[Mad Dawg]

You know that in almost every matter I throw myself at your feet, right? Good, because now I have to say:

Harrumph!

My late aunt, of the extreme Limey persuasion, born within the sound of Bow Bells and all, could cook so beautifully that it would make you weep. The day I passed my canonical exams in the Pspsicola Church (12/31/76) there was an unsually low tide in Oyster Bay. While I was sweating the last day of exams, my family was out gathering oysters! That night we had Oyster Stew and Beef Wellington, all cooked by Auntie Peggy.

Wow! Trifle for dessert! Nirvana!

[AnAmericanMother]

Minor point -- trifle is a Scottish dish. And the Duke of Wellington probably had a French chef (most of the upper class did at that time), and the recipe's inclusion of puff pastry, truffles and duxelle mushrooms indicates a French origin . . . .

I wasn't saying anything about English home cooking, there is good food to be had among friends and relatives, so long as they're not of the "boil the vegetables to mush, don't season anything, and make sure the meat is tough" school.

It's the restaurant and pub food that's inedible. Even Dr. Samuel Johnson (who thought dining at his favorite tavern was as close to heaven on earth as one could get) warned that "the safest dish in an English tavern is a fowl."