I recently joined a dinner group and our first theme meal is "British" since our hosts are ex pat Brits. I have been assigned appetizers, and I have to admit, not much is coming to mind (sausage rolls or Scotch eggs?). I can think of lots of ideas for main courses and desserts, but I'm having a hard time coming up with an appetizer that is uniquely British and tasty sounding, too. Any ideas?

Here's the cute wording from the invite:

"The British are coming . . .
The British are here . . .
But their food’s not as bad now
So let out a cheer!"

Any help, inspiration or sympathy is much appreciated!
-Krista

How about some pears, stilton and port?! Well, you could forgo the port but it is very british. Actually pears, stilton and Carr crackers make up a nice little tray. (kind of like an upmarket Ploughman's Lunch) Curry of course is very British...you could do up some curried bangers! Actually now that I think of it I think you can make a potted stilton spread with Port in it. That might be good actually! Have fun nonetheless!

I belong to uk.food+drink newsgroup, and from what I have learned over the years a not-quite-ripe half of avocado with mayonnaise or a shrimp cocktail are truly British.
That group would eat the stilton and pears for dessert.
Mind you, I'm just a foreigner there!

Well, I love cheese but cheese and fruit would not work in this case because someone else is already assigned a dessert cheese plate. But somehow maybe I could incorporate a potted stilton spread or would that be too much if there is stilton on the after dinner cheese tray? Curry.... hmmm, let me look for some recipes. I'm also thinking that maybe chutney could be worked in.

Judith, avocado and mayonnaise?! The avoacado part sounds way too California and adding mayonnaise would just offend my California sensibilities!

-Krista

Krista - just checked my "Traditional British Cooking" cookbook (from a National Trust gift shop somewhere in England) to see what they show as "starters" - there are several possibilities here - smoked trout salad, smoked haddock pate, potted shrimp, pears and stilton (seen by the editors as a starter, not dessert, apparently) - and an English Ploughman's Pate that sounded yummy, combining cream chees, caerphilly, double gloucester, choped picled onions, & chutney into a pate to be served on toast fingers. If you would like the specifics, send me a PM and I'll get it to you.

Judy

I wonder if you could "reconsider" what British food means today. Maybe take a look at egullet to see what appetizer courses they are serving in top-notch British restaurants now.

Do you know if the appetizer course will be served with cocktails -- or will it be the start of dinner served at the table?

It has been ages since I've been to London, but my memories of the "traditional" British food are that it was positively dreadful. Yuck, yuck, and more yuck. I have read that the food has improved, but my oh my improvement was sorely needed!

Perhaps the real reason behind the drink-until-you-are-drunk culture in England is because no one wants to eat the food that is served in pubs -- or in (some) homes.

A foie gras or a really good pate served with crustless triangles of toast.

Place the foie gras/pate on a bed of lettuce or watercress.

Simple.

The shrimp in avocado - or without the avocado served on a bed of lettuce in a glass (you could use a martini glass if you do not have the correct glasses) - is usually served with a dressing made from English Salad Dressing (Heinz or Crosse and Blackwell make this - it is not mayonnaise) mixed with a little ketchup and Worcestershire Sauce. It has a name which I have forgotten. You will really impress everyone if you learn to call it wooster sauce.

The other popular starter would be soup - but it would have to be an interesting soup.

These days British food is quite sophisticated.

(OK the shrimp sauce isn't particularly sophisticated - but it is an old favourite and very British!)

I went to a party at the Dorcherster in london a few years ago and they made baby bar food for us as appetizers..
mini bangers and mash.. was fab!

I think you'd only serve prawn cocktail (with the dreadful pink mayo based sauce which is called Marie Rose and only found in the worst chain steak houses! ) ironically now - or as part of a 70s theme night! I remember serving stilton and pears in, oh lets see, about 1982..... English cooking is mostly very good now, she says defensively, we can get good ingredients and there are non-stop cookery programmes !Most people here would actually serve italian referenced starters (parma ham, bruschetta etc)or Asian - ie king prawns, or pawpaw salad, or some little salad involving rocket and a lovely local ingredient like Cromer crab or good quality Smoked Scottish Salmon. If you want old fashioned British (1950s)as a bit of joke - potted spiced (mace)shrimp (that is tiny brown shrimp, not the larger prawns and very yummy), Gentlemen's Relish (anchovy based and 99% salt - I quite like it in tiny amounts, but makes your tongue pucker!) on toast( very gentlemans club), smoked mackerel pate (again, quite 70s, but having a bit of a retro revival!) If you are talking about less substantial canapes -party food has always has been quite good: little cheesy tartlets, little smoked salmon parcels, cheese straws made with strong Cheddar.

Krista, I know we had first courses during our summer in Britain often, and they are called "starters." I don't know that I recall anything distinctly British-- just interesting dishes, much more sophisticated (even in a pub) than we had experienced in our first trips to England 10 years before.

If you google on "starters menu Britain" you will get links to a bunch of British restaurants and their first course/starter menus. Maybe you will get some ideas there.

(Of course this applies to a seated first course-- not some kind of munchies that you set out while everyone is visiting...)

Kathy

Thanks everyone for all the help!

The appetizers that I've been asked to bring won't really be a first course - more pre-dinner self serve finger food. So that leaves out all the nice plated things. But Kathy I did get some ideas by doing the search you suggested. All sorts of pate did seem to come up on a lot of the menus.

The hostess emailed me that she's planning a roast beef entree with all the trimmings.

I think I'm leaning toward one platter with a combination of Judy's "English Ploughman's Pate" and some potted shrimp - both to be spread on toasts and crackers. And another platter of sausage rolls. I think it would definitely be in keeping with the theme to do these somewhat old fashioned things. But at the same time, I'd like to do a more modern interpretation of them.

Judy sent me the recipe for the Ploughman's Pate - looks good, thank you Judy! But I'm still on the lookout for innovative recipes for potted shrimp and sausage rolls. If I don't find something that looks right, I'll have to just experiment on my own. I guess I could pretend I'm on Top Chef and get creative!

Let me know if you have any ideas for what might work.

thanks,
-Krista

Sausage roll - could be as simple as puff pastry wrapped around cocktail size sausages, then baked? Serve with mustards for dipping.

I like your ideas for potted shrimp and a sausage roll platter - I think I saw the Barefoot Contessa make potted shrimp on one of her shows - check the Food Channel, maybe her recipes are archived.

Marcia

Marcia, thank you! I didn't find Ina's potted shrimp, but I found this recipe for Lamb Sausage in Puff Pastry that sounds good.

-Krista

Krista,

From Emeril, Potted Shrimp:

www.footnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_19630,00.html/

Marcia

Ok, that link is not working, something I did, I'm sure, but if you go to Food Network, you'll find it,

Marcia

Or try this one:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/13496

Marcia

Yes, I like the epicurious recipe because they have the reviews below and you can read what people thought of the recipe and how they tried variations on it. I think I might have to use this one as my base point and they tinker with it a little just for fun.

Thank you!
-Krista

I watched a Nigella programme on the telly just before Christmas and she suggested offering dinner guests tiny sausages as finger food appetisers prior to a meal. Offer them around with sticks and you can go to town with different mustards. Really simple to do and certainly British but the wow factor may depend on you getting hold of aspecialist sausage supplier.

That epicurious recipe looked very interesting and tasty. The traditional Morecombe Bay potted shrimp (which can be bought in chiller cabinets here, but might be a bit too specialised to have an export market) is a lot simpler - I found a Conran recipe on a BBC website and it looks like my Grandmother's version:
250g clarified butter
pinch freshly ground mace
500g cooked and peeled shrimp (as small as you can get)
salt to taste
Cayenne pepper
Melt 1/2 of butter, add mace and briefly sizzle, add shrimp, turn until well covered. See if more salt needed. Pack in ramekins (or shallow container if not serving individually) sprinkle with cayenne and pour over rest of clarified butter. Chill in fridge and serve with hot toast .I would second beebee's suggestion about the mini sausages on sticks (served at every children's party, but made grown up with some good mustards or spicy ketchup), but it would depend on getting very good meaty sausages (or pieces)

Well, I checked out the local fancy food store and they only had one type of "British" sausage - large ones they called "Bangers". What do you think - should I keep searching for mini sausages or cut up the large ones or stick with a sausage in puff pastry recipe?

-Krista

Does it really have to be a "British sausage"? I would use a mini-sausage made here, but I wouldn't pick one with jalapeno peppers .

Marcia

I jus thought of something - nothing is more traditionally british that roast beef with yourkshire puddings . . .

This is an amazing apetizer:

Stuffed Mini Yorkshire Puddings

Makes 36

Yorkshire Puddings:
1 c + 2 tablespoon milk
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper - to taste

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Horseradish Sauce:
3/4 c sour cream
2 tablespoons drained prepared horseradish
1 tsp chopped flat leaf parsley

1/2 lb rare roast beef, slices 1/2 inch thick, cut into 1-inch pieces.

Make batter:
In a blender combine ingredients until smooth and transfer to a bowl. Let batter stand, covered, at room temperature for an hour.

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees

Put 2 mini muffin pans on a rimmed baking sheet. Put a third pan on a second sheet. Spoon 1 tsp oil into each of the cups. Put the baking sheets into the oven (midle racks) for three minutes to heat the oil. Remove pans baking sheets and pans from oven. Working quickly, pour 2 tsp batter into the hot oil in each cup. Put pans and sheets back into the oven. Bake for 18 minutes or until the shells are golden and puffed. Remove shells from cups with tongs and cool on wire racks.

Shells may be made 3 days in advance and reheated in a hot oven until crisp.

In a small bowl mix the horseradish sauce ingredients.

Tuck a piece of roast beef into each mini yorkshire puccing. Spoon on 1 tsp horseradish cream. Garnish with a piece of flatleaf parsley.

Jerry, that is a great one and would be perfect, except for one small thing... the hostess is making Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding as an entree - darn! Hopefully someone else can make use of this recipe.

Back to my sausages... Marcia, good point. Of course it would be nice to be as authentic as possible, but for instance with the potted shrimp, I'm not going to find imported tiny brown shrimp, I'll have to use bay shrimp. So for the sausage, I'll look for some good mini sausages. The dinner is not until March 3rd so I still have some time for research.

-Krista

Plain British sausages usually come in two sizes: normal,a quite chunky size, or a smaller thinner version called chipolatas. (The many flavoured versions that you can get like herb, or +leek or +bramley apple or +sundried tomato or more or less any other unlikey combination only tend to come in the larger size) (A cumberland sausage is a long curled one, not twisted into links). Children tend to like chipolatas (and they are also served with roast poultry), but even they are cut up into smaller pieces to go on sticks, so the 'bangers' sliced into chunks would be perfectly authentic! (At least 80% meat and chunky texture, hopefully)If you do manage to get hold of the chipolata size you can untwist the links and then retwist to make mini ones which do look good.(Have done this - why, I can't remember!) Actually, if the 'bangers' you have seen have got links you can untwist (ie not knotted) you could untwist, squeeze out some meat and then retwist that to give mini versions. Could get a bit messy.....(My Kiwi husband calls them snorkers - I suppose that's a bit of a piggy sound derivation)