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JokeRe: Food Fight Pin
W Balboos, GHB4-Sep-14 7:21
W Balboos, GHB4-Sep-14 7:21 
GeneralRe: Food Fight Pin
PhilLenoir4-Sep-14 9:03
professionalPhilLenoir4-Sep-14 9:03 
GeneralRe: Food Fight Pin
W Balboos, GHB4-Sep-14 8:14
W Balboos, GHB4-Sep-14 8:14 
GeneralRe: Food Fight Pin
PhilLenoir4-Sep-14 9:06
professionalPhilLenoir4-Sep-14 9:06 
GeneralRe: Food Fight Pin
Eddy Vluggen4-Sep-14 8:42
professionalEddy Vluggen4-Sep-14 8:42 
GeneralRe: Food Fight Pin
Roger Wright4-Sep-14 20:02
professionalRoger Wright4-Sep-14 20:02 
GeneralRe: Food Fight Pin
Bergholt Stuttley Johnson4-Sep-14 20:49
professionalBergholt Stuttley Johnson4-Sep-14 20:49 
GeneralRe: Food Fight Pin
PhilLenoir5-Sep-14 4:51
professionalPhilLenoir5-Sep-14 4:51 
I've never had boiled beef in my life. That was a relic from the war when the populace had very little access to meat and it was often so tough that the only way to make it edible was to boil it.

Now my mum used to boil a whole gammon, but that was far from tasteless. She'd make gravy from the cooking water and serve with new potatoes. Delicious and far from tasteless. When I owned a deli, I would make my own ham in a boiler, the only difference was that the ham leg was in a casing. This is how most ham is made (else it is baked.)

Stewing beef is not the same as boiled beef. The idea being to use a gentle heat to render down fat and connective tissue. Doing this to a good cut of meat really does not work, but with the right cut you end up with something far from tasteless. Any stew that my mum, grandmother or myself made was well seasoned. Nowadays a slow cooker or casserole is used rather than a stew pot. This type of dish is far from unique to Britain (e.g, Bouef Bourgignon) The biggest difference? - the Brits probably substitute beer for the wine. Any stew preserves all the meat juices and flavour and cheap cuts of meat tend to be more full-flavoured.

Lamb (especially mutton) is often prepared in exactly the same way, chicken too, but pork tends not to make great stews or casseroles.

If you've experienced tasteless bolied meat, then you have clearly visited the wrong place and my guess is that any eatery serving such fare would not last in Britain.

Traditionally and after the post war years, Brits have enjoyed meat most typically as roasts. The French used to call us "Les rosbifs" (when not using more aggressive language!). My dinners as a kid were typically Roast on Sunday, cold meat on Monday (from the roast), fish and chips on Friday and a random selection of grilled chops, smoked fish, curry, Spaghetti Bolognese (another non-British dish reliant on stewing beef), burgers spaghetti/cailiflower cheese, etc.. Sunday night was almost always shellfish and salad. Our food was varied and we were not a wealthy family and all was cooked from scratch (no tinned sauces or packaged food. This fare is well represented in restaurants throughout the UK, with many regional variations (the love it or hate it Haggis, Lancashire Hot Pot, Cornish Pasties ...).

I'm all for a bit of fun, but real British food is nothing like it is widely alleged to be. Visitors (to any developed country) are not likely to experience true vernacular food, especially with our globalized economies with the omnipresent big M, KFC, etc., etc.. Even eateries claiming to offer traditional food are all too frequently low-quality/high-price as they don't rely on repeat business. The web has mitigated this, but most tourists hitting the tourist spots in London probably don't consult a guide or plan their food stops.

I cook and cooking is in my blood (my paternal grandmother was in service and my maternal grandfather and uncles were master chefs). Britain has amazing cultural and ethnic diversity. The restaurant business reflects this diversity. It has the widest selection of cheeses of any nation; it has a healthy agricultural climate and produces some of the best beef in the world (Angus and Hereford cattle), Nowhere is much more than an hour from the sea giving, so seafood is widely available. Insulting British food is about as daft as saying "I don't like music!"
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.

GeneralAPOD Pin
R. Giskard Reventlov4-Sep-14 4:55
R. Giskard Reventlov4-Sep-14 4:55 
GeneralOT Pin
Rage4-Sep-14 5:27
professionalRage4-Sep-14 5:27 
GeneralLiquid Nitrogen Pin
Mladen Janković4-Sep-14 4:43
Mladen Janković4-Sep-14 4:43 
GeneralRe: Liquid Nitrogen Pin
megaadam4-Sep-14 4:51
professionalmegaadam4-Sep-14 4:51 
GeneralRe: Liquid Nitrogen Pin
Rage4-Sep-14 4:54
professionalRage4-Sep-14 4:54 
GeneralRe: Liquid Nitrogen Pin
jeron14-Sep-14 4:57
jeron14-Sep-14 4:57 
GeneralRe: Liquid Nitrogen Pin
Mladen Janković4-Sep-14 5:34
Mladen Janković4-Sep-14 5:34 
GeneralRe: Liquid Nitrogen Pin
jeron14-Sep-14 6:00
jeron14-Sep-14 6:00 
GeneralRe: Liquid Nitrogen Pin
W Balboos, GHB4-Sep-14 8:25
W Balboos, GHB4-Sep-14 8:25 
GeneralRe: Liquid Nitrogen Pin
Mark_Wallace4-Sep-14 23:16
Mark_Wallace4-Sep-14 23:16 
GeneralRe: Liquid Nitrogen Pin
OriginalGriff4-Sep-14 5:00
mveOriginalGriff4-Sep-14 5:00 
GeneralSorry to do this but Pin
Keith Barrow4-Sep-14 5:08
professionalKeith Barrow4-Sep-14 5:08 
GeneralRe: Sorry to do this but Pin
Rage4-Sep-14 5:15
professionalRage4-Sep-14 5:15 
GeneralRe: Sorry to do this but Pin
Mladen Janković4-Sep-14 5:31
Mladen Janković4-Sep-14 5:31 
GeneralRe: Sorry to do this but Pin
Keith Barrow4-Sep-14 8:33
professionalKeith Barrow4-Sep-14 8:33 
GeneralRe: Sorry to do this but Pin
Dan Neely5-Sep-14 2:52
Dan Neely5-Sep-14 2:52 
GeneralRe: Liquid Nitrogen Pin
Mike Hankey4-Sep-14 5:43
mveMike Hankey4-Sep-14 5:43 

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