Orleans.

Try to be objective ?


yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

Objective on taste in food? That's a new, and very stupid, concept.

Also, retard, (and Lo who in this thread was doing a retard impression,) have failed to notice, or are just too fucking bigoted and dumb to notice, what the OP was actually about.

It’s not about “the best in the world” cuisine, we leave that sort of moronic monotonous imbecility to those who have such narrow views as to believe that a whole country’s cuisine can be better than another country’s cuisine

It was just a harmless description of some regional dishes from the UK. Someone with better vision, and less bitterness in their soul may have noticed that.

But there again, retard is retard, ignorant, narrow-minded and bigoted, and as predictable as the tides...

[rubato]

Whining and puling.

Pissing and moaning.

No one thinks that the native cuisine of Britain would tempt a hunger artist.*

yrs,
rubato

* You haven't heard of him.. Franz Kafka.

[Gob]

More childishness from our resident retard then, what a sad bitter little man he is. He’s shown up to have embarrassed himself once more, by posting irrelevant, childlike, crap, and what does he have to offer in mitigation? Why, just more of the same.

[loCAtek]

Only took you two years to notice- is that how dead your taste-buds, and short your attention span is?

[Sean]

That is a very uneducated, ignorant and bigoted post Rubato. Are you back to your 'anti-all things British' tirades?

I've been to England, France and New Orleans. Your native cuisine is nothing special. Get over it.

The great cuisines of the world are: Indian, Chinese, Thai, French, and New Orleans.

Try to be objective ?


yrs,
rubato

You see, I never claimed that British food was anything special. What I took exception to your boring, uneducated, stereotype of British food. If this is truly what you believe all British food to be like then I am calling you out, here and now, as a liar who has never set foot in the UK let alone sampled British food.

Try to be less of an obnoxious cunt.