Chauffour Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 what will be next?Great British Weather?????[Www] ps. Tracy doesn't know i'm posting this, please don't tell her or i will not get my Yorkshire pudding with my roast dinner! [geek] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 I don't understand - are you talking about the TV programmes about the Queen's 80th Birthday menu on the BBC?Or what?Actually I don't think that Great British Menus is an oxymoron. Britain has many great dishes we can be proud of, we just have a lot of people who like to put British food down for no good reason. I believe you are Italian. What is the Italian for trolling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 No-one makes a pie like the British. In fact, does anyone else make pies?Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Australians? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Couldn't agree more, Dick!We have some great regional dishes, too, which are often ignored.Problem seems to be that far too many people bought into two realities from the mid-sixties onwards: an easy life and the "glamour" of ethnic foods, particularly as cheap charter jetliner travel opened up Europe to British holidaymakers seeking sun.To me, much of this glamour has been myth: a waiter called Mario, red checked table cloths, chianti bottles covered in candle wax, nets and glass fishing floats hanging from the ceiling and plastic grapevines climbing up tatty plastic trellis don't make real Italian food!There was little wrong with the good old British institutions of transport caffs, with a decent full English breakfast, with edible bacon, well cooked eggs etc. with a couple of good hunks of bread and a large mug of tea. They always used real sausages, too, instead of those tasteless skinless wonders of today!Same goes for the working man's cafe, with a decent lunch like minced steak and onion pie, mash, cabbage lashings of good gravy and a filling pud.Motorway places are a joke in comparison; as are fast food joints.I still have fantasies of hotel food in my far gone youth! Brown windsor soup with wonderful crusty rolls; poached turbot or halibut in white sauce; a good entre; a toothsome pudding; cheese and biscuits and finally, coffee. And this was after a good breakfast and dinner to follow; and if you were really lucky, there was tea in the afternoon, with tiny cucumber sandwiches, seedy cake, bread and conserve (which with country hotels was made from fruit from their own garden). Don't know where we put it all, now!Last time I experienced anything like it was during a weekend, with a client, at Brown's Hotel in Dover Street, London, W1; it's just off Picadilly near the Ritz. Sitting around a roaring fire, on a cold damp and unpleasant Winter, being served with English tea and all the trimmings and one of those wonderful EPNS cake stands, which the waiter merely flicked and all the shelves opened up. I gather that Browns is presently undergoing a re-furb. Bet it won't be the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 I posted somewhere else that I recently ate in Rules' Restaurant in Covent Garden, which claims to be the oldest resto in London. I had potted shrimps, steak and kidney pudding with oysters and treacle sponge with custard. It was expensive, but excellent. A while back I stayed in a Yorkshire country house hotel, and the food there was absolutely first-rate, especially breakfasts. And the Earl Grey sorbet...Even a pub restaurant can serve up decent British food, and that may not have been true years ago, but it is now. I think there is a reaction against 'fusion' cooking going on, and I am all for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catalpa Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 [quote user="Dick Smith"]I believe you are Italian. What is the Italian for trolling?[/quote] Is that a lesson in irony? Somehow it just feels.... unpleasant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 In my previous life I lunched regularly at Rules - go for the fixed price lunchtime menu if you can, a real bargain! Don't overlook the jugged hare and the Aberdeen Angus steaks ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Catalpa:And you didn't find the original post just a bit ... unpleasant?Actually it isn't ironic, it's a question. I think Massimo was trolling, that is he was making a provocative statement in order to bring about an argument. I also thought it was a profoundly unintelligent post, but I wasn't going to say that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catalpa Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 [quote user="Dick Smith"]And you didn't find the original post just a bit ... unpleasant?[/quote] No. I read it as being made with tongue firmly in cheek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Oxymoron!?!? Certainly not! I have drooled over every little morcel being cooked. I was pleasantly surprised that the Indian chef came through. I voted for his fish dish. At the end of June I'll be in London with daughter, as a treat we are booking a table at his restaurant. I am saving already!! I am very pleased too that the Welsh lamb dish came through for voting which of course I voted for! About 15/20 miles away from here (my home in Wales) there is a family butcher (at least 3 to 4 generations) who has a Royal Warrant to HM Queen Victoria for supplying the royal table with Plynlimon lamb! Sadly about 12 months ago the shop closed down and no one took the business on. The shop is all boarded up and the insignia/warrant high above the door is in serious need of some repairs (if it has not been stolen!) Very sad...The Welsh pudding was awful! Thank god it didn't go through..... My vote went for the custard tart. I found it quite similar to the French flan you see in boulangeries/patisseries... Can't wait for this evening when the results are announced... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Yes, there does seem currently to be a reaction to all this new wave foodism and I too, am delighted, Dick.A dear chum of mine, a Yorkshireman, was taken a few years ago to Anton Mossiman's place in the West End at the height of the Noveau Cusine era. Like so much of this today, it was a corporate bribery event.The next day I asked him what he thought. Apparently it was very pretty food: a few bits on a large white plate. On the way home, his group stopped at a handy pub and ate sausage egg and chips because they were still hungry!One reason I used to like Keith Floyd and his earlier programmes. Good natural food not mucked about.I have been very fortunate in my business life, to have eaten at some wonderful places in various countries and, of course, particularly in London. My greatest disappointments have been in fabled spots of the moment: the Mirabelle in Curzon Street, springs to mind, in the late 70s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chauffour Posted June 2, 2006 Author Share Posted June 2, 2006 Dick, thanks for explaining the meaning of trolling (my little Collins doesn't have that word... but i guess it has something to do with fishing...)yes is was just trying to bring out the argument and see what you all think about that, or about what the chefs on the tv program are cooking.....sorry if you think it is a profoundly unintellingent post......well, at least you seem not to disagree with the fact that 'Great British Weather' IS a oxymoron!!! Massimo (not Mario... ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 It's AN oxymoron, and no I don't agree.Why are you taking this line? It isn't very funny or amusing, just a wind-up as far as I can see. That's why I find it unintelligent.If you want to start a discussion then ask a sensible question, not an insulting one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Katie Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 A Great British Menu for me would be:Cream of parsnip soupRoast leg of Welsh lamb with honey roast carrots, roast sweet potatoes and cauliflower cheese with garden peas, gravy (NOT made with bisto) and home grown hand chopped mint sauce.Jam roly poly with home made custard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Pretty good choice.Perhaps a slightly lighter starter? Oysters, perhaps?I'm not sure sweet potatoes qualify, but roasted King Edwards would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Katie Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Yes or maris piper. Sometimes you have to think what is actually british because we are fortunate to have been influenced by cuisine from further afield in a big way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
her of ford Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Yum yum yum food Bitish or other wise I love it, I was once asked at work on a yearly appraisal what hobbies I had and the only things I could think of to say was all to do with food, buying it , cooking it, eating out and going to different countries to try new and different foods.......I have wonderful memories and sad as it sounds most of it has a link to food,,,,,,,,like the first time a ate a mushroom,,,the first time I ate lobster,,,,,,,,,,,um,,,,,,Dingle Bay, West coast of Ireland, in September 1987, delicious. I am not that sad a person I just love to eat!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Agree with most of it, 3XK, except the honey roast carrots and cauliflower cheese; yuk!I have never understood this one: fresh wonderful collie to me, is best cooked al dente, with the young fleurettes separated and the stalks chopped. And as for carrots, young carrots are best simply boiled quickly and then that wonderful sweet flavour comes through.Agree about the gravy and the custard, though! Simply the juices from the meat, some water from the veggies some plain flour and some wine. Custard for us does not come from tins or packets! It comes from cornflour, evaporated and full milk and real vanilla pod castor sugar. Wonderful![:D]My best mate loves it: his wife, sadly cannot make anything with boiled milk: makes her heave.So when we go round for dinner, we usually take a massive bowl of proper custard and leave the rest. He simply spoons it down and grins rather a lot! He is something of a gourmand by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Katie Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Come on then Her of Ford. What do you consider to be the Great British Menu? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
her of ford Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Now that is a difficult one to answer , because my choice would change with the seasons and with what the weather and my mood are.Today for example as it is a warm summer day a simple fresh Crab , served with salad, Jersey new potatoes ,with melted Welsh salted butter over them,then for pudding perhaps a summer pudding made with fresh fruits and a dollop of cornish clotted cream and to wash it all down with a large jug of Pimms!!!!!!! Now that for this moment in my life would be choice.However,if it was a cold Autumn night and I was out and my favorite little bistro, my mouth would be watering as I ordered Smoked Salmon to start followed by Pheasent (not hung and smelly) in a rich cream and red wine sauce with glazed shallots ,a medley of in season roasted vegetables and then to finish Wim Wham Old English Traditional Pudding, or if thats not on the menu something like treacle and pecan tart (hot) with cream.Then again Spring time makes me think of Chicken in a white wine and tarragon sause,,,,,,,,oh and I havent even started to thinnk about what I like to eat it shellfish or fish are on the menu,,,,,,,yum yum yum isnt this all just sooooo delicious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyC Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Not much point in pheasant if it's not hung and smelly. Pheasants should be like men, well hung! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 [quote user="Cassis"]No-one makes a pie like the British. In fact, does anyone else make pies?Phil[/quote] True very true [;-)][:)] Yes I was given some pork pie at a French car meet at the weekend... and not by an english person ...it was OK but not as good as ours LOL with regards steak and kidney type plate pies ... I have never found them outside UK but I hate this recent obsession with meat in a dish with a puff pastry lid (or airbag as me and my mate call them[;-)]) a pie should have proper shortcrust pastry on the bottom and sides as well [:)] fish and chips anybody???? with mushy peas of course LOL TBH I have had good ,bad and indifferent meals all over Europe, good British food can be as good as good French or Italian and bad French or Italian can be awful... funny thing is some of the best pizzas I have had have been in France[8-)] Then of course there is "Indian" food ...well it's more British than Indian these days [:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Katie Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 My frenchie friends love good old fashioned faggots (from a reputable butcher) with mushies, home made gravy and lashings of vinegar and pepper. When they eat it, they sit there quietly nodding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 [quote user="Bassman"]Then of course there is "Indian" food ...well it's more British than Indian these days [:-))][/quote]Indeed - we invented Chicken Tikka Marsala and the Balti. Not saying they're my dishes of choice, mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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