What are some traditional english dishes or desserts?

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British Cuisine

British cuisine is shaped by the country's temperate climate, its island geography and its history. The latter includes interactions with other European countries, and the importing of ingredients and ideas from places such as North America, China and India during the time of the British Empire and as a result of post-war immigration.

As as result, traditional foods with ancient origins, such as bread and cheese, roasted and stewed meats, meat and game pies, and freshwater and saltwater fish, are now matched in popularity by potatoes, tomatoes and chillies from the Americas, spices and curries from India and Bangladesh, and stir-fries based on Chinese and Thai cooking. French cuisine and Italian cuisine, once considered alien, are also now admired and copied. Britain was also quick to adopt the innovation of fast food from the United States, and continues to absorb culinary ideas from all over the world.

Despite the fast-food reputation, traditional British cuisine has survived, largely in the countryside and amongst the upper classes.

The Sunday roast is perhaps the biggest culinary indication of a steadfastly traditional household. The Sunday dinner traditionally includes a Yorkshire pudding accompanying, or occasionally followed by, a joint of meat and assorted vegetables, themselves generally roasted or boiled. The most common joints are beef, lamb or pork; chicken is also popular. Since its wide-spread availability after World War II the most popular Christmas roast is turkey. Game meats such as venison are traditionally the domain of the higher classes. Game, while being a classic English preserve, is not generally eaten in the average household.

At home, the British have many original home-made desserts such as rhubarb crumble, bread and butter pudding, spotted dick and trifle. The traditional accompaniment is custard, known as crème anglaise (English sauce) to the French. The dishes are simple and traditional, with recipes passed on from generation to generation. The pudding tradition reaches its height with the Christmas pudding.

At teatime, traditional British fare includes scones with jam and butter or clotted cream, as well as assorted biscuits and sandwiches. A unique sandwich filling is Marmite, a dark brown savoury spread made from yeast extract, with a tar-like texture and a strong, salty taste. A hand-made favourite is butterfly cake. Some schools teach young children how to bake such sweets during cookery lessons.

Tea is consumed throughout the day and is sometimes drunk with meals, especially at teatime. Coffee is perhaps less common than in continental Europe, and is usually served as a long drink, typically with milk. However, Italian coffee preparations such as espresso and cappuccino are rising in popularity (and quality), while tea, though still an essential part of British life, is less ubiquitous than it was. In recent years herbal teas have become popular. In more formal contexts wine is generally served with meals, though for semi-formal and informal meals beer or cider may also be drunk.

The full English breakfast (also known as "cooked breakfast" or "fried breakfast") also remains a culinary classic. In the Victorian era, during the British Raj, Britain first started borrowing Indian dishes, creating Anglo-Indian cuisine, some of which is still eaten today although many once-popular Anglo-Indian dishes such as kedgeree have largely faded from the scene.

Another formal British culinary tradition rarely observed today is the consumption of a savoury course, such as Welsh rarebit, toward the conclusion of a meal. Most main meals today end with a sweet dessert, although cheese and biscuits may be consumed as an alternative or as an addition.

Vegetarianism

Since the end of World War II when their numbers were around 100,000, increasing numbers of the British population have adopted vegetarianism, especially since the BSE crisis of the 1990s. As of 2003 it was estimated that there were between 3 and 4 million vegetarians in the UK, one of the highest percentages in the western world, and around 7 million people claim to eat no red meat. It is rare not to find vegetarian foods in a supermarket or on a restaurant menu.

Seafood

Even though Britain is making massive steps forward in cuisine, one area where improvements have been slow is seafood. Over 85% of the volume of pelagic fish caught by UK vessels is consumed overseas, and shellfish accounts for over 50% of the total value of UK seafood exports. The primary export destinations for live shellfish are France, Spain and Italy. Pelagic fish exports are to Russia, Germany, France and Nigeria. Combined with the fact that 7 out of 10 people in the UK eat no seafood, it is a confusing trend, as the British Isles are surrounded by oceans that provide some of the best quality seafood in the world.

Also Look Up:

London Restaurants Guide

UK Vegetarian Society

Sandwich Guide (UK)

London Restaurants Review Guide

English Dishes Traditional

Roast beef with yorkshire pudding is a favorite of my grandmother's. She came over by ship.

Fish & chips are very english

Crumpets and jam

Apple pie....no it is not 100% american

preserves are a favorite

One pot meals such as goulash, stews, soups are very english too.

A plain baked custard is a traditional dessert. A fruit trifle is, too. It's cut up cake (pound cake, angel cake) layered with berries and served with custard sauce.

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding

This is England's traditional Sunday lunch, which is a family affair. Recipe

Yorkshire Pudding

Yorkshire pudding, made from flour, eggs and milk, is a sort of batter baked in the oven and usually moistened with gravy. Recipe

It is not usually eaten as a dessert like other puddings but instead as part of the main course or at a starter.

The traditional way to eat a Yorkshire pudding is to have a large, flat one filled with gravy and vegetables as a starter of the meal. Then when the meal is over, any unused puddings should be served with jam or ice-cream as a dessert.

Toad-in-the-Hole (sausages covered in batter and roasted.)

Similar to Yorkshire Pudding but with sausages placed in the batter before cooking. (See photo right)

Roast Meats ( cooked in the oven for about two hours)

Typical meats for roasting are joints of beef, pork, lamb or a whole chicken. More rarely duck, goose, gammon, turkey or game are eaten.

Beef is eaten with hot white horseradish sauce, pork with sweet apple sauce and lamb with green mint sauce.

Fish and chips

Fish (cod, haddock, huss, plaice) deep fried in flour batter with chips (fried potatoes) dressed in malt vinegar. This is England's traditional take-away food or as US would say "to go". Fish and chips are not normally home cooked but bought at a fish and chip shop ("chippie" ) to eat on premises or as a "take away"

Ploughman's Lunch (a piece of cheese, a bit of pickle and pickled onion, and a chunk of bread) This dish is served in Pubs

Spotted Dick (Also called Spotted Dog)

Sponge pudding with sultanas and raisins.

Where does this strange name come from?

Recipe

Trifle - made with layers of sponge cake altternate with custard, jam or fruit and Whipped Cream. Sometimes alcohol-soaked sponge cake is used.

Recipe

Hasty Pudding - A simple and quick (thus the name) steamed pudding of milk, flour, butter, eggs, and cinnamon.

Bakewell pudding - also called Bakewell Tart.

Recipe

Custard - a thick, rich, sweet mixture made by gently cooking together egg yolks, sugar, milk or cream, and sometimes other flavorings. Most people today use a yellow powder mixed with milk, water and sugar. Custard can be served as a hot sauce, poured over a dessert, or as a cold layer in, for example, a trifle. When it is cold, it 'sets' and becomes firm.

Bread and Butter Pudding Bread and butter pudding - old English favourite (see image)

Recipe

Semolina Pudding - a smooth, creamy puddmade of milk, eggs, flavouring and sugaring. Semolina is cooked slowly in milk, sweetened with sugar and flavoured with vanilla and sometimes enriched with egg. Semolina pudding can be served with raisins, currants or sultanas stirred in or with a dollop of jam.

Roly-poly - A pudding made of jam or fruit rolled up in pastry dough and baked or steamed until soft. Recipe

English Crumpets - tasty "muffin" that goes great with tea, and spread with butter and preserves.

Mince Pies - Pastry shells filled with mince meat, and sometimes brandy or rum.

Treacle pudding - a steamed pudding with a syrup topping.

Jelly and Ice Cream - A favourite party food for children.

Steak and kidney pie

English boiled dinner (kind of like stew) with boiled beef, potatoes, carrots and gravey

Fish and chips (fried fish and french fries)

Bread pudding

Custard pie

All except the steak and kidney pie I really like.

English cook book

Arabic hygiene activities

and German Jokes

They don't exist

Trifle.

Yorkshire pudding.....yummmmy. Gorgeous with roast potatoes and carrots.

Shepherds pie and plum pudding