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Great Britain, an island country in northwestern
Europe, is really four countries -- England, Northern Ireland,
Scotland, and Wales. It goes by the familiar names of Britain
and the United Kingdom, as well. It ranks 73rd in size among
the countries of the world and has about one percent of the
population.
Though this country contains few natural resources, it has
played a prominent role world-wide. It started the Industrial
Revolution and founded the largest, most powerful empire in
the world -- and then declined. By 1900 its empire covered
one-fourth of the world's land, containing one-fourth of the
people. Though still a leader, it is no longer the world power
it once was.
British cookery has been much maligned and has improved
dramatically in the restaurants and country inns in the past
decade.
Traditional British cuisine is substantial, yet simple and
wholesome. The Brits have long believed in four meals a day.
Their fare has been influenced by the traditions and tastes
from different parts of the British empire: teas from Ceylon
and chutney, kedgeree, and mulligatawny soup from India. The
British nanny has also played a role with her nursery
favorites, such as Bread and Butter Pudding, Spotted Dick, and
Treacle Tart. Roast beef with Yorkshire Pudding and Plum
Pudding are important contributions to international cuisine.
Other popular dishes include Cornish Pasties and Beefsteak and
Kidney Pie. The English developed a line of spicy sauces
including ketchup, mint sauce, Worcestershire sauce and
deviled sauce.
Today there is an emphasis on fine, fresh ingredients in
the better restaurants and their markets offer countless
worldly items. Salmon, Dover sole, prawns, game, and lamb are
choice items. Wild fowl and game are specialties.
Among English cakes and pastries, many are tied to the
various holidays of the year. Hot Cross Buns are eaten on Good
Friday, Simnel Cake is for Mothering Sunday, Plum Pudding for
Christmas, and Twelfth Night Cake for Epiphany. Local
delicacies include Bath Buns, Chelsea Buns, Eccles Cakes, and
Banbury Cakes. Cheeses are choice regional specialties,
including Stilton, farm-house cheddars and Cheshire Cheese.
The Scotch have their own national dishes, based upon wild
products and food, locally produced in this northern region.
They include oats, barley, fowl, game, mutton, salmon,
herring, and haddock. Oat cakes, shortbread, black buns,
bannocks, finnan haddies and haggis are specialties.
- Tipsy Cake
- a sherry-soaked pound or sponge cake with custard and
cream
- Bubble and Squeak
- cabbage and mashed potatoes fried together
- Angels on Horseback
- oysters wrapped in bacon and grilled
- Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding
- possibly the most famous dish, prime rib of beef with a
puffed flour, egg, and milk pudding
- Cornish Pasties
- individual potato and meat pies
- Fish and Chips
- Deep-fried white fish and potatoes
- Hot Cross Buns
- a yeast bun marked with a frosting cross
- Cumberland Sauce
- a currant jelly, wine, and mustard sauce
- Old English Plum Pudding
- a raisin and citron steamed pudding
- Welsh Rabbit
- the original name for rarebit, the Welsh dish consisting
of cheese melted with beer, then poured on toast and
broiled
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