What's Your Favourite British Dish?

I've had success in making sticky toffee pudding from scratch. It was beautiful. Extremely rich though and only good for the winter months in Texas, of which there are none! :p

Well done, you!   

Celery in Jello? That sounds utterly horrific! Although my wife's grandmother makes a green jello with white custard dessert that's good but to top it off she sprinkles grated cheddar cheese on top. I never understand why. When I get a plate of it, I just surreptitiously scrape the cheese off the top. Sometimes she leaves a corner with no cheese on just for me though. :p

But yes, make some Jello and then just dollop some into a bowl and then some Vanilla ice cream on top of it. Beautiful! haha

When it has celery in it, it's 'salad'. 
  Just like 5 cup salad, with marshmallows, cherries, whipped cream (well cool whip really, but dream whip will do), pineapple and coconut.  That's a side dish.  Much to the dismay of my British friends who insist it is a pudding.   
Very surprised you haven't come across this 'salad concept' in Texas. 

'salad concept'  

This will cause me nightmares. The things that would appear at church suppers and family gatherings....blobs of stuff with suspended chunks.

Fortunately we never had Jell-o in any form at home as my mother hated it.  She did make chocolate pudding a lot though.

When it has celery in it, it's 'salad'. 
  Just like 5 cup salad, with marshmallows, cherries, whipped cream (well cool whip really, but dream whip will do), pineapple and coconut.  That's a side dish.  Much to the dismay of my British friends who insist it is a pudding.   
Very surprised you haven't come across this 'salad concept' in Texas. 

Oh sorry, yes, I have come across this Salad concept with all the same ingredients. A Fruit salad isn't new to me but putting marshmallows in it is. Not a fan of putting Marshmallows in a fruit salad.

When I first came over and we went up to the Panhandle and I was served it, I had no idea what the little white things were until I bit into them and was like "Oh good lord..." 

Well done, you!   

I thank you Claire! *bows graciously*

When it has celery in it, it's 'salad'. 
  Just like 5 cup salad, with marshmallows, cherries, whipped cream (well cool whip really, but dream whip will do), pineapple and coconut.  That's a side dish.  Much to the dismay of my British friends who insist it is a pudding.   
Very surprised you haven't come across this 'salad concept' in Texas. 

Yes, exactly!  My sainted grandmother would serve "salads" that (to a small child) had horrifying combinations of things that were never meant to be any closer together than the opposite sides of a plate - never mind suspended together in a jiggling unnaturally colored mass of gelatin.  Luckily for me (and those of you reading this comment) I managed evade being the recipient of these treasured family recipes...

However.... now that you mention it... there may well have been tiny little marshmallows along with the celery in that lime green jello.... I recall grapes, and perhaps raspberries too.....   

Erk! 

Reminds me of the Thanksgiving scene from How I Met Your Mother when Marshall takes Lily to his family in Minnesota and she has to make the Erickson Family Salad.  'I think there's a mistake here, it says 3 gallons of mayo.  Don't you mean 3 cups?'  'No dear, 3 gallons.  And add more chips there, that layer's looking a bit sparse.'  'Murica.

Reminds me of the Thanksgiving scene from How I Met Your Mother when Marshall takes Lily to his family in Minnesota and she has to make the Erickson Family Salad.  'I think there's a mistake here, it says 3 gallons of mayo.  Don't you mean 3 cups?'  'No dear, 3 gallons.  And add more chips there, that layer's looking a bit sparse.'  'Murica.

LOL - Oh yes, I worship at the mayo altar too.... I just love it!  I don't understand how people can have sandwiches like ham and cheese, tuna salad, etc. and then put margarine on the bread!  Ick!  I'm pretty sure I'm the first person who has brought mayonnaise into this house and I'm planning on keeping it stocked here despite the funny looks I get using it on sandwiches.

I may not have appreciated all of my grandmother's jello-mold salads, but she did have a mean way with potato salad and to this day no one can match her deviled stuffed eggs! Both of which I absolutely loved and depended on the generous use of mayonnaise.   

Probably not quite 3 gallons worth though.....   

Getting back to Favourite British Dish (ahem), I vote for toasted tea cakes.  The ones with currants.  That was the major thing I found myself yearning for when exiled back in the US.

Getting back to Favourite British Dish (ahem), I vote for toasted tea cakes.  The ones with currants.  That was the major thing I found myself yearning for when exiled back in the US.

YES! I was craving them the other night! A little bit of butter and they are gorgeous!

When I went back home last year my dad had stocked up on Welsh Cakes, have you ever had them? Maybe they're just sold in Wales but we brought several packs back across with us and everyone was raving about them. Braces make them but they're simple enough to make yourself!

And with that....I go to the store! haha

I keep seeing this topic and I keep asking myself what my favorite "British dish" is and I kinda come up blank. I remember when I moved to England, my husband said he was keen to eat whatever I cooked for him and also added that he wanted to try different foods and various cuisines. Sure, we would eat the occasional fish and chips or Toad in the Hole but it wasn't often. I was excited to try new things too because I am half Mexican and finding Mexican foodstuffs in 1995 was rough! I had to learn to try other things. We do also combine things like having curried mince in a Shepherd's pie or "English" pancakes (crepes) drizzled with Mexican cajeta (caramel) and bananas. My kids asked me to make them pasties filled with Texan chili. However, I do find myself craving a Cumberland sausage from time to time but I learned to make a decent sausage just like it.

I don't understand how people can have sandwiches like ham and cheese, tuna salad, etc. and then put margarine on the bread! 

Margarine?!  YUK!
This house is a margarine-free zone, but I do use BOTH butter (real butter) and mayo on sandwiches.  Butter to 'seal' the bread, and mayo to moisten the fillings! 

Margarine?!  YUK!
This house is a margarine-free zone, but I do use BOTH butter (real butter) and mayo on sandwiches.  Butter to 'seal' the bread, and mayo to moisten the fillings! 

Margarine, at all, in any way, is an abomination.

But, so is butter on sandwiches.  I'm pretty sure it's actually poisonous in certain combinations-- especially with peanut butter & jelly.  The butter actually becomes cyanide or something.  I kept trying to explain that to my babysitter, the school lunch ladies, etc., but they never believed me.  They just kept scolding me for wasting food! 

Margarine, at all, in any way, is an abomination.

But, so is butter on sandwiches.  I'm pretty sure it's actually poisonous in certain combinations-- especially with peanut butter & jelly.  The butter actually becomes cyanide or something.  I kept trying to explain that to my babysitter, the school lunch ladies, etc., but they never believed me.  They just kept scolding me for wasting food! 

Well I had to look that up. But I got sidetracked by a "10 Everyday Foods that are Poisonous" article. Apparently blowfish is deadly. I think we all knew that, but is blowfish really an everyday food?

Anyhow, I have always thought that the addition of butter and margarine to sandwiches might have come from austerity driven attempts to add a few more cheaper calories to what might have been a meagre meal. I have no back up for that whatsoever.

Margarine, at all, in any way, is an abomination.

Spoken like a true Wisconsinite! And you're right, of course. Margarine is the sweat of Satan.