Many people outside of the UK often think of ‘British food’ being no more than roast beef and fish and chips. They don’t realise that there are strong culinary traditions in all the different nationalities and regions of the British Isles. Indeed, it is noted that a lot of people think England is Britain when, in fact, England is just one of the countries that make up the Isles.
So from England, travel West into the ‘Land of Song’, where hearty food is favoured for hard working miners and rugby players. Not that we have any miners left since the wholesale closure of the mines during the 80s. Thankfully there is an increasing interest in regional culture and the traditional food that goes with it. Many Welsh restaurants have opened in the last decade, sparking a revival and continuation of the food our forebears relished.
One of the mainstays of the Welsh kitchen is ‘cawl’, a nutritious and warming lamb and root vegetable stew. There are variations on the recipe but most agree that the best cawl is started two days in advance of serving, thus giving the flavours time to develop. Often cawl would be served as a two-course meal. The broth would be strained off and served as a soup with bread. Then along came the meat and vegetables as a main course. Very likely there would be leftovers and they would appear the following day, tasting even better.
A very famous Welsh dish is laverbread. Which is not a bread and nothing to do with volcanoes. Laver is an edible seaweed, washed to remove any sand and cooked in a frying pan, usually in bacon fat. Laverbread is often served with a fried breakfast. It is high in nutrients and iodine but is definitely an acquired taste.
Bara Brith is a cross between a fruited bread and a cake and is no lightweight sponge. It is dense and heavy and a buttered slice will satisfy the most demanding appetites in need of something sweet after their cawl. There are two versions – one with yeast and one without. Bara Brith was taken to Argentina with settlers in the 19th century and is now known there as ‘torta negra’ or ‘black cake’, which may reference the strong black tea that is one of the ingredients.
Then there are Welsh cakes, small round cakes the size of a cookie, cooked on a bakestone or heavy griddle – my husband’s favourite… he’d rather have a tin of Welsh cakes for a present than anything else.
Welsh rarebit is a variation of cheese on toast or, more accurately, a sauce made with strong cheese, butter, flour and ale, spooned onto toast and grilled until golden and bubbling.
Tags: the international cuisine, traditional food