Traditional English Foods

There are some 40 counties in England each with its own traditional English food. Clearly this website does not accept responsibility for the quality produced by home cooking. But, in todays world of processed food and the abundance of traditional English foods available for any occasion, English home cooking for you or your friends has got to be a must. Good fun and varied eating. Best served on English china with family and friends. English salt, pepper, mustard to hand. Taken under copyright agrrement from the book Favourite English Recipes ISBN 1-898435-64-2

Cornish Pasty

Set oven to 400 Deg F. Divide the pastry into 4. Roll each one to a round 7 inches. Cut up the potatoes, swede and any onion into irregular pieces. Remove fat from beef and cut into ¼ inch pieces. Put vegetables onto each round of pastry with salt and pepper to taste. Add meat and a knob of butter and a sprinkle of pepper. Dampen the edges of the pastry and fold up both sides of the round and crimp the edges. Cook the four pasties for ½ an hour.

Cumberland Sand Cake

Set oven to 350 Deg F. Grease and line a 2 inch deep 7 inch round cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar well together in a mixing bowl, add the eggs and heat well. Fold in the sieved flour, corn flour, baking powder salt and nutmeg. Lastly add the lemon juice and mix well. Put in the tin for 15 minutes then turn out on to a wire rack. Dredge the top with a little sieved icing sugar.

Staffordshire Beef Steaks

Flatten the steaks with a rolling pin. Season with salt and pepper and dust with flour. Melt the dripping into a frying pan and fry the onions until golden. Add steaks amd brown on both sides. Pour the stock into the pan. Cover and simmer for 1-1 ½ hours, or until steaks are tender. Stir in the walnut ketchup. Serve on a heated serving dish with pan gravy poured on, with creamed potatoes and vegetable.

Warwickshire Pheasant Casserole

Melt the butter into a frying pan and quickly brown the pheasant on all sides. Remove from the pan and place in a casserole dish. Fry the bacon lightly in the residual butter and, then stir the flour and seasoning. Pour in the stock, stirring all the time. Add the onions carrots and shallots and bring to boil. Pour over the pheasant and add the garni of herbs. Set oven to 325 Deg F. Pour wine into the casserole cover and cook for 2 ½ - 3 hours. Remove herbs, add the brandy and cook for a further 30 minutes. Serve with creamed potatoes and a green vegetable. Serves 4.

Westmorland Parkin

Set oven to 350 Deg F. Well grease and line a 10” x 13 “ deep roasting tin. Place all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Heat and melt the treacle and butter into a saucepan until melted, and pour onto the dry mix. Stir well and add the beaten egg and stir again. Warm the milk. Add to mixture and beat well. Pour into tin and bake for 1-1 ½ hours until firm. Leave in the tin for ½ hour then turn out onto a wire rack. Keep for 49 hours and then cut into squares.

Northamptonshire Cheesecakes

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use to line 14-16 lightly geased patty tins. Set oven to 350 Deg F. In a bowl, beat the curd or cheese until smooth. Put the butter, eggs, and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring until thickened, but not to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese or curd, currants, lemon rind, and almond essence. Combine well and fill the tins. Sprinkle a little nutmeg over each and bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden. Serve hot or cold.

Suffolk Fish Pie

Set oven to 375 Deg F. Cook the fish in the milk in a saucepan, seasoning to taste. Reserve the milk and flake the fish. Butter a deep 2 to 2 ½ pint pie dish and put the fish into it. Slice the hard boiled eggs and lay on top of the fish. Melt the butter and stir in the flour, then add the reserved milk and cook, stirring until thickened. Stir in the parsley and capers and season to taste. Pour the sauce over the fish and eggs. Cover with mashed potato, roughing it up lightly with a fork. Dot with a little butter and cook for 30 minutes or until the potato has slightly browned. Serve with green vegetables such as buttered spinach. Serves 4.

Sussex Sausage Rolls - (A very old recipe)

First make the bread dough with strong white flour and yeast by the normal method. Cut off pieces of dough and wrap them around each skinned sausage or the equivalent of sausage meat rolled into a sausage shape. The dough would be ¼ to ½ inch think. Cover a leave in a greased tin for 20 minutes or until well risen. Bake at 425 Deg F for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 Deg F for another 20 minutes.

Hereford Apple Dumplings

Set the oven to 400 Deg F. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 circles big enough to enclose the apples. Sprinkle each circle with a teaspoon of sugar and set an apple in the centre of each. Mix together with the sultanas, orange rind and butter and divide the mixture between the apples, filling the core hole. Bring the pastry up over the apples, and seal firmly with a little water. Place the dumplings upside down on a greased baking sheet and decorate with the tops of any pastry trimmings cut into leaves. Brush the dumplings with milk and sprinkle on a little sugar to glaze. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 Deg F for a further 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with warm marmalade warmed to make a sauce or custard or cream.

Northumbrian Girdle Cakes

(Also known as Gosforth Gridies)

Sift the flour and salt together in a bowl, then rub the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add sugar and currants, then make a well in the mixture and add the eggs and milk. Stir the mixture with a round bladed knife until well combined. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead lightly, then roll out to approximately ½ inch thick. Cut into small rounds and bake on a hot, well greased griddle or frying pan for 4-5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Serve hot with butter.

Somerset Chicken

Set oven to 350 Deg F. Dust the chops generously with seasoned flour. Heat the butter or oil in a frying pan and brown the chops on both sides. Arrange in a 2 pint pie dish and sprinkle the onions on top. Add the kidneys and season lightly, then add the sprig of mint or rosemary. Pour the stock into the frying pan and heat through, stirring to take up the residue of seasoned flour, then pour sufficient over the pie filling just to cover. Arrange the mushrooms in overlapping layers to cover the filling. Roll out the pastry and cover the pie, decorate with the trimmings. Glaze with milk or beaten egg and cook for about 40 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Serve with potatoes, carrots, and green vegetables. Serves 4.

For more English recipes such as:

Derbyshire Fruit Loaf
Lancashire Hot Pot
Buckinghamshire Rabbit Pie
Essex Meat Layer Pudding
Gloucester Pancakes
Leicestershire Pudding
Wilshire Pork Pie
Oxford Sausages
Dorset Tea Bread
Worcestershire Baked Apple Pudding
Norfolk Plough Pudding
Isle of Wight Doughnuts
Rutland Savoury Cheese Custard
Yorkshire Pudding
Shropshire Fidget Cake
Durham Pikelets
Berkshire Jugged Steak
Nottingham Pudding
Cheshire Soup
Devonshire Splits
Hampshire Haslet
Kentish Apple and Cheese Pie

Go online to http://www.jsalmon.co.uk/

For a collection of dozens of excellent English Irish Scottish and other recipe books. Cost effective, well laid out and researched.