Showing posts with label high tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label high tea. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
UK Day
For some reason, I feel like talking about the UK today. Perhaps it's because I recently saw this funny little Cultural Guide to the UK that features tea (and is by the guy who did the Radiohead dot matrix printer remix). Or maybe the BBC tea documentary I saw in a fellow blogger's post the other day. Or the British dim sum menu (complete with hot tea, iced tea and tea cocktails) that my Londoner sister sent me last week. Or even the fact that I keep meaning to update my articles on afternoon tea and high tea with information from helpful British readers and from Ellen Easton's NYC Coffee & Tea Festival lecture and book "Afternoon Tea... Tips, Terms and Traditions." (Soon, soon...) Or the responses from people who read my recent Tea & Sympathy tearoom review, saying things like "I totally LOLed" (which I find to be a very humorous cultural juxtaposition in and of itself). At any rate, I suppose I've talked about it now. Readers, care to add anything? Interesting links? A story or two?
Monday, July 16, 2007
New Article: High Tea
OK, kids! Time for the Vee Tea weekly article! This one picks up where last week left off, with High Tea. Here's an excerpt about High Tea (a.k.a. "Meat Tea") fare:
As the name suggests, “meat tea” includes meat, and often an abundance of it. Below is a listing of common high tea dishes, sorted by type. Foods that are particular to a region or country have their origin listed in parentheses. The few foods that are usually vegetarian will have one asterisk (*) and the fewer foods that are usually vegan will have two (**).
Meat Dishes
Bacon and Egg Pie—a very meaty pie with a lard crust and (occasionally) with some vegetables (Irish)
Ham—large, baked, meaty
Other Meats—served hot or, more often, cold (particularly in England)
Poacher’s Pie—a pie made with beef, rabbit, chicken, and game (Wales)
Roast Beef—a large piece of beef, usually rump roast with fat marbling, that has been roasted with gravy
Sausages—various types
Sausages and Eggs—just like it sounds, sausages (be they beef, pork, or a blend) cooked and served with eggs (Scotland)
Steak and Kidney Pie—a pie dish, filled with diced steak, beef kidneys, and a thick beef sauce (England)
Steak Pie—another pie dish, filled with steak, onion, carrots, and gravy (Scotland)
Yorkshire Pie—Think “chicken pot pie with beef instead of chicken” and you’re getting close . . . except that these pies were often huge and made in fancy shapes with designs made from dough on the surface.
Fish Dishes
Haddock—lightly smoked and flavored (“Finnan Haddie”) or just heavily smoked, sometimes made into a stew (Scotland)
Kippers in Milk—herring poached in milk (Scotland)
Pickled Salmon— salmon preserved in vinegar
Soused Mackerel—mackerel baked with vinegar
Baked Goods
Barm Brak—fruitcake (Irish)*
Biscuits—You know this one already.*
Bread and Butter—sometimes in the form of a sandwich, or buttered toast*
Cakes—many kinds, many flavors, all types of sponge cakes with jam were very popular at the time*
Crumpets—small, round, pancake-like baked goods often eaten with butter*
Drop Scones—an easy-to-make variation on British scones (Scotland)*
Dundee Cake—a rich fruitcake (Scotland)*
Gingerbread—in this case, a moist cake flavored with ginger and molasses (Scotland)*
Muffins—various types*
Sally Lunns—a bread/cake that is often round, sometimes square, and always surrounded by legend and controversy*
Scones—served with cream and/or jam/preserves (usually strawberry)*
Various Other Pastries—Use your imagination.*
Vegetables
Onion Cake—a.k.a. “Teisen Nionod,” a slow-baked potato and onion casserole (Wales)*
Potatoes—mashed, stewed, boiled, baked with seasonings, and just about every other way you can think of preparing them
Various Other Vegetables—Other vegetables were served in dishes and on their own, but not much attention was paid to them, as meat was considered to be more important.
Beverages
Ale—a full-bodied, barley malt beer, sometimes with a fruity or buttery taste, and sometimes spiced**
Coffee—Yes, back in the day you could serve coffee at a tea meal without starting a row. In fact, tea was popularized by coffeehouses during this era, so fans of both beverages got along quite amicably.**
Tea—more on this later**
Other Foods
Baked Beans—seasoned with molasses and ham, and then served on toast (England)
Cheese—various kinds, served with bread*
Eggs—served in a variety of ways*
Glamorgan Sausage—a.k.a. “Selsig Morgannwg,” an odd dish that is made of cheese, bread, leeks, and eggs, but shaped like a sausage and fried (Wales)*
Irish Rarebit—a variation on Welsh Rarebit, topped with onions, herbs, gherkin pickles, and vinegar instead of tomatoes
Sandwiches—(see Low Tea for more information)
Shepherd’s Pie—a deep pie filled with chopped beef and onions and covered with mashed potatoes (England)
Various Fruits—these varied with the season**
Various Jams, Jellies, Preserves, and Marmalades—Strawberry was and still is the most popular.**
Welsh Rarebit—a.k.a. “Caws Pobi,” a cheese, bread, and tomato casserole (Wales, obviously)*
Here's more on High Tea foods, etiquette, history, and tea. Enjoy!
As the name suggests, “meat tea” includes meat, and often an abundance of it. Below is a listing of common high tea dishes, sorted by type. Foods that are particular to a region or country have their origin listed in parentheses. The few foods that are usually vegetarian will have one asterisk (*) and the fewer foods that are usually vegan will have two (**).
Meat Dishes
Bacon and Egg Pie—a very meaty pie with a lard crust and (occasionally) with some vegetables (Irish)
Ham—large, baked, meaty
Other Meats—served hot or, more often, cold (particularly in England)
Poacher’s Pie—a pie made with beef, rabbit, chicken, and game (Wales)
Roast Beef—a large piece of beef, usually rump roast with fat marbling, that has been roasted with gravy
Sausages—various types
Sausages and Eggs—just like it sounds, sausages (be they beef, pork, or a blend) cooked and served with eggs (Scotland)
Steak and Kidney Pie—a pie dish, filled with diced steak, beef kidneys, and a thick beef sauce (England)
Steak Pie—another pie dish, filled with steak, onion, carrots, and gravy (Scotland)
Yorkshire Pie—Think “chicken pot pie with beef instead of chicken” and you’re getting close . . . except that these pies were often huge and made in fancy shapes with designs made from dough on the surface.
Fish Dishes
Haddock—lightly smoked and flavored (“Finnan Haddie”) or just heavily smoked, sometimes made into a stew (Scotland)
Kippers in Milk—herring poached in milk (Scotland)
Pickled Salmon— salmon preserved in vinegar
Soused Mackerel—mackerel baked with vinegar
Baked Goods
Barm Brak—fruitcake (Irish)*
Biscuits—You know this one already.*
Bread and Butter—sometimes in the form of a sandwich, or buttered toast*
Cakes—many kinds, many flavors, all types of sponge cakes with jam were very popular at the time*
Crumpets—small, round, pancake-like baked goods often eaten with butter*
Drop Scones—an easy-to-make variation on British scones (Scotland)*
Dundee Cake—a rich fruitcake (Scotland)*
Gingerbread—in this case, a moist cake flavored with ginger and molasses (Scotland)*
Muffins—various types*
Sally Lunns—a bread/cake that is often round, sometimes square, and always surrounded by legend and controversy*
Scones—served with cream and/or jam/preserves (usually strawberry)*
Various Other Pastries—Use your imagination.*
Vegetables
Onion Cake—a.k.a. “Teisen Nionod,” a slow-baked potato and onion casserole (Wales)*
Potatoes—mashed, stewed, boiled, baked with seasonings, and just about every other way you can think of preparing them
Various Other Vegetables—Other vegetables were served in dishes and on their own, but not much attention was paid to them, as meat was considered to be more important.
Beverages
Ale—a full-bodied, barley malt beer, sometimes with a fruity or buttery taste, and sometimes spiced**
Coffee—Yes, back in the day you could serve coffee at a tea meal without starting a row. In fact, tea was popularized by coffeehouses during this era, so fans of both beverages got along quite amicably.**
Tea—more on this later**
Other Foods
Baked Beans—seasoned with molasses and ham, and then served on toast (England)
Cheese—various kinds, served with bread*
Eggs—served in a variety of ways*
Glamorgan Sausage—a.k.a. “Selsig Morgannwg,” an odd dish that is made of cheese, bread, leeks, and eggs, but shaped like a sausage and fried (Wales)*
Irish Rarebit—a variation on Welsh Rarebit, topped with onions, herbs, gherkin pickles, and vinegar instead of tomatoes
Sandwiches—(see Low Tea for more information)
Shepherd’s Pie—a deep pie filled with chopped beef and onions and covered with mashed potatoes (England)
Various Fruits—these varied with the season**
Various Jams, Jellies, Preserves, and Marmalades—Strawberry was and still is the most popular.**
Welsh Rarebit—a.k.a. “Caws Pobi,” a cheese, bread, and tomato casserole (Wales, obviously)*
Here's more on High Tea foods, etiquette, history, and tea. Enjoy!
Monday, July 9, 2007
New Article: Afternoon Tea
I've decided to leave the rest of my samples until after I get back from India in September. Right now, I just have too many other things to write about!
Lately, I've been getting a lot of questions about British afternoon tea. It has a very interesting history, so I decided to write an article about it. Here's an excerpt:
If you live in the U.S., you have been lied to about high tea. Well, maybe not LIED TO, but you’ve been given incorrect information at the very least. You’ve probably seen a scene in a movie or heard a joke in which rich and snooty women chit-chat over “high tea,” which is portrayed as an elaborate spread of tea, scones, and finger sandwiches served on doilies atop tiered silver trays. In fact, the event being represented is afternoon tea, or LOW tea. The problem is that many Americans equate the word “high” with class and formality. In fact, the word “high” refers to the height of the serving table: high tea is served at a high dinner table, while low tea is traditionally served on low tables in a sitting room.
So, what’s what? High tea is a full meal served at around 5 or 6 PM. It is usually associated with the members of the lower classes, who were hungry after a long day at work (often with no break). Low tea is a light meal traditionally begun at 4 or 5 PM and ending before 7 PM. It is associated with the high class, who saw it more as a social occasion than a meal and used it to stave off hunger between an early lunch and a late dinner. Think of high tea as a meal and low tea as “finger foods.” Or remember etiquette savant Judith Martin’s quip regarding the confusion: “It’s high time we had something to eat.”
Click to continue reading about Afternoon Tea on VeeTea.
Lately, I've been getting a lot of questions about British afternoon tea. It has a very interesting history, so I decided to write an article about it. Here's an excerpt:
If you live in the U.S., you have been lied to about high tea. Well, maybe not LIED TO, but you’ve been given incorrect information at the very least. You’ve probably seen a scene in a movie or heard a joke in which rich and snooty women chit-chat over “high tea,” which is portrayed as an elaborate spread of tea, scones, and finger sandwiches served on doilies atop tiered silver trays. In fact, the event being represented is afternoon tea, or LOW tea. The problem is that many Americans equate the word “high” with class and formality. In fact, the word “high” refers to the height of the serving table: high tea is served at a high dinner table, while low tea is traditionally served on low tables in a sitting room.
So, what’s what? High tea is a full meal served at around 5 or 6 PM. It is usually associated with the members of the lower classes, who were hungry after a long day at work (often with no break). Low tea is a light meal traditionally begun at 4 or 5 PM and ending before 7 PM. It is associated with the high class, who saw it more as a social occasion than a meal and used it to stave off hunger between an early lunch and a late dinner. Think of high tea as a meal and low tea as “finger foods.” Or remember etiquette savant Judith Martin’s quip regarding the confusion: “It’s high time we had something to eat.”
Click to continue reading about Afternoon Tea on VeeTea.
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