Posted in alcohol, baking, British, butter, Christmas, culture, custard, Delia Smith, dessert, easy, England, festival, festivals, fruit, history, holiday, holidays, nuts, spices, tradition, winter on Jan 2nd, 2012
Most Brits associate mincemeat with Christmas – its intoxicating mix of fruit, spices, booze, nuts and mixed peel provide Pavlovian stimuli, stirring memories of cherubic choirs a-caroling, roasted poultry, and the Queen’s speech – whereas I associate it with Easter, because it was always around then that we finally ran out of mince pies. I [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in ale, America, beans, beer, braised, British, carrots, Christmas, easy, England, family, holiday, holidays, Meat, onions, pork, Potato, rosemary, sauce, stew, tradition, travel, vinegar on Dec 20th, 2011
I often think that living in a small scruffy New York City apartment is akin to a pioneer life in a log cabin somewhere remote. Sure, the commute is easier, but the myriad quotidien affronts and man traps of a city existence certainly resemble the perils of life on the range.
Read Full Post »
Posted in British, celery, cheap meal, chicken stock, curry, easy, England, Indian, lentils, lime, soup, spices, yogurt on Feb 13th, 2010
One finds mulligatawny soup on an Indian restaurant menu the same way one always finds buffalo wings or nachos on a bar menu. It just has to be there – if it wasn’t on the menu you just know there’s something wrong with the place. But how many of you have ever ordered it over [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in America, Argentina, brandy, Buenos Aires, butter, chives, cream, England, grilled, grilling, indulgent meal, Italian-American, Meat, mushroom, mushrooms, New Jersey, porcini, restaurant, rosemary, sauce, travel, turnip, vegetables on Sep 24th, 2009
New Jersey, it’s like a cross-section of the entire United States stuffed into a very small area — fenced-in by heavy industry, ugly sub-divisions, peaceful tidal bays and relaxing shore towns — but with its own very distinct character. And, if you drive around it long enough, you’re bound to see some pretty interesting stuff. This goes [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in alcohol, alcoholic drink, America, apples, barbecue, beverage, British, drink, eastenders, England, holiday, patriotism, Recipe, summer, tradition on Jul 4th, 2009
Every stereotype, no matter how absurd the caricature, has, at its core, a grain of truth. Though I doubt anyone has ever seen him, the beret and black and white hooped sweater-sporting Frenchman with a cigarette hanging off his lower lip and a baguette under his arm, remains an abiding image of France; and in [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in beef tallow, British, carrots, chicken, chicken stock, England, flavor, flavour, flour, Garlic, herbs, lard, leek, London, Manchester, onions, parsley, parsnips, Potato, Recipe, stew, suet, thyme, vegetables, weather, winter on Jan 16th, 2009
File this one under “utter fabrications told to you by older sibling and believed for too long”. I must have been very young when my sister (15 months my senior) informed me that I should be wary of eating my grandmother’s suet dumplings because suet was the gooey material supporting bovine eye-balls. Quite where she got this [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in animals, British, dining, duck, eating, England, family, Fergus Henderson, Food Commentary, Gabrielle Hamilton, holiday, London, lunch, mutton, parsley, pigs, podcast, Prune, restaurant, Restaurant Review, tourism, travel, trotter on Dec 3rd, 2008
Since Amy and I have been together I think we’ve only spent two Thanksgivings in America – not because we don’t enjoy turkey, but because it is often the cheapest time of the year to leave the country as many expat Americans are returning home. And true to form, this year, despite a sizable delay [...]
Read Full Post »
We recently invited you to tell us what your top five flavors of potato crisps/chips are, and we were, frankly, amazed that so many of you did. Not only that, we were surprised by the variety of flavors you selected. It seems that there is a wide world of taste out there and we are [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in alcohol, beer, British, chips, crisps, crispy, England, flavor, flavour, Food Commentary, fried, Pub, salt, vinegar on Sep 25th, 2008
Those of you who have watched or read Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, will be familiar with the idea of top fives. In the movie, the main character (played by John Cusack) is a record shop owner, who spends most of the movie revisiting the demise of his past relationships, and in so doing, constantly re-imagines [...]
Read Full Post »
So, the headline above might be slightly hyperbolic, but the sentiment I’m trying to convey is very real and serious. Last night, UK TV cooking legend, Delia Smith’s new show Delia premiered on BBC2 and instead of garnering the rave reviews virtually every one of her previous series have, this one has been roundly panned, [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in asparagus, batter, British, crepes, dessert, easy, egg, England, Europe, flour, French, Garlic, juice, lemon, milk, mushrooms, orange juice, pancakes, salmon, sauce, tarragon, tomato, tradition on Feb 9th, 2008
In the British calendar the final Tuesday before Lent is known as “Shrove Tuesday”, though it’s more often referred to as “pancake day” in modern times. The derivation of the word “shrove” is unclear but it is thought to be derived from “shriving” or asking forgiveness for sins, a typical Christian activity on this day. [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in alcohol, alcoholic drink, Asian, British, culture, drink, easy, embarrassment, England, ginger, history, honey, hot toddy, juice, lemon, New York City, Pub, Recipe, Recipes, red bush, rooibos, rooibosh, South Africa, sugar, tea, tradition, water, weather on Jan 22nd, 2008
It’s freezing here in New York. Freezing! Yesterday, it didn’t get above 26F/-3C. Just the kind of weather when you need something to warm (as they say in London’s East End) the cockles of your heart. Years ago, on a freezing January day I took a walk with a friend around Alexandra Palace in north [...]
Read Full Post »
Get our feed by email
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Pinterest
Subscribe to our feed
Download our podcasts
