Europe

England

To Americans, English cuisine means Fish and Chips (which the English adopted from the Italians), but to the English it means Chinese stir fry and Chicken Tikka Masala. There is, however, a movement to restore traditional English dishes like Toad in a Hole and Spotted Dick. This movement has been enhanced by the fall of the trans fats and polyunsaturated fats promoted by "modern medical knowledge" in favor of traditional natural fats, which (surprise!) turn out to be healthier.   Drawing of English Coat of Arms by Sodacan distributed under license Attribution-ShareAlike v3.0 Unported.

In Medieval times, English cuisine was a backwater version of the French - In both cases "cuisine" existed only in the great houses, the peasants were lucky to get anything to eat at all. The middle class didn't eat - because there was no middle class.

This cuisine was characterized by elaborate presentation, expensive ingredients, including a lot of game meats, and severe over-use of spices. This spicing was NOT to cover the taste of spoiled meat. Those who could afford spices were NOT eating spoiled meat. The spices were used with a heavy hand because they were outrageously expensive - a display of wealth. When the cost of spices declined precipitously, so did their use.

During the Rennaissance, French cuisine began to change, influenced by the Italian. Vegetables came into style, but not for fresh flavors as in Italy, but as conveyances for sauces. In England, in the better houses, simplified versions of real English dishes were adopted, along with French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian dishes. Among the general populace, English cuisine slid down the economic scale, becoming cheapened and sloppily made. By the height of the British Empire, English food had earned a reputation as clumsy and very uninteresting. To be fair, Scottish and Irish were even less interesting.

I have found many traditional English dishes to be actually quite fine (though not low-cal) if carefully made using traditional ingredients and methods.

Special Ingredients & Dishes

Meat:   England has good grazing land, and Beef is a favorite in this country. English cuts are quite different from North American cuts. A British chart is on our Beef Cuts Chart page. Lamb and Mutton are also popular and much imported from Wales. Once again, English cuts are different from North American cuts. A British chart is on our Sheep Cuts Chart page.

Suet & Tallow:   Suet is the hard fat from around the kidneys of a beef. Tallow is pure fat rendered from Suet, the cow equivalent of lard. Both these ingredients are very commonly used in traditional English cooking. In North America, suet for human consumption can only be had from specialty meat markets. Tallow can be ordered on the Internet, but it is very easy to render it yourself from suet. If no suet can be had, use the best firm white beef fat you can get. For details see our Suet / Tallow page.

Pies:   Meat pies, fruit pies, 4 and 20 blackbird pies, all kinds of pies. My English cookbooks are packed with recipes for pies, and this is a problem. Getting the crusts right takes practice, and if anything changes, even the weather, you have to make adjustments. Pies are very difficult to scale, and to transport, so are not suitable for party dishes, particularly buffet service.

Vegetables:   Traditionally, the English cook vegetables to death. In some traditional recipes this works, with the vegetables becoming practically a sauce for the meat - but in general, it doesn't. Now that the English are learning to cook, even the most hated Brussels Sprouts are starting to find acceptance (hint: they must to be cooked the absolute minimum time needed for them to be actually cooked).

Curry Powder:   Madras Curry Powder, the stuff that comes in cans (Sun is the best brand, but Ship is good) was invented for the English and is not used in India. It is, however, essential for many English and North American "curry" recipes.

Chicken tikka masala:   This is now pretty much the national dish of England. Several Scottish and English cities claim to have originated it, pieces of chicken marinated, roasted in a tandoor (or very hot oven) and served with lots of orange colored sauce. It has migrated to India and Pakistan where many restaurants serve it in the tourist trade. In England its popularity is exceeded only by Chinese stir fry.

Phall:   (variously spelled)   This is the world's hottest curry, invented in England so drunk college students and football hooligans can attempt to prove their manhood by eating it, often with distressing results. There is a dish called "phall" in Bangalore, but it does not in any way resemble the English product.

Major Gray's Chutney:   Nobody knows if Major Grey ever existed. An English person I know says only Sun brand (made in India) is the real thing, but Sun brand can be hard to find these days. She uses Stonewall Kitchen brand Mango Chutney now, which is made using real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup like all the rest.

Marmite:   A yeast extract spread made from byproducts of beer brewing. T&P, visiting a friend in England, were given toast spread with Marmite for breakfast. T&P, "Gaaa this is awful". Friend "well, Americans like sweets for breakfast, but here in England we like savories". T&P, "This is savory? No, this is awful". Connoisseurs of this stuff consider Marmite superior to Australian Vegemite.

Worcestershire Sauce   There are a number of stories about how this sauce came about - none of which stand up to examination. It appears to me as an attempt to combine a number of flavors often used together in Southeast Asia, and perhaps parts of India: Tamarind, Fermented Fish Sauce, Onions, Garlic, Chilis and Spices, with vinegar as a preservative. It has been highly successful. The original Lee & Perrins brand now belongs to US company H.J. Heinz and is manufactured in England and the United States. Imitations are manufactured world wide, and its use has slipped into most cuisines, particularly in Asia.

HP Sauce:   A very popular "brown sauce" in England, often used as a steak sauce and the like. It is based on Malt Vinegar, Tomato, Tamarind, Sweeteners and Spices. The brand is now manufactured in the Netherlands by US company H.J. Heinz.

Bovril:   This "beef tea" base is essential in England and Scotland for drinking hot during winter football games. It is a salty concentrated beef extract, developed by a Scotsman in Canada for feeding Napoleon IIIs troops while they were getting pounded by the Prussians. It is currently made by Unilever, which switched from beef to yeast extract during the Mad Cow scare, but is back to using beef.

Wales   -   Cymru

While the traditional cuisines of the Welsh (a largely Celtic people) and the English (a largely Germanic people) do differ, this difference has long been denied by both the English and the Welsh. Today, with rising Welsh nationalism these differences are starting to be explored by Welsh cooks.   Drawing of Welsh Flag by United Kingdom Government declared public domain worldwide..

In whole, this exploration is almost beside the point. While a great amount was absorbed from the English, today the favorite dish in Wales is Chicken tikka masala - in truth, an English dish, but in England it is less popular than Chinese Stir Fry. In both countries Chinese takeout outsells Fish and Chips. American hamburgers are also very popular.

Special Ingredients & Dishes

Meat:   Because of its rough terrain, the predominant meat in Wales is Lamb, for which it is famous. Wales exports lamb to England and Europe.

Welsh Cakes: These are popular enough that there is a Welsh Cakes booth at some of the local farmer's markets here in Southern California.

Scotland

Scotland is mountainous, damp and cold, making agriculture rather marginal, with only a limited number of crops able to grow there. The first occupants of the region probably lived on fish and small animals, but the earliest recorded inhabitants, the Picts / Caledonians were subsistence farmers. They were also good fighters, preventing the Romans from conquering most of Scotland.

Because of the sparse yield of the region, every edible part of any animal must be used, and has been since prehistoric times. This has resulted in some recipes that seem a bit strange to Americans.

During the Elizabethan era there was exposure to French cuisine when Mary Queen of Scots brought French cooks back to Scotland, but these cooks had only Scottish ingredients to work with so the effect was limited.

Today's influences are not so good. Scotland, particularly Glasgow, has become known as a land of severe health problems. Greasy, very salty fast food of all kinds has become insanely popular: fish and chips, battered and fried haggis, pizza, pakoras, kebabs, deep fired döner kebabs, fried chicken, deep fried Mars Bars and "Munchy Boxes" containing most of the above plus fries. Salads and green vegetables are practically unknown. McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken are doing a booming business there.

Special Ingredients & Dishes

Oats:   This is the one grain that grows reliably in the climate and conditions of Scotland, and was long the main carbohydrate food in the region. Oatmeal is used in porridges, hashes, stuffings, oatcake, and with meat in sausages.

Barley:   Though not as important as oats, some barley is grown in Scotland as it also tolerates poor growing conditions.

Neeps and Tatties:   This is Turnips (in Scotland "Turnip" means Rutabaga) and Potatoes. These are separately cooked and mashed, and placed separately on the plate. This is a mainstay of Scottish cuisine and essential to accompany traditional Haggis. If they are mashed together, with a little fat, chives, salt and pepper added, they become "Clapshot".

Potatoes:   "Tatties" are used in many ways other than for "Neeps and Tatties". They are often mixed with meat and/or oats. Having originated in the high Andes, they find Scotland fairly comfortable and grow well.

Haggis:   This is the national dish of Scotland. It is made from a Sheep's heart, liver and lights (lungs), chopped up with onions, suet, oatmeal, spices and salt, then mixed with some stock. All this is packed into the sheep's stomach, tied shut and simmered for about 3 hours. It is served with neeps and tatties, along with a bit of Scotch whisky. It is difficult to make an authentic haggis in the United States, as it is illegal to sell the lungs of any animal here, so you'd have to dismantle your own sheep.

Meat:   Once reserved for the well to do, meat is now enjoyed by most of the population of Scotland. It is seldom served as "cuts" as it is in North America, but usually ground (mince), chopped or in the form of sausages. Chopped meat is often used as a filling for pastries and pies.

• Lamb / Mutton:   This is the most common meat in Scotland. In 2011 there were over 7 million sheep in the country. The Scottish Blackface Sheep has been very popular from before the 12th century because its sturdiness and dense coat make it suitable to the region, but other breeds have also been selected.
• Beef:   Both milk and beef cattle are raised in Scotland, as there is sufficient grazing. The emphasis is on beef breeds. Very sturdy breeds with shaggy coats are preferred, as they are most suitable to the region, but Aberdeen Angus is also raised. The very long haired (and long horned) Highland Cattle are exceptionally adapted to the region and produce outstanding beef that is in high demand.
• Goat:   While goats would do very well in Scotland, goat meat has an undeserved bad image in the British Isles, considered suitable only for primitive populations, such as the former colonies.
• Pork:   Few pigs are farmed in Scotland. They compete directly with humans for food and are not well adapted to the region (no long haired pigs).
• Fish:   Scotland has an immensely long coast and fishing has aways been important. Traditionally, fish is generally salted and/or smoked rather than fresh, a result of lack of refrigeration until very recent times.

Curly Kale:   This is the dominant leafy vegetable. It is used similarly as in Ireland, often with potatoes and onions.

Cheese:   Few cheeses, and not a lot of any of them, are made in Scotland. Production dropped drastically when the railroads opened, because dairies could just ship the milk to England.

Ireland

Ireland has been inhabited for roughly 10,000 years. Almost nothing is known of the people before the Celts, and almost everything we know about Celtic culture is fiction - first made up by the Romans, then by Christian propagandists, and later by a slew of romantic pseudo-historians. Much has, however, been learned about food in those times by picking through ancient garbage heaps, latrines and peat bogs.   Photo by U.S. NASA = public domain.

BP   (Before the Potato)

Until the Neolithic, the Irish were hunter-gatherers, living on the indigenous wildlife, harvesting shellfish and seaweed along the coast and fresh water fish from lakes and streams.

In the Neolithic (4000 to 2000 BCE), keeping livestock and farming oats and barley were practiced, with occasional unexplained reversions to hunter-gatherer mode. Cattle became of great importance during this time and have remained so even into our own day. From them was produced milk and cream, and their blood was tapped to make black pudding. Later, butter and cheese were also produce.

Meat was very important, but producing Cows were seldom killed for food - a man's wealth was measured in cattle. Bulls damaged from fighting and elderly cows were slaughtered, and of course nearly all male calves before maturity. Dairy cows need to get knocked up and drop a calf once a year or go dry, and half the calves are male - becoming dangerous, ill tempered bulls at maturity.

Pigs, which fed on acorns in the oak forests, were slaughtered in the autumn and their meat preserved with salt and smoke. Sheep were kept mainly for wool and other domestic animals were scarce, but there was still an abundance of game.

Along the coast fish and shellfish were important and seal was much liked. Unlike other European regions, bread never became important in Ireland. Only oats and barley could be grown with any certainty. Oats became widely used for gruels and porridges, and remained very important even after introduction of the potato. Vegetables were mostly foraged but some onions, garlics, carrots and celery were grown.

By 500 BCE the Celts had invaded Ireland and soon completely supplanted the pre-Celtic culture. They are thought to have brought chickens and other domestic fowl, and to have added whale and dolphin to the menu. Otherwise the cuisine didn't change much. Oats, barley, wheat and rye were now grown on a small scale but the Celts were not really agriculturists. Cattle remained of utmost importance.

All through this early era small game and fish were spit roasted and larger cuts were roasted buried among hot rocks, or they were boiled. Pottery cauldrons had been in use since about 1500 BCE but were small and fragile. The main method of boiling meat was in a hollowed out log. The water was brought to a boil by dropping red hot rocks into it.

Fowl were encased in clay, with head, guts and feathers. They were baked buried in hot coals, and when the hardened clay was broken off it took the skin and feathers with it.

The arrival of metal cauldrons, about 500 BCE, first of bronze, later of iron, made boiling more practical. From that time forward boiling became increasingly dominant.

Table service was notably primitive. Whole joints of meat were gnawed on and a small dagger was used to scrape off the tough parts. Some salads were probably eaten but condiments for the meat were little more than salt and honey. Mead (honey wine) and some forms of beer were available for drinking.

The Vikings invaded around 794 and introduced advanced fishing and boat building methods. Fish from the sea became prominent on the menu, but it's not likely the Norwegians brought anything like refined cuisine - lutefisk, anyone? They did introduce the idea of settled towns, though.

The Anglo-Norman invasion around 1171 brought herbs and vegetables from as far away as the Mediterranean, but these didn't really take hold in Ireland and declined as Norman influence declined.

The English invasion around 1500 was totally disastrous for the Irish people. The English took all the good land and cut down the oak forests to build ships for their wars with the French. Crops were exported to England and game was reserved for wealthy English sport hunters. The Irish people were driven to the boggy regions of the southwest, largely landless, unemployed and suffering from malnutrition. The English, though fully responsible for this state of affairs, disdainfully described the Irish as "a nation of beggars".

AP   (After the Potato)

The English would like you to believe it was Sir Francis Drake who introduced the potato to Ireland, from plantings on his (no doubt stolen) Irish estate. Qualified food historians believe it more likely potatoes were salvaged from the 24 ships of the Spanish Armada wrecked on the western coast of Ireland in 1588. Spanish and French ships carried large quantities of potatoes to ward off scurvy.

The Irish adopted the potato out of necessity - and became even less interested in "cuisine". The typical garden in the 1700s consisted of oats, peas, a few cabbages and lots of potatoes - pretty much nothing else. The favorite dinner of the people was a pile of potatoes in the middle of the table, eaten with some milk and butter - day in and day out - if there was food.

Cooking methods continued to simplify and by the mid 1800s boiling was pretty much the only method used to prepare food. The food prepared became increasingly just potatoes. The Irish didn't have ovens, so bread, the "staff of life" in other regions, was little made. Bread had to be baked on hot stones with the cauldron inverted over them, and the cauldron was generally needed for boiling.

The potato was productive and highly nutritious, enabling a very large expansion of the population - though the people were poor, landless, largely unemployed and starvation was always near. Then came the potato blight in 1845. Nearly half the population starved or emigrated. About a million starved and another million emigrated, but about 30% of those who emigrated died in transit or in quarantine.

Throughout the famine years the English continued to export large amounts of food from Ireland, both meat and grains, and the British government sent more and more armed soldiers to protect shipments from mobs of desperate starving Irish.

The British resisted any attempt by other countries to aid the Irish. The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire wanted to send £10,000 for food relief but Queen Victoria demanded he send only £1000 because she had sent only £2000. The Sultan sent £1000 but also sent three ships full of food. The British Government tried to prevent delivery and Turkish sailors had to unload the food themselves.

The British government would have been more than happy if all the Irish starved to death, but this was just practice. A few years later they starved to death somewhere between 7 and 10 million in India, again while holding massive amounts of food for export to England. Really nice folks, the English.

There were, of course, abundant fish off the west coast of Ireland, but due to changes in the weather they remained too far off-shore for the primitive hide covered boats of the Irish fishermen. On top of all this came the worst winter in living memory, burying normally snow free Ireland up to the rafters.

American church groups distributed a lot of food in Ireland during the famine but managed to generate ill will by trying to tie food to conversion to Protestantism. About the only thing good about the whole affair was it finally forced the Irish to appreciate vegetables other than the potato. Leeks, onions and cabbages increased in importance, carrots re-appeared along with parsnips, celery. Turnips (rutabagas) became widely eaten in some counties.

Soon after the potato famine Irish soda bread became popular. The method, imported from North America where it had long been used, was found suitable for the low gluten soft wheat available in Ireland. It also matched the Irish need to produce a lot of food by simple means, with few ingredients and under very primitive conditions.

The potato, though, continued to dominate the Irish table, but new varieties like the Russet Burbank were developed to be resistant to the blight. Keep in mind, when doing Irish recipes, the Irish eat only russet type potatoes and reject all others.

Modern Irish Cooking

The cuisine we think of as "Irish" today began to develop in the second half of the 1800s, but was not the food of the common people. The common people were lucky to have a few potatoes to boil. Irish cooking developed in the kitchens of the well-to-do landowners and was, and remains to this day, centered on dairy and potatoes.

Meat remained an item for special occasions - mutton and beef for the well-to-do and salted pork for the less well off. Households kept chickens mainly for production of eggs, which the housewife could trade for merchandise at the newly established town stores.

The excellent Irish cookbooks in my collection emphasize lamb, with beef a minor item, sometimes hardly mentioned. Veal isn't mentioned at all, but a region so dependent on dairy would produce a lot of veal. Every milk cow must be "refreshed" about once a year by dropping a calf, and half the calves are male. These need to be slaughtered before maturity. Of course in Ireland veal calves would not be like our formula fed white veal - but like the "grass fed" veal recently in demand by gourmet chefs. So maybe food writers just call it "beef", or perhaps it's still all being shipped to England.

Cooking methods were very primitive even for the well-to-do, and until very recent times. Typically, there was a large fireplace in the kitchen with chains from which to hang the big iron cauldron. A really well equipped kitchen would also have a kettle, an iron griddle, an iron frying pan and a bastable oven for baking soda bread and bastable cake. The photo shows a type of bastable oven still available in North America. The legs hold it up over hot coals and the rimmed lid holds more coals on top (photo borrowed from Lodge Manufacturing).

Since the English had cut down all the forests, the fires themselves were built of peat, cut from the bogs and dried. The fires were kept low, appropriate for cooking over coals and hot ashes.

Food prepared in these kitchens was simple and had to be made in large quantity due to the traditionally large size of the Irish family - a result of playing Vatican roulette without understanding the rules. On the other hand it is mostly quite edible, filling and enjoyable, though high in calories.

From the early 20th century onward, efficient iron stoves with ovens and ring tops for heating pots started to appear, and later became common. Today the cauldron has been largely retired in favor of sauce pans, skillets and ovens.

Recently, Ireland has become more prosperous, so enterprising restaurants have been developing a new Irish cuisine. This new cuisine brings back many of the pre-invasion and pre-potato ingredients, melds them with the more recent potato based cuisine and incorporates foods and techniques from foreign lands.

The future of this cuisine is uncertain as the technology companies that brought this prosperity have been moving their operations to Poland and the current international economic climate is not good - but at least the potato crop hasn't failed.

Examples:   Here is a Pictorial Menu of Irish dishes I made for a party in 2009.

Links

• I1 - Irish Culinary History - John Linnane BSc, MSc.
• I2 - Irish Soda Bread History - Society for the Preservation of Irish Soca Bread.