Bob the Brit

Archive for the ‘Food & Drink’ Category

In 2001 the then Foreign Secretary – Robin Cook – declared that Fish & Chips was no longer Britain’s national dish, but rather it is now Chicken Tikka Masala:

“Chicken Tikka Massala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences. Chicken Tikka is an Indian dish. The Massala sauce was added to satisfy the desire of British people to have their meat served in gravy.”

Chicken Tikka Masala is now so popular that it is estimated that 23 million portions are sold each year in restaurants, while one ready meal manufacturer produces ten tons of it each week for sale in supermarkets.

Perhaps it can be traced in part to Britain’s imperial past, but there are now around eight thousand ‘Indian’ restaurants in Britain and every town has at least one ‘Indian’ restaurant – the town where I live has no less than seven, serving a town of only eighteen thousand inhabitants. The phrase ‘going for an Indian’ (or in rhyming slang ‘going for a ruby’) is not uncommon on a Friday evening.

Britain’s ‘Indian’ restaurants are actually, for the most part, run by Bangla Deshis or Pakistanis, with a very few specialist regional Indian restaurants.

The first dedicated ‘Indian’ restaurant can be traced back to 1809 in Portman Square in London, just north of Oxford Street,  in London’s West End but this was short lived. The modern wave of ‘Indian’ restaurants can be traced to the Veeraswamy that opened in 1924 in London’s Regent Street (also in the West End) - the first real up-market ‘Indian’ restaurant.

It was at Veeraswamy incidentally, where the link between curry and lager was born – the King and Queen of Denmark visited the restaurant in June 1924. The King was said to enjoy lager with his curry and arranged for a case of ‘Carlsberg’ to be available at the restaurant for his visit. He further gave orders for a case to be delivered to the restaurant each year.

More downmarket, the ‘Halal’ restaurant, opened in Whitechapel (close to Brick Lane) in the 1940′s and still claims to be the oldest ‘Indian’ restaurant in the ‘East End’.

The origins of Chicken Tikka Masala itself can be traced back to the court of the Mongol conqueror  Babur who conquered northern India in 1526, his court was famed for its decadence and lavish feasts. He was wary of choking on chicken bones and insisted that all bones be removed from any meat, his chefs chopped the meat into bite sized pieces (Chicken Tikka) and cooked them in the tandoor oven.

The first tandoor oven arrived in Britain in the 1950′s and food thus cooked was significantly dryer than the ‘wet’ curries that had been served until then. Legend has it that a diner, on being served Chicken Tikka cooked in a tandoor demanded “where’s the gravy?” and the chef obliged by using a sauce based on Campbells tomato soup. The most likely location, at least the most often quoted, for this invention is Glasgow, where several restaurants lay claim to the invention.

The first recipe for Chicken Masala was published in 1961, and the first Chicken Tikka Masala ready meal was introduced in 1983.

The rest as they say, is history – or more accurately – home economics.

Virtually every pub in England includes a Ploughman’s Lunch on its lunchtime menu.

A Ploughman’s Lunch is usually a large lump of rustic bread, a piece of cheese (usually Cheddar, sometimes Stilton) some side salad, apple and pickle – a dark sweet relish – often Branston Pickle.

Some pubs offer more exotic variations including ‘Anglers Lunch’ which would feature smoked mackerel or a ‘Gamekeepers Lunch’ featuring a game paté.

Interestingly there are very few references to the Ploughman’s lunch before the late nineteen fifties, in part this might be due to the rationing of cheese after the second world war. The end of rationing prompted the Cheese Bureau – who were tasked with re-popularising cheese post rationing – to invent (or reinvent) the Ploughman’s Lunch.

A great British tradition and, until recently, Britain’s most popular takeaway food. 

The popularity of Fish & Chips can be traced back to two innovations in the mid 19th century, the development of trawler fishing in the North Sea – which meant more fish were being landed than previously – and the growth of the railways – which meant that fish could be quickly transported inland. 

A number of towns in the north of England lay claim to being the birthplace of the modern ‘chippy’, while Guisely in Leeds saw the creation of “Harry Ramsden’s Fish and Chip Palace” in 1931. These days Harry Ramsden’s is an international franchise with over 150 outlets globally.

Fish & Chips was one of the few foods not subject to rationing after the second world war, and it became a tradition for Friday night ‘fish suppers’. 

The most popular fish is either Haddock or Cod, but other fish can be served, including Skate (a small member of the ray family) and ‘Rock Eel’ (or ‘Huss’) -  a small member of the shark family. Traditional English chips are considerably thicker than those sold in most fast food restaurants, being closer to ‘steak fries’ served in the US. In the south of England the frying is usually in vegetable oil, while further north, and in Scotland they tend to use animal fat – known as ‘dripping’.

‘Fish & Chips’ is usually purchased at local chip shops (chippies), either ‘open’ for immediate consumption or wrapped in paper for home consumption. While the outer layers of paper might still be traditional newspaper, the inner wrappings are plain white paper for health reasons.

Accompaniments for Fish & Chips include peas (Mushy peas in the north of England – imagine refried beans but made with green peas), pickled onions and dill pickle (known as a ‘Wally’ in the London area).

Other foods available in chip shops are usually meat pies (Steak & Kidney, Chicken & Mushroom or  Meat and Potato (in the north of England)), sausage (often dipped in batter) or Saveloy – a large lurid pink savoury sausage – not unlike a large Frankfurter.

 In Scotland in recent years there has been a trend towards deep frying confectionery – such as Mars Bars – in batter. Surely a heart attack special!

Tradition has it that the British Sunday Lunch dates back to medieval times when the Lord of the Manor would treat his peasants to a meal on Sunday as a reward for their work during the week.

During the 20th Century the family Sunday Lunch became important as it was one day a week when the family would get together for a nutritious meal. The poverty of the 1930′s and rationing that hit Britain during the 1940′s and 1950′s meant that meat was very much a luxury and Sunday Lunch was a way of ensuring that the family ate meat at least once a week. There would often be sufficient left over for Monday’s meals.

The basis of Sunday lunch is roast meat, either Beef, Lamb, Pork or poultry – Chicken or Turkey.

The roast meat is traditionally accompanied by a selection of vegetables including Brussels sprouts, carrots, and potatoes roasted alongside the meat.

Each roast meat traditionally has its own specific accompaniment:

·         Roast Beef – would be served with Yorkshire Pudding and creamed horseradish.

·         Roast Lamb – served with mint sauce (mint leaves chopped and soaked in vinegar).

·         Roast Pork – with Apple Sauce and ‘crackling’ – the skin of the roast pork is rubbed with salt before roasting to make it extra crispy when cooked. Extra crispy crackling is often available in pubs, in packets like crisps (potato chips), salted, and called ‘pork scratchings’.

·         Roast Poultry – often served with a savoury stuffing made from pork sausage meat and herbs (usually sage and onion). Turkey – traditionally served at Christmas – is often served with Cranberry Sauce.   

The Cornish Pasty is a distinctive type of British savoury pie originating  as its name suggests, in Cornwall, the south-westernmost county of England. A local (Cornish) name for pasties is ‘Oggie’.

Its origins go back to the tin mines that proliferated in Cornwall until the mid nineteenth century, and it is suggested that the pies were baked with pastry strong enough to survive a drop down a pit shaft to the miners below. The miners’ wives would bake (or have baked) the pasties for their husbands, often decorated with their husband’s initial, and then drop the pasty down the mine shaft at lunchtime.

The traditional filling of a Cornish Pasty comprises beef, potatoes, onion and turnip, seasoned with white pepper, although other varieties are produced. The pasty is produced by placing the filling on a circle of pastry, folded and crimped, much like a Calzone pizza.

Another style has the crimping across the top of the pasty, but equally robust.

Again, tradition has it that the miners would eat the pasty by holding the crimped crust, then having eaten the filling they would discard the crust – which would be contaminated by contact with their hands which would in turn be soiled with the tin ore.

These days the Cornish Pasty is seeking protected regional status, (much like Parma Ham and Champagne) ensuring that it is only made in Cornwall. A number of Cornish companies have started ‘exporting’ pasties from Cornwall to the rest of the UK and are now selling ‘authentic’ Cornish Pasties at railway stations and even airport terminals.

Pasties make a great fast food alternative to burgers and sandwiches.