Pub grub or Michelin star meal? A bit of both would be delicious, thanks. As schools and churches celebrate harvest and the food festival calendar draws to a close with a bumper edition of autumn feasts, we’re hungry. But we’ve also found an excuse for a foodie staycation.
The point we’re getting to is that British food and the food revival in Britain have not only spurred a TV schedule of food programmes, but a renaissance for some great British dish stalwarts. Move over Changing Rooms and Grand Designs, enter Great British Menu and GBBO alongside an exciting and healthy dose of local produce, artisan foods and traditional British dishes.
Let us take you on a tour of the UK in foodie terms. Need a reason to take a UK cottage holiday? Blame it on the foodies…
Great British foodie holiday dishes
Cornish Pasty
Cornwall’s pride and joy, this combination of savoury mince in buttery, flaky pastry is the ultimate hot takeaway snack or easy lunch. It’s popularity has seen fillings expand beyond beef and vegetables, but its traditional form remains its most popular incarnation.
Lancashire Hotpot
Forever ingrained in British television culture are servings of Betty’s hotpot in Coronation Street. The perfect platform for retaining interest in Lancashire’s version of lamb or mutton stew with vegetables and a layered potato topping.
Stilton
Not made in Derbyshire? Then you can’t call your stinky, veined cheese Stilton. Them’s the rules. This doyenne of English cheese is most commonly blue, while an equally delicious White Stilton is also deserving of a place on your cheeseboard at dinner tonight.
Cullen Skink
A cosy Scottish holiday cottage and cullen skink are a match made in heaven. This hearty thick soup of smoked haddock and potatoes will fill you up and warm you through, with or without the log fire burning.
Cumberland Sausage
Tradition dictates that this sausage is made, sold and served as a round or swirl. And while Cumberland has been swallowed up into Cumbria, you’ll struggle to avoid bangers and mash on menus during your Lake District holiday.
Yorkshire Pudding
May we be forever grateful to the cook of Yorkshire for their lightbulb moment that brought us dripping pudding, most commonly known now as the Yorkshire served with your Sunday roast. Weave it into your midweek meal plan by using them as the base for savoury mince and watch the kids lap it up.
Barabrith
A cottage holiday in Wales wouldn’t be complete without morning coffee and some ‘speckled bread’. This moist fruit cake is a traditional Welsh fruit loaf whose not-so-secret ingredient is tea.
Clootie Dumpling
As diverse as the dialects of the UK are our fruit cakes. Although this is more pudding, with its suet base, it’s seen as a celebratory treat that appears most at Christmas. It can be served with custard or sliced and fried to go with your full Scottish breakfast!
Cheddar
This Somerset stalwart named after the county’s Cheddar Gorge has been around since the 12th century. Unsurprisingly, now thought to be the most consumed cheese in the world, this hard, slicing cheese is the perfect Marmite companion, the simplest of sandwich creations and never to be missed from a pub ploughmans!
Clotted Cream
Jam or cream first? That’s a Cornwall-Devon divide. Let’s not argue that point, just agree that no scone or afternoon tea is complete without Cornwall’s finest clotted cream. Salivating at the very thought, we’ve even been known to garnish some over-the-border Salcombe Dairy Ice Cream with a dollop or two. Terribly naughty but OMG-nice!
Kendal Mint Cake
The original adventurers food source (at least of school trip memory), this sugar fuelled mint concoction has advanced many a mountaineer to the top of Scafell Pike and beyond. A must-pack for Everest expeditions since 1953, no Lake District day out would be complete without an #eatromneys selfie.
Dorset Blue Vinny
Possibly the healthiest cheese out there (don’t hold us to that), this hard and crumbly cheese is made from the milk left over after the cream has been skimmed off for making butter. Crackers at the ready, no Dorset holiday dieting required!
Worcestershire Sauce
It takes some marketing to turn a fermented liquid produced by two chemists into a pantry favourite of a nation, but Lea & Perrins have managed it. The extraordinary condiment that is Worcester sauce makes its way into sauces and even cheese on toast. Don’t leave home for a self-catering holiday without it!
Branston Pickle
We’ve given you the cheese, now all you need is the pickled chutney. Branston’s will always been renowned for its Staffordshire roots despite now being made in Suffolk. Pickles, chutneys and jellies are a common output of artisan producers and farm shops, so you’re bound to find one local to you wherever you stay.
English Mustard
The great yellow accompaniment to any roast beef dinner is Colman’s Mustard proudly produced in Norfolk since the early 1800s. Wherever you staycation in Norfolk, spend a day exploring Norwich and take a trip to the Mustard Shop for the story behind this eye-watering condiment.
And so with your pantry shopping list sorted, all you need is the perfectly-Pinterest holiday cottage kitchen. Share your local foodie finds with us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.