Fascinating again, Wargarden!

Yes, very interesting!

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach...

"seagrass_gw

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach..."

Tell that to a cardiothoracic surgeon . :-)

dcarch

Somehow, I can't picture Wallis Simpson 'using a hatchet, stick or flatiron' to beat the dough for 'beaten biscuits'. For half an hour!

Lovemrmewey, we just had something about this a few weeks back in a previous thread. The biscuits beaten (whacked) with an axe handle for an hour is a traditional Southern recipe for the different ingredients available back when. I assume that in this case it was a handed down recipe on its last legs.

Hey, Islay, at least she helped reduce his influence. ETA I can't really see her eating rabbit, either, at least not in the US.

Rabbit was not an uncommon meat back in the 30's.

No, but in the US it wasn't considered very gourmet, either. The same folks who spurned it here would rave about it served façon de Liège in Europe.

Oh, my, what a public relations team she must have had!

Islay Corbel! I nearly choked on my apple reading your comment! Here I am munching a packed lunch over an A4 placemat in fromt of the computer at work, skimming CF as I go, and all of a sudden my life is in danger!

I’m thinking it wasn’t the food that seduced him...

Well, I have heard that English cooking wasn't all that grand until fairly recently... ;)

Traditional English cooking tends to be simple but delicious, much as American traditional home cooking recipes.

During the 1700s and 1800s among the upper classes it suffered by comparison to French cooking, which was much fancier and sauce-reliant, so the upper classes often hired French cooks for their kitchens.

Then as a result of strict rationing during and after WW2, I think a lot of cooking skills were lost and households became reliant on frozen supermarket meals. The great traditional recipes fell out of use. But they’re coming back!

That's good to hear, Colleen, that the good cooking is coming back. In my youth I was told by the English and experienced travellers alike that English breakfasts were excellent, but for decent food they always got Italian or Indian. Certainly, the first time I was in London, the lunches at various tea shops and pubs were pretty bad (though not nearly enough sample size to judge a whole nation) and one of the best Italian restaurants I've ever been to was in Camden. I'm told the food is much better now, on all counts. But there has to have been good cooking in England all along. Perhaps not as accessible to the casual traveller, but people like good food, and one assumes the majority did find and prefer it.

I was just making a little joke. :)

I knew that ;-)

But a lot of people say it as a categorical fact, even if they’ve never been to the UK...

Colleen I agree. We can all take a joke, but I nearly assaulted a couple at the supermarket just before xmas who had clearly never been to England but were having a (too) lengthy chat with the checkout lady about how awful British food was........

So what are some traditional English dishes?

It's no surprise the French call us "rosbifs" you cant beat a proper Sunday roast. With all the trimmings that go with each different meat.

Then there are pies. Pork pies, game pies that are eaten cold. Then all the hot pies. Then the fish pies. No other country makes pies like the Brits.

Then the puddings. Steak and kidney pudding is food of the gods.

Then all the sweet puddings. Mmmmmmm.

Then the variety of stews across the nation is very varied.

I could go on for hours....

DH took my sister and me to London and Paris for 5-7 days over 45 years ago. I was pleasantly surprised at the delicious food we had in London.

Some of the best food I ever ate, both savory and sweet, was during my stay in Bath. One could sample a great variety of traditional dishes in local eateries and charming tea shops. Everything was delicious. The house in which I stayed was just around the corner from Jane Austin's house, which only added to the magic of our entire trip.

IC, I've heard people go on at length about the old fashioned spit roasts from the days of the fireplaces that would hold a whole sheep and dogs on treadmills turning the spits. Constantly basted. I'm sure that all the things on your list are delicious when prepared well, and, as I said before, I'm sure that plenty of people were making them well all along, but I've never been more horrified than by one of those pies in a public house. I think the reputation bad food really was about restaurant food rather than home cooking, and I certainly experienced that back when. I'm told that there has been a huge food revolution and that, especially in London, there's no better place now for dining out.

Well we also do a stonking good roast in an ordinary oven lol

I can hardly imagine Wallis taking time out from her busy scandalous life of drunken debauchery to cook anything. Those two were a real piece of work between the two of them!

Those Maryland beaten biscuits are an atrocious thing! They are basically hard glutinous dabs of hard baked dough.

Me thinks they may have targeted the wrong Wallis Simpson!!!

English food? I lived there for a couple of years and the best thing that I found were the meat pies. Other than that...............not much. Did love the meat pies, though. And, the names...spotted dick?.....bubble and squeak?

Maryland has a history of English settlers and out on the eastern shore of this state some of the locals still speak with a regional accent that is heavily derived from one of British origin. Also, some of the more bland culinary traditions of Maryland are of British origin. There is a tendency towards over cooked vegetables, white gooey and bland dishes with unhealthy fats and boiled meats.

But, I doubt if Wallis did much cooking or mixing of anything other than another drink.

I just finished watching "The Crown". It was amazing at how much of the royalty was addicted to tobacco and alcohol. Also amazing to see how much dysfunction there was in the government at that time.

Wallis and her never to be king were almost a side story. I think they got most of their calories and nutrition from whiskey and gin.