Britain's traditional dishes may be a little eccentric (toad in the hole, chip butty or jam roly-poly, anyone?), but they're undeniably delicious – and their comfort food credentials are second to none. This British Food Fortnight (16 September to 1 October), we're celebrating British cuisine in all its quirky glory by taking a look back at some of our finest food creations, from meat pies and savoury puddings to fruity, boozy desserts. Click or scroll through our gallery to learn more about the classic dishes that have helped to shape the nation.
Kippers are herring that have been sliced in half, salted or pickled, then smoked. The dish became popular in England during Victorian times, when the cheap, oily, pungent-smelling fish were eaten for breakfast or as an after-work meal by the working class. These days they’re much less common, but you’ll still find kippers on toast and kipper omelettes in old-school restaurants.
Perfect for enjoying with a cup of tea, Eccles cakes are golden, buttery pastries not to be confused with Christmassy mince pies. Made with flaky pastry, the disc-shaped sweet treats are filled with currants and spices (hence the rather unappetising nickname 'squashed fly cakes'). They hail from the town of Eccles, part of Greater Manchester, but they're eaten all over the UK.
The ultimate comfort food, shepherd’s pie is an easy dish that pairs a meaty minced lamb sauce with a mashed potato topping. Chopped carrots, onion, wine and Worcestershire sauce usually go into the sauce for flavour, making this classic dish very similar to another British favourite: cottage pie, which uses minced beef instead of lamb. A popular dinner across the UK, it's been around for centuries.
Cottage pie is practically the same as shepherd's pie, aside from the fact that it's made with minced beef, not lamb. This beefy creation is the elder of the two dishes, dating all the way back to the late 1700s (the first recipes for shepherd’s pie started to appear in the late 19th century). The combination of rich, slow-cooked beef and fluffy mashed potato makes for a delicious winter warmer.
Many countries have their own tasty takes on roast meat, so what makes a British roast dinner so unique? First of all, it's a weekly tradition. This home-cooked meal is shared with the family, usually on a Sunday, as well as on special occasions like Christmas Day. Whether you serve Yorkshire pudding – a crispy, puffed-up, batter-based side dish – depends on whether you’re having chicken, lamb, pork or beef; sticklers say it should be paired with roast beef only. However, seasonal vegetables, roast potatoes and gravy are always essential.
This frugal dessert features layers of buttered stale bread and raisins, baked in creamy custard. One of the earliest printed recipes for bread and butter pudding appeared in 1728, and the dish hasn't changed much since then. Stodgy and comforting, it’s still served in pubs and homes throughout the UK – often with a dollop of cream or ice cream on the side.
Made with fresh strawberries, broken meringues and whipped cream, Eton mess is a classic dessert that shares the first word of its name with the private boarding school in Windsor that was attended by Princes William and Harry. Some people say it was invented at a cricket match on college grounds in the 19th century, when a dessert was accidentally dropped on the floor. Whether the story's true or not, it remains a firm summer favourite to this day.
The lunch of choice for 19th-century miners, Cornish pasties were easily portable; the crust could be used as a handle, and would be thrown away after the pie was eaten. Made from shortcrust pastry and crimped down one side, traditional pasties contain minced beef, potato, swede, onion and seasoning. Although they're made and eaten throughout Britain nowadays, a true Cornish pasty must be made to the west of the River Tamar in Cornwall.
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A match made in heaven, fish and chips is a classic pairing that dates back to the 19th century. To make the dish, white fish (such as cod or haddock) is coated in a crunchy batter, served with thick, fluffy chips, then drenched in salt and vinegar. On a Friday night, families all over the nation pick up this British delicacy from their local chippy, lovingly wrapped in paper. A side of mushy peas is also a must!
Originally a working class lunch from the north of England, the chip butty’s origins can be traced to a chip shop in Oldham, Lancashire, in the 1860s. It was originally made with a barm cake (a soft, round bread roll), though these days, it’s just as common to see fat chips stuffed between two slices of buttered white bread and covered in ketchup.
Another fast food favourite, battered sausages are made in the same way as crispy fish: by dipping them in batter, then deep-frying them in hot oil. It's the go-to menu option of fish-phobes when the Friday night chip shop order is being put in, and it tastes wonderful with a side of chips and curry sauce.
A quintessential English dessert, trifle has played a starring role at banquets and birthday parties since the 18th century. It’s usually served in a glass bowl to show off its different layers: booze-soaked sponge, fruit, jelly, custard and cream. Two trifles are rarely the same, as each layer can have so many different variations.
One of the most popular curries in Britain, chicken tikka masala features juicy chicken chunks in a rich, mildly spiced tomato sauce. Although many people consider it to be an Indian dish, it's likely that it was first invented at a curry house in Glasgow in the 1970s; the story goes that chef Ali Ahmed Aslam created the sauce from a tin of condensed tomato soup when a customer complained that their chicken was too dry.
The hearty fry-up is one of England’s most ubiquitous dishes, found on menus everywhere from home kitchens and casual cafés to fancy restaurants. Its contents can vary greatly, though it usually features bacon, sausage, fried, scrambled or poached eggs, baked beans and a side of toast. However, mushrooms, tomatoes, black pudding, hash browns and fried bread are all common additions.
Amusingly named spotted dick dates back to the mid-19th century – with 'spotted' referring to it being dotted with fruit, and 'dick' meaning dough in Old English. It’s made with suet, flour, dried fruit and brandy, and steamed, like many desserts of its time. It's perfect served drizzled with custard.
Similar to French boudin noir, black pudding is sausage made from blood (usually pigs' blood), plus fat and oatmeal. It’s normally cut into slices, fried and served as part of a hearty breakfast, but it can also be crumbled over soups, stirred into stews or used as a stuffing. It’s very divisive, but still has enough fans to be sold at butchers all over Britain.
Potted shrimp is made from the small brown shrimp found in the waters around North Norfolk and Morecambe Bay, as opposed to prawns (which are larger and can be found throughout the British Isles). The sweet shellfish are boiled, shelled and preserved in butter spiced with mace, nutmeg, pepper and cloves, making a great spread to slather over warm toast.
At one point, jellied eels was the most popular dish in London. In the 18th century, the River Thames was brimming with the creatures, so they were often caught and eaten as a snack – chopped, boiled and set in clear gelatine. They were also sometimes served alongside another classic London dish: pie and mash. Sadly, there are just a few establishments left in the East End that still serve this slippery delicacy.
Despite their name, Scotch eggs aren’t Scottish in origin. It’s believed they were first widely produced at fancy London department store Fortnum & Mason in 1738, and sold to travellers heading west from Piccadilly. Perfect picnic or pub food, the portable snack is made by coating a cooked egg in sausage meat, then deep-frying to perfection.
Another picnic, pub and party platter essential, sausage rolls are made by encasing sausage meat in puff pastry, then baking in the oven. Miniature, jumbo-sized, hot or cold, this snack has been enjoyed by Brits for centuries, so we were horrified when US store Trader Joe’s claimed to have invented a suspiciously similar dish called 'puff dogs' in 2017.
In America, pigs in blankets are frankfurters wrapped in croissant dough – a bit like the British sausage roll. But in the UK, they’re something entirely different. Served almost exclusively at Christmas, pigs in blankets are made by wrapping chipolatas in bacon and baking in the oven. Combining two of the country’s favourite pork products, the bite-size appetisers are juicy and crispy at the same time.
We Brits love a savoury pie – and the pork pie, which is eaten cold, makes for a quick and easy lunch (essentially, it’s old-fashioned fast food). The best pork pies are handmade, with hot water crust pastry (made with lard, boiling water and flour), seasoned pork and stock jelly. They hail from the Midlands, where a number of tasty varieties are still made today.
Saucy, spongy and sugary, sticky toffee pudding is one of the richest desserts you can eat. To make it, a golden sponge cake filled with chopped dates is cut into squares, then served with a ladle of caramel sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. While some might think this British dessert dates back centuries, it was actually first served at the Lake District’s Sharrow Bay Hotel in the 1970s.
A Scottish dish, haggis is made from minced sheep's heart, liver and lungs, plus oatmeal, onions, suet and spices. It used to be stuffed into a cleaned animal's stomach for cooking, but nowadays synthetic casings are often used. It’s traditionally eaten alongside neeps and tatties (mashed turnip and potatoes) on Burns Night (25 January), to celebrate the life and works of poet Robert Burns.
Basically a fancy version of cheese on toast, Welsh rarebit is a dish that's been cooked since the 18th century and, despite a similar-sounding name, has nothing to do with rabbit. Grated Cheddar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and spices (and sometimes wine or beer) are added to a béchamel sauce – and the rich, cheesy, spicy mix is then poured all over toasted bread.
Another sweet, stodgy British dessert designed to make sure you’re full, jam roly-poly is made by spreading jam on top of suet pastry, rolling it up like a roulade, then steaming. Although it's not as popular today as it once was, home cooks still make their own family recipes, including versions stuffed with mincemeat (the sweet, fruity kind).
If you don’t know what this dish is, you’ll never guess from the name alone. A way of using up leftover vegetables, bubble and squeak usually features the likes of cooked onion, carrot, cabbage, swede and kale, plus mashed potato, which binds it all together. It’s fried in a pan – sometimes with a little bacon or leftover meat added – in small patties, or as one big potato cake. It's delicious with a fried egg on top.
This strange and magical pie is a Cornish tradition, baked and eaten in the coastal village of Mousehole on 23 December each year. It features whole (gutted and boned) herrings and pilchards with their heads gazing through the crust of the pie, plus chopped eggs and bacon in a creamy, herby sauce. Not many people have tried it, but those who have love it.
A slow-cooked Scottish dish, beef olives are made by wrapping thinly sliced steak around sausage meat, black pudding or haggis. The parcels are then braised in gravy with onion and vegetables for a couple of hours while you go and work up an appetite. It’s comfort food at its finest.
'You either love it or hate it' is Marmite’s slogan – but most people in Britain tend to be in the 'love' camp, slathering the salty spread onto toast every morning. Made from leftover brewers' yeast, it was invented by German scientist Justus von Liebig in the UK in 1902. It's been popular ever since, and was even included in soldiers' rations during the First World War.
A dish of flaked, smoked haddock, hard-boiled eggs and spiced rice, kedgeree has been a go-to brunch dish since Victorian times. Brought back from India by British colonisers, it’s thought to have been inspired by a dish called khichuri, which sees rice and lentils paired with fried fish. Originally, kedgeree was only flavoured with salt, pepper and cayenne, but these days other seasonings such as curry powder, turmeric, cardamom, chilli, garlic and cumin are added.
Too tired to cook? Beans on toast is the answer! Every Brit knows how to make this classic, zero-effort dish: simply toast two slices of bread, heat up a tin of baked beans, then pour them over the toast (and if you're feeling fancy, sprinkle some grated Cheddar over the top). It’s a fail-safe, country-wide dish that has been around for nearly as long as branded baked beans have.
A British cream tea is an afternoon ritual featuring scones, jam, clotted cream and a pot of tea. Clotted cream is different from double cream in that it’s thick enough to spread; here, it's used in place of butter. Tea rooms in Devon and Cornwall specialise in serving these, but you can find the sweet treat all over the country. The big debate is whether to add the cream or the jam first...
A much-loved dish of sausages baked in batter, toad in the hole was a school cafeteria favourite and staple midweek meal back in the day. To make it, you pour a mixture of flour, eggs and milk into a searingly hot pan of cooked sausages and fat, then bake until it’s puffed up and crispy. It’s reminiscent of a giant Yorkshire pudding, and often comes served with mashed potato and gravy.