Macaroni, known in Italian as maccheroni, is a pasta shaped like narrow tubes. Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as elbow macaroni. Some home machines can make macaroni shapes but, like most pasta, macaroni is usually made commercially by large-scale extrusion. The curved shape is created by different speeds of extrusion on opposite sides of the pasta tube as it comes out of the machine.
English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but is also very similar to wider British cuisine, partly historically and partly due to the import of ingredients and ideas from the Americas, China, and India during the time of the British Empire and as a result of post-war immigration.
A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. Cookbooks, which are a collection of recipes, help reflect cultural identities and social changes as well as serve as educational tools.
Isabella Mary Beeton, known as Mrs Beeton, was an English journalist, editor and writer. Her name is particularly associated with her first book, the 1861 work Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. She was born in London and, after schooling in Islington, north London, and Heidelberg, Germany, she married Samuel Orchart Beeton, an ambitious publisher and magazine editor.
Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, or in French cuisine hachis Parmentier, is a savoury dish of cooked minced meat topped with mashed potato and baked, formerly also called Sanders or Saunders. The meat used may be either previously cooked or freshly minced. The usual meats are beef or lamb. The terms shepherd's pie and cottage pie have been used interchangeably since they came into use in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, although some writers insist that a shepherd's pie should contain lamb or mutton, and a cottage pie, beef.
A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes.
Macaroni and cheese is a dish of macaroni pasta and a cheese sauce, most commonly cheddar sauce.
Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, also published as Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book, is an extensive guide to running a household in Victorian Britain, edited by Isabella Beeton and first published as a book in 1861. Previously published in parts, it initially and briefly bore the title Beeton's Book of Household Management, as one of the series of guidebooks published by her husband, Samuel Beeton. The recipes were highly structured, in contrast to those in earlier cookbooks. It was illustrated with many monochrome and colour plates.
Steak and kidney pie is a popular British dish. It is a savoury pie filled principally with a mixture of diced beef, diced kidney and onion. Its contents are generally similar to those of steak and kidney puddings.
Onion rings is a form of British and American cuisine. They generally consist of a cross-sectional "ring" of onion dipped in batter or bread crumbs and then deep fried; a variant is made with onion paste. While typically served as a side dish, onion rings are often eaten by themselves.
In great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranked and often the youngest of the female domestic servants and acted as assistants to a kitchen maid.
Chicken salad is any salad with chicken as a main ingredient. Other common ingredients include mayonnaise, hard-boiled egg, celery, onion, pepper, pickles and a variety of mustards.
Cauliflower cheese is a traditional English dish. It can be eaten as a main course, for lunch or dinner, or as a side dish.
Macaroni soup is soup that includes macaroni. The food was included in Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, where the connection with Italy is mentioned and the dish includes Parmesan cheese. In the early 19th century, macaroni soup was one of the most common dishes in Italian inns.
Oxford sausages are a distinctive variety of pork and veal sausage commonly associated with, and thought to have been developed in, the English city of Oxford. Traditionally, Oxford sausages are noted for the addition of veal, in contrast to many traditional British sausages which contain only pork, and their high level of spice seasoning. References to the "Oxford" style of sausage date back to at least the early 18th century, but it was more widely popularised owing to inclusion in Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, first published in 1861.
Veal liver and bacon is a dish containing veal liver and bacon.
The idea of drinking whisky with food is considered outré by many, but there is a growing interest in pairing whiskies with complementary foods. The Scotch whisky industry has been keen to promote this. Single malts, pot-still whiskies, bourbons, and rye whiskies offer an interesting range of tastes and aromas, which are just as varied as wine. Jake Wallis Simons compares whiskies in bourbon casks to white wines, due to their lighter flavor, and those in sherry casks to red wines, with their greater fruitiness. A few Scottish cook books contain reference to the use of whisky in cooking, and a few traditional Scottish recipes that use whisky exist.
Plum cake refers to a wide range of cakes usually made with dried fruits such as currants, raisins, sultanas, or prunes, and also sometimes with fresh fruits. There is a wide range of popular plum cakes and puddings. Since the meaning of the word "plum" has changed over time, many items referred to as plum cakes and popular in England since at least the eighteenth century have now become known as fruitcake. The English variety of plum cake also exists on the European mainland, but may vary in ingredients and consistency. British colonists and missionaries brought the dried fruit variety of cake with them, for example, in British India where it was served around the time of the Christmas holiday season. In America's Thirteen Colonies, where it became associated with elections, one version came to be called election cake.
Oyster sauce describes a number of sauces made by cooking oysters. The most common in modern use is a viscous dark brown condiment made from oyster extracts, sugar, salt and water, thickened with corn starch.
Curry, a spicy Indian-derived dish, is a popular meal in the United Kingdom. Curry recipes have been printed in Britain since 1747, when Hannah Glasse gave a recipe for a chicken curry. In the 19th century, many more recipes appeared in the popular cookbooks of the time. Curries in Britain are widely described using Indian terms, such as korma for a mild sauce with almond and coconut, Madras for a hot, slightly sour sauce, and pasanda for a mild sauce with cream and coconut milk. One type of curry, chicken tikka masala has become widespread enough to be described as the national dish of the United Kingdom.
