What English food would you serve a Pole?

On PF people have asked what Polish dish should they whip up for their Polish parents-in-law, etc.
Turning things around, what typically English or British dishes do you think would appeal to the average Pole:
staek & kidney pie
bangers & mash
roast beef & Yorkshire pudding
shpherd's pie Cumberland sausage
baked beans
fish & chips
haggis....????

Different things appeal to different people, period!

The big problem here is that Britain, like Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands for example do not really have a national cuisine as such.

I think it's a misconception many Poles have. They are more likely to equate bad convenience food as being representative of British or Irish food but really they are just representative of bad diets - which exist everywhere.

In Britain & Ireland, you can go to a "themed" restaurant and have Italian, Indian, Greek - whatever. You can't really go to a British or Irish restaurant.

Britain and Ireland produce good quality food and world class restaurants but none of them are "British" or "Irish"

Yes, the food you mention is certainly associated with/invented in Britain but it's really just a nostalgic comfort thing - it's not that people up and down the country regularly eat stuff like this really. Plus - S&K pie, bangers & mash, fish and chips - they are far from unique.

More in terms of items/condiments, the Poles I know love salad cream and Branston pickle for example.

Yes, but someone should point out that sitting in front of the tv with a tablespoon and jar of branston is not the way to do it.

Ha ha - didn't know they liked it that much!

Or are you referring maybe to the slobbier side of British/Irish closed curtain wasterism?

EDIT:

Sorry about the mini half rant above OP, in response to the question I would cook a good steak (ribeye or sirloin - superior to the overrated and overpriced fillet as any afficionado knows) and proper roast potatoes. Not sure about veg though - carrots & parsnips mashed with butter, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg maybe? Sticky toffee pudding for desert.

I guess they would love mango chutney. Branston is leagues ahead of that. Salad cream and coleslaw go down well. SOLEH SLAV, lol

i refer to those in this house who know it will be a while before the next jar

salad cream goes down well, and quickly, too.

Of course, different people fancy different things. My question was: if yoru were asked to prepare a nice typically English dinner for a visiting foreign couple or delegation interested in learning about English cuisine (money being no object -- an important consideration for Brits!), what would you choose? I'd say roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. How about Brussels sprouts (or do those only go with turkey?). What about a salad? For dessert one of the famous English puddings or a crumble? Are there any good and typically English starters -- cold or warm?

tomato soup... without the damned rice

in fact as many soups as the Polish have

Prawn cocktail

Baked Potato

and

Roast Dinner

Steak pie with Certified Angus Beef (CAB), garlic mash and swimming in gravy.

Being married to an English woman, I disagree. I think England definitely has an English cuisine but it is underrated. One of the best meals I ever had was at a pub in downtown Scarborough. Roast Beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, peas, great traditional English meal.

England should do more to promote their cuisine.

OK, maybe - but could you name 5 more? That are actually eaten regularly?

when my family comes for a visit they expect me to impress them with local specialities. so i always give them cooked breakfast (especially beans).

Then we go for a pub meal. Roast dinner was tried out once and it was enjoyed.

I gave them a steak and a burger, but they were choking on the steak (medium was too undercooked) and thought I wanted to kill them with the burger (junk food)

Everyone has to try fish and chips once.

They were impressed with chocolate pudding and banoffee pie.

I would suggest that mush and bangers is not a good choice, because of the particular smell the sausages have - or at least warn them that sausages are made with 10% meat, milk, bread an soy.

Then we went to an Indian restaurant and had lots of fun eating 'traditional English curry'.

We also had cream tea in a tea room - that was nice.

Christ on a bike - where do you buy them??? Off gypsies, €1 for 100??

I wouldn't buy anything that has less then 85% meat.

those chipolatas in Sainsbury's are the most aggreable ones. or Lincolnshire sausages.

(85% - 10%, wht's the difference. warn them that sausage contains milk)

Pork pies! I brought some to Poland this week - people always like them here.

Also pot-roasted shoulder of lamb always goes down well.

Quite a big one to most people I would think.

I would give the the English traditonal supper. Chicken Korma and Rice. served with a Stella.

FAACKIN LAVVY MY SAN

stargazy pie, though if cooking in Poland substitute the pilchards for herring

excellent recipe here: cornishlight.co.uk/fish-recipe.htm

Sure, it's not hard, there are plenty of English dishes that are eaten regularly by the entire population.

Bangers & Mash
Toad in the Hole
Bubble & Squeak
Roast dinner
Beef Wellington
Fish & Chips
S & K Pie
Homity Pie
Pasties
English Breakfast
Cauliflower Cheese
Lancashire Hotpot
Ploughman's Lunch (on that note, THE ******* SANDWICH)
Shepherds Pie
Cottage Pie
Fish Pie
Pork Pie
Faggots
Roast Lamb & Mint

Tbh mate, all you're doing is showing your absolute ignorance to British cuisine and culture. You are just categorically wrong with your idea of our food.

"You can't go to a British themed restaurant" - Right, so you've never heard of a pub then? You know, that restaurant/bar that you will find down every damn street of every town? Yeah, none of those exist do they.

That mostly sell burgers etc

Not where I am (or anywhere else I've lived in the UK). In a decent pub (not a rough town-drinkers' one) you can usually get a decent pie, a roast, fish or scampi, maybe a mixed grill, plus regional dishes. There's also fish restaurants (especially in The North) and cafes can often surprise. My local one there (not at all posh or hipsterish) has two different pies plus a roast every day as well as the usual cafe stuff.


A British food that no Briton has eaten. Apparently they like it in China where they think it's typical British cuisine.

Yorkshire pudding always goes down well in Poland, as does Lancashire hotpot (but be careful with lamb; sometimes Poles aren't keen on it for some reason). Gammon goes down surprisingly well; it fits Polish tastes nicely but isn't a thing there. Roast potatoes are well received too. Potted shrimps go down well, as does pease pudding, Glamorgan sausages (great for vegetarian guests) and almost any British dessert. I tend to do something simple like summer pudding, Eton mess, cranaghan or a crumble (apple is easier in PL; the apples are good there however Polish rhubard is desperately bad quality). Gooseberry fool also goes down well.

Also roast mixed veg. I've done that a few times recently for Poles and Ukrainians, and the lot has been gobbled up quickly. My standby dish if I've guests and can't think what to do is chicken and apple casserole. It's not a fine-dining thing so you can muck around with ingredients and/or make the day before.

Here's the chicken and apple recipe. I got it from Farmhouse Kitchen, that Yorkshire TV show that was on in the 70s and 80s. Farmers' wives used to send in recipes, some of which had been passed down for generations and never written down.

8 chicken thighs or a (large) jointed chicken. I just use thighs from the supermarket.
4 green eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges. Don't use cooking apples since they turn to mush.
A sliced onion. The size depends on how big your leek is.
A leek, roughly sliced
A lemon
A big dollop of mustard or a teaspoon of mustard powder. Polish mustard works fine
A pint (600ml?) chicken stock. Fine to use Knorr or Winiary or similar. You can use half stock, half cider or white wine.
Whatever herbs you have. Tarragon is good in this, plus thyme and parsley.
Celery (sticks not celeriac, chop but not too finely; this is a country dish) and thick carrots cut in very big chunks. Both are optional.

Salt and pepper to taste.
Some flour, butter and oil

Put the onion in a heavy stew pan and soften, add carrots (if used) after a few minutes and braise for a while then add the celery (if used). Add more oil and butter to the pan. Toss the chicken in seasoned flour and cook gently until golden all over (no more than 10 minutes). After a few minutes, add the apples. If they start to caramelise, all the better. Add the leeks

Turn the heat up, add the lemon (juice and zest), add the mustard, add the stock and the wine and cider. Bring to the boil and add the herbs. Season, and put in a preheated oven for half to one hour. Stir now and again. Take the lid off towards the end. Because the chicken is already pretty well cooked, you don't need do do it for that long however it won't spoil if you do; just watch the temperature. Works well if you do it the night before and reheat when needed.

Serve with roast potatoes.

I've served this tons of times in Poland and it's always been well received.

There is some great pub food in the UK, often in the smallest towns and villages. I once stopped off in a tiny Welsh village and the local pub was serving the most delicious roast (local) lamb at a really reasonable price too. But don't you live in the UK Lenka? Or you did at one time? You must know there is some very good pub food.

@ Jon, the chicken dish sounds yummy. Thank you for taking the time to post the recipe. Do you leave the skin on the chicken thighs?

Yes, I leave it on.

I thought so. It would add to the stickiness - delish!

I'm in Midlands and most pubs will mostly serve burgers, nuggets etc, maybe a pie or two and roast. Steaks are usually to die for though.

I actually had that conversation with a British guy recently and he said the same thing- that pubs start to be all the same.

It's because they all belong to the same people. Here's an article that claims that 9 pub chains own 50% of all pubs in the UK.

Source: oxforddrinker.camra.org.uk/2022/02/the-nine-pubcos-who-control-over-half-of-all-pubs/

One of the companies, Stonegate, alone controls 4,470 pubs. That's really sad, to me, but I suppose its better that those pubs are continuing to be operated, rather than simply shut down once family can't be bothered to keep shop.