3. CHEESE
The English Cheese Board states that there are over 700 varieties
of English cheese.[3] English cheese is generally hard, and made
from cows' milk. Cheddar cheese, originally made in the village
of Cheddar, is by far the most common type, with many
variations. Tangy Cheshire, Sage Derby, Lancashire Cheese, Red
Leicester, creamy Double Gloucester and sweet Wensleydale are
some traditional regional varieties. Cheddar and the rich, blue-veined
Stilton have both been called the king of English
cheeses. Cornish Yarg is a successful modern variety. The name
'Cheddar cheese' has become widely used internationally, and
does not currently have a protected designation of origin (PDO)
under European Union law. However, West Country farmhouse
Cheddar has been awarded a PDO. To meet this standard the
cheese must be made in the traditional manner using local
ingredients in one of the four designated counties of South West
England: Somerset, Devon, Dorset, or Cornwall.
4. PIES, PASTRIES AND SAVOURY PUDDINGS
Pasties are pies made by wrapping a single
piece of pastry round the filling. The Cornish
pasty is oval or crescent shaped with a stiff,
crimped rim, traditionally filled with beef,
and swede, although many variations are
possible. Other pasties may be rectangular
and filled with beef, cheese, or vegetables.
Another type of pie is topped with mashed
potato instead of pastry –cottage pie (made
with minced beef), shepherd's pie (made with
minced lamb) and fish pie using a choice of
several fish in white sauce. Open pies or flans
are generally served for dessert with fillings of
seasonal fruit. Quiches and savoury flans are
eaten, but not considered indigenous.
Savoury puddings are made with a
soft suet casing, the most famous being steak
and kidney pudding (originally steak and
oyster). For these, a pudding bowl is lined with
suet crust pastry, a filling is added and a lid of
pastry tightly seals it in. The pudding is then
steamed for three to four hours. In addition to
steak and kidney, numerous fillings can be
used, including rabbit, chicken or game.
6. THE SUNDAY ROAST
The Sunday roast was once the most common feature of English cooking. It
is traditionally eaten every Sunday. It includes roast
potatoes accompanying a roasted joint of meat such as beef, lamb,
pork, duck or chicken and assorted other vegetables, themselves
generally boiled and served with a gravy or roasted with the meat in its
juices, which are then used as or added to the gravy. Sauces and jellies
are chosen depending on the type of meat: horseradish or
variousmustards for beef, mint sauce or redcurrant jelly for lamb, apple
sauce for pork and cranberry sauce for turkey. Yorkshire
pudding normally accompanies beef (although traditionally served in
Yorkshire as a starter, from the days when meat was scarce so was
served first as a "filler" [18]), sage and onion stuffing for pork and usually
parsley stuffing for chicken. Gravy is made from giblets or the meat
juices in the pan by adding water, stock or wine.