Whenever people here have asked me what English food is like, I have often been stumped for examples. What actually is English food? I try and think about the sort of stuff we eat on a daily basis in England, and most of it isn't English - pasta, curry, pizza etc. I end up naming various desserts, starting with scones because the Japanese seem to like those. And dairy, lots of dairy. Aside from that, I can only think of hot pots and casseroles and things like that, which are all really difficult to explain in Japanese.
Anyway, this has led me to want to a) learn more about true English cuisine, and b) learn how to cook. If for no other reason, I want to return the hospitality I have received here by sharing some of the cuisine from my own country with a few of the people I have met. May and I are therefore arranging for Marikosan (and possibly Namisan) to go over to May's apartment one evening and she will cook a traditional Korean main course for the four of us, while I will make an English dessert. I have decided on Apple Crumble, since that is the easiest thing for me to make with the facilities I have in my room. Plus, it only requires four ingredients, so it will be quite cheap to make even for four people. (I was especially pleased with the 1kg bag of flour I got for ¥105 / £0.45).
Yesterday evening I did a test-run and it went very well considering I don't have a sieve, a set of scales or an oven. I aired the flour as best I could with a fork, measured the ingredients by eye/ using a cup, and cooked it in the microwave/oven thing that I do have in my possession. (I'm not actually entirely sure what it is... it heats things up and turns things brown on top, but It is definitely not a microwave or an oven as I know them). I think I am going to serve the crumble with ice-cream; obtaining custard in Nagasaki would be nothing short of a miracle.
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omg you don't know what English food is? Here, let me help:
*roast beef & Yorkshire pudding
*any of the other Sunday dinner type things (pork and apple, roast lamb, etc.) with mashed potatoes
*fish and fricking chips (omg duh how could you forget this? It's the most English thing EVAR)
*full English breakfast (this is something I have never seen anywhere but England)
*cottage pie, fisherman's pie, etc etc, none of which are actually pies
*[Mr. Brain's] faggots and chips
*sausage and anything
*anything with kidneys, black pudding, or baked beans
*steak and kidney suet pudding or any of the other savoury puddings or pies (where I come from, pie = dessert, not dinner)
*tea and crumpets
*prawn cocktail
*salt & vinegar crisps
*sandwiches! sandwiches were invented in England, and the way you do sandwiches is so very unique - I've never seen any other nation put *butter* on sandwiches
*marmite
*cheese on toast, beans on toast, toast in general
*okay, this isn't English, but... haggis. In fact, we could probably make a whole other list of Scottish delights
Mmmmm, I'm hungry now. I'll add to this list as I remember things.
*Oh, how could I forget Horlicks! Before I got used to it, that name used to make me roar with laughter. I've never seen Horlicks outside the UK
*As long as we're on drinks, Irn-Bru. Oh, and Robinson's squash (or squash in general, which I never knew about before moving to England)
*I think I mentioned sausages before, but bangers and mash needs a specific mention
*Cornish pasties
*brussels sprouts with every single winter meal
*back on your dessert theme, rhubarb crumble, bread and butter pudding, trifle, spotted dick (still makes me giggle), Christmas pudding, bakewell tarts, egg custard
*curry the way it is served in the UK is a proprietary English dish - I've been told chicken tikka masala doesn't even exist in India and they think of it as an British thing
*Lancashire hotpot (you mentioned this already)
*scampi, or indeed most pub food
*kippers (especially for breakfast)
*pickles (Branston pickle, piccalilli, pickled onions)
*as long as we're on condiments... Worcestershire sauce, mustard, HP, horseradish sauce
*clotted cream
*a gigantic variety of regional cheeses that simply don't exist in other countries (Cheshire, Caerphilly, Sage Derby, Red Leicester, Double Gloucester, Wensleydale, etc.)... also, cheese for dessert seems to be a particularly English thing
*coronation chicken
*I think the whole Linda McCartney phenomenon deserves a mention
*bubble and squeak
*toad-in-the-hole
*scouse
*cockles, jellied eels
*Blackpool rock (if you want to call rock food)
*gammon steak (with or without egg)
Hmmmm..... maybe I'm losing momentum now. I just love English food so much (as evidenced by the 8 stone I gained while living in England - English food is nothing if not hearty).
Um... tomato soup? You get the full English Breakfast in Eire too, but they call it "Full Irish Breakfast".
I see Mel took a degree in English food while she was here... I can't think of anything else she's not mentioned.
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