Monday, December 22, 2008

Culinary Culture Clashes


All this talk of Christmas Roasts makes me nostalgic about the traditional British Sunday Dinner and those scrumptiously fat Yorkshire Puddings my Mum is famous for.

I once made a traditional Sunday Dinner for my French friends and of course Yorkshire Puddings were on the menu. I’ve had my culinary disasters but it never crossed my mind that the Great British Tradition would be such a failure. The meat, vegetables and gravy were a huge hit but I was met with a hilarious array of astounded faces when I presented the plate of Yorkshire Puddings. I was now the crazy English girl who serves dessert with the main course. As I personally have no idea why they are called puddings, I simply invited my friends to taste them.

As the first mouthfuls were being chewed, strange expressions appeared on their faces and once swallowing had taken place, one of my friends turned to me and said « Interesting, but I don’t quite see the point ». It was my turn to be dismayed, I didn’t know that food had to have a point! The French will never cease to amaze me.

Whilst writing the above, it just occurred to me that for the Americans gravy is a sweet sauce that is generally served with biscuits. For those of you who don’t know, British gravy is a thick brown sauce. So for all of you who haven’t a clue of what I talking about, here are the recipes for Yorkshire Puddings and gravy.

Give them a try, they are the pride of Britain.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,

The French do have a thing about food.
Good for you for shaking them up a bit and breaking habits of savory avec savory and sweet avec sweet.

Pudding plays a good game, savory with a sweet name.

Tutta Rolf said...

Found your blog through your maman, and being a pauper myself i'm delighted to make your acquaintance!

Happy christmas.
/Tutta

paris parfait said...

At least they were willing to try something new! Looks and sounds delicious.

My Castle in Spain said...

oh my...now i feel bad to be French! it's true at times our obnoxious Frenchitude makes us act like fools regardind food...

please don't hate me...i even told an English lady once : "sorry i only eat French pastries"

but i LOVE Yorkshire puddings and the gravy too....

Ulla said...

What a delightful story! Sometimes the best things come in strange packages!!! I love your mix of easy to use and farmers kitchen table recipes. Already there are a few I want to give a try. My bread machine has been locked away for a couple of years, you tempt me to bring it out again! It must be facinating learning about French cuisine in an American enterprise - Disney himself would have been proud to know you. I hope you had a true International Christmas, and a wonderful New Year! I am adding you to my blog list, so I can come visit more often!!!

Unknown said...

Thank you Charlotte for this Yorkshire Pudding recipe. One of my friend's mother was a gourmet cook growing up and made the most delicious Sunday roast with Yorkshire puddings--I've always been in search for a great one--but have yet to find it in the US (and for some reason I forgot to look for it when I was last in London). Anyway, I will check back and let you know how it all turns out--thank you!!

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