- fadge
A 'fadge' is a small, round flat unleavened loaf of bread once popular in the north east of England.
Some people also refer to potato bread as 'fadge'.
- faggot - fire wood
A 'faggot of wood' is a bundle of sticks tied together, and though the word was once used to describe any bundle of sticks which is tied together, a 'faggot' is technically a volume of wood 3ft long and 2ft in circumference which is about 0.99 cubic feet (27 litres), (roughly the largest size a woman can carry comfortably). There are about 134 faggots in a 'cord' (4ft wide, 4ft high and 8ft long).
Dialect: "baven" (Somerset).
A FAGETTER is an old name for a person who made up faggots into bundles or was a seller of firewood
- faggots - food
2
A faggot is a type of meatball which is made from off-cuts, offal, bread crumbs and pluck, particularly of pork, and are the most popular in the Midlands, Lincolnshire and south Wales, though they pop up in other regions. In the north of England a food made to similar ingredients is called 'duck' or 'savoury duck'. Traditionally faggots are made from pig heart, liver and fatty belly meat, herbs and sometimes bread crumbs. They are shaped into small round balls (like meatballs), wrapped with 'caul fat' and baked but you will also find them cut into small blocks having been baked as a flat block in a large tray (in this form they are known as 'ducks' or 'savoury ducks'). There are regional variations of recipe and taste and some can be quite strong, or rich in flavour, for example in Shropshire they tend to contain lots of liver.
Faggots are traditionally eaten with peas but also with mashed potato and gravy. Faggots are still made in homes and they are widely available in butchers and chips shops anywhere the tradition of eating them is still strong.
Though this dish shares its name with a bundle of firewood the origins of its name are thought to be a combination of two words 'fag', which means the end of something, and 'orts' which is an old name for leftovers.
See also: 'savoury duck', 'pluck' and 'haslet'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Stable
- Stable in one or more areas/regions, but not growing.
- Still enjoyed by a number of families in one area.
- Successful recent revival with natural local growth.
- fairings
'Fairings' are a type of ginger biscuit found in Cornwall. Their name is said to originate from biscuits that were sold at feast and fair days in Cornwall.
- fairy cake
A cake which is the right size for a fairy, in other words, a 'bun'. Once common, especially with children, this word is receding into history, partly because kids don't eat buns anymore, because their mothers don't make them (and also because people have mistakenly stopped believing in fairies). See also 'bun'.
- fancy piece
Cake. Scotland.
- farl
Flat triangles of soda bread, cut from the 'round' The name is used by both the Scots and the Irish. In Scotland it can be applied to any flat bread cut into triangles, its name is said to originate from old lowland Scots for 'quarter' but in Ireland it is associated with soda bread, a popular addition to an 'Ulster fry', the northern Ireland equivalent of the 'English breakfast'.
- farm shop
A shop opened on the farm, or in a gateway leading into one of their fields (called 'farm gate retail'), and a way for farmers and small holders to sell fresh and direct to the public. It's also a way for the public to see where their food comes from, to meet the farmers, and for the public to build pride in their local produce.
Unscrupulous shop owners are capitalising on the increasing popularity of this type of shop by using the 'farm shop' title on ordinary retail outlets. A farm shop should be on, or adjacent to the same property as its parent farm, and other types of fresh produce shops located beside the road, and which are not associated directly with a farm are not, in my opinion, 'farm shops'. I think the clue is in the title. Technically (they would claim) that their produce comes from a farm, but so does the stuff in a supermarket. Though all fresh produce shops buying directly from farms are to be encouraged I believe we need some better terminology in this area so that we can directly, and confidently, support our farmers, if we choose to.
- farmers market
A fantastic way for farmers and small holders to get their produce direct to the public, and so cut out the middle man. This was the original, and noble intention, but sadly non-farmers, pretending to be growers, make use of the events thus turning them into just another retail market. There is now a move to get farmer-producer registration scheme underway so that farmers markets are just that. 'Farmers markets' should be distinct from 'food markets', and a clue to the intended difference is in the title.
- farmhouse cider
Unpasteurised cider made on the farm which contains the orchard from where the apples came from. Often linked to families with a long history of traditional cider making.
I think most of the clues are in the title but the terminology has been hijacked by cynical marketing people who are involved in selling cider which definitely wasn't made anywhere near a farmhouse (not one in Britain anyway).
- farthingdale / fardel
'Farthingdale', like 'fardel', means a fourth part. Farthingdale came to be applied to the land area equal to one quarter of an acre (which later became the 'rood') and a quarter of a penny used to be known as a farthing (up until the coinage of Edward I (1272-1307) pennies were cut into two or four pieces to make ha'pennies and farthings).
Dialect: ferdhyn-tyr = land-farthing (quarter of Cornish acre).
See also: 'rood' and 'forpet'.
- fast food
Fast food, or 'street food' as I prefer to call it, has been around in Britain for thousands of years, but the term 'fast food' is modern, and American and when it is applied to their foods (burgers, tasteless chicken. etc) it is synonymous with 'junk food', another American culinary expression. Minimum effort and maximum calories are the guiding principles of American 'fast food'. But not all 'fast food' is 'junk food' and you would be hard pressed to find anyone who considered fish and chips to be 'junk food', and it is infinitely faster than food which comes from American style serveries which can keep you waiting for up to 15 minutes (presumably while they de-frost something or finish their conversation with their mate). The term 'fast food' was the inspiration for the creation of the anti-dote, the 'slow food movement'.
- fat rascal
2
A cake which originated from Yorkshire during Elizabethan times and so may be labelled 'Yorkshire Fat Rascal' by marketing gurus so that you cannot confuse it with any other kind. The name is a cautionary warning to the consequence of eating too many rather than a description. It's a cross between a scone and a rock cake, but bigger (about twice the size) and should be eaten in the same way as a scone, warm and buttered. Teetering on the edge of extinction the 'fat rascal' is now finding a modest popularity in tea houses and posh cafes in Yorkshire, and on market stalls. Hopefully its name will make it popular once again with children.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Stable
- Stable in one or more areas/regions, but not growing.
- Still enjoyed by a number of families in one area.
- Successful recent revival with natural local growth.
- fatback
Pig lard taken from between the back skin and the flesh of the pig, a medium grade of lard.
- ferret
Ferrets are domesticated, elongated carnivorous animals closely related to polecats.
Ferrets are traditionally bred and used for catching rabbits but are increasingly kept as pets, predominantly by people with missing fingers. The television encounter between Richard Whitely and a ferret is legendary.
When hunting with ferrets small 'purse' nets are placed over the holes of a warren and a hungry ferret is then fed into the warren. The ensuing panic then causes rabbits to burst out into the nets.
Placing a ferret down your trousers is considered a supreme act of bravery in some quarters.
Ferret racing takes place at some country and agricultural shows. The ferrets are inserted into drainpipes and the first to emerge at the other end is the winner.
See also: 'snare' and 'rabbit'.
- fidget / figit pie
There are several theories as to the origin of its name including the one about the pie originally being five sided or 'fitched' Shropshire dialect word). There are various recipes depending on regional variations but may contain gammon, potato (Shropshire variation), apples, onions, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Once common in several counties of England including Shropshire and Cambridgeshire, but seems to be cropping up all over the place lately where its name generates interest and amusement. May also be seen as 'figit' pie.
- fig sue
Fig Sue is a posset which was served on Good Friday in the Lake District and also in parts of the north east of England.
Though a posset is normally made with curdled milk this version differs from others in that it was made without because milk could not be consumed on Good Friday because it was a fasting day.
The recipe was figs, ale, white bread, sugar and nutmeg, but some recipes also include treacle. Christ's cross was thought to be made of fig wood, hence the inclusion of fig.
See also: 'posset'.
- figgy pudding
Something which is mentioned in the song 'We wish you a merry Christmas', and seems to be a standard prop in period dramas, and films concerning public school boys, but nobody ever seems to have eaten one, or even seen one, apart from on the telly. It does actually exist and has done so for about 500 years, and was, for centuries, the original Christmas pudding, though the figs have slowly given way to other dried fruits over the last couple of hundred years. It may also be known simply as 'fig pudding'.
- filbert
The name given to a 'long' cobnut with husks which fully enclose the nut itself. See also St. Filberts day.
- fill belly
An alternative name for 'bread pudding' (Midlands).
- filo
Synonymous with 'pointless'.
- finger roll / bridge roll / nudger / dinner roll
Long, thin, soft, plain white bread roll favoured, by some, for use in buffets but they are also a good shape for dunking.
Known as 'bridge rolls', as 'dinner rolls', as 'nudgers' (Liverpool) and as 'finger rolls', (though only a gorilla would have fingers like that).
Perfect for a single sausage, but hopeless for a fried egg.
- Finnan haddock or haddie / finnie / yellow fish
1
Finnan haddock, or 'finnie haddock', 'Finnan haddies' or sometimes just called 'yellow fish'. Originating from Finnan (Findon) in Scotland. 'Headed', split, brined and lightly smoked, originally over peat fires, and also originally with the bones intact but increasing fussiness over bones in any meat has led to the popularity of a boneless variety of the same name. Indeed fishmongers can sometimes be observed removing any remaining small bones with special 'pin bone' tweezers.
Traditionally cooked by poaching in milk.
Modern Finnan haddock has suffered abuse during recent times by simply being dyed yellow rather than properly smoked. These imposters should be rejected. May also be known simply as 'smoked haddock'.
See also 'Kedgeree', 'Cullen skink' and 'rizzer'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Safe
- Nationally produced and/or consumed
- Very strong traditions in one village, town, county or region.
- firkin
A 'firkin' is an old English unit of volume, especially beer, and is equal to one quarter of a barrel, which is 9 gallons (72 pints or 40.91 litres). A firkin is half a 'kilderkin'.
Popular in modern pub names!
In Somerset a firkin, pronounced "verkin", is a 'stone' cider carrying jar.
- firlot / firlet
A 'firlot' is a traditional (14th-18th centuries) Scottish unit of dry volume and is equal to 4 pecks and corresponds closely to the bushel.
The firlot was not a standard measure in Scotland and varied from region to region, and even after an attempt to standardise it there were two measures of the same name, one at 21 pints (level) and the other at 31 (heaped).
A firlot is also about 36 litres for wheat, peas, or beans, or about 52 litres for oats or barley.
- fish
The word 'fish' is commonly applied to many species of creature which live in water, be it fresh or salty, and even to a few creatures which don't e.g. 'wall fish', 'silverfish'. etc.
We are an island race blessed with many lakes and rivers so many types of fish have always been eaten here, and in many different ways, though some varieties seem to be unexplainably neglected these days, and some of the old cooking methods and recipes have been abandoned. The popularity of sea fish soared with the invention of the railways which allowed fresh fish from the coast to reach inland areas for the first time. Prior to this saltwater fish would have been dried, salted, cured or smoked on the coast, prior to transportation
Young fish are called 'fry'.
The 5 most popular fish in Britain are currently (2012):
Cod
Haddock
Salmon
Tuna
Prawns
Sayings: Apparently nothing can be worse than a slap in the face with a wet fish. If you suspect something suspicious is happening you might say "something fishy is going on" or "its a bit fishy". An uncomfortable person, or a person who is in the wrong place, might be described as "A fish out of water". An unemotional individual might be described as "A cold fish". Someone seeking approval might 'fish for compliments'. Introducing a new subject into a conversation, or raising a new issue might be dismissed woth "That's a different kettle of fish". An unimportant person or object might be described as 'small fry'. Lots of people crammed into a space are described as 'packed in like sardines'. Women can pout like a trout, and that, apparently, is considered a good thing. However an ageing and disagreeable woman might be referred to as 'an old trout'.
See also: 'wet fish', 'shell fish', 'cold fish', 'flatfish', 'salt cod', 'poor John', 'kipper', 'bloater', 'red herring', 'buckling' and 'wall fish'.
- fish and chips
Fish and chips is a favourite 'fast' or 'street' food and has been since the 1850's.
Though you may find a variety of foods being sold from the modern fish and chip shop the mainstay is still deep fried, 'slab cut' chips and fried battered fish, often cod, haddock, flounder or skate, but all species find their way into chip shops depending upon availability and local taste. Once fish and chips were proudly eaten from old, hand warming, newspapers but are now often served on cold, squeaky trays, thanks to the doom and gloom brigade.
The most likely beginnings of fish and chips lay in the coming together of two foods from different origins, from fried fish in the 'Jewish style', first documented in London in the 1830's, and later slab cut chips. They were cooked together and served from doorways of private houses in poor areas and the popular practice led to the opening of the first purpose built fish and chip shops in the 1860's.
And whilst the practice of battering fish and deep frying food may have a specific cultural background the practice of dropping a piece of potato into hot fat, for a nation of people who have a history of dropping just about everything into hot fat, can hardly be claimed as an invention by any individual person or place, but sadly it is.
The long standing Catholic tradition of eating fish on Friday has persisted through Protestantism, and Friday was still 'fish and chip night' for most of the country up to a couple of decades ago. Fish and chips can be eaten 'open' ("to eat now!") or 'wrapped', with 'scraps/bits' or without, and there is nothing like the excitement which accompanies a small boy running home with a red hot parcel bursting with the smell of fish, chips and vinegar, especially when tucked inside your coat on a cold winters day. By the time you got home the table would be laid and there'd be a pile of bread and butter like a mini sky scraper in the middle of it. The meal would be eaten straight off the newspaper wrapper by most, but on plates in posh houses, and with the fingers, the traditional way to eat fish and chips. The greasy left-over papers made ideal fire-lighters for coal fires and were often saved for this purpose.
Traditionally many families had 'bubble and squeak' on Monday, and fish and chips on Friday, thus leaving a busy housewife with only 3 week day meals to plan for.
Friday teatime is still a busy time for chip shops and each Friday currently 20% of all meals purchased outside the home are from fish and chip shops (2011). For a while curry (chicken tikka massala) overtook fish and chips as the nations favourite take-away dish but fish and chips is now back on top, where it should be, providing 250 million meals per year.
Traditional fish and chips are eaten with salt and vinegar, sometimes with red or brown sauce, but never with pepper, and exotic fish and chips may have gravy, mushy peas or curry sauce poured over them instead.
I was brought up to believe that fish and chips should always be cooked in best beef dripping but it turns out this is mainly a west Yorkshire tradition and originally they would have been cooked in whatever oil was cheap and easy to obtain locally (e.g. cotton oil in Lancashire, pilchard oil in Cornwall, lard in pig producing areas) and whale oil may have even been once used. Today fish and chips is often cooked in vegetable oils which, in my opinion, sometimes detracts from the experience and even makes the batter soft and slimy. There is definitely a different eating experience between English fish and chips and Chinese takeaway ones and this can be attributed mainly to the cooking oil and the cooking temperature.
In Scotland and in the north east of England fish and chips is called a 'fish supper', in Lancashire it may be known as a 'chippy tea', and in Yorkshire you can order your meal by simply saying 'once please' (or 'twice' if you need two).
Fish and chips was not subject to rationing during the war thus ensuring the poorest people could get a good meal anytime.
Sayings: If you have alternative plans, or other jobs to do you might say "I have other fish to fry".
See also: c'hips', chip butty', fish butty, 'chip shop', 'sit down fish and chips' and 'chip shop curry sauce'.
[Aus-NZ-US-Can-SA-Eire-Faroe Islands]
Lane's Extinction Grading: Very Safe
Culturally exported so globally produced and consumed (i.e. its fate does not rest soley in our hands).
- fish butty / sandwich
A fish butty is not a sandwich made from any type of fish but is made from a hot fried battered fish from a chip shop, the species of fish being irrelevant. Other types of sandwich containing fish are usually named after the type of fish that's in it e.g. tuna sandwich, smoked salmon sandwich, etc.
A fried fish may be broken in half to fit into a large round bread bun but in recent years the fish shaped, fish sized bun has increasingly appeared, though a nibble at each end is usually required.
See also: 'chip shop' 'fish and chips' and 'chip butty'.
- fish cake
1 - A 'patty' style cake made from mashed potato and loose fish (sometimes of indeterminate origin), flavoured with parsley, and coated in breadcrumbs. Originally this type of fish cake was a 'left-overs' food and was enthusiastically adopted by the food processing industry as any easy was to get rid of potato and the bits of fish nobody wanted (and often liquidised into cheap, fish flavoured mashed potato). Recently high quality versions of this fish cakes, more like the ones people used to make at home, have found favour in restaurants, and there are one or two specialist suppliers too, but most of us will remember the cheap, frozen ones of our childhood, and even now, when I get a posh fish cake, in a Thai restaurant, I still want to put it in a butty, with tomato sauce, then run out and play football in the street.
- fish cake - Yorkshire
1
A slice of fish, or a slice of reconstituted fish (with flavourings), between two large slices of potato, deep fried in batter, no parsley. Still served in many chip shops, mainly in Yorkshire.
It is commonly known as a fish cake but also as a 'sandwich' or fish sandwich' around Halifax or as a 'scone' around Keighley.
See also: 'scallop - potato'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Safe
- Nationally produced and/or consumed
- Very strong traditions in one village, town, county or region.
- fish farming
The origins of fish farming in Britain depend on your definition of the term.
Commercial fish farming is thought to have been invented by the Edwardians in England but the first actual commercial fish farm was in Scotland. But other cultures had been farming fish long before this and indeed the keeping of fish in fish ponds or 'stew ponds' has been done since medieval times in Britain, and the Doomsday book makes reference to fish and eel numbers obtained annually from ponds and weirs. So we've been doing it for centuries, or the Edwardians invented it, you decide.
The old practices relied on the products of the natural union of of males and females in a confined section of water whilst the more modern practice makes use of an artificial reproduction method known as 'egg stripping'. However monks were egg stripping in the 14th century.
Fish farming is also called 'aqua culture' though this term can be applied to other food types and indeed 'fish farming' is sometimes also used to describe the farming of shellfish too.
See also: 'egg stripping' and 'stew ponds'.
- fish finger
Fish fingers are frozen, brick shaped, pieces of fish in bread crumbs, and were originally made from herring in Britain but trials carried out showed an overwhelming preference for cod, and the fish finger, as we know it today, was born. Fish fingers are now made from any white fish but cod and haddock are the most popular and 1.5 million fish fingers are still sold each day. They are brought to a state of edibility by frying, grilling or baking. Their design is perfection for the era (1950's) being exactly the correct size and shape for sliced white bread.
The fish finger, was invented in America, possibly as early as the 1920's, where it was known as 'fish sticks'. Mr. Clarence Birdseye is attributed with introducing fish fingers to Britain in 1955. Apparently he wanted to call them 'battered cod pieces' but as an American he didn't initially appreciate the flaw in this marketing plan (or the British sense of humour).
Fish fingers are traditionally served in two ways, either with chips and baked beans, or they are served between two slices of bread. Both meals should be drizzled with red sauce.
Somebody tried to introduce salmon fish fingers, presumably to make them more appealing to a wider audience. Stunned silence was most peoples reaction (as they struggled with the concept).
The worlds biggest fish finger, 1 metre long, was revealed in London, in January 2008, but nobody knows why.
See also: 'fish finger sandwich'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Very Safe
Culturally exported so globally produced and consumed (i.e. its fate does not rest soley in our hands).
- fish finger sandwich / butty / sarnie
1
Everything was once put into a sandwich and fish fingers, a relatively recent introduction to British cuisine, was no exception, and their design make them the right shape, size and profile for sliced white bread, a fact now lamented by eaters of rosemary flavoured ciabatta.
Though largely regarded as a food for kids there are many adults who will occasionally crave a fish finger butty, a throwback to their childhood days. Fish finger sandwiches were the secret weapon of mothers, a way to get healthy food in under the radar, and a trick which still works today.
White bread is universally preferred, an echo of the era in which fish fingers appeared in our lives, during a time when all food was becoming highly processed. Tomato ketchup seems to be the favoured garnish with only a very few anarchists admitting to brown sauce. And whilst some people have moved with the times and switched to brown bread I very much doubt that the recent introduction of fish fingers "with a hint of lemon" are going to make much of an impact in the red sauce world.
Admit it. You've not had one for ages and now you want one don't you? Don't look at the picture!
Lane's Extinction Grading: Safe
- Nationally produced and/or consumed
- Very strong traditions in one village, town, county or region.
- fish kettle
Fish kettles are dedicated, round cornered pans for steaming or boiling fish. They can be used on top of a stove or in an oven.
They were designed to accommodate a whole fish and so came in different sizes and shapes to match the species. As well as the standard âfish kettleâ there were also âTurbotâ kettles and âJackâ or salmon kettles (Jack is an old name for Pike). Fish kettles are still widely in use and are still being made, but you donât need one for fish fingers.
Sayings: If you consider a subject to be irrelevant to the current one being discussed, but still worthy of discussion, or that a second new project needs to be considered, then the situation can be described thus: "That's a different kettle of fish altogether!".
- fish knife
A blunt knife, with a broad, spatula like blade used for eating fish. Once common in homes and restaurants but now rare, and flea markets and car boot sales are often full of wonderful examples. A tradition of an island race, on its way out, but stubbornly held onto by a few traditionalists.
[US]
- fish pie
Originally 'fish pie' was any white fish baked with egg and milk in a dish, but with no pastry, and a solution to using up large quantities of fresh fish before deep freezers were invented. But fish pies could also be mixed with potatoes (sliced or mashed) and have a pastry top.
Today commercially produced fish pies can be caught in deep freezes all over the country, and may contain any fishy ingredients. They often acquire stupid marketing names like 'Mariners pie' or the 'Admirals pie' (for those who feel the Mariners pie is a little too working class). It may also be called 'ocean pie' to indicate that the pie contains 'fish related products'. What is a 'fish related product', a mermaid?
See also: 'eel pie' and 'star gazey pie'.
- fish supper
Synonymous with 'fish and chips' (Scotland and borders region).
- fisherman's knot
A secure method of joining two pieces of fishing line.
- fishmonger
A 'fishmonger' is someone who sells or deals in caught fish, dead or alive. The term is applied to wholesalers or retailers and the go between was once known as a 'bummaree'.
Other occupation names for a fishmonger are: cashmarie, chowder, jouster, fish fag (female fishmonger).
- flapjack
A baked biscuit, cooked in an oven tin and cut into squares or rectangles. Made from rolled oats, fat (typically butter), brown sugar and usually Golden syrup or honey. May also contain dried fruits.
High energy versions are popular with people who work in the outdoors. Fancy commercial versions are also available though home-made ones with a specific gravity higher than Iridium are everyone's favourite.
A type of pancake was once known as a flapjack.
[Aus]
- flatfish / flattie
Flatfish describes any species of ocean dwelling fish that is oval, flat, has a small tail and a body that is fringed with flattened fins. It is predominantly a bottom dwelling sea fish with eyes which have migrated to one side, the top, and often it will be camouflaged to suit its environment. Many people call them 'flatties'.
Common examples of flatfish are: 'turbot', 'plaice', 'flounder', 'dab', 'lemon sole', and 'Dover sole'.
Flatfish occupy different habitats depending on the species and season but they will be commonly favoured eating in estuary situations where they can penetrate quite far upstream, being tolerant of a certain amount of fresh water.
Plaice in particular is common in chip shops but others are common in more formal meals. Turbot was a favourite of the Victorians and they cooked them in large specially shaped pans called 'turbot kettles'.
See also: 'fish'.
- flead cake
U
Flead cake is a version of 'lardy cake' but made from fresh 'flead' lard.
The connective tissue and non lardy bits are separated from the lard before use. A paste is made from flour and water which is spread over the flead and the whole lot is beaten with rolling pins. This forms the basis of the pastry.
See also: 'lard'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Unknown!
Not yet fully investigated, cannot make an assessment.
- flitch
A salted and cured side of bacon (half a pig).
Alternative: A longitudinal cut from the trunk of a tree.
See also: 'Dunmow Flitch Trials'.
- flock
A 'flock' is an old English unit of quantity equal to 2 score or 40.
It is also the collective name for a group of sheep or birds but I think you knew that.
Dialect: 'tonak' (Corwall),
- floddies / bacon floddies / canal floddies
4
A 'floddie' is a type of potato cake but is made with grated raw potato rather than mashed, giving them a different texture and making them much quicker to make. Chopped streaky bacon is also included in the mix and the floddies are flavoured with whatever herbs are close to hand, wild or bought. Some recipes also include chopped onion and others include eggs.
Originally a popular breakfast dish in the north east of England, particularly in Gateshead and Durham, up to the 19th century.
The floddie was adopted by canal workers in northern England leading to their other title of 'canal floddies' . The 'navvies' reputedly cooked them on an open fire on their shovels.
Lane's Extinction Grading: On the brink.
- Difficult to find, on the brink of extinction.
- Revived by an individual or by a few culturally unconnected individuals.
- Florentine biscuit
A Florentine biscuit (or, simply, a 'Florentine') is an Italian biscuit made from setting nuts and candied fruit and/or cherries into a caramel disc, which is then coated on the bottom with dark chocolate. The caramel base can also, according to some recipes, include flour.
There is also a Florentine cake which is quite different.
- food
Anything you can eat.
Regional names: 'Grub', 'bait' (NE England}, 'snap' (Yorkshire), 'scran' (Liverpool, Cumbria and Royal Navy), 'pieces' (Scotland), 'scoff' (British Army), 'nosh', 'tuck', 'nosebag', 'baggin' (Lancashire & Yorkshire), 'belly timber' (1700's), 'belly tember' (Cornwall), 'whittles' (Norfolk), .... any more?
Alt: It is possible to be given 'food for thought' but this is not as good as being given the real thing.
See also 'packed lunch'.
- food medals
'Food medals' are the stains on your shirt/blouse resulting from dropped food. Their acquisition is a situation regularly experienced by 'muck magnets'. Evidence of them can be masked by wearing clothes matched to the colour of the food (personal experience), but is a strategy which requires a certain amount of planning, intuition and risk.
- food miles
'Food miles' are not an obscure unit of measurement, in fact the term is rarely associated with specific distances but rather it is a term which allows us to express our growing interest in where our food comes from, to define sustainability issues, and to quantify the size of the carbon footprint each food item creates during storage, handling, refrigeration and transport. The term originated from Britain in 1990 and is currently also used as both an accusation and as a positive marketing point. Any food related organisation which use acres of warehousing, or fleets of lorries, tends not to mention food miles in their marketing.
Local produce is low in food miles, anything else is not (e.g. asparagus from Peru, rhubarb from Holland, samphire from Israel, potatoes from Egypt, etc.). Food miles have increased each year since the war.
Quote: "Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. They probably get jet-lagged, just like people". ~ Elizabeth Berry
See also: 'local' and 'home grown'.
- foodie
A relatively new word to our vocabulary and applied to a person who values quality foods and ingredients, as opposed to someone who simply likes eating, who we would perhaps just refer to as a 'porker'.
- foot / feet
A 'foot' is a unit of length and equal to 12 inches. There are 3 feet to the yard.
Still very commonly used to describe heights of people and objects, lengths, width and draft of boats, property rental and purchase areas. People still move things a "couple of feet", or a "foot or two" and many mountaineers still describe the height of their conquests in feet, and they all know the height of Everest in feet, not in metres.
one foot = 30.48 centimetres
See also 'Jersey foot'.
[US-Aus-Nz-Eire-SA-India]
- forced rhubarb
'Forced rhubarb' is a way of extending the rhubarb season, of allowing rhubarb to be harvested in early spring, and in the case of heated forcing sheds, right throughout winter.
By denying the plant any light it is forced to grow long, slender, sweet stems with little leaf. Forced rhubarb can be achieved with a large upturned plant pot but specially produced tall forcing pots are available from garden centres.
Though the forcing technique was commonly used by gardeners and allotment owners during the winter months but it is taken to extremes in Yorkshire where the Victorians built special 'forcing sheds' warmed using abundant local coal. The warmth and humidity tricks the rhubarb into winter production.
Here, in the so called 'Rhubarb Triangle', the rhubarb is grown outdoors for two years, to put energy into the root, and then the roots are dug up and taken indoors for the winter, to the forcing sheds where, in a dark, warm, windowless environment it produces long, slender, sweet stems without the need to make leaves. The energy in the roots is sufficient to allow the rhubarb to grow without soil, it just needs water and warmth.
This technique allows for the production of rhubarb throughout the winter months from September to March.
Rhubarb production and the forcing sheds have been in decline for decades and the future of this traditional British food is now in the hands of just a few producers (11 to be precise - 2011). But the area is fighting back with a rhubarb festival each February, and tours around the candle lit forcing sheds.
Forced rhubarb is less acidic than field grown and therefore requires less sugar to sweeten it, a fact which is contributing to its new popularity.
See also: 'rhubarb', 'rhubarb triangle', 'forcing pots' and 'forcing sheds'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Very Safe
Culturally exported so globally produced and consumed (i.e. its fate does not rest soley in our hands).
- forcemeat
A Middle ages word which means 'enriched with flesh' (meat), but 'forcemeats' were usually minced or chopped meat and fat (combined), and with other things added. They were often used as 'stuffing' or meatballs. There were also vegetarian forcemeats. The word was still commonly in use in recipes up to about 100 years ago and is used in domestic science training establishments up to the 1950's.
'Faggots', 'savoury duck' and 'haslet' may once have been known as 'forcemeats'.
- forcing pot
A 'forcing pot' is placed over growing vegetables to force them to grow upright, slender and tender by creating dark, warm and humid conditions.
Gardeners used to make do with anything to hand like large upturned plant pots, metal buckets, etc. but today you can buy especially produced forcing pots, based on traditional designs, from garden centres. It was a much loved technique of the Victorians. My grandfather always used a 'peggy tub' (also known as a 'dolly tub').
Forcing, under the right conditions, enables you to produce vegetables throughout winter, or to get an early start in spring.
Examples of plants which can be forced are rhubarb, asparagus, celery, kale, and endives.
Forced vegetables are usually paler than their non forced cousins and so may also be known as 'blanched' though this may create confusion with the cooking method of the same name, and in any case not all forced plants turn pale, rhubarb takes on a wonderful pinky red colour when grown in the dark.
See also: 'forced rhubarb' and 'forcing sheds'.
- forcing shed
2
A forcing shed is a very low, usually brick built building, used specifically for forcing rhubarb in winter. It is heated and has no windows. It is just high enough for a man to walk its length without stooping, and its lowest side is only about 3ft (1 metre) high. Their design is driven by heat conservation. Forcing sheds are only found in the 'rhubarb triangle' of Yorkshire.
The mature (at least two years old) but dormant rhubarb roots are lifted from the fields in winter, when they are about a foot across (30 cm), after experiencing frost, and are taken into the forcing sheds where the warmth and humidity triggers them into growth. They emerge into darkness and so grow straight, tall and slender and have a tasty, tender flesh.
The forced rhubarb grows so fast in these sheds that you could hear it growing (creaking and cracking) from outside as you walked past in the stillness of the night They can grow up to 1 inch (2.5cm) per day.
Harvesting in the sheds is done by hand, traditionally by candle light, to avoid checking the growth of the emerging rhubarb.
The forcing of rhubarb ends in March when early varieties of field grown rhubarb can be harvested, and the sheds are cleared and stand empty until next winter.
Originally heated by coal, once plentiful in the local area, the sheds are now heated by gas or diesel burners which can be occasionally heard 'roaring' as you pass by.
In west Yorkshire derelict forcing sheds can still be seen as you pass through on the motorways, but a few are still in use, the biggest being having 10,000 sq feet of growing space.
See also: 'forcing pot' and 'rhubarb triangle'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Stable
- Stable in one or more areas/regions, but not growing.
- Still enjoyed by a number of families in one area.
- Successful recent revival with natural local growth.
- fork
See 'Thomas Coryat'.
- Forme of Cury
Middle English: forme = method, cury (pronounced 'curry') = cooking.
The King's cookbook, England's oldest known cookbook of 196 recipes, and written in 1390 whilst Richard II was on the throne (1377-1399). It documents the seasonal recipes of the food cooked at his court using familiar ingredients (e.g. sage, pears, garlic, ground ginger, parsley) and cooking terminology still used today (strain, parboil, clarify, bake, roast). The 'Forme of Cury' is held at the British Library and a modern interpretation of it was published in 1791 by Samuel Pegge.
- forpet / lippie
A 'forpet' is a Scottish name for a 1/4 part, generally meaning 1/4 of a peck and therefore the 'forpet' is a Scottish unit of about half a gallon, though it varied depending on what commodity you were measuring (2.27 litres for wheat, peas, or beans and about 3.04 litres for barley or oats).
Another name for the forpet was the 'lippie'.
See also 'rood'.
- fowl
Technically any bird but we tend to apply the word to wild birds, though the term is also be applied to domesticated ones too, and the word 'poultry' is also acceptable. 'Fowl' tends to be used when describing edible birds, or should I say birds you are allowed to eat, as all birds are edible (apparently).
- freeman
A 'freeman' was a medieval peasant who ploughed his own rented fields and could sell the surplus (after tax). He owed no duties to his landlord.
The first ever 'poll' tax was raised against 'freeholders'.
Later in history (after the 1440's) when all peasants were released from their bondage to the land the 'freeman' began to evolve into what we would today call a 'farmer'.
'Unfree' peasants ('serfs', 'villeins', 'cottars', etc.) owed the landlord 'services and customs' a huge additional burden to their labours.
Surnames: Freeman, Freemen.
Alternative use: A freeman is also the title given to a member of one of London's many and ancient 'Livery Companies'. Being a 'freeman' allows you to have 'Freedom of the Company' and is the first step to becoming a 'Liveryman'.
See also: 'villein' , 'yeoman farmer' and 'reeve'.
- freezers / deep freeze
Freezers or 'deep freezes', as they are also known, preserve foods by freezing them below zero.
Freezing extends the shelf life of fresh goods by months however food found in the Antarctic, left behind by expeditions, was found to be edible after decades, and food chipped from the back of ice encrusted freezers, after years of neglect, has also been found to be usable, though the health and safety people would have a heart attack if they found out you were eating it.
Although now taken for granted our freezers are quite a recent domestic introduction. In the 1970's only 3 percent of households had a freezer and by the 1980's 50 percent of us owned one. Today there is one in nearly every home, and in some homes there are two or three. They are places where we store our 'convenience' foods and our endless 'snacks'.
The early freezers were large, efficient, utilitarian 'chest' freezers and were kept in garages or sheds, but today most types are 'upright', and can be very stylish, evolving with the emergence of the fitted kitchen in he 1970's.
Freezers may come as a fridge/freezer combination in which case the freezer compartment may be quite small. Industrial or catering freezers have temperature readouts and/or printouts for the benefit of clip board maniacs.
Special freezer food shops sprang up to trade exclusively in this new commodity (e.g. 'Iceland' was created in 1970) and supermarkets built huge freezer sections which still exist.
This new frozen food market made a big difference to some foreign importers who now had a much larger market for their goods (e.g. New Zealand lamb). This of course impacted on the fortunes of our own farmers and food producers, and resulted in the loss of many of our food traditions.
Another new practice sprung up when the chest freezer became widely available, the practice of buying in bulk, and butchers began to sell a whole or half a pig at a time, a practice which is less common now.
Freezers were partly responsible for the demise of traditional foods by doing away with more traditional preserving techniques and the dishes made from them.
Freezers made localness and seasonality obsolete by allowing us to eat virtually anything at anytime we liked thus taking away the pleasure which comes with tasting the first item of a season. Not all foods freeze well and these foods have consequently maintained their seasonal specialness (e.g. asparagus).
The ability to freeze foods did away with the need to come up with ingenious and delicious ways to make use of gluts of fresh food. I remember a man in a white coat calling at our house every now and then, usually early in the evening. He was somebody my dad knew and brought us a cardboard box of wonderfully fresh fish from Hull, hours old. For a few days we would have fish dishes in various wonderful guises and I remember amazing fish pies made from cod with flakes of fish the size of tablespoons. But like everyone else we got a freezer and we never had fish pie again, and from then on most of our fish seemed to come covered in bread crumbs and was fried.
Freezers also encouraged the further growth of cheap industrially produced foods many of which were unhealthy and badly produced. These cheap frozen foods replaced the traditional local dishes of our parents, and of our ancestors, and they took production away from local farmers, shops, butchers and bakers.
Freezers also allowed us to try foods made from exotic ingredients, enriching our lives but again moving us away from our traditional eating habits.
See also: 'ice house' and 'ice box'.
- fried bread / fried slice
3
Fried bread is sliced white bread which has been fried in bacon fat and is a food which is slowly fading as part of a traditional 'English breakfast'.
There is a knack to frying bread so that it is crispy, and makes a satisfying noise when cut. Some prefer it so crispy that it shatters. Soggy fried bread is not acceptable and that is what you'll get if you fry it at the wrong temperature or in anything other than bacon fat.
Sometimes known as a 'fried slice'.
See also: 'English breakfast'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Unsafe/Decline
- Still enjoyed by the older generation in one area.
- Enjoyed by dwindling numbers (shunned by pretentious people and kids).
- Sucessfully revived in small pockets for a few families.
- fried egg sandwich / butty / sarnie
The fried egg sandwich is normally referred to as an 'egg sandwich' though strictly speaking an egg sandwich is made from sliced, cold, hard boiled eggs. However the kind of places which sell fried egg sandwiches are extremely unlikely to inadvertently sell you an egg and cress sandwich.
The egg can be 'runny' or 'broken' (cooked hard) but you will get a runny one unless you specify differently. The mingling of the yolk with your chosen sauce is considered a delicacy by many. Those that don't have sauce usually make use of salt instead.
The egg sandwich is one of the mainstays of the 'greasy spoon' and of the 'butty wagon', along with bacon and sausage sandwiches, both of which may be served with or without a fried egg.
In the armed forces the fried egg sandwich is known as an 'egg banjo'.
See also: 'greasy spoon', 'butty wagon' and 'egg banjo'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Very Safe
Culturally exported so globally produced and consumed (i.e. its fate does not rest soley in our hands).
- fritter
Any small piece of food dipped or coated in batter and fried. Fritters have a long history in Britain and many foods have been treated in this way though they may not actually bear the name 'fritter'. Some modern examples are pea fitter, banana fritter, spam, and apple fritter. A 'scallop', a 'deep fried mars bar', and a 'pakora' are also technically fitters.
- frogs
More properly known as tapioca pudding but most kids never knew its correct name, and some actually believed that it was real frogs spawn though I never had anything to do with such deceptions. One of the more notorious puddings 'experienced' by consumers of the original school dinners.
- fruit butter
4
Fruit butter is a kind of paste preserve made from pulped fruits, during times of glut, and can last for 3 months. A paste or pulp is made from the fruit (which in some cases is 'bletted' first), mixed with other fruits and spices and the resulting 'cheese' is poured into moulds and left to set. Thinner pulps were called 'butter'. See also 'fruit cheese'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: On the brink.
- Difficult to find, on the brink of extinction.
- Revived by an individual or by a few culturally unconnected individuals.
- fruit cake
The British have been fans of cakes made from dried fruits since at least medieval times and they appear in many forms and with different names all over Britain. They vary from being light fruity sponges to heavy Christmas type cakes, also puddings laden with alcohol. The more solid versions of cake are aged/majured before eating and are renowned for their ability to survive long travel (around the empire) and storage (on ships). Names include: Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, Dundee cake, plum cake, boiled cake, Borrowdale tea cake, etc.
Quote: On fruitcake: "A geological homemade cake." ~ Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit
Alt: Someone who is a little crazy in an amusing way may be referred to as a 'fruit cake'.
- fruit cheese
Once common fruit 'cheeses' are thick preserves made from fruit pulp and sugar, and poured into moulds. Many fruits can be used including damson, apple, blackberry, medlar, quince and damson. Fruit cheeses were once so common that they were made into centre pieces on tables and were once served, whole or sliced, as a 'cheese' course, just as we would eat dairy cheeses today. Fruit 'cheeses' are made during times of fruit glut as they require large amounts of fruit for small amounts of preserve, but are a good way of preserving fruit, for up to twelve months, and improve with age being at their best at around the 6 month mark apparently. Sadly, cheeses of this kind, thanks to freezers, are rare now which is a shame because fruit and dairy cheeses eaten together make an excellent combination, and can provide a novel, but traditional, conclusion to a meal. See also 'fruit butter'.
- fruit loaf / tea bread
Various types of fruit loaves, or tea breads are popular around Britain, the most common being rich, sweet, cinnamon flavoured bread containing dried fruits mainly, currants, raisins, candied peel, etc. Fruit loaves vary in content, flavour and texture. In Wales a traditional version is known as 'Bara Brith' and Scotland has the 'Selkirk Bannock' whilst Cumbrians have the 'Cumberland plum loaf, and the Borrowdale tea bread. The list is endless and most bakers have their own version of a fruit loaf.
- fruit pudding - Clyde region
1
The words 'fruit pudding' can mean several things to us but in the Clyde area of Scotland it has a unique association as their version is more like white pudding but is sweet, highly spiced and has with dried fruit in it. Rarely found outside the Clyde region where it is generally preferred by many to white pudding. In times past white puddings from all over Britain commonly contained dried fruit and the Scottish fruit pudding may be a survivor of those times.
The fruit pudding is fried in a pan in the same way as black pudding but with its 'skin' intact (removed during or after cooking). The hot pudding can then be eaten in a roll, by itself, or with other things and a favourite is a 'tattie scone'. Some even do away with the bread altogether and eat it between two tattie scones. Most eaters of fruit pudding assume it to be a nationally consumed food, throughout Scotland, but actually it is confined to quite a distinct region loosely based around the Clyde.
Fruit pudding is obtained from the butchers, where it is made to old or secret recipes, and is sold alongside black pudding and lorne sausage. It is made into a large sausage shape and sold sliced but the diameter of the slice, the colour, the texture, and the taste varies from butcher to butcher. Generally the colour is light brown and the taste is sweet and of cinnamon. Some puddings remains firm during cooking whilst others may turn a little glutinous. The eating experience is not at all unpleasant just a little unusual.
I previously thought that Glasgow's reputation for fried foods was slightly unfair as there are places in England where there are more butty and burger wagons per square mile than anywhere else in the world, but I'm afraid a sweet pudding that you fry pretty much caps them all, no matter how good it is.
See also: 'white pudding'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Safe
- Nationally produced and/or consumed
- Very strong traditions in one village, town, county or region.
- fruit vinegar - raspberry / blackberry / elderberry
Fruit vinegar is made from the juice of the fruit. It is traditionally used on ice cream though it has other uses (dilute as a drink, salad dressings, etc.).
Sweet vinegars can be made from several fruits (commonly raspberry, blackberry, elderberry) and provide us with wonderful and natural flavourings
Raspberry vinegar, common in my childhood, was replaced by strangely coloured sauces, often slightly luminous, and full of sugar and 'E' numbers.
- frumenty
4
Frumenty is a old thick, wheat porridge dish, which has been eaten in England since at least the 14th century. A meal of frumenty has been linked with mutton, venison, Christmas morning, Mothering Sunday and Lent. It has been made with stock, broth, beer, almond, milk, eggs, dried fruit, and flavourings (saffron, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.). It was eaten by rich and poor alike and was eaten by itself or accompanied other foods.
See also 'loblolly'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: On the brink.
- Difficult to find, on the brink of extinction.
- Revived by an individual or by a few culturally unconnected individuals.
- fudge
A soft, sweet confectionary made from sugar, butter and milk which is beaten during cooling to make it creamier.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Very Safe
Culturally exported so globally produced and consumed (i.e. its fate does not rest soley in our hands).
- furlong
2
Long before the Norman Conquest in 1066, Saxon farmers in England were measuring distance in rods and furlongs (and areas in acres). A furlong is a unit of length, equal to 220 yards, or 10 chains, or 40 rods. There are 8 furlongs to the mile.
The name is derived from 'furrow' long. The agricultural 'acre', moulded by the action of the plough, tended to be rectangular and a 'furlong' in length.
This unit is still used, mainly in horse-racing.
[US-Canada-Aus-NZ-Eire]
Lane's Extinction Grading: Stable
- Stable in one or more areas/regions, but not growing.
- Still enjoyed by a number of families in one area.
- Successful recent revival with natural local growth.
- fusion food
Originally I thought this was something which described burnt food done in a micro-wave but it is actually a dish which combines two traditions, i.e. non traditional. Chips with curry is fusion food but chefs can't charge lots of money for that. Is a scotch egg with Branston pickle fusion food? And what about a Balti pie? It's a culinary minefield!