Location: Western Europe, on the Island of Great Britain
Population: 56.5 million
Capital: London
Geography: A country of rolling hillsides, rugged coastlines, and criss-crossing rivers
Language: English
Signature flavours: Dairy, bread and pastry, pork, beef, seafood, potato, peas, dried fruit, tea, beer

The Menu

We went to England in 2015, fulfilling a lifelong dream of Eric’s to see a country he had long been fascinated with. We enjoy many British things in our daily lives, including British TV shows, cryptic crosswords, and cricket. English food, though, apart from fish and chips, has not often graced our kitchen.

Eric just did Assignment 122: Ireland. Despite using a randomizer to get our assignments, we’ve gotten next-door-neighbour countries a number of times (Chile and Argentina, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Algeria and Morocco, among others). I waited until he did Ireland before starting to plan my menu, since I wanted to avoid making similar dishes.

I love an assignment where I can bury myself in cookbooks, and with Canada’s history of English colonization, it’s no surprise that strong links to English food remain, and cookbooks abound. I got a few titles from our local library and came up with a 25-item longlist which I whittled down to seven (plus tea).

Cucumber Sandwiches: A traditional “tea-time” food, these simple sandwiches include butter and lightly salted cucumber. Sandwiches were invented in England in the 18th century, and it felt only right to include them on my menu.

Prep and cooking time: 25 min
Difficulty: 1/5

Twopenny Salad: Arugula, radishes, parsley, beets, and green onions with a light vinaigrette dressing.

Prep and cooking time: 3 hours
Difficulty: 1/5

Toad-in-the-Hole: Sausages baked in pastry and served with hearty onion gravy.

Prep and cooking time: 45 min
Difficulty: 2/5

Chips: Good old French fried potatoes, a staple of English pubs everywhere.

Prep and cooking time: 20 min
Difficulty: 2/5

Cod with Clams and Bacon: Cod fillets cooked alongside bacon and fresh clams in butter, thyme, and white wine.

Prep and cooking time: 15 min
Difficulty: 3/5

Beefsteak Pudding: A steamed pie filled with steak (vegan, in our case), mushrooms, thyme, parsley, and onions.

Prep and cooking time: 3 hours
Difficulty: 4/5

Devonshire Scones: Round scones, baked to golden brown perfection, served with strawberry jam and clotted cream.

Prep and cooking time: 30 min (plus at least 12 hours for clotted cream)
Difficulty: 3/5

Tea: The fundamental drink for all occasions.

Prep and cooking time: 5 min
Difficulty: 1/5

The Shopping List

Everything I needed came from my local supermarket, making this an especially easy assignment shopping-wise.

The Meal

I have never before needed to remake TWO dishes, but it happened with this assignment. I was baffled when my scones didn’t rise, not one bit, and I was left with hard pucks of dough. Re-reading the recipe, I noticed there were no rising agents included in the ingredient list or instructions. I baked the scones a second time, this time with baking powder, and ended up with the fluffy scones I had expected the first time around. (The cookbook I used for this recipe is not included in the links list below for this reason.)

The other dish that required remaking was the beefsteak pudding, for rather more catastrophic reasons. The recipe required the pudding to be steamed for five hours, and at hour two, the bowl that housed the pudding shattered. My steak-and-glass pie smelled delicious but looked fatal, so I tossed the lot and started over. The bright side was that I was able to see how the inside of the pudding looked after two hours, and realized that a vegetarian version wouldn’t need the full five hours to be ready. I made the second pudding in a metal dish.

By the time I called Eric to the table, I had been cooking for seven hours. I threw myself gladly down at the table, which was cluttered with half a dozen dishes.

We started with bites of cucumber sandwich, and I was surprised at how nice it was. With just three ingredients, and almost no prep time, it was one of my favourite things on the menu.

We salted and vinegar-ed the chips, and tried a few each. They were delicious. Just like the ones we’d enjoyed at English pubs in 2015.

Next, we filled our plates with salad, scoops of toad-in-the-hole smothered with gravy, and fat slices of dripping steak pudding. The salad was a welcome change from the bread- and meat-centric dishes. It was fresh and light, and I loved the cucumber vinaigrette.

Toad-in-the-hole was honestly disappointing with vegan sausage. It lacked the fat that traditional sausage would lend the dish. The gravy was incredible, though, and I ended up putting in on pretty much everything.

The steak pudding was my prized dish. The second attempt had turned out a perfectly browned pie, which once cut open, steamed with the hot filling of (soy) meat and mushrooms.

Finally, we both took scoops of cod with clams and bacon. The flavours of white wine, thyme, and butter came out in every bite, but it was the clams that were the stars of this dish.

Dessert, alongside hot cups of black tea, consisted of Devonshire scones heaped with clotted cream and jam. I made the clotted cream from 30% whipping cream two days before the assignment by baking it at low temperature for 12 hours, cooling it, and pouring off the residual liquid. I was left with something the consistency and flavour of sticky butter. It was incredible inside a warm scone with a big blob of sweet, thick jam.

After the meal, I spent another hour cleaning up, including dealing with the exploded glass bowl. It was a hugely enjoyable assignment, and one of the most challenging menus I’ve set for myself. Tomorrow, I plan to eat leftovers and nap.

Links
https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Dinner_with_Dickens/kHF2nQAACAAJ?hl=en
https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Gordon_Ramsay_s_Great_British_Pub_Food/mxGGRShVo7QC?hl
https://www.google.ca/books/edition/England_s_Heritage_Food_and_Cooking/qO_YQgAACAAJ?hl=en

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional chef. I’m just a passionate cook with a curiosity for flavours I’ve never tried. For great recipes from gifted local cooks, follow the links above.