A Taste of... Best of British
Published date: 15/04/13

In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in classic British recipes. This has been due to many factors that have influenced a more introspective viewpoint of cooking in the general public's collective consciousness.

We have seen demand rise for locally sourced ingredients, an increase in organic produce and an upsurge in home cooking inspired by TV chefs such as Jamie Oliver and the Hairy Bikers. This has in turn led many cooks to revisit their traditional home cooked family dishes for inspiration and ideas.

On the whole British cooking can be summed up as good, honest, homely food that aims to bring out the best of local ingredients. But British cuisine has in recent years opened its doors to let a whole host of Anglo-Indian dishes become synonymous with our food culture too. Dishes such as Tikka Masala or the Balti have become as British as Shepherd’s Pie or Cornish Pasties.

When we write new courses we like to keep the skill levels required balanced for beginners and experienced cooks. Traditional British cookery is an ideal starting place for the novice as it offers to teach you many basic techniques such as pastry making, quiche making, how to make and flavour sauces plus basic cake baking. Having said that, it also allows the more experienced cook to learn how to bring out flavours using seasonal produce and refining their basic techniques.

In this course we decided to reintroduce classics for the students to learn such as Shepherd’s Pie, Lancashire Hot Pot, Ocean Pie, Tikka Masalas Kebabs and Welsh Goat’s Cheese Quiche along with many more. We researched over fourty dishes for this course with the aim of narrowing a final selection down to around sixteen to get a perfect balance between dishes with lots of techniques, those that are quick & simple to make and others that are just simply delicious.

As a lot of British dishes are traditionally meat or fish based we took on the challenge of making vegetarian versions that are just as good without losing their character. Our Ocean Pie for instance uses arame seaweed, smoked tofu and oyster mushrooms to recreate Fish Pie and when we served it to the Hairy Bikers at our TV filming day last year they were more than impressed!

If you fancy enjoying the Best of British let Cordon Vert take you on a nostalgic culinary journey of Britain’s favourite comfort food. You can book a place on this course here or phone us on 0161 925 2015.