It's an old teapot. A really old teapot - as far back as I remember my Dad would use this to make his tea each morning. One of the first things I ever learnt in the kitchen was how to make a proper pot of tea for Dad - a spoon for each person drinking, plus one for the pot. I moved out of home when I was 19, and after a few weeks Dad came by and asked if I needed anything - I replied that I was well furnished and provisioned bar a decent teapot, and he handed it over without a second thought. We'll get back to that. Let's talk about the name and aim of this blog.
English food gets a bad rap - maybe it makes people think of marmite sandwiches or bovril - but it just doesn't reconcile with my own experience of it. I was blessed with a family of amazing cooks, and coupled with an English/Scottish heritage it meant that I grew up with cottage pie and Sunday roasts, scones and trifle, tea, and my old friend, the G and T. What's not to love?
Looking back on it all gave me one of those 'ding' light bulb moments - British food is all comfort food. It was designed for a people who spent their days tromping through the sodden moors, for whom coming home to a big old pot of beef stew bubbling away on the stove must have been a truly soul warming experience. A quick inventory of classic British dishes - steak and kidney pie, to take a fine example - will reveal some underlying characteristics. It ain't pretty. It ain't fancy. But after a long days work in the pissing rain, nothing could more welcoming.
So, I've taken it upon myself to clear the name of culinary Britain. Each week I'm going to have a crack at a dish that I either remember eating when I was a kid or that I know to be irrevocably British. Not only will I cook and, success permitting, consume it, I'm going to discover the history behind each dish and hopefully enlighten the world on what gives British food it's unique character. I'm also going to take the opportunity to talk to family members (hey, maybe even cook with some of them), to eat, drink, and reminisce on old favorites like Nanny's shepherds pie. Thus this blog could well turn out to be part cooking book, part history book, and part family biography.
Before I forget, let's get one thing straight - I am not a chef. I can cook for myself, to be sure, but a lot of what I have planned will be as new for me as it is for you - that's really part of the fun though, isn't it? And while we're being honest, I'm also a uni student who is poor in both time and money, so don't go expecting cooking updates every day - I'm going to aim for each Sunday, though I might add updates throughout the week on what I have planned.
I chose Dad's teapot to mark the start of this journey because as I was staring at it the other day, I realized that it captures perfectly the essence of British food. It isn't glamorous or even good looking, and was handed to me without show or ceremony, but it does have history. It has heart. It lifts my spirits to drink from it, not simply for the tea itself, but because I can remember where it came from.
Let the revolution begin.
-Jon
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