British food is known worldwide for it’s class, variety and healthy ingredients. The dishes prepared by British chef’s and housewives are both nutritious and nourishing. For those of you who have yet had the opportunity to experience gourmet at its best, here is my list of the Top Ten British Dishes.

10. Beans on toast. One of the all time great dishes, even if the preparation is a bit tricky and calls for some experience. First the beans have to be Heinz. They must be heated just right – luke warm. For the toast I suggest Wonderbread. To get perfect results it is important to burn the toast only on one side.
9. Steak and Kidney Pie. TO  know you have perfected the creation of this marvelous dish you must perform the quick knife and fork test. First  the crust. If it is so hard as to make it impossible to cut cleanly  without half of the ingredients escaping the plate and landing on your newly purchased jeans bought on sale at H&M;’s, then you know you are on the right path. The pie filling must be gooey enough as to refuse the fork and scream for a spoon.
8. Shepherds Pie. This dish is made up of minced lamb, potatoes and peas. History informs us that the shepherds would overcook the pie to  extreme, then take it with them in the pocket of their fleece coats when tending the flock. The aroma from the pie  was often too severe for the sheep to digest and they would do whatever the shepherd asked, just to escape the smell.
7. Scones. No traditional dish has had to suffer more abuse than the English scone. The rumor that Queen Victoria used to throw scones at her servants when she was unamused with their behavior is entirely false. Historians are now of the opinion that she only ever threw them at politicians and children under the age of four who refused to be seen and not heard.

 

6. Bangers and mash. Yet another example of the great culinary invention at its best. Chef Blacktooth from Reading confided in me that the secret of  the preperation of this dish is in the angle of the sausages which must form an inverted V in memory of Winston Churchill who commissioned this dish for a victory election celebration in 1945. Though Churchill lost the election, England gained a precious addition to its menu.

5. Yorkshire pudding. A real triumph. Made from flour, eggs and milk, the world famous pudding, originating in picturesque Yorkshire, is made up of  a sort of batter, baked in the oven generously moistened with gravy. Chef Herman Toad, in 1909, created a more elaborate version of the pie adding nutritious sausages to the gravy and renaming it Toad in a Hole.
 4. Black Pudding. Believed to having got its name from the infamous black plague. Black Pudding, sometimes referred to as Blood Pudding, is prepared from dried pigs blood and fat and served at breakfast (I kid you not!).
 3. Bubble and Squeak is Britain’s attempt to help stamp out poverty and famine by ingeniously introducing reuse into the kitchen. Typically made from cold vegetables that have been left over from a previous meal, the cold chopped vegetables (and cold chopped meat if used) are fried in a well oiled pan together with mashed potato until the mixture is well-cooked, oily and brown on the sides. The name is a description of the action and sound made during the cooking process.

2. Haggis is made from lamb’s offal (lungs, liver and heart) mixed with suet, onions, herbs and spices, all packed into a skin bag traditionally, made of a sheep’s stomach. Haggis was traditionally taken to battle by the Scots. The effect of soldiers wearing kilts but no underwear juxtaposed with the stench from the week old haggis frightened off even the most vicious offender.

1. Fish and Chips. this is undoubtedly the   number one British traditional gourmet dish of all time. Historically fish and chips were always wrapped in  the Evening Standard but in recent years new varieties of the dish called for the use of The Mirror and even The News of the World. Several kinky Fish and Chip shops, situated in the area of Piccadilly Circus, offer a daily variety of the classic format wrapped in page three of The Sun.

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