TRADITIONAL BRITISH FOOD

What do British people eat?

RED VELVET                      

Red Velvet cake is chocolate cake with either a red, bright red or red-brown color. It is traditionally prepared as a layer cake topped with cream cheese or cooked roux icing. It is commonly served on Christmas or Valentine's Day When foods were rationed during World War II, bakers used boiled beet juices to enhance the color of their cakes. Beets are found in some red velvet cake recipes, where they also serve to retain moisture. Adams Extract, a Texas company, is credited with bringing the red velvet cake to kitchens across America during the Great Depression era, by being one of the first to sell red food coloring and other flavor extracts with the use of point-of-sale posters and tear-off recipe cards. The cake and its original recipe are well known in the United States from New York City's famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which has dubbed the confection Waldorf-Astoria cake. However, it is widely considered a Southern recipe. Traditionally, red velvet cake is iced with a French-style butter roux icing (also called ermine icing), which is very light and fluffy, but time-consuming to prepare. Cream cheese frosting and buttercream frosting are variations which have increased in popularity (ANDREA TESTA)

APPLE PIE

An apple pie is a fruit pie, in which the principal filling ingredient is apple. It is, on occasion, served with whipped cream or ice cream on top, or alongside cheddar cheese. The pastry is generally used top-and-bottom, making it a double-crust pie; the upper crust may be a circular or a pastry lattice woven of crosswise strips. Depending on the baker's preference, the bottom of the double-crust may be baked first (before baking the whole pie) to prevent the bottom from getting soggy. Exceptions are deep-dish apple pie, with a top crust only, and open-face Tarte Tatin

English apple pie recipes go back to the time of Chaucer. The 1381 recipe (see illustration at right) lists the ingredients as good apples, good spices, figs, raisins and pears. The cofyn of the recipe is a casing of pastry. Saffron is used for colouring the pie filling.

In English-speaking countries, apple pie is a dessert of enduring popularity, whether it's eaten hot or cold, on its own or with ice cream, double cream, or custard.

Apple pie was brought to the colonies by the British, Dutch, and Swedes during the 17th and 18th centuries. The apple pie had to wait for the planting of European varieties, brought across the Atlantic, to become fruit-bearing apple trees, to be selected for their cooking qualities as there were no native apples except crabapples, which yield very small and sour fruit. In the meantime, the colonists were more likely to make their pies, or "pasties", from meat, calling them coffins (meaning basket) rather than fruit; and the main use for apples, once they were available, was in cider. However, there are American apple pie recipes, both manuscript and printed, from the 18th century, and it has since become a very popular dessert. Apple varieties are usually propagated by grafting, as clones, but in the New World, planting from seeds was more popular, which quickly led to the development of hundreds of new native varieties. (Ernesto De Vendictis)

La cheescake:
An ancient form of cheesecake may have
been a popular dish in ancient Greece even prior to
Romans' adoption of it with the conquest of
Greece.
The earliest attested mention of a cheesecake
is by the Greek physician Aegimus, who wrote a
book on the art of making cheesecakes
(πλακουντοποιικόν σύγγραμμα—
plakountopoiikon suggramma),.
The earliest extant cheesecake recipes are
found which includesrecipes for two cakes for
religious uses: libum and placenta. Of the
two, placenta is most like most modern
cheesecakes, having a crust that is separately
prepared and baked.
A more modern version is found in Forme of Cury, an
English cookbook from 1390.
On this basis, chef Heston Blumenthal has argued that
cheesecake is an English invention.
Modern commercial American cream cheese
was developed in 1872, when William
Lawrence, fromChester, New York, while looking for a
way to recreate the soft, French cheese Neufchâtel,
accidentally came up with a way of making
an "unripened cheese" that is heavier and
creamier; other dairymen came up with
similar creations independently.
Modern cheesecake comes in two different
types. Along with the baked cheesecake, some
cheesecakes are made with uncooked cream-
cheese on a crumbled-biscuit base. This type
of cheesecake was invented in the United
States.
Cheesecake :is a sweet dessert consisting
of one or more layers. The main, andthickest layer, consists of a mixture of soft,
freshcheese (typicallycream cheese orricotta), eggs, and
sugar; if there is a bottom layer it often
consists of a crust or base made from
crushedcookies (or digestive biscuits), graham crackers,
pastry, or sponge cake.(Elvira)

CHEESECAKE ALLA FRAGOLA

This delicacy made in the USA is one of the most versatile dessert that pleases everyone's taste. Delicious in its simplicity and with a delicious touch given by the base made shortbread with chocolate and a tasty topping of dark chocolate curls. cheesecake with strawberries is the perfect dessert to serve in the summer season. It is very delicate, sweet enough, and with a delicious strawberry jelly onthe surface. (Enrico Nardone)

BANGERS AND MASH

Bangers and mash, also known as sausages and mash, is a traditional British Isles dish made of mashed potatoes and sausages, the latter of which may consist of a variety of flavoured sausage made of pork or beef or a Cumberland sausage. It is sometimes served with onion gravy, fried onions, baked beans, or peas. It is mostly eaten in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

This dish, even when cooked at home, may be relatively quick and easy to make in large quantities.

Although it is sometimes stated that the term "bangers" has its origins in World War II, the term was actually in use at least as far back as 1919. The term "bangers" is attributed (in common usage in the UK) to the fact that sausages made during World War I, when there were meat shortages, were made with such a high water content that were more liable to pop under high heat when cooked; modern sausages do not have this attribute. (Francesco Belli)

Christmas Crackers

Christmas crackers, also known as bon-bons, are part of Christmas celebrations primarily in the United Kingdom.
A cracker consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper with a prize in the central chamber, making it resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper. 
The cracker is pulled by two people, which causes the cracker to split unevenly, with one person holding the centre chamber of the cracker where the prizes are contained. The split is accompanied by a mild bang or snapping sound produced by the effect of friction on a shock-sensitive, chemically impregnated card strip (similar to that used in a cap gun). One chemical used for the friction strip is silver fulminate
Assembled crackers are typically sold in boxes of three to twelve. These typically have different designs usually with red, green, and gold colours. Making crackers from scratch using tissue paper and the tubes from toilet rolls is a common activity for children. (Federica Cogliandro)

Fish and chips

Fish and chips is a kind of food that originally came from the United Kingdom. It is a popular kind of fast food in some parts of the world. As the name says, it made of chips and a deep fried fish fillet. Shops and restaurants that have fish and chips are easy to find in England and Wales. They are common in British cities. The first Fish and Chips were found in the East end of London in the late 19th Century. So they are not as traditional as we think. Traditionally, cod, haddock, or (rarely) flounder are used to make fish and chips. Of these, cod is by far the most popular. Other fish with white meat can be used as well, for example whiting or plaice. Many places that serve fish and chips have more than one kind of fish. The customers can then choose what kind of fish they want...

The fish is always dipped in batter, which is a kind of liquid mixture which hardens upon frying. After that, it will be fried for a short time. The phrase 'fish & chips' implies that it will be fried in batter; of course, in a fish restaurant, grilling or boiling would be alternatives. Fish cooked like that do not have batter. Typically Fish and Chips is eaten with lots of vinegar and salt.

The chips are made from sliced potatoes. They are larger than French fries. Large slices of potatoes are fried. (Stefano Paglia)

Porridge

The porridge is a simple dish made by boiling oats in water, sometimes milk or both. If made from oat meal, it can be similar to an oat porridge, but generally more liquid and less concerted.

In Britain it is a breakfast food, often consumed with the addition of sugar, fruit compote or jam. In Slavic countries the porridge can sometimes replace the potatoes. (MARCO SACCO)

Cupcakes
A cupcake is a small cake designed to serve one person, which may be baked in a small thin paper or aluminum cup. As with larger cakes, icing and other cake decorations, such as candy, may be applied.
The first mention of the cupcake can be traced as far back as 1796, when a recipe notation of "a light cake to bake in small cups" was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. The earliest documentation of the term cupcake was in "Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats" in 1828 in Eliza Leslie's Receipts cookbook.
In the early 19th century, there were two different uses for the name cup cake or cupcake. In previous centuries, before muffin tins were widely available, the cakes were often baked in individual pottery cups, ramekins, or molds and took their name from the cups they were baked in. This is the use of the name that has remained, and the name of "cupcake" is now given to any small cake that is about the size of a teacup. While English fairy cakes vary in size more than American cupcakes, they are traditionally smaller and are rarely topped with elaborate icing.
The other kind of "cup cake" referred to a cake whose ingredients were measured by volume, using a standard-sized cup, instead of being weighed. Recipes whose ingredients were measured using a standard-sized cup could also be baked in cups; however, they were more commonly baked in tins as layers or loaves. 
The names of these two major classes of cakes were intended to signal the method to the baker; "cup cake" uses a volume measurement. (Alessandra Valente)

Doughnut

It is a type of dessert food. The doughnut is popular in many countries and prepared in varius forms. Doughnuts are usually type fried from a flour dough. Other types of batters can also ne used, such as sugar chocolate, or maple glazing. In adiction to flour, doughnuts may also include such ingredients as water eggs, milk, sugar, oil. Donuts are often accompanied by coffee. (Christian Mazzarella)

(Angela Di Mario)

(Alessandro Raso)

TRIFLE (zuppa inglese)

Trifle in English cuisine is a dessert made with fruit, a thin layer of sponge fingers or sponge cake soaked in sherry or another fortified wine, and custard. It can be topped with whipped cream. The fruit and sponge layers may be suspended in fruit-flavoured jelly, and these ingredients are usually arranged to produce three or four layers.

The name trifle was used for a dessert like a fruit fool in the sixteenth century; by the eighteenth century, Hannah Glasse records a recognisably modern trifle, with the inclusion of a gelatin jelly.

(Prof.ssa Pomponio)