People are stunned when I tell them our Christmas dinner is a British recipe. Although it is no classical British household recipe, but comes from Jamie Oliver.
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Two things definitely stand out for me:
- The fish and chips are Awesome - fillets are delicious, and 3x the size of what I get in the States. The fish and chips are hot, crispy outside, tender inside.
- Baked goods. Pies, cakes, napoleons, etc are universally fantastic, especially anything made with puff pastry. I got sausage rolls for a pound sixty from under the heat lamps at Tesco that were as good as entrees I've had in US restaurants.
My grandma's Yorkshire Puddings
Mine too. She was from Canada.
I had a crack at assembling a pie barm after learning what it was. It was way better than it should have been.
What is it? A meat pie served on a bread roll (barm is a specific type I believe) with optional brown sauce (HP for example).
The roll is great for handling reasons and for when the arse falls out of the pie.
Indan takeout
...served with a cold beer. (chef's kiss)
Haggis and cock a leekie soup. Mince and tatties are a close second.
Tbh haggis was the one thing that disappointed me. But the quality varied hugely from place to place. I brought home a canned one the shopkeeper highly recommended as one of the better brands. Meh.
Fish n chips hands down 100% final answer lock it in.
To anyone whos been to both places can you get "proper" fish n chips the world over? I've asked a few americans on xbox a few times and they tell me that its "fish and steak fries" and its basically the same thing, but it doesnt sound like it will be the same.
Chippy chips are a very specific thing and its incredibly difficult to explain that to someone who hasn't experienced it and just understands.
I lived in the US for a while and never once had proper fish and chips. Even the 'English themed pubs' didn't do it right.
But there's some amazing American food and if you're just looking for British fish and chips while abroad you might as well go on a package holiday.
Got to have mushy peas with it to complete a proper fish n chips.
Visited Scotland
Walked into a little mom-n-pop fast restaurant
Wondered wtf is a "deep fried pizza", ordered one.
Dude took a "frozen" pizza out of the fridge
Dude folded it in half and stuck it in an oil deep fry.
OMFG never tasted such sweet sin... crispy flakey crust on the outside, melty cheesy inside
Totally worth the 10 million calories and arterial hardening
I'm flabbergasted that I've never seen that dish in the US. Well done rando Scot!
Oh, this isn't 'rando'. Chippies in Scotland will deep fry any fucking thing. Pizza? Standard. Mars bar? Of course! In some chippies you can even take something you've bought somewhere else and ask if they'll batter and fry the fucker for you and they'll say yes.
Whenever I get home to Scotland, my personal supper of choice is the haggis supper - a sausage of haggis meat, battered and deep fried, and served with beautifully fried chips, of course. The second night I'm home (especially if the wife isn't with me) is a haddock supper. Fuckin' grand.
I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I'm told by those who do that the deep fried Bounty is just the wrong side of the acceptable line of deep fried sweet shit.
I used to do a star bar tempura as a dessert.
I'll never forget passing my local chippy when I lived in Edinburgh and seeing they'd handwritten "almost" on the "WE WILL DEEP FRY ANYTHING" sign.
Behind every sign there's a story.
What, did you think that was the one bit of Americana that didn't cross an ocean?
Nah, thought Scots like themselves enough to not eat like that.
Nothing beats a proper English breakfast
Also, beef wellington is pretty great if done right.
Nothing beats a proper English breakfast
English Breakfast is a brilliantly balanced meal and it helped me get comfortable with eating a wider range of things (mushrooms, ratatouille, tomatoes) when I was younger. Love it.
Also, beef wellington is pretty great if done right.
I've never actually had one - always been told it is more effort than it's worth. Looks good though - one day I'll have my prize
Had beef wellington for the first time recently, and it was way tastier and less gimmicky than I expected. The mushroom mixture does a lot more work than you would expect from pictures.
I've had a lot of good food in Scotland, but one of the most memorable meals was in the Crinan Hotel's seafood bar - a big plate of langoustines that had been caught that morning, served with perfect chips and aoli. On the menu they were called Loch Crinan jumbo prawns.

That image is playing major perspective tricks on me, lol. They look giant
I'm from the EU, but I love making shepherd's pie. It's pretty easy and when done correctly, it is an absolutely fantastic dish.
Let's start with:
Fish and chips
Chip butty
Yorkshire fishcake butty
Whitebait
Scottish smoked salmon
Cromer crabs
Potted shrimp
Scallops and Black Pudding
Sunday Roast (beef, lamb, pork, chicken, vegetarian)
Beef Wellington
Full English
Full Scottish
Full Welsh
Ultster Fry
Deviled kidneys
Mixed grill
Gammon, egg and chips
Steak and Ale pie
Steak and oyster pie
Meat and potato pie
Pork pie
Chicken and Mushroom pie
Scotch pie
Game pie
Fish pie
Shepherd's pie
Cottage pie
Steak and kidney pudding
Lancashire hotpot
Irish stew
Cornish pasty
Scotch egg
Sausage roll
Ploughman's lunch
Haggis
Afternooon / Cream / High Tea
And of course the full range of BIR curries: Chicken Tikka Masala; Madras; Jalfrezi; Vindaloo; Korma; Pathia; and Balti
And a bunch of puddings and sweet things, sticky toffee pudding, apple pie, mince pie, hot cross buns, etc., but I don’t have a sweet tooth
Depending on where you get said foodstuffs it can be everywhere from grim inedible sadness to glorious sublime perfection.
Fish and Chips
Is shepherd's pie British? Or is that Scottish/Irish? 🤔 I like that, too.
Scotland is British, just not English.
Bubble and squeak
Scones
I don’t have much to add to the actual question asked, I’m generally pro British food done right. I do want to mention that recently I found a British restaurant near my house in the US, and I’ve been watching too much GBBO so I had to get the apple pie, and it was the saddest thing I’ve ever eaten.
The apple pie was essentially an orb of wonder bread with a few slices of limp apple in the middle, and the whole thing was smothered in custard until soggy. Not one bit of sugar or anything resembling flavor to be found anywhere in the three ingredients. The apples were extremely gritty for some reason, it definitely wasn’t cinnamon.
I wanted to go full Karen and call the chef out to apologize for this food crime, but I’m not confident enough in my understanding of British food to say that isn’t authentic. If someone had made that on GBBO I’m sure they would have sent them home without even trying the rest of the food. I can imagine Paul going “Why is it so gritty?!”
I can't think of any dough that would end up like wonder bread, you should have gone full Karen. Granny smiths stewed with sugar (and optionally spices) in a short crust case is the right way to do it, though they did get the smothered in custard until soggy bit right.