Huntingdon Fidget Pie is a traditional English savoury meat pie. It is made throughout the Midlands, though some feel that its true home is the former county of Huntingdonshire, now folded into Cambridgeshire. The pie filling is made from fatty bacon (streaky aka American style), onion and apples. Cider is added for flavour and moistness….
British Food
India Pale Ale
India Pale Ale is a type of ale. It is pale in colour, as the name indicates, and has an alcohol content of 5% or higher. It is very hoppy, and therefore more bitter than other beers, particularly when new, however, it mellows as it ages. IPA on bottles stands for “India Pale Ale.” History…
Instant Custard Powder
Instant Custard Powder © Denzil Green Instant Custard Powder is a powder that you make custard sauce from simply by adding hot water, with no additional cooking or work beyond stirring required. It can be prepared and served from a measuring jug. It is like regular custard powder in that it results in a custard…
Isabella Mary Beeton
Life and Times Anyone who has heard of Mrs Beeton probably thinks of her as a stately, stout, tough matron, the kind that went out into the world to beat back the bush in the name of God and Queen. In fact, she died young, just shy of 29 years old [1]28 years, 10 months…
Jaffa Cakes
Jaffa Cakes © Denzil Green Jaffa Cakes are cookies (or sweet biscuits) that have a firm, spongey base. The base is spread with orange jelly and then topped with chocolate. They were first made by McVitie’s and launched in 1927. Many supermarkets have their own brands now, as do Marks & Spencers. Jaffa Cakes are…
Jammie Dodgers
Jammie Dodgers © Denzil Green Jammie Dodgers are a British cookie made by the Burtons company in Cwmbran, Gwent, Wales. The cookie (aka biscuit in the UK) consists of two pale-coloured, crisp, shortcake biscuits, with a layer of raspberry-flavoured jam between them. There is a heart-shaped hole cut out in centre of top biscuit so…
Jane Grigson
Life and Times Jane Grigson lived from 13 March 1928 – 12 March 1990, dying just one day shy of her 62nd birthday. She was a middle-class, well-travelled food writer writing for such an audience. She would spend three months every year in France. She brought a lot of historical context into her writing. She…
Jennifer Paterson
Jennifer Paterson gained overnight fame in 1996 as one of the two principals on the TV series called “Two Fat Ladies.
John Cadbury
John Cadbury The start of the Cadbury dynasty The Cadbury family dynasty was started in 1824 by John Cadbury (12 August 1801 – 11 May 1889), and strengthened by his sons George and Richard. A devout Quaker, John saw cocoa and chocolate as healthy alternatives to alcohol. He also led a campaign to prohibit the employment of…
John Lawson Johnston
John Lawson Johnston Vanity Fair Magazine 1897 Life and Times John Lawson Johnston was the inventor of Bovril. He was born in Roslin, Scotland (of Da Vinci Code fame) on 28 September 1839. His parents were William Johnston and Jane McWilliam. John grew up to become a butcher. Chronology of his life 1863 — At the age…
Kippers
Kippers are salted and smoked large fish with a pronounced smoky smell. Traditionally, the expectation is that the fish used will be herring. The process by which they are treated is called “kippering.” The fish’s head is sometimes cut off. The fish is then split down its back, and cleaned. Otherwise, it is left whole,…
Lancashire Food
Lancashire is a county on the west coast of England, on the Irish sea. The county is smaller now that it used to be. The size was reduced politically in 1974. It used to include Manchester and Liverpool to the south, and northern bits of it were taken away and added to Cumbria. Some food…
Laver
Laver is seaweed. It’s called Laver in Wales, and “Sloke” in Ireland. The brown seaweed harvested off Wales is a slightly different species of seaweed than that cultivated in Japan for nori. In Wales, most seaweed is still harvested from the “wild”, though some cultivation is now starting. The harvested seaweed is usually washed and…
Laver Bread
Laver bread is a Welsh dish; it is small, savoury cakes made from Laver (seaweed.) To make laver bread, puréed laver (which you can buy in tins) is combined with steel-cut oatmeal in a 4 to 1 ratio, then formed into cakes about 2 inches (5 cm) wide, just under 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick….
Lemon Curd
Lemon Curd © Denzil Green Lemon Curd is made of sugar (you don’t want to know how much), butter, eggs, and lemon juice and zest. It’s almost like Lemon Pie Filling, except because it doesn’t use a powdered thickener such as cornstarch, it is less jelly-like. It is thick and spreadable, and a light to…
Lincolnshire Sausage
Lincolnshire Sausages are made of coarsely-chopped pork, seasoned liberally with sage. Cooking Tips These are fresh sausages, and need cooking.
Liquorice
Liquorice © Denzil Green Most people either love liquorice or hate it. Fewer are the people who are neutral about the taste. Liquorice is the root of a perennial shrub that above ground grows up to 3 feet tall (1 metre.) The leaves are feathery, and it produces light violet-blue flowers. The tap root grows…
Liquorice Allsorts
Bassetts Allsorts © Denzil Green Liquorice Allsorts is a candy mixture. On average, there are about 10 different types of candies in an all-sorts mixture, depending on which brand you buy. Some of the candies in the mix are pure liquorice, others are constructed from both liquorice and paste (fondant) candy. Some are circular with…
London Bloomer Bread
The term “London Bloomer Bread” refers to a type of bread popularized by bakeries in London, England. It is somewhat denser than other white breads, with typically a thicker, crispier crust as well. It is used for sandwiches, toast, fried toast, etc. Leftover Bloomer Bread is considered very good for summer puddings. The word “Bloomer”…
Mackintosh’s Toffee
Mackintosh’s is a British golden Toffee with caramel flavour, made by Rowntree-Mackintosh. It is soft enough to be chewy, but hard enough to still be breakable. In New Zealand, it is sold by Allen’s. It is also popular in Canada, so much so that many Canadians are surprised to find out it’s not Canadian. It’s…
Madhur Jaffrey: Television Cook and Food Writer
Madhur Jaffrey © From “Foolproof Indian Cookery” (2001) Life and Times Madhur Jaffrey is a TV food personality and cookbook writer who demystifies Indian cooking for English-speakers. On her programmes, she frequently dons the dress of the particular region of India featured in that episode. She came to cooking late in life. This enables her…
Maldon Salt
Maldon Salt © Denzil Green Maldon Salt is an English sea-salt. It comes in large, thin, uneven, crunchy salt flakes that have a very clean, pure salt taste. It is meant to be a finishing salt, used at the table in small amounts, rather than in cooking. You might be tempted to want to put…
Malt Vinegar
Malt Vinegar © Denzil Green Malt vinegar is very popular in England and Canada. In many people’s minds, it is the best vinegar to put on fish & chips, and on chips (aka French fries) in general. It is made from malted barley and grain that is mashed, then fermented, often in beech or birch…
Margaret Costa
Life and Times Margaret Costa lived from 1917 to 1999. Though a relatively well-known British food personality, she wrote only one cookbook on her own (though she assisted with a few others.) She also wrote, though, for magazines such as the “Sunday Pictorial”, the “Farmer and Stockbreeder”, and Gourmet magazine (a regular column called “London…