A Guide to North West Regional Food Specialties

For a relatively small country, the United Kingdom has a very rich cultural and
culinary heritage, none less so that the North West of the country. Here you can
find a whole repertoire of local dishes and recipes - some of which are still w
ell known and loved all over the country, while others are more closely guarded
regional secrets. Nevertheless, there are many exciting options to choose from i
f you fancy creating or sampling some traditional North West dishes.
When it comes to desserts and sweet treats, there are certainly some recipes tha
t have become popular all over the country. No doubt you have heard of and possi
bly tasted the Eccles cake. This treat was said to be created commercially for t
he time in the 1790s, allegedly developed from a recipe from a lady called Mrs R
affald. It is a casing of flaky pastry around dried fruit and spice with a bit o
f sugar added. Or how about the renowned sweet seaside treat, Blackpool rock?
Perhaps the Manchester Tart is less well known around the rest of the country. T
his is a dish resembling a custard slice with some jam and set in pastry and oft
en served with custard. Then there is the Bury Simnel Cake, a sort of light frui
t cake covered in marzipan.
There are plenty of savoury dishes as well. The Bury Black Pudding probably has
its roots back in the 1800s and is still a popular treat today. It is made from
pig`s blood and oatmeal. And have you ever heard of Butter Pie? This dish comes
from Lancashire and is a potato and onion pie which was said to be traditionally
eaten on a Friday, conforming to the Catholic rule of not eating meat on that d
ay.
Cumberland Sausages, although obviously originating in Cumberland are now popula
r everywhere. Lancashire Hotpot is also a local dish whose reputation and fame h
as spread across the rest of the country. It`s quite similar to Irish Stew. Anot
her famous regional pie is the Cheshire Pork Pie, complete with nutmeg and peppe
r and sugar.
Some local dishes have really left their mark and come to define their region of
origin. Do you know where the term `scouser`, used to describe people from Live
rpool, comes from? It is said to originate from the Lobscouse (or Scouse for sho
rt), which is something like an Irish Stew crossed with a Scandinavian version o
f the dish.
England also boasts many lovely and famous regional cheeses. As far as the North
West goes, Cheshire Cheese has made something of a name for itself. It is thoug
ht that the cheese`s distinctive flavour came from the county`s salt marshes. It
was also listed in the Domesday Book and so is probably the oldest of British c
heeses. Lancashire cheese, another famous regional delicacy, is said to be one o
f the softest of the country`s `hard` cheeses.
The region is now home to quite a few award-winning restaurants as well, particu
larly in the larger cities and the latest Manchester news is that many more are
on the way.
Typical Traditional British Dishes
Woodlands Junior School is in the south-east corner of England
Please note: We sometimes refer to England. This happens when we are referring t
o foods in England rather than other parts of Britain. England does not mean the
same as Britain.
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Christmas Dinner
Traditional British dishes have had competition from other dishes over the years
. Despite this, if you visit England, Scotland or Wales, you can still be served
up the traditional foods we have been eating for years.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/food/dishes.htm
This page contains some of England's most popular traditional dishes.
"Harry s mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He
had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast ch
icken, pork chops and lamb chops, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketch
up and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs."
Harry Potter and the Philosopher s Stone, J. K. Rowling
Main meal dishes in England
Roast Beef
Yorkshire Pudding
Toad-in-the-Hole
Roast Meats
Fish and Chips Ploughman's Lunch
Cottage Pie
Shepherd's Pie Gammon Steak with egg
Lancashire Hotpot
Bubble and Squeak
English Breakfast
Bangers and Mash
Black Pudding Bacon Roly-Poly
Cumberland Sausage
Pie and Mash with parsley liquor
plate Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding
This is England's traditional Sunday lunch, which is a family affair.
Recipe
plate Yorkshire Pudding
This dish is not usually eaten as a dessert like other puddings but instead as p
art of the main course or at a starter.
Yorkshire pudding, made from flour, eggs and milk, is a sort of batter baked in
the oven and usually moistened with gravy.
Image: Yorkshire Pudding
The traditional way to eat a Yorkshire pudding is to have a large, flat one fill
ed with gravy and vegetables as a starter of the meal. Then when the meal is ove
r, any unused puddings should be served with jam or ice-cream as a dessert.
Recipe
plate Toad-in-the-Hole (sausages covered in batter and roasted.)
Similar to Yorkshire Pudding but with sausages placed in the batter before cooki
ng.
image: Toad in the Hole
Recipe
plate Roast Meats ( cooked in the oven for about two hours)
Typical meats for roasting are joints of beef, pork, lamb or a whole chicken. Mo
re rarely duck, goose, gammon, turkey or game are eaten.

image: roast gammon

Roast Gammon
image: roast pork
Traditional accompaniments to roast meats
roast beefWith beef:
Horseradish sauce
English mustard
Yorkshire pudding
Gravy
With mutton and lamb
Onion sauce
Red-currant jelly
Mint sauce
Savoury herb pudding
With pork
Apple sauce
Pease Pudding
Roast apples
image a place of Roast lamb
Sunday Roast
imag: roast beef
plate Fish and chips
Fish and Chips
Fish and chips
Fish (cod, haddock, huss, plaice) deep fried in flour batter with chips (fried p
otatoes) dressed in malt vinegar. This is England's traditional take-away food o
r as US would say "to go". Fish and chips are not normally home cooked but bough
t at a fish and chip shop ("chippie" ) to eat on premises or as a "take away"
Fish and chips sign
plate Ploughman's Lunch
This dish is served in Pubs. It consists of a piece of cheese, a bit of pickle a
nd pickled onion, and a chunk of bread. text taken from and copyright of projcet
britain.com
See a sample menu of food served in pubs
plate Shepherds' Pie
Made with minced lamb and vegetables topped with mashed potato)
Cottage PieRecipe
plate Cottage Pie (pictured right)

Made with minced beef and vegetables topped with mashed potato. (Pictured right)
Recipe
plate Gammon Steak with egg (Gammon is ham)
plate Lancashire Hotpot projetbritain.com
A casserole of meat and vegetables topped with sliced potatoes.
Recipe
plate Pie and Mash with parsley liquor
A very traditional East End London meal.
The original pies were made with eels because at the time eels were a cheaper pr
oduct than beef. About fifty years ago, mince beef pies replaced the eels and ha
ve now become the traditional pie and mash that people know.
The traditional pie and mash doesn't come without its famous sauce known as liqu
or which is a curious shade of green and definitely non-alcoholic. The liquor ta
stes much nicer than it looks (it's bright green!).
Jellied eels are also an East End delicacy often sold with pie and mash
chicken meal
Chicken Salad
plate Bubble & Squeak
Typically made from cold vegetables that have been left over from a previous mea
l, often the Sunday roast. The chief ingredients are potato and cabbage, but car
rots, peas, brussels sprouts, and other vegetables can be added. The cold choppe
d vegetables (and cold chopped meat if used) are fried in a pan together with ma
shed potato until the mixture is well-cooked and brown on the sides. The name is
a description of the action and sound made during the cooking process.
Recipe
plate English breakfast text taken from and copyright of projcetbritain.com
Eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms, baked beans
Traditional English breakfast
A Full English Breakfast
plate Bangers and Mash (mashed potatoes and sausages).
Bangers are sausages in England. (The reason sausages were nicknamed bangers is
that during wartime rationing they were so filled with water they often exploded
when they were fried.)
Recipe
pastie meal
Cornish Pastie with chips, baked beans and salad
plate Black Pudding (Blood Pudding)
Looks like a black sausage. It is made from dried pigs blood and fat). Eaten at

breakfast time Recipe

Black pudding recipes vary from region to region, some are more peppery and some
are more fatty than others. text taken from and copyright of projcetbritain.com
More information
plate Bacon Roly-Poly (made with a suet pastry)
A Cumberland sausageplate Cumberland sausage
This famous pork sausage is usually presented coiled up like a long rope

Vegetables
Favourite Children Meals
Three favourite meals with children are fish fingers and chips, pizza and baked
beans on toast.
chicken korma - a mild curry dish made with coconut
tikka - meat that is marinated and roasted in the oven
poppadom - thin crisp bread, fried in hot oil
bhaji - floured vegetables fried in oil
saag aloo - a dish made of spinach and potato
side dishes - smaller portions you order to go with your main meal
plain rice - white rice
pilau rice - spiced rice often with vegetables, fish or meat added
nan bread - a large flat bread
house wine - usually, one of the cheapest wines on the menu