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Everyone loves a BBQ so here is a little history lesson and some ideas for when it stops raining!
Cooking on an open fire has been around since the caveman but it was the cowboys of the late 1880s who fully honed the BBQ techniques we know today. Sent off on cattle drives with less-than-perfect cuts of meat, they learnt to tenderise the tough meat by cooking it slowly for up to seven hours on their camp fires. We also owe the Americans for the invention of BBQ sauce. Prior to the invention of refrigeration, the people of North Carolina developed a mixture of vinegar, water, salt and peppers to preserve meat for long periods, a recipe that is still the definitive North Carolina-style BBQ sauce.
For simple, delicious British BBQs we recommend: one of the 400 different types of regional sausage produced in Britain, many of which are named after the places they were originally made; honey-glazed British chicken wings and legs; marinated leg of British lamb; British beef burgers with spicy tomato relish; vegetable kebabs with courgettes, aubergines, tomatoes and peppers; roasted fennel and a salad of lettuce with new season peas, broad beans and green beans. And for pudding, that British classic - Summer Pudding filled with a rough n’ tumble mix of all the berries that won’t be around for much longer – and a large jug of double cream (ideally from a local dairy).
For more BBQ ideas and to see which seasonal fruits and vegetables are currently available in the supermarkets, please click on the Want to buy British logo on the top right hand corner of this page.
Remember to look for the Union Jack, the Red Tractor or one of the British Quality Standard Marks when you are buying your meat. For more information on British quality marks see see this link
For a guide to what’s in season when see this link |
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What lovelier way to enjoy summer (when it stops raining!) than by sharing a picnic with friends and family?
The history of the picnic dates back to the 14th century when medieval feasts were held outside before hunting. The name comes from the French piquenique, an informal meal eaten in the open air. The main foods were hams, baked meats and pastries. Picknicking really came into its own during the Victorian era: Dickens, Trollope and Jane Austen all write about picnics in their novels.
Sandwiches are now an important element of any picnic – hence the expression ‘two sandwiches short of a picnic’. The story goes that, in the 18th century, the 4th Earl of Sandwich wanted a meal that he could eat easily without leaving the gambling table – he requested a slice of cold roast beef between two pieces of toast and the sandwich was born!
Scotch Eggs are classic picnic fare, but despite their name, the London store Fortnum and Mason claims to have invented the British snack in the early 1740s.
For simple, delicious picnics we recommend: new season British lamb chops (easy to eat in fingers), regional sausages (every area of Britain has a particular speciality), Coronation Chicken (invented for the Queen’s Coronation lunch in 1953), Eton Mess (the perfect picnic pudding as it is easy to transport the separate ingredients - thick cream, crushed meringue and as many Summer berries as you can find - and assemble them on site) and finishing with one of the 700 cheeses produced in Britain (yes, we produce more than in France!).
For more picnic ideas and to see which seasonal fruits and vegetables are currently available in the supermarkets, please click on the Want to buy British logo on the top right hand corner of this page. |
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