English cuisine recipes”None"five o'clock," my friend, who was considered an expert on local life because he worked on the London Stock Exchange, said to me, disappointed. "They drink tea at any time, just like in Moscow. Besides, the English don't eat, they feed. I've never tasted anything worse than English food. Thank God, the capital is full of Italian and Japanese restaurants. And God forbid you should eat porridge and fish and chips!" Breakfast There was no porridge for breakfast. I can't say that I was upset about it, I've hated it since childhood. But there was a wonderful fried egg with bacon and tomatoes and toasted bread, which had to be spread with jam (it's called "toasts and jam" here). As it turned out, this is exactly what a traditional English breakfast looks like, and porridge is not at all an obligatory participant in the event. The good food had so invigorated me that I addressed the red-haired waitress in my meager English, seasoned with a smile: “Wears a poridge, miss?” The miss promptly disappeared somewhere, and I went about my London business in an excellent mood. LunchIn our language, this is lunchtime, and here I fell for the stereotype. After all, as is customary here - soup is supposed to be for lunch! The aunty serving in a small restaurant where I was dining with English friends asked three times whether I really wanted soup or something else. We all assured her that soup was exactly what I needed for a good lunch, and both my dining companions ordered a cucumber sandwich. I tensed up a little: what do you mean with cucumber? Bread with cucumber - and that's it? The whole lunch? But when a large plate with a massive triangle of sandwich inscribed in it was placed in front of each of us, I calmed down. Judging by the multi-colored layers, it was not limited to just cucumber.
English cuisine recipes with photosTraditionalBritish cucumber sandwich - Slice peeled cucumber into very thin circles, salt and leave for half an hour. - Mix finely chopped watercress leaves with mayonnaise or other mild sauce. - Cut off the crust from white bread and spread one side of each slice with good butter. - Place the thinnest slices of ham or smoked chicken breast on the butter. - Squeeze the salted cucumbers and place on the sandwich. - Spread with a mixture of salad and mayonnaise. - Put another layer of cucumbers. - Before serving, garnish with lettuce leaves and slices of young radish. My soup was brought towards the end of the meal, when I was already finishing the sandwich I had ordered out of grief. The soup was terrible to look at: in a not very deep bowl there was something cloudy and grey-beige, sprinkled with fresh herbs to disguise it. The soup smelled terrible too: an aroma similar to khmeli-suneli fought with the smell of soaked cardboard and... it can’t be!
- Porridge?” – hiding my horror, I asked. ”Yes, yes!” – the waitress smiled, sharing my joy of recognition. The oatmeal has caught up with me! If I hold my breath, I decided, I’ll probably have enough for one spoonful. Under the sight of kind eyes, hating this entire restaurant with its white tablecloths and perverted chef, I carried a full spoonful of gray slop to my petrified smile… The soup turned out to be not just delicious, but outright delight. My taste buds sang with happiness and demanded two more – no, three! – bowls of the same soup. It's a good thing I won this battle with myself, otherwise the business for which I came to the capital of Britain would have been jeopardized. Cream of oatmeal soup - Oatmeal is poured with hot milk and broth and cooked for 15-20 minutes, stirring, then strained. - Seasoned with cream, egg yolks and butter. - Toast is served separately. Five o'clock I declare with full responsibility: tea drinking still exists in England. Perhaps in business London it is observed in a slipshod manner, but in the quiet suburbs, where I went to visit my distant relatives, everything was in full accordance with tradition: the clock struck five times, and my ancient "cousin Helen" and I and her husband sat down decorously around the tea table. At some point in their generation, they were both Russian and somehow knew that not everyone in Russia drinks tea with milk. So they kindly brewed two teapots: one in English - with hot milk, the other in Russian - with just boiling water.
The tea was very good, Ceylon.But he was not the only hero of the tea party. How do we drink tea? With jam and sweets, with pretzels, gingerbread, cookies, cake and pastries. Cousin Helen's table was laden with all sorts of meat snacks: hot buns were puffing next to a cold butter dish, a luxurious cake lay in the middle of the table, and dozens of sandwiches were lined up on a rectangular plate. What a blessing that I abstained from adding more soup! LunchTo avoid confusion, it should be understood that in Russia we have lunch at the second English breakfast (lunch), and dinner at the English dinner. It turns out that ordinary Englishmen do not have dinner at all. Dinner is the lot of idle aristocrats and socialites, who, according to their daily routine, sit down at the table after 10 pm. But they skip breakfast (the first), because they wake up only at noon.
My English cousin gave me a sumptuous dinnerin Russian. The black chef invited from the French restaurant did a great job: he richly decorated warm buttery buns with a pattern of black caviar, and filled the folded pancakes with red caviar. In small broth bowls, beetroot puree, called "boursh", splashed with an island of sour cream in the center. From the English, there were the inevitable meat appetizers, hot potato salad, a thick leg of lamb (also with potatoes) and sweet apple pudding in vanilla ice cream. I barely got up from the table at the end of the meal and fell into a heavy sleep in the taxi on the way to the hotel. Dinner Trying to stimulate my appetite, exhausted by a hearty meal, with an aperitif, I gloomily pondered who had spread the rumour throughout the world that the English eat little and badly, and how, with such blatant gluttony, they managed to be, in fact, a not very fat nation. The huge table for the gala dinner, laid according to all the rules, was so beautiful in its starchy, crystal and silver splendour that a scene from a royal wake arose in my imagination. "Why not a wedding?" I asked my imagination with annoyance. "Too quietly," it answered in confusion. – Ours would have been chatting, clapping each other on the shoulders, exchanging jokes, but here there were only limp handshakes and whispering... Finally, everyone was invited to the table, and a waiter in a tailcoat settled in behind my chair in the first dance position. Before I had time to think that he was much better dressed than me, a tiny bowl of oatmeal appeared on the table in front of me. I turned around in amazement: “Oatmeal, sir?”
Then I realized that these two spoons of liquid poridge,which I finally managed to stuff into myself helped me to endure nine courses with dignity. The next morning I did not suffer at all from the night's overeating and libations, on the contrary - I woke up cheerful and ready for breakfast. in English (porridge) - Oatmeal is boiled in salted water until the cereal becomes soft. - The porridge is poured onto a warm plate, and cream or milk is added to the already cooked one. - Sprinkle with sugar on top. And again breakfast And again scrambled eggs with bacon and strong tea! I unfolded a fresh newspaper and bit off the crispy side of a warm bun, and then a large plate with a steaming gray mass appeared in front of me. The red-haired waitress, from whom I asked about oatmeal yesterday, did not forget me - thank you, miss. International politeness forced me to eat everything, squinting with pleasure, because the red-haired woman was watching me from behind the buffet door with a conspiratorial smile. It's a good thing I'm leaving now. To the village, to my aunt, to the wilderness, to Yorkshire!Yorkshire NightmareMrs. Gilbey is a recognized expert on Yorkshire pudding, the absolute champion of the all-British competition in its preparation. I dreamed of meeting this lady - and she kindly invited me to dinner.Yorkshire pudding is one of the symbols of British unity. Margaret Thatcher once said that she wished her compatriots the same unanimity on issues of domestic policy that they show regarding Yorkshire pudding. "Victor, it's pudding. Pudding, it's Victor," - Mrs. Gilbey joked in a Carrollian manner, putting a huge slice of potato pie on my plate, and next to it - an equally huge piece of roast beef. Boiled peas and carrots were placed on top. The hostess poured a thick, fragrant gravy over this entire mountain of food, after which the dish almost overflowed its banks. It can be considered a real miracle that I managed not only with this gigantic portion of meat and potatoes, but also with the other food prepared by Mrs. Gilbey for our dinner: pea soup, meat pate and an incredibly beautiful and delicious kidney pie. And this is not counting the small appetizers and dessert. I think I owe my fortitude to the elderberry liqueur, which I diligently tasted under the guidance of Mr. Gilbey. By the way, he enlightened me as to why the English eat so much meat, - because of the harsh English climate. “Nothing warms you up in bad weather like a good piece of meat and a strong ale!” – said Mr. Gilbey, and lamented that modern British youth were recklessly turning to vegetarianism, after which they were constantly suffering from colds and flu. And another two weeks of breakfasts, lunches and dinners
During my trip to the UK II ate a total of about a hundredweight of English food. Mostly tasty. About five percent of what I ate was oatmeal in the form of porridge, soups, jelly or puddings. My attitude to oatmeal has changed a lot: now I recognize its unconditional health benefits and the fact that it can be cooked really tasty. I tried about twenty types of sweet and savory puddings. I think this is only a hundredth part of the pudding wealth of England. I also had a chance to try fish and chips - fried fish with fried potatoes, which my friend warned me about. Once this dish was considered the food of the English poor, and now it is the first line on the menu of every English pub - cheap and tasty. I understood why English national cuisine is so little known outside the country. English cuisine is home cooking. Have you seen anywhere restaurants of haute English cuisine? English food is simple, like all ingenious things.
