The Perfect British Meal?

Question

My husband is from England, and after our holiday trip is missing home a bit.

What could I prepare him in a meal that would be typically 'British' or 'English'?

I'm looking for suggestions for the *whole* meal (heck, even the whole days menu would be wonderful!) with suggestions or links to the recipes fo preparing it.

Answer 1

Great idea! To make the most of it, do this on a weekend day so he can really appreciate you! It would be lovely to make a menu for him with pictures from the internet to whet his appetite. You could start the day with a full English breakfast - eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread or toast, mushrooms, and grilled tomatoes, with a potful of hot tea with milk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_English_breakfast

For lunch, cornish pasties with chips and baked beans (Heinz are the best).

Cornish pasties

Ingredients

Serves: 4

1 Medium Potato, cut into 5 mm ( 1/4 inch) dice
1 Medium Onion, chopped
225 Gram Blade of beef or rump steak, cut into 1cm cubes (8 oz)
225 Gram Plain flour (8 oz)
50 Gram Butter, diced (2 oz)
50 Gram Lard, diced (2 oz)
Cold water, to mix
Beaten egg or milk, to glaze


Method

Pre-heat oven to 220 °C / 425 °F / Gas 7.

Place the potato, onion and meat in a basin and mix well. Place the flour in a bowl. Add the butter and lard, rub in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add about 2 tablespoons of water and mix to form a firm dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead lightly.

Divide the pastry into 4. Roll out each piece to about 15-18 cm (6-7 inches). Trim by cutting round the edge of a small plate. Divide the filling between each round. Brush the edges with water and draw up the pastry on each pasty, in a line over the centre of the filling. Seal well. Flute the edge with your fingers.

Place the pasties on a baking sheet, fluted edges uppermost. Brush each with a little beaten egg or milk. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown. Serve hot or cold.

http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/recipes_result.asp?name=cornishpasties

This followed by a lovely British pudding (we call all desserts 'pudding'). Sticky toffee pudding would be a good one.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Ingredients

Serves: 6

115 Gram Toasted walnuts, chopped (4 oz)
175 Gram Butter, softened (6 oz)
175 Gram Soft brown sugar (6 oz)
4 Tablespoon Double cream
2 Tablespoon Lemon juice
2 Eggs
115 Gram Self raising flour (4 oz)


Method

Grease a 900 ml (2 pint) pudding basin and add half the nuts. Heat 50g (2 oz) of the butter with 50g (2 oz) of the sugar, the cream and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a small pan, stirring until smooth. Pour half into the pudding basin, then swirl to coat it a little way up the sides.

Beat the remaining butter and sugar until fluffy, then gradually beat in the eggs. Fold in the flour and the remaining nuts and lemon juice and spoon into the basin. Cover the basin with greaseproof paper with a pleat folded in the centre, then tie securely with string.

Steam the pudding for about 1 1/4 hours, until set in the centre. Just before serving, gently warm the remaining sauce. Unmould the pudding on to a warm plate and pour over the warm sauce.

If you prefer, use pecan nuts instead of walnuts in this delightfully gooey pudding.

http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/recipes_result.asp?name=stickytoffeepudding

Then in the early evening, as your husband will have eaten a lot already, a nice supper would be fish and chips.

Fish and Chips

Very few people in mainland Britain live more than a few miles from a fish-and-chip shop, therefore very few actually cook this most traditional of British foods!

1 large or 2 medium potatoes per person, peeled and cut into half-inch thick fingers ("chips")
white fish fillets** - 1 piece per person
4 oz plain flour
pinch of salt
1 egg
quarter pint (150 ml) mixed milk and water
small amount of flour to coat fish
oil or fat to deep-fry

Method
When the chips are first cut, place in cold water to firm up; heat the fat or oil and, whilst it is heating, drain the chips and dry them as much as possible with a clean tea-towel or kitchen paper. When the fat is hot, lower the chips in CAREFULLY, preferably in a chip basket, and cook until they are just beginning to turn golden. Remove from the pan and drain. Meanwhile, prepare the batter for the fish**: beat together the flour, salt, eggs, milk and water (substituting some of the water with beer makes an excellent batter.)
Coat the fish with flour and shake of any excess; hold the fish by the very end and dip into the batter, making sure it is coated entirely. Lower it gently into the hot fat and fry for 5 - 7 minutes, the exact time will depend on the type and thickness of the fish; it will float to the surface of the fat when cooked. Lift out and drain; meanwhile, reheat the fat/oil and cook the chips for a second time - they will not take long and will also float when cooked.
Drain and serve the fish and chips - the traditional accompaniment depends on the part of the British Isles you are in: salt and malt vinegar is most usual, but you can also have tomato ketchup ...Mayo... and a must is a pickled onion


To accompany the fish and chips, how about some British beer. Many are available in liquor stores, such as Newcastle Brown Ale, or Guinness.

http://www.beerliquors.com/beer/britishbeer.htm

You could end the day by watching some great British movies or comedy on DVD. I recommend such comedy as Fawlty Towers, the Vicar of Dibley or Little Britain - amazon.com has all of these. Some British chocolate to nibble on while watching the programme of your choice would be nice - how about Maltesers or Curly Wurlys? I'm sure your husband has some favourites. You can order them from http://www.ukgoods.com/candy-cadbury-chocolate-c-28_37.html

Have a great day!

Answer 2

A simple dish to prepare is bangers and mash, a traditional pub fare that's also comfort food for me sometimes. All you need are some sausages (I use honey garlic, but that's me), some baked beans (in brown sugar or molasses) and some mashed potatoes. Serve with a lager (or some ice water if your husband doesn't drink - this IS a rich, heavy meal). It takes about 30 minutes to fry the sausages (turn once) and other than that is very quick to make.

If you're feeling up to it you could make Roast Beef & Yorkshire pudding...but I find it difficult for beginners to master. One option is to get a Yorkshire pudding mix - if so, you might want to substitute bouillon for water, as I find the mixes quite tasteless. To do this right expect it to take at least 2 hours in the oven, though.

If you have a deep fryer you could make fish and chips...or if you have a bread machine, you could make cornish pasties (you don't NEED the bread machine, but it helps to make the dough).

Good luck!

Answer 3

My late Nan was English and she cooked a mean roast, or even just English sausages and Mashed potato with peas. Yorkshire puddings, rock cakes. I just really remember her roasts and funny she was, she would cook it the day before and then carve it cold so she could make the slices thin. They also always had HP sauce with everything and runny gravy. Miss her heaps.

Answer 4

Soggy Bland Food Sorry or Curries and Chutneys