What Makes Britain Great #19
We British love our Sunday roasts! These usually consist of roasted meat with potatoes and vegetables, covered in gravy. The most British of meats is beef (which is why the French call us ‘rosbifs’, but that’s a different story), chicken, lamb and pork are also popular alternatives. Each roast meat comes with its own accompaniment; Yorkshire puddings (batter baked in the oven) are served with roast beef, stuffing is served with chicken, mint sauce with lamb and apple sauce with pork. Seasonally duck, goose, gammon, turkey or other game birds are also enjoyed as part of a Sunday roast.
The tradition for Sunday roasts dates back centuries, originating in England as a meal to be eaten after church on Sunday. Eating a large meal following church services is common to all of the continent of Europe as with other Christian countries, but the Sunday roast variant of this meal is uniquely English.
It is common for any leftovers from the Sunday’s roast dinner to be saved as a quick midweek meal of ‘bubble and squeak’ which is a chopped and fried version of the roasted dish.
Hmmm – this making me feel hungry just thinking about it!