So there is one more red herring in that bunch of photos, see if you can identify it.
This is also Baltic food, ie North Germany, Denmark and Southern Sweden, called Labskaus, Lappskaus or Lapskojs. There are some variations but usually it involves salt beef, potatoes, onions and beets. Often served with a fried egg and salty herring.
It’s really simple but so delishus.
How do they make it in the UK?
Well the Mini’s a toy with right-hand drive but wipers placed for a LHD vehicle. Also it has an incorrect “S” badge on the bonnet. Thirdly it’s not edible, unless it’s a Mini shaped cake!
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A version also appears in traditional North Wales food as lobscows. The spelling of that and the much better known Liverpool version suggests to me that the origins are to the Baltic area. Makes sesne with Liverpool’s maritime trading links. It’s a food which recognisably sits alongside Irish Stew and Lancashire Hotpot (although you do see beef versions)
Like any of these sort of dishes there are as many recipes as there are cooks, but here’s one (using beef) - http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/155827-lfc-reveals-world-s-best-scouse-recipe
They sell at Bakewell farmers market that I go to from time to time (lovely drive over the High Peaks when the weather’s good). It’s a guy that sells it but no foreign accent. Of course, he may well not be the gaffer.
Nope, it’s the Scottish smoked salmon, which is actually smoked trout not salmon.
So that version is more like what would be called Kalops in Skåne.
Lapskojs is more like this.
Corned beef, potatoes, onion, bay leaf, salt and pepper cooked in a big pot and mashed into an airy puree.
Topped with a fried egg, and served with pickles and beets.
Then there is this, sjömansbif, which is made with thin slices of fresh beef, potatoes, onion & porter or stout, again all slow cooked in a big pot.
It’s actually closer to an Irish stew, but with beef.
From a flavor standpoint it is usually best made with a shoulder braise (högrev, chuck, épave) sliced across the grain into scallops.
Hey do you Brits put pumpkin in anything?
Have anything “pumpkin spiced” ?
You’ll find loads of recipes for the various types of squash on sale.
Halloween has become increasingly popular in the UK in recent years, possibly now displacing our traditional celebrations on 5 November. In conjunction, pumpkin has also become much more readily available - I suspect for hollowing out to put candles in , rather than for eating.
That said, folk eat it - although not us, generally speaking (they’re just too big for the two of us). Here’s some recipes. You’ll see that the sweet ones incorporate the spices you’d expect in British dessert cookery - cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg. You’ll also note that many of them draw on an American base for the recipe, which is unsurprising. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/25/pumpkin-recipes-curry-pie-waffles-risotto-salad-pickle-pecan-tart-10-best
That is a damn shame. Nothing better than Guy Fawkes. I love to blow things up ! More fireworks I say !
I’ll bet you are now over run with begging little 'arry Potters and 'ermionies.
Bugger Hogwarts!
I swear pumpkin spice is a virus which is infecting the world’s cookery.
I am sorry to hear you are developing a case of this.
Whatever you do, avoid the pumpkin spiced ale at all costs…
No, no.
It’s what we’re traditionally good at. We’re a small island nation but we’ve always grabbed foods from other cultures, adopting and adapting them as our own. Those eastern spices that still appear in British foods date back to Elizabethean times. And, once we’d been able to divest ourselves of the drag of America, the way was open for the Empire to fully exploit large chunks of the rest of the world - 200 years on, it still has an enormous influence on our food.
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So you view American pumpkin spice as a positive influence on British cookery?
This would tend to indicate not.
Sorry if I am confused, that happens often.
I live on this small, cold island off the coast of Europe. Our climate means that we are limited in the foods we can traditionally grow here. As such, all diversity in our cuisine is to be welcomed - that goes back centuries.
As for the “drag of America”, I believe that if the colonies had not successfully fought a terrorist insurrection when they did, it would not have been long into the early 19th century before Britain would have sought to divest itself of them. They were becoming an expense not worth paying. Once gone from America, it enabled the empire to expand into much more profitable areas.
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Hevva cake, Bakewell tart, pork pie, all yummy.
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Seasonal pumpkin beers aren’t the big thing over here compared to the US, but we have started to see a few native ones popping up in the last few years.
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Maybe I’m weird, because I’m a non-Brit and I LOVE kippers and black pudding. Once, I even smuggled some vacuum-packed smoked kippers I bought at Selfridge’s back to the US.
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I can buy frozen Manx kippers in Canada.
I like kippers.
Not a fan of black or white pudding.
I love sticky toffee, treacle, summer,
Christmas, self-saucing and Yorkshire puddings!
I’m adding this to my list of British desserts to make!
