British food is at its best in the place it comes from. Many of the country’s most famous dishes are tied to a particular town or region, and some are protected by law, so they can only be made there. Eating them where they were born is part of the pleasure.
Here are ten classic dishes and the towns where they taste most like themselves. A road trip around all ten would be a fine thing indeed. For each, we have included a little history and where to try it.
1. Cornish pasty, Cornwall
The Cornish pasty is one of the most famous foods in Britain. It is a D shaped pastry case, crimped along one side, filled with beef, potato, swede and onion, seasoned with salt and pepper. It is baked until golden.
The pasty has been eaten in Cornwall for centuries, and it is closely linked with the county’s tin miners. The story goes that the thick crimped crust acted as a handle, so miners with dirty hands could hold it and throw the crust away. Whether or not that is true, the pasty was the perfect portable lunch.
A genuine Cornish pasty has protected status, which means it must be made in Cornwall to a traditional recipe. Pasty shops are found in every Cornish town. Every Cornish family has its own opinion on who makes the best.
The World Pasty Championships are held in Cornwall each year, with competitors from around the world. Try a pasty warm, sitting by a harbour. In Cornwall, swede is often called turnip.
2. Fish and chips, Whitby
Fish and chips is Britain’s best loved takeaway, and it has been for more than a hundred and fifty years. The first fish and chip shops opened in the 1860s, and by the early twentieth century there were tens of thousands across the country. During the Second World War, fish and chips was one of the few foods never rationed.
In the north of England and Scotland, haddock is the most popular fish, while in the south, cod is more common. The fish is coated in batter and fried, and served with thick chips, salt and vinegar. Mushy peas, tartare sauce, curry sauce and gravy are popular extras, depending on where you are.
Every seaside town has a claim to the best fish and chips, but Whitby, on the North Yorkshire coast, has one of the strongest. Its fishing boats land fish at the harbour, and its chip shops are famous. Eating fish and chips on the harbour wall, with the ruins of Whitby Abbey on the cliff above, is a classic British experience.
Whitby is also famous for inspiring Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and the 199 steps up to the abbey are a Whitby tradition. Watch out for the seagulls, which are bold and hungry. The town is busy in summer.
3. Balti, Birmingham
The balti is Birmingham’s own curry, and it has become one of the city’s most famous exports. It is cooked quickly over a high heat and served sizzling in the thin steel bowl it was cooked in. It is usually eaten with a large naan bread, torn and used to scoop up the curry.
The balti is said to have been popularised in Birmingham in the 1970s by restaurant owners with roots in Pakistan and Kashmir. The word balti means bucket. The dish spread from Birmingham across Britain.
The area where the balti was born, around Ladypool Road, Stoney Lane and Stratford Road in the south of the city, is known as the Balti Triangle. Many of its restaurants have been run by the same families for decades. Some let you bring your own drinks.
Birmingham has a huge range of South Asian restaurants, from simple cafés to fine dining. Eating a balti in the Balti Triangle is a Birmingham rite of passage. See our Birmingham guide.
4. Bakewell pudding, Bakewell
The Bakewell pudding comes from the town of Bakewell, in the Peak District of Derbyshire. It is a puff pastry case filled with a layer of jam and a rich filling of egg, butter and sugar, baked until golden. It is not to be confused with the Bakewell tart.
According to local legend, the pudding was invented by accident in the nineteenth century at an inn in the town, when a cook misunderstood the instructions for a jam tart and poured the egg mixture over the jam instead of mixing it into the pastry. The result was so popular that it became a local speciality. Several shops in the town claim to use the original recipe.
The Bakewell tart, which is found all over Britain, is a different thing: a shortcrust pastry case with jam and an almond sponge filling, often topped with icing and a cherry. Locals are quick to point out the difference. Both are delicious.
Bakewell is a pretty market town on the River Wye, with a medieval bridge and a busy market. It is a great base for exploring the Peak District, and Chatsworth is nearby. Try the pudding warm with custard or cream.
5. Melton Mowbray pork pie, Leicestershire
The Melton Mowbray pork pie comes from the market town of Melton Mowbray, in Leicestershire. It is a hand raised pie, made with a hot water crust pastry, filled with chopped, uncured pork and a layer of jelly. It has a distinctive bow shape, because it is baked without a tin.
Unlike other pork pies, the meat in a Melton Mowbray pie is uncured, so it stays grey when cooked rather than turning pink. The pies are said to have become popular with the fox hunters of the area in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who carried them as a portable meal. The Melton Mowbray pork pie has protected status, like champagne.
Melton Mowbray calls itself the rural capital of food, and it is also a centre of Stilton cheese making. Pie shops in the town sell pies of every size. One shop has been making pork pies for more than a century and a half.
Pork pies are traditionally eaten cold, often with pickle or mustard, as part of a picnic or a ploughman’s lunch. Melton Mowbray holds a food festival every year. It is about half an hour from Leicester and Nottingham.
6. Eccles cake, Eccles
The Eccles cake comes from the town of Eccles, just west of Manchester city centre in Salford. It is a small, round cake of flaky pastry, filled with currants and sugar, with slits cut in the top. It is sometimes called a squashed fly cake by children, because of the currants.
Eccles cakes have been made in the town since at least the eighteenth century, and they were sold at the town’s festivals. Legend says they were once banned by the Puritans because of their links with religious festivals. They have been popular across Britain ever since.
The Chorley cake, from the Lancashire town of Chorley, is a cousin of the Eccles cake, made with shortcrust pastry instead of flaky. Both are delicious with a cup of tea. Some people eat Eccles cakes with a slice of Lancashire cheese, a local tradition.
Eccles cakes are sold in bakeries all over Manchester and the North West. They are easy to carry and perfect for a picnic. See our Salford guide.
7. Lancashire hotpot, Lancashire
Lancashire hotpot is one of the great dishes of the north of England. It is a stew of lamb or mutton and onions, topped with a layer of thinly sliced potatoes, and slow cooked in the oven until the potatoes are golden and crisp. It is simple, hearty and delicious.
The dish is said to have been popular with the mill workers of Lancashire in the nineteenth century, as it could be left to cook slowly while they worked long hours. Its name comes from the deep pot in which it was cooked. Every family has its own recipe.
Hotpot is traditionally served with pickled red cabbage, which cuts through the richness of the meat. It is ideal on a cold night. Many pubs across Lancashire serve it.
The dish became famous across Britain thanks to a long running television soap opera set in Manchester, whose pub served hotpot to its regulars. It remains a favourite in Lancashire and the North West. It is best eaten in a cosy pub with a pint of local ale.
8. Haggis, Scotland
Haggis is Scotland’s national dish. It is made from sheep’s heart, liver and lungs, minced with oatmeal, onion, suet and spices, and traditionally cooked in a sheep’s stomach, though today it is usually cooked in a casing. It has a rich, peppery, nutty flavour.
Haggis is traditionally served with neeps and tatties, mashed turnips and potatoes, and often with a whisky sauce. It is at its finest on Burns Night, the twenty fifth of January, when Scots celebrate the life of the poet Robert Burns. At Burns suppers, the haggis is carried in to the sound of bagpipes, and a guest recites Burns’s poem Address to a Haggis before it is cut open.
Many visitors are nervous about trying haggis, but most are pleasantly surprised. Vegetarian haggis, made with vegetables, pulses and oatmeal, is also widely available. Haggis is also served in other ways, such as in pies and even pizza.
Try it in Edinburgh or Inverness, where many restaurants and pubs serve it. Butchers across Scotland make their own. It is a must for any visitor to Scotland.
9. Arbroath smokie, Angus
The Arbroath smokie is a haddock that has been salted, dried and then hot smoked over hardwood in the fishing town of Arbroath, on the coast of Angus. The fish are tied together in pairs by the tail and hung over a fire in a pit or barrel, covered with sacking. The result is a golden brown fish with a rich, smoky flavour.
The tradition is said to have begun in the nearby fishing village of Auchmithie, and the fishing families brought it to Arbroath in the nineteenth century. The Arbroath smokie has protected status, so it can only be made in and around the town. Several smokehouses in Arbroath’s harbour area still make them in the traditional way.
Smokies are best eaten warm, straight from the smokehouse, pulled apart with your fingers. They can also be used in pâtés, pies and soups. Visitors can often watch them being smoked.
Arbroath is also home to the ruins of Arbroath Abbey, where the Declaration of Arbroath, a famous letter asserting Scotland’s independence, was written in 1320. The town is about half an hour from Dundee. The coast nearby has dramatic red sandstone cliffs.
10. Welsh cakes and Welsh rarebit, Wales
Welsh cakes are small, round griddle cakes, made with flour, butter, sugar and currants, cooked on a flat iron griddle known as a bakestone. They are dusted with sugar and eaten warm. They are somewhere between a scone, a biscuit and a pancake.
Welsh cakes have been made in Welsh homes for generations, and they were traditionally given to children as a treat. Market stalls in Cardiff and Swansea cook them fresh, and the smell is wonderful. They are sold in bakeries and cafés across Wales.
Welsh rarebit is cheese on toast raised to an art form. A rich sauce of melted cheese, mustard, ale and seasoning is spread over toast and grilled until bubbling and golden. It was originally called Welsh rabbit, although it contains no rabbit.
Other Welsh specialities include cawl, a hearty stew of lamb and vegetables, laverbread, a dish made from seaweed, and bara brith, a fruit loaf. Cardiff Market and Swansea Market are the best places to try them. See our Cardiff guide.
We have also picked the best places to eat in Manchester and seven food markets worth a trip.
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