Recommended England Type Foods

Well- my husband is a big advocate of their fish and chips. Myself- I suggest you try beef and ale pie, shepherd's pie and yorkshire roast. I also love the roasted chicken. Check out McVittie's biscuts (cookies) especially the shortbread and the hopalongs (similar to girl scout's peanut butter cookies). Lamb is great if you are going to Wales or Scotland. I've never yet allowed myself to indulge, but someday I will try sticky toffie pudding (a dense cake-like dessert that makes it own sauce). Triffle is also another dessert- layers of lady fingers, fruit sauce or fruit, and whipped cream. By the way- what you know as jello is jelly and what you know a jelly is jam or preserves. Just thinking about the food is making me drool. check out the postings on the general graffiti wall section under delicious britian.

Toni means "trifle", it rymhmes with "delightful"..LOL

Honestly some of the best food we had in England was curries and like. They do lovely east Indian food there.

I also loved beetroot salad, and celery root salads that you can get from Marks and Spencers,, they have a wonderful selection of takeaways and frozen foods.

I love cornish pasties - they make great lunches. Cheap and portable. For dessert try treacle sponge pudding or sticky toffee, yum yum. Be sure to pop into a corner store or grocery store and sample some chocolate bars. Dozens of varieties. Cadbury caramel, Galaxy dark, and chocolate covered toffees are my favorites. I also spend a lot of time in the biscuit (cookie) aisle - chocolate covered caramel digestives are great. (Sounds disgusting, but it's really just a cookie covered with caramel and chocolate.

Charlene, I don't mind trying different foods when travelling in the U.K., but I "draw the line" with Black Pudding. Check it out on the Net to see if this is something you'd like to try when you're there (typically served with "the full English breakfast").

Cheers!

Be sure you try a scone with clotted cream, fantastic. Clotted cream fudge is also good. I believe that Toni means McVittes Hobnobs not Hopalongs.

You must try the sticky toffee pudding. Its dates that make it sticky. It does not make it's own sauce but rather comes with whatever sauce the restaurant prepares it with. I've had it with custard sauce, caramel sauce with clotted cream and a lite treacle sauce. Bangers and Mash are good pub grub as well as steak and Guiness pie. Be sure to have a cream tea or several cream teas. Indian food is very popular. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Personally I like English food, it's only some combinations of things that can make one go hmmmmm. Things like Jacket(baked) potatoes with tuna and/or corn. My daughter loves curry chips, my sister likes the fish pie. I always give black pudding a miss but my girls like it.

I've spent most of my British Isles time in Scotland, but you can probably buy many of my favorites in England too. From the bake shops: Sausage rolls, Forfar bridies, strawberry tarts, apple slice and many, many other mouth-watering goodies. Just stand outside the bake shop windows and drool over the gorgeous displays. Individually wrapped candies called eclairs. The best butterscotch candy you've had anywhere. Butter and Robertson's marmalade on a morning roll. Digestive biscuits, if you're a graham cracker lover as I am. And how could I forget ambrosia? (It's tapioca pudding in a tin.)

Look for stuff that has a local name attached to it.

So try:

Lancashire HotPot - a genuinely divine dish of lamb stew topped with crispy potatoe slices.
Melton Mowbray pork pies - eaten cold and a particular favoutite of mine - make sure they say Melton Mowbray on the label.
Real Cheddar Cheese - accept no substitute.
Stilton Cheese - it has to be made in either Leicestershire or Nottinghamshire.
Cumberland Sausage - scrumptious.
Bakewell Pudding ( often mis-named Bakewell Tart ) a delicious pudding especially when served with traditional Bird's custard.

Above and beyond all of these you must try Mushy Peas - the bright green food of the gods, best eaten the Nottingham way with huge splodges of mint sauce on them.

I liked trying all the different flavored potato chips (Prawn Cocktail, Lamb & Mint, etc.) - not at all like the dull BBQ or cheddar flavored ones we get here.

The beans on toast was something I tried, but found very boring. I actually liked black pudding - and thought it would be nasty given what it is made out of.

Actually, sticky toffee pudding does make it's own sauce. The "toffee" part comes from brown sugar, butter and boiling water poured over the top of the batter before going in the oven. I make this all the time and my family loves it. You must try it! The Victoria sponge cake is also good. Have a cream tea with real clotted cream and scones. My mom still raves and would hop a plane to London just for that.

Black pudding is very tasty.

I have changed over the years because of my son.

When he was a wee lad (about 4 years old), we stayed in Wales for a week at a B&B and he fell in love with black pudding. After that we decided to follow his lead and try something different everytime we travel.

Steak & Kidney pudding is a must for us.

Devon Scones with clotted cream are to die for.

Everything else mentioned here :-). We don't really go for the Indian, Chinese, Thai etc., foods because we have had them before in various cities/country. What we tend to do is seek out some typical English fare instead.

Seconds to Melton Mowbray pork pies, sausage rolls, mushy peas and Cadbury Eclairs. Things on toast, cheese, beans and spaghetti. Go to a Pret A Manger and look at the variety of sandwiches. I like the Coronation Chicken. The same with Marks & Sparks' food section. I only mention these because this is what a very lot of people eat every day not because of beautiful presentation as in Harrods or F&M. Real Ale and Cider.

Being someone who's been accused of eating like a bird, I sought out and discovered, many years ago, on my first trip to the UK, the Ploughman's Lunch. Many variations, depending on which pub/restaurant you're in, but most consist of fresh (usually crusty) bread and butter, 1 or 2 chunks of hard cheese(stilton/cheddar/etc), pickled 'baby' onions, a bit of 'rabbit food' (lettuce/carrot/etc), a slice or two of cold meat, maybe a cold boiled egg, and chutney (with any luck, homemade). If you want something light but traditional it can't be beat after a rough night on the town or to stick to a diet. BTW, we're off to London/Bath/et al in 6 days and I've printed off the previous gastronomic suggestions as a guide to the missus who's never been to England.

Geoff, your addition is now on our list! I can't wait to hear your report. Have a wonderful trip.

Curries are typical english food!!

Pat, I know they say curries are typical but for really typical, you can't beat some jellied eel :-)

Here is a nice website with traditional food.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/food/dishes.htm

Eli, I am going to bed soon, and I KNOW I will have nightmares about " jellied eels", LOL
I am not a fussy eater, but the combination sensationof " jelly" and "eels" ( which of course we tend to think of as slimy anyways) is quite the tummy turner.. give me pickled herring or escargots, but jellied eels are just not right, LOL

For those that sent me a PM about the sticky toffee pudding here is the recipe:
Cake -
1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp self-rising flour
1/2 cup milk (any kind)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp chopped, rolled dates
Sauce -
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp butter in blobs
2 1/4 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 375 F and coat a 1 1/2 quart baking dish with non-stick spray like Pam or butter
Combine sugar and flour in a large bowl. Mix milk, egg and vanilla in separate bowl, add melted butter and then pour over the flour and sugar, stirring with a wooden spoon to combine. Fold in dates then scrape into the dish.
Sprinkle the rest of the sugar over the top of the cake and dot with butter. Pour over the boiling water and put in oven. Bake for 45-55 minutes. The top of the cake should be springy and spongy when done. Underneath the butter, sugar and boiling water will have turned into a rich, sticky sauce.

Marcella, thank you so much for sharing. I will try your recipe this weekend.

Excuse my spelling but, I read or saw someplace that Chicken Tika Masala is the most popular dish in England.

My favorite is fresh pies from a pub. My favorite among those is Steak and Kidney pie but there are a lot of good flavors.

Honorable mention to clotted cream on anything.

On the bad end is Fish and Chips. They're actually good but are served literally dripping in grease. Keep some paper handy and let them dry out for a couple of minutes - then they're yummy.

Like it or not, everything comes with peas and they are always cooked to mush. Remember how you tortured your babies with peas? This is payback.

Must try: pie and mash http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_and_mash

The quintessential pie shop:
http://www.manze.co.uk/

and anything weird at a fish and chip shop, such as battered and fried Mars bar. I do not lie.

And I think you mean Bannafee Pie (which is bannanas and toffee). Treacle pudding -- basically cake with syrup baked into is also veddy English.

Shepherd's Pie is an English standard. I would describe it as "beef stew topped with mashed potatoes." It is served in pubs and cafeterias, among other places. Freshly-baked scones with clotted cream are delicious. Clotted cream is really butter by another name; it tastes like fresh-churned butter to me. Orange marmalade is my favorite breakfast spread. Fortnum and Mason makes a variety of marmalades which are usually available at the duty-free shop at LHR. Wilkinson makes a very good marmalade, also, and it is less expensive. If you want to try some (organic, I think) foods produced on the estates of Prince Charles, look for Duchy Originals. I've seen these products in several stores.

It is true that Curry has replaced Fish & Chips as the take away favourite in Britain with the most popular being the aforementioned Chicken Tikka Masala

You can find most of these British recipies including photos on Wikipedia as someone mentioned above.

Banoffi pie is a definate favourite of mine and was invented at the Hungry Monk restaurant not far from where I live in Sussex. See the link for more details.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banoffi_pie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Tikka_Masala

Hi.
Shepherds is not "beef stew with mashed potatoes". That is Cottage Pie. Shepherds Pie is minced lamb cooked with onions and topped with mashed potatoes. Yummy!

Brad, it depends on where you buy your fish and chips, because ours was never greasy. We favour Seashells of Lisson grove. The best!

Neither were my fish & Chips greasy. The Sherlock Holmes London

Try McVities Hobnobs ... best cookie (biscuit) ever. Kind of an oat cookie coated in chocolate. I prefer the plain chocolate to the milk chocolate. You can get these at any grocery.

I think the pie you are referring to is banoffee pie (as in bananas + toffee). It is really sweet.

My kids love Smarties. They're better than M&Ms.

I can second the recommendation for Seashells of Lisson Grove. It was almost as good as The Magpie Cafe in Whitby. Try the mushy peas with the fish and chips. I had them before when English friends ordered them. The waiter at Seashell was very impressed that a "Yank" knew to order them.

Denice
Have to sound a note of caution for the Magpie Cafe in Whitby. I was there last week and the fish and chips from the take away were horrid, tasteless limp undercooked chips and horrible fried haddock swimming in grease. They were so bad that we fed most of them to our dogs- and at $25 for 2 portions, that was very expensive dogfood! Most of the locals eat at trenchers, we should have done the same.

Nobody has mentioned donner kebabs?

And try the different varieties of Cadburry chocolate. Even though they sell some of these in US, Cadburry over here is made under contract by Hershey. British Cadburry is far more rich, if you ask me.

Tom is right about Cadbury. What we have made by Hershey is awful. I no longer buy them. The taste is not as creamy as the British version, and almost has a taste of powdered milk. Once you know the real thing, you'll want to put down that "wannabe" Cadbury that Hershey has messed up. I wish we knew how to make really good chocolate, but we don't!

Pat, no we don't have Smarties here unless I order them online (which I always do for Christmas). Last time the kids loaded up their bags with every imaginable type of chocolate and candy they could find over there.

Nothing beats a good Toad-in-the-Hole and Spotted Dick for dessert! If you are in England on a Sunday, look out for pubs that do a special deal on Sunday Roasts, which usually includes a meat of your choice, plus potatoes, veg, and gravy. It's like Thanksgiving dinner but better - and it happens once a week!

What...all these postings and not one for spotted dick pudding. No joking, it's a standard dish and available in many pubs.

opps...I didn't read the 2nd page or I would have seen Jaime's comments above...he's right on.

When Dad & I went together a few years ago, we pubbed a LOT. Pub rules - order your meal at the counter, along with your drink. "Lemonade" is Sprite or similar with lemon wedges. Most meals were served with 3 veggies, broccoli always one of the 3. I don't recall a lot of peas, however. Veggies will be cooked to 'super soft', if not mushy. Food was always good - and I'll add a vote for ploughman's lunch. You've got to have the full-on English breakfast at least once - be hungry for that one!
My cousins had great fun at my expense as I sorted out "English" from American - our 'desserts' are their 'puddings'. I like Earl Grey tea - considered a 'scented' tea.

I alway get a can of Lilt to drink and if you see it try Iron Brew,I can't stand the stuff but it is very Scottish. I agree the a good pasty or sausage roll right from the bakers is good.