My wife recently made a visit out to spend a few days with Becky and Ronan Head. The benefit of this to me became readily apparent yesterday around dinner time. Yesterday, Allison made English roasted potatoes and Yorkshire pudding learned from her stay with Becky to go with our pork roast for our Sunday feast. Allison also made applesauce for the pork roast, following Ronan’s lead.
Thank you Ronan and Becky for your hospitality and for equipping Allison with more authentic English recipes! We enjoy them so much around here. I was feeling so English last night after dinner that I had to put on my college tie and a tweed for the stake fireside. (And the Yorkshire pudding was a huge hit with the kids. They gobbled up several helpings.)
ABEV: a bird's eye view 
You’re more than welcome John! Nothing beats roast potatoes and yorkshire puddings! Yummm!
No fair, you make my mouth water!!! I love roast beef and yorkshire pudding…did you have triffle for dessert? I love that stuff and miss it.
We are planning on going to England again a year from May!
Very fun for Allison! Mmmmm. Yorkshire pudding! Everytime I hear the name I think of my grandfather. Thanks for sharing!
But did he tell you how long to boil the peas in order to get them to the perfect state of swamp-like English sogginess?
(Personally, I have a hard time keeping that recipe straight. Is it three hours of boiling, or four? I always get it mixed up.)
Kaimi,
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong.
Kaimi, you rascal! You have a great device there in notes from all over because one cannot answer charges made there!
No dissent will brooked. No brussels sprouts will be eaten. No peas will be boiled.
Kaimi, your knee-jerk prejudices are showing. Mushy peas aren’t just overcooked regular peas. They are their own dish. Cooked well English food is as good as anyone else’s. The myth otherwise has some basis in reality, a reality mostly but not only having to do with WWII rationing and the American GIs reports on English food that resulted. Nevertheless, it is a myth. There are a tremendous number of Michelin starred restaurants in London, and today no one can beat the Brits when it comes to being foodies.
And even my dining hall at Oxford usually had great food, especially at high table. Our Italian cook specialized in English fare.
It wasn’t just WWII rationiong and GI reports on British food.
My uncle served in the British Mission in the late 30’s, and came home with all the same reports of lousy overcooked food.
He claimed that his teeth were never the same after that because they didn’t do any work for two years.
Sorry, Jim, but I remain unconvinced, and nothing you or anyone else says can change that. No one will alter my view of English cooking — not a philosophy professor, not a culinary prodigy, not a world traveler, not . . .
Hold on one second. I’ll finish this comment in a bit — right now, Nigella is on TV.
mmmmm… Nigella.
Shame Kaimi you on the other coast – I bet if I could cooked you dinner I could change your mind about British food!