1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (3 page)

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One of life’s pleasantest indulgences is afternoon tea, preferably in London, although as this cosseting meal regains popularity, it can be enjoyed in upscale hotels and romantic tearooms around the world. A custom that originated in the nineteenth century, when life grew busier and the dinner hour grew later, a sustaining afternoon tea is a nibbler’s paradise. It begins with delectable crustless sandwiches trimmed into rounds or finger shapes. Spread with sweet or herb-seasoned butter, filled with thin slices of icy cucumber, ham, or smoked salmon, or with spreads of meat or shrimp paste and miniature cress, these dainty sandwiches are mere preludes to currant-studded scones and crumpets (the forerunners of the English muffin) and pound cakes such as the caraway seed classic (see
listing
), topped with clotted cream (see
listing
) and fruit jams and marmalades.

Overdo it on those temptations and you might have to skip the final display of fruit and cream pastries, set out on silver trays or footed cake stands. There are choices of teas, of course, ranging from the smoky lapsang souchong to the lemony, bergamot-scented Earl Grey, the subtle black Chinese oolong (see
listing
), and the complex Darjeeling (see
listing
), lusty enough to be considered the coffee-drinker’s tea. Milk or lemon? That depends upon the tea. There is even a choice of sugars, all delightful dilemmas presented amid flowers, bone china, and fine linens.

Newcomers take note: While the term
high tea
may seem to designate an even posher version of this afternoon meal, it actually denotes the opposite—a heavier meal that includes meat pies, spreads, and perhaps sausages, traditionally served as a tea-supper for working-class families.

Where:
In London
, The Ritz Hotel, tel 44/20-7300-2345,
theritzlondon.com
; The Connaught, tel 44/20-7499-7070,
the-connaught.co.uk
; Brown’s Hotel, tel 44/20-7518-4155,
brownshotel.com
; Claridge’s, tel 44/20-7409-6307,
claridges.co.uk
; Hyde Park Hotel, tel 44/20-7243-5000,
thehydepark.com
; Fortnum & Mason, tel 44/20-7734-8040,
fortnumandmason.com
; Harrods, tel 44/20-7730-1234,
harrods.com
;
in New York
, Tea & Sympathy, tel 212-989-9735,
teaandsympathynewyork.com
;
throughout the U.S.
, at most Four Seasons hotels, tel 800-819-5053,
fourseasons.com
.

The popularity of the dish inspires much variation, from rustic pub fare to luxury renditions.

Big, plump pork sausages sputter with savory juices atop a buttery nest of mashed potatoes, with overtones of pepper and a golden brown onion sauce lending a bittersweet burnish … This is bangers and mash, a lunch or dinner
favorite in English pubs and a satisfying homemade supper to boot. It appears in one of its most refined presentations at London’s stylish Green’s Restaurant, where Cumberland bangers are enhanced by strips of crisp, smoky bacon. More aromatic pork bangers hinting of sage, nutmeg, and mace are the specialty of Cumberland, while those from Yorkshire and Lancashire are based upon beef.

These sausages were dubbed bangers after World War I, when water added to stretch the scarce meat of the filling caused the frying sausages to burst—with a bang. Usually fried or grilled in their own fat, bangers emerge more plumply moist and golden when brushed with butter and oven roasted, especially if their casings are unbroken. (Ignore the advice of those who say they should be pierced before cooking.) Devotees shun mass-produced bangers, especially if skinless, and lean turkey or chicken bangers in favor of those made by artisanal butchers who use natural casings and a pork mix that includes just enough snowy fat to preserve juices.

Ideally, the boiled, starchy potatoes should not be pureed but rather broken down with an old-fashioned potato masher as butter and milk or cream are worked in. A few lumps add textural contrast, providing the right purchase for the roux-thickened onion gravy.

Where:
In London
, Green’s Restaurant, tel 44/20-7930-4566,
greens.org.uk
;
in New York
, Tea & Sympathy, tel 212-989-9735,
teaandsympathynewyork.com
;
in Austin, TX
, Banger’s Sausage House and Beer Garden, tel 512-386-1656,
bangersaustin.com
.
Mail order:
For bangers, R.J. Balson & Son, tel 321-281-9473,
balsonbutchers.com
.
Further information and recipes:
How to Cook Everything
by Mark Bittman (2006);
theguardian.com
(search bangers and mash).

Surrounded by the cold salt waters of the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Britain is a treasury of firm and flavorful fish, mollusks, and crustaceans—and there is no better showcase for its wares than a visit to the exciting Billingsgate Market at daybreak. Operating in the fish trade since the sixteenth century, the market dates back to 1400, when King Henry IV granted the city a charter to collect tolls at several such water gates on the Thames. Today the U.K.’s largest wholesale fish center, Billingsgate, is spread over thirteen acres near London’s Canary Wharf, providing a great adventure for all early risers (or night owls) who love seafood. Tuesday through Saturday, the colorfully boisterous market opens
to the clang of a bell that sounds an on-your-mark signal at 4:45 a.m., and fifteen minutes later a second bell vibrates through the fog-filled dawn, indicating that the market is open for business.

The market’s gleaming white interior is drippingly wet, hoses keeping floors and counters immaculate until closing time at 8:30 a.m. There is nary a hint of acrid fish odor, but rather a clean and cool, sea-air freshness, reinforced by the sight of the market workers in their spotless white coats; some will conduct training tours for novices in the fish trade and, on advance notice, can accommodate tourists. Buyers from shops and restaurants work the aisles—sniffing, touching, calculating—before placing orders. Members of the public can be found making their way through the market, too, although the really big days for nonprofessionals are Saturdays, when some 4,000 jam the aisles and parking lots.

There are many imports here, but pay closest attention to the delectable local specimens: halibut and salmon from Scottish and Irish waters, flat and snowy Dover sole, red-spotted plaice, huge diamond-shape slabs of turbot, members of the cod family including whiting and haddock, slim green-white pilchards halfway between herring and sardines, miniscule whitebait to be crunchily fried whole. You will find all gradations of squid, octopus, and shrimp; sparklingly briny oysters from Whitstable in Kent, as well as Colchesters and Blackwaters from Essex and Helfords from Cornwall; Dublin Bay prawns; Donegal crab; Scottish langoustines; whelks; cockles, which look like ridged scallops; blue mussels; and periwinkles, which are tiny stone-black sea snails. The variety itself (about 150 daily) is a tip-off to the diversity of London’s immigrant population; as seafood favored by each group is added to the larder, so, too, are sales staff speaking a United Nations of languages.

Two coffee shops restore market workers and visitors with hearty breakfasts, and it is said that if you buy a piece of fish at one of the stalls, cooks at the Piscatorial Café will prepare it for you.

Where:
Trafalgar Way, London, tel 44/20-7987-1118,
cityoflondon.gov.uk
(search billingsgate).

Soothing to stomach and spirit, English biscuits provide exactly the right foil for the firm and pungent cheeses of their home country. Technically, the word
biscuit
means twice-cooked, originally referring to rusklike biscotti or zwieback that were baked, then sliced and toasted, and other long-lasting varieties that were boiled prior to being baked. Today, in its English usage, the term describes all sorts of crisp crackers that are not to be confused with the fluffy, buttery biscuit rolls of the American South (see
listing
).

The most authentic English biscuits are made by Carr’s, Hovis, Jacobs, and McVitie’s, and their offerings range from simple, lean white water biscuits to thicker, creamier varieties and sweet, cookielike, rustic whole wheat or whole-meal types considered digestives in England. (Companies are no longer allowed to make that claim in the U.S.) Most producers also offer the biscuits in pepper, cheese, or herb varieties that do nothing but compromise the flavors of cheese and limit the delightful crackers’ versatility.

Charcoal biscuits are an unusual variant—dusky gray, cosseting, chiplike wafers popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as gastrointestinal purifiers, and still used as such today. Composed of willow charcoal powder, wheat flour, eggs, salt, and the merest hint of sugar, they are teasingly gritty on the tongue yet innocently neutral in flavor, working as palate cleansers after intensely sweet desserts.

Where:
In New York
, Myers of Keswick, tel 212-691-4194,
myersofkeswick.com
.
Mail order:
British Corner Shop,
britishcornershop.com
(search digestives); amazon.com (search original digestive biscuits).
Further information and recipes:
1200 Traditional English Recipes
by Ethel Meyer (2010);
food.com
(search english digestive biscuits).
Tip:
Look for Carr’s, Jacobs, McVitie’s, Hovis, or Miller’s Damsels brands in upscale supermarkets and gourmet food stores.

With crisply fried outer edges enveloping a succulently emollient, meaty interior, hash made with the filling of black blood pudding sausages is a delicious first course or breakfast garnish for eggs—no matter how forbidding it may sound. It is a popular dish in Lancashire, where the sausages are made by the Bury Black Pudding Company—one of several local, esteemed producers—and also sold hot and ready to eat from their Bury Market stall.

Black pudding hash isn’t just for morning fry-ups anymore. Seasoned with a hint of onion and perhaps a touch of cloves and cinnamon, it often is elegantly served as a dinner appetizer at Roast, the lively modern restaurant above the Borough Market in London. Cool, sour-sweet applesauce cuts the richness of the meat for an intriguing effect.