Among our European destinations, JP and I also stopped in England as part of our “BBQ around the world” project.
And, because it's worth telling you about it, I've prepared a little summary of our adventure for you. 😎
Why did you go to England?
While you don't often hear about England when talking about BBQ, it's common knowledge that the United States, which is a country famous for barbecue, has its origins there, so for that reason alone, it's an important place to visit. (Especially if you're a steak fanatic like me, it's worth a visit, because the UK is really famous for beef. 😏)
How so? Because that's where the Aberdeen Angus beef breed comes from (it originates, more precisely, in Aberdeenshire and Angus and Scotland, hence its name) and, let's just say, Angus beef is damn good. 😜
Also, I thought that, even just for the culinary history, it was worth going to England. I mean, there are restaurants that literally serve us meals based on what the kings ate, and that's pretty crazy!
Also, to finish, I had already been to England on my honeymoon and had visited a few places that were going to be great for our BBQ Around the World web series, so I knew it would be a good spot to go. I wanted to show people some different places that I knew that were worth visiting.
What are the restaurants like?
England is a country that has both a long history and is very multicultural. As I said, there are restaurants that modernize even recipes that kings ate, and just that, I find it impressive and super interesting.
There's, for example, Heston Blumenthal's Dinner restaurant , where pretty much all the recipes are like the ones that were served to kings. There are even dates next to them. And, because there was no gas back then, the restaurant kept the traditional cooking method, which was cooking over a wood fire. Yes, there's a huge custom-made wood-fired oven in the restaurant that's even been converted to grill as well. It's absolutely crazy to see.
Blumenthal is also one of the greatest chefs in the world. He's pretty much the one who commercialized molecular cuisine. In his restaurant, it's fun, because we find a mix of period meals and molecular cuisine.
On the multicultural side, there is the Flesh and Buns restaurant that also stands out. It is a restaurant that mixes Latin American and Japanese cuisine. The dishes have all the exotic sides of Latin American food cooked on the fire in addition to Asian characteristics. In fact, it is even more complex than that, because there is also a large American smokehouse in the restaurant. So there are also American meals on the menu, like briskets and short ribs, but everything is presented in the English style, in a pub. It is really a unique concept.
I'll also take this opportunity to make a small digression. There, I pretty much just saw a company that sold sauces and spices and... there was no flavor that came from the United Kingdom. It was always like "Tokyo, Korean, Texas style...", but never "England". Since England is an island, I think they really have a diet that is built on products that come from elsewhere. Which also explains why multiculturalism is so present.
Otherwise, we couldn't help but visit traditional American BBQ restaurants. Yes, I wanted to see how it worked, a typical American restaurant outside of America. And what I realized is that, although we find classic meals, like "short ribs", the British are quite meticulous. Indeed, even if they were prepared in our way, I still found that their way of presenting the dishes was better than that of the Americans. I felt like I was in Texas, but sitting in a British pub; it was special, in a good way.
The most popular barbecues
The number of grill stores is growing in England. On the other hand, the British are quite traditional, so you find pretty much the same thing in each store. It's not like in Quebec where there are a lot of BBQ brands available, there are only a few and people don't want to stand out with something special. If their neighbor has BBQ x, that's what they want too.
For example, the kamados over there are all Big Green Eggs, because that's what the "original kamado" is. The way I see it, it's like... the English have accepted that BBQ comes from the United States, and that's why they're not trying to reinvent the wheel. They work with "standard" charcoal or gas grills from Weber, Big Green Egg or Napoleon.
What I also noticed is that the English eat at home, but ready-made food. In their grocery stores for example, the "Ready to eat" sections are huge. There are rows and rows of ready-made food. The offer is varied and the dishes are elaborate; it's not "fast food", it's like steak with salad, beef Wellington, etc. The barbecue is therefore more of a device that they will use to heat up their food than to cook something as such. There are not that many people who have one at home either, so I'm not very surprised to notice that outdoor kitchens are even rarer there than BBQs themselves, no matter how big the land people have.
What I Learned About BBQ There
Personally, I really like the vintage cooking/meals aspect. I even went to the library there to try to find some old recipe books and I bought Heston Blumenthal's book. I'll have to take the time to browse through that, it's super interesting. I need to do more research on that...
Otherwise, I found the game aspect very impressive. In England, hunting is quite high-end and well regarded.
What I passed on to the English
During our stay, we visited a deer farm and spent a lot of time with the people there. We cooked them meals and they really enjoyed it. A steak cooked "in and out", for example, was sick for them. We also left them all the dry marinades we had so that they could introduce them to people. And... we are happy too, because we may have found a possible distributor there too. 😉
My experience, in brief
In Quebec, people always want to go to France, but I think that, clearly, people should go visit the United Kingdom. Honestly, I preferred my experience in England to that in France; I found that it was "a notch above" Paris in every way: the atmosphere, the people, the beauty of the landscape, the things to discover... Everything was "on the mark".
On the other hand, I didn't discover any "crazy stuff" in London (because that's where we stayed), but I tell myself that I may have missed something, because England is more than "just" London. I really hope to go back there soon.
If you have the chance to go, go! 😉
Happy BBQ to all!