Summary of My Experience

Overall, I have found this experience to be very rewarding. I really have enjoyed not only my time in England, exploring the food and trying new things. But I have also very much enjoyed making a blog about it. I have shared this link with my family now that I am done with the process for them to read and see about my experiences. I think this has definitely broadened my horizons and made me realize that 1. I can't listen to other people's opinions and take them 100% mater of fact, that I need to experience things for my self and formulate my own speculations about things.

As far as reading food literature, it was a completely new territory for me. I know that I have not even begun to scratch the surface of cookery books as well as other food literature books, but I have grown to become more acquainted with them and seem to enjoy them (especially the ones that have a bit of humor in them as well.) I would have never guessed that there is more to a cook book than the recipes. But rather, that the author is perhaps telling us a story about a time in their life, or how this dish may help create new memories in your life as well. Food literature has been apart of our history for decades and it will continue to be ever so present in the years to come.


CHEERS!

Cock and Leek Soup

With all of this bitter cold weather that we have been having, I thought it would be appropriate to have some traditional English soups. The one that I have come to fancy very much is the Chicken and Leek soup (or as Gordon Ramsay says "Cock-a- leekie" soup. In his book, "Great British Pub Food" Gordon gives a great  recipe for this delicious soup. Just like the beginning of the other recipes, Gordon gives a good brief summary as to why this dish is ideal during the cold winter months. "It was originally served during the Scottish holiday feasts as a starter, like Hogmany and Burn's night. It can be a light savory broth when you add the prunes to the soup, or you can leave them out if you would prefer." I like that with this style of his writing it seems as if he is more directly talking to the reader than just giving directions and telling you what to do (like we have seen him on the cooking shows like Hell's Kitchen, yelling at his poor little chefs.) He seems to be having more of a conversation like interaction with the reader, instead of just pure robotic instructions. His recipe is very easy to follow for a fairly simple, but scrumptious meal.

Cock-A-Leekie Soup

Serves 6-8
1 chicken, about 1.5kg, jointed
sea salt and black pepper
1 bouquet garni (ba lead, few thyme and parsley sprigs, tied together)
1.5-2 litres chicken stock, or water
5 large leeks, about 500g in total, trimmed
200g cooked rice
200g soft pitted prunes

Fish and Chips

Now, I know that I seem to have a lot of "favorite" dishes.. but I think that Fish and Chips are by far my favorite! I don't know if it's because I douse my fish with loads of Ketchup (I'm slightly in love with Ketchup) or if its the delicious beer batter that is fried around those succulent pieces of Haddock. I have also come to enjoy mixing the whole plate together. I like to get a big scoop of fish, with a few garden peas, and maybe even a chip on the fork all at the same time (covered in Ketchup of course!)

Fish and Chips may be the epitome of Traditional British food. When I was leaving the United States to come over here, my family members were all raving about how good the fish and chips were going to be (especially compared to the fish that we get in Arizona, which is a landlocked state with no ocean or body of water within hours from us.) I think it is safe to say that I had to include Fish and Chips into my blog. For this entry I will look at the recipe from the ever so infamous, Gordon Ramsey, and his cookery book of "Great British Pub Food."

Gordon Ramsey and Michelle (The previous author who's cook book I examined) have polar opposite ways of writing. Gordon is very straight to the point, no funny business, "this is the way it is." type of author. Where as Michelle was very sarcastic, funny, and didn't really give many precise instructions, unlike Gordon. The first section of Gordon's book he makes sure that you know your measurements, and that you must use the top notch ingredients in his recipes. The one thing that I do like that Gordon does right away is give an alternative to his demands for pregnant women or others with health issues. "Use large eggs unless otherwise suggested, ideally organic or free-range. If you are pregnant of in an alternate health group, avoid dishes using raw egg whites of lightly cooked eggs." Throughout his introduction to the book he tells a brief history of British pub food and how it wasn't always common to eat traditional meals inside the pub. "The earliest taverns may have served bread and ale, but the concept of eating out had not been born. You ate at home and you went to the pub for your social needs."

His recipe is as fallows:

Hake with Mushy Peas

Hake
4 hake fillets, or other chunky firm- textured white fish fillets, about 140g each
50g plain flour, plus extra to coat
50g rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
sea salt and black pepper
450ml light ale
40ml vodka
1/2 tps runny
honey groundnut or vegetable oil, for deep- frying

Mushy Peas

Few mint sprigs, leaves only

350g frozen peas

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

To serve

 Chips 

Tartar sauce

Along with savory pies, fish n' chips with mushy peas represents true British pub food. Fry the chips first and keep warm in a low oven- uncovered to keep them crisp.

Preconceived Notions..

Before I came over to England, my friends and family members that have been here before, so graciously gave me their opinions and experiences that they once had here. The ranges of times that each of my friends and family were here were very widely spread out.

My grandfather, Mel Sorensen,  was the first (in chronological order)  to come over and visit London when he was apart of the U.S. Navy. He was here from September 1948- November of 1948. Grandpa's bit of advice was this: "When you get there, don't expect to have any drinks that have ice cubes in them. They don't even serve beer cold, everything is room temperature." So right away I thought, "Oh wonderful, I am not going to be able to get a cold drink anywhere I go. This is going to be a long trip.." (And this was going to be a "problem" for me because I do like my water and beers ice cold.) However, I was pleasantly surprised when I got here, and it turns out that England in fact does not live in the Dark Ages, and they indeed serve their beverages cold.

The next bit of information I got was from my cousin, Michael. He did a back packing trip throughout Europe back in August of 2011, and he made a stop in London for two days. Michael had nothing but good things to say about London and their culture, however he said that he didn't fancy the "traditional English" dishes very much. "After you've had 'fish and chips' once or twice, you wont want to eat that any more. Everything that you order, they will serve chips with. And the rest of it, is kind of just bland. I don't think they believe in seasonings." And yet again, I have been proven wrong by these assumptions that I formulated before even arriving in England. However, Michael was right... They do serve chips with just about everything.. But I wont complain about that! I have come to love Traditional English dishes very much. I would have to say that Vegetable Pie is the winner, but overall, I can't complain about any of the food that I have encountered thus far.