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.