Ok, so British food gets a pretty bad rep (occasionally quite rightly so – see item 63 on the list) but there are so many British ingredients that are well worth celebrating. The Omnivore’s Hundred got me thinking about my own personal list and I could resist no longer (considering I only posted the Omnivore’s Hundred this morning, I didn’t resist very long). I’m so interested to find out what bloggers from around the world think about some of these entries and to see how many you have eaten. Of course, being a UK resident all my life, I’ve scoffed down nearly all of them – hardly surprising. How many have you tried? Anything I’ve missed that really should be on there?

(If you would like to post the list on your blog and link back here, please do so, I would love to see all that British fare spread around!)

 Edit: Apologies, I forgot to add the rules/guidelines/instructions/whatevers…

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Link back to Food Stories, if you would be so kind.

1. Grey squirrel (oh, how I’ve tried!)
2. Steak and kidney pie (one of my all-time favourite pies)
3. Bubble and squeak
4. Spotted dick (now come on, it’s a pudding people….)
5. Hot cross buns
6. Laver bread
7. Toad in the hole
8. Shepherds pie AND cottage pie (bonus point if you know the difference!)
9. Scotch egg (I’ve had excellent versions like the one at The Real Food Festival and bad ones, very bad ones…)
10. Parkin
11. Welsh rarebit
12. Jellied eels (I can’t eat the skin though)
13. Stilton (and now we have the wonderful Stichelton too)
14. Marmite (I love it, by the way..)
15. Ploughman’s lunch (I will never tire of the Ploughman’s)
16. Cucumber sandwiches
17. Coronation chicken (now THIS is another reason why we have a bad rep)
18. Gloucester old spot (my uncle keeps them in his back garden)
19. Cornish pasty
20. Samphire
21. Mince pies
22. Winkles
23. Salad cream (I used to be literally addicted to cheese and salad cream sandwiches, which is one hell of a dirty snack)
24. Malt loaf (LOVE IT spread thickly with butter)
25. Haggis
26. Beans on toast
27. Cornish clotted cream tea
28. Pickled egg (for the really hardcore, there is an old English pub tradition of putting an egg in a bag of crisps and shaking it about then eating it. I know this because I have worked in a lot of pubs in the past and talked to a lot of people from a certain generation!)
29. Pork scratchings (like I say, I’ve worked in a lot of pubs)
30. Pork pie (essential picnic food!)
31. Black pudding (William Rose do a great one if you are nearby)
32. Patum Peperium or Gentleman’s relish (I use this for seasoning)
33. Earl grey tea
34. Elvers
35. HP Sauce (got two bottles on the go right now)
36. Potted shrimps
37. Stinking bishop (I’m game though)
38. Elderflower cordial
39. Pea and ham soup (Niamh made a gorgeous one recently)
40. Aberdeen Angus Beef
41. Lemon posset
42. Guinness
43. Cumberland sausage
44. Native oysters
45. A ‘full English’ (how else would I cure my hangover? Well, apart from oysters, they are the BEST CURE)
46. Cockles
47. Faggots (practically grew up on ‘em)
48. Eccles cake
49. Potted Cromer crab
50. Trifle
51. Stargazy pie (not the original, but my own)
52. English mustard (brace yourself!)
53. Christmas pudding
54. Cullen skink
55. Liver and bacon with onions
56. Wood pigeon (see top picture)
57. Branston pickle
58. Oxtail soup
59. Piccalilli (I like it with number 30)
60. Sorrel
62. Chicken tikka masala
63. Deep fried Mars Bar (one bite! SO disgusting)
64. Fish, chips and mushy peas
65. Pie and mash with liquor (although I didn’t eat it in Manze’s, London’s oldest pie and mash shop but I will soon as it’s just down the road!)
66. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (with gravy)
67. Pickled onions
68. Cock-a-leekie soup
69. Rabbit and Hare
70. Bread sauce
71. Cauliflower cheese
72. Crumpets (one of my most favourite things in the world)
73. Rice pudding (I am not a fan)
74. Bread and butter pudding
75. Bakewell tart
76. Kendall mint cake
77. Summer pudding
78. Lancashire hot pot
79. Beef Wellington
80. Eton mess
81. Neeps and tatties (eat them with your haggis)
82. Pimms
83. Scampi
84. Mint sauce
85. English strawberries and cream (sigh wistfully….)
86. Isle of Wight garlic
87. Mutton (massively underrated)
88. Deep fried whitebait with tartare sauce
89. Angels on horseback (I really want to try these)
90. Omelette Arnold Bennett
91. Devilled kidneys
92. Partridge and pheasant
93. Stew and dumplings
94. Arbroath smokies (I ate one in Canteen recently and it was outstanding. Apparently, they do one of the best number 45′s in London)
95. Oyster loaves (sounds interesting though!)
96. Sloe gin
97. Damson jam
98. Soda bread
99. Quince jelly
100. Afternoon tea at the Ritz (It’s a British institution and I haven’t done it!)

I can’t wait to hear the responses to this. I am bound to have missed something absolutely essential and I know I will kick myself when someone tells me…

(The picture at the top is a salad I made recently using UK pigeon breasts, beets and watercress. It has a pomegranate dressing and is finished with more pomegranate seeds and walnuts).

I am finally free of extra work commitments and therefore back to more regular blogging – hurrah! So here we have the best ever meme style list thingy ever to do the rounds – it’s the omnivore’s one hundred. I now know that Jill and Andrew from Very Good Taste had no idea their little list would be so popular.

When I started reading the list and realised I had never actually eaten huevos rancheros I was stunned. So I made some. I have to say, my Food Stories version was pretty fine. I used chorizo and greens in the beans and although very untraditional, ohmygod – they were so good. Especially, with the salsa, avocado, jalapenos and blobs of creme fraiche with a fried egg on top. A sprinkling of coriander and a toasted tortilla to tear into bits and use as a scoop for all the good stuff….

So, onto the list. Here are the rules if you would like to play along…
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison (love it)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros (ta da!)
4. Steak tartare (I LOVE steak tartare. There is something about the meltiness of raw beef. When it comes to actually cooking steaks, I like it just ‘shown the pan’ too)
5. Crocodile (once – can’t even remember what it tasted like)
6. Black pudding (quite a lot, actually. Chris likes it on Saturday mornings)
7. Cheese fondue (Chris doesn’t like melted cheese on Saturday mornings or any other day or time of the week)
8. Carp (at least, I don’t think so)
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush (I like to BBQ the aubergines in the summer)
11. Calamari
12. Pho (I know, I can’t believe it either, it’s a bit of a huevos rancheros situation isn’t it?)
13. PB&J sandwich (I only recently got over my fear of the PB. I had a serious craving for it one day after hating it for years. I ate some on two slices of toast and then abandoned the jar. I did, however, try this when I was a child)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (We were recently in Reykjavik, Iceland and wanted to visit the famous hot dog stand Bæjarins bestu, which means ‘Towns Best’ but we ran out of time. If the queues are anything to go by however, those dogs are good)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (my dad used to make a lot of fruit wine)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (don’t do it – well, not unless you eat a lot of chillies)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (so many that I don’t even bother telling you about them any more)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas (had them at lunch yesterday in fact)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float (I had to look this up! I would try it but I can say for certain I would not finish it)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea (more than a few)
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo (I honestly don’t think so)
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat (so high on the list you wouldn’t believe!)
42. Whole insects (I ate a fried cricket and Ros, Julia, Bron and Pete were my witnesses. Pete ate a chocolate coated scorpion and Ros ate, well, a bit of everything! She really took one for the team I have to say…)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu ( I wouldn’t risk it thanks)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (oh, maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner….)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (more than a little overrated I thought)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi (these sound good, I love Japanese pickles)
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (friends will not let me forget how I once ate some chicken nuggets when VERY drunk so I am in for some serious teasing about the fact I ate a fair few Big Mac meals when I was a teenager)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine (I had never even heard of this but if I ever visit Canada, I will try it)
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads (a whole lotta offal gets ate at Food Stories HQ)
63. Kaolin (I would try it but I don’t really get it)
64. Currywurst (sounds pretty good!)
65. Durian (there is a shop selling fresh Durian just a 10 minute walk from my front door – I passed by only yesterday and saw a big box of them outside. I must take the plunge!)
66. Frogs’ legs (a subtle, slightly fishy flavour methinks)
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (despite our previously stated love of offal, we haven’t got around to this one yet)
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe (many a forgotten night…)
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (I’m sorry but that sounds disgusting)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant (not….yet)
85. Kobe beef (see above)
86. Hare (Chris and I were both a little disappointed with the flavour of hare as we expected it to have a much stronger flavour)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (I may have eaten it in Iceland but I’m not sure – long story)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa (Belazu rose harissa is delicious)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox (I had gravadlax and Scottish style smoked salmon, but not lox – to my knowledge)
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

So there are 37 items on the list that I haven’t tried and a few that I never will. Some of them will be sampled as soon as possible though, such as the Pho and curry goat. The list is very US-centric, so it’s not surprising that some of these items were completely new to me – the Hostess Pie and s’mores for example. It is a personal compilation of course, so if I were to make my own, I would add things like marmite, ploughman’s lunch and grey squirrel, which I tried to track down at Covent Garden Night Market but couldn’t find. I was also surprised to find that I haven’t blogged many of the items on the list, something which I shall be rectifying in due course!

(If you would like to make the beans I used for my huevos rancheros, fry some cooking chorizo, add onions and garlic and then beans (a ratio of 2:1 pinto and kidney) and some stock (just a little to loosen). The throw in shredded greens and let it reduce a bit before mashing the beans up a little. I also added a little cumin. They were fantastic)

This is an entry for ‘In the Bag – Cooking the Month of April‘ hosted by Julia at A Slice of Cherry Pie. When I saw this month’s ingredients I was excited, firstly because the flavour and waxy texture of Jersey Royals is so fantastic and secondly because I can never seem to get enough watercress. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to get to a market so I had to opt for being ripped off by the supermarket for a well-travelled, disturbingly-perishable bag of watercress. I did pick up some very cute baby Jersey Royals though, which made up for the disappointment.

I’ve made potato bread before using this recipe so I decided to follow the basic structure and just play around with the ingredients as necessary. Firstly, I must say that this loaf is moist – at first I thought too moist, even sticky. The next day however, it dries out a bit to a respectable bread-like texture. Problem is, you obviously need to eat it warm from the oven otherwise what is the point in baking bread at all? I’m just warning you that’s all. We actually enjoyed the gooey texture. It’s definitely comfort food.

Now, on the back of my derogatory supermarket comment, I did make a surprising discovery a couple of days ago – Greek basil in the herb section. I’ve never come across Greek basil before and I really would not expect to find it in Sainsburys but find it I did and snapped it up pronto. The leaves are very small, like miniature Italian basil leaves but neater and the flavour is very peppery, much more so than it’s common counterpart. It also has a distinctive grassy taste, ‘just like Greek olive oil!’ I screamed (the excitement was all too much…). I chucked a good handful into the bread mix and it perfumed the bread (and our flat) with a wonderful aromatic scent.

I made a simple black olive tapenade to eat with the bread, a spread which I find to be highly addictive and consequently really bad for my waistline. It’s not the tapenade per se that’s the problem, it’s the large quantity of bread that I spread it on. That’s the problem the BEST THING about food blogging, it’s like your duty (you tell yourself!) to test out these recipes and disseminate. I mean, I HAVE to eat that extra slice, I can’t quite tell if those flavours are right yet…..It gives me an excuse and that is the reason I get up at ridiculous o’clock to exercise 5 times a week…

Jersey Royal, Watercress and Feta Bread (with Greek basil!)

Adapted from this recipe

350g Jersey royals, 2/3 grated, 1/3 chopped into small chunks
200g feta cheese
A generous handful of watercress, chopped
A generous handful of Greek (or regular) basil, roughly torn
350g self-raising flour
6 spring onions, finely sliced
1 heaped teaspoon of fine salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon sugar (I think? I’m not sure if I actually added this…)

Preheat the oven to Gas 5/190C/375F and grease a baking sheet really well.

- Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.
- Add the grated and chopped potatoes, spring onions, watercress, basil and crumble in the feta.
- Use a palette knife to blend thoroughly.
- Beat the eggs with the milk and add to the bowl. Bring together to form a loose dough, still using the palette knife.
- Put the mix onto the baking sheet and shape it into a rough loaf. Dust the top lightly with flour.
- Bake, middle shelf for 50-60 minutes until golden brown.
- Cool on a rack before serving.

Black Olive Tapenade

We like our tapenade to be anchovy-heavy so you may want to adjust the quantity if you want less of the fish, more just a seasoning. I also like to make it fairly chunky as you can see, which I think helps to keep the individual flavours.

2 garlic cloves, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons capers, chopped
8 anchovy fillets, chopped
40 pitted kalamata olives, chopped
Small bunch parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

- I really enjoy chopping this by hand but I realise that normal people would probably just chuck it all in the blender. Pulse everything except the oil. Decant into a bowl first, then stir it in.