- lager
Light foreign drink mistaken for beer.
- laggy band liver
'Laggy' is childhood slang for 'elastic', and was used to accurately describe the tough, tubular, rubbery bits found in cheap, school dinner liver. A lack of squeamishness, strong jaws, and certain level of determination (or starvation) were required to successfully eat 'laggy band liver'.
- lamb
In the few areas of Britain which actually value 'mutton' the definition of 'lamb' is an animal up to 1 year old, and anything older is called 'mutton'. For the rest of us, who have acquired an aversion to the word 'mutton', the definition has been stretched to cope with our ridiculous notions. And so 'lamb' is not just 'lamb', it can be one or several types simultaneously, depending on age and location. Generally the older a lamb is, then the darker and stronger the meat will be.
terminology:
lamb - up to 1 year old
young lamb - 6-8 weeks (palest of lamb meats)
spring lamb - 1-5 months (may also be known as 'summer', 'new', or 'early' lamb)
hoggart lamb - up to 2 years old (stronger flavour)
marsh lamb - Lamb raised on salt marshes or salt meadows.
mutton - over 2 years old
Historically the herb 'Rosemary' has long been associated with lamb in Britain.
Why we buy lamb from half way around the world, when we have such superb produce on our doorsteps, is baffling to simple people like me.
alternative uses: It is possible for a person to be as 'gentle as a lamb' (but not as tasty).
See also: 'mutton'.
- lamb Henrietta
An 'off the bone' version of 'Lamb Henry'.
- lamb Henry
Roasted shoulder of lamb, on the bone, minted or cooked in minted oil, though some old recipes also include 'rosemary'. Said to be a favourite of Henry VIII, hence the name. Very popular in pubs and restaurants and sold, ready to cook, by many butchers. An off the bone version has appeared and is called 'lamb Henrietta'.
- Lambs wool
'Lambs wool' is a type of mulled ale made from ale, baked apples, sugar, spices, eggs and cream served with little pieces of bread. In some places this is served in a wassail (drinking) bowl and is carried round the town and used to bless the apple trees in the hope of a good harvest next year.
- lambs' tail pie
Made, in Kent, from lambs tails during lambing season. The tails are scalded, skinned and cooked with root vegetables, and then everything is put into a pie dish, with peas and sliced hard boiled eggs.
- lammas
Celebration of the first harvest. Celebrating the first of the harvest is a pre-Christian celebration and the tradition was continued by Medieval Christians who called it lammas (from 'loaf mass'). Somewhere along the way Lammas, and the celebrations linked around baking loaves of bread with the new grain, have gone, displaced by the 'harvest festival', and August Bank holiday, and a general disconnection from nature. Modern lammas celebrators suggest the date of August 1st but as there are several weeks of difference between ripening times from southern to northern Britain I cannot see how a calendar date would have been important to our pagan ancestors, who enjoyed a stronger link with the seasons than we do, and took their cues from nature. However our modern August bank holiday would be an excellent opportunity for us to revive this tradition perhaps by simply baking your own loaf of bread, even if you only do it once a year. So August the first it is then!
- Lancashire hotpot
3
A casserole type dish, or an attractive lass from Lancashire (Yorkshire expression). This dish is near to extinction due to the abuse of its name which many have incorrectly chosen to apply to any pile of meat and vegetables thrown into a dish and baked in an oven. Whilst the word 'hotpot' may be applied to any dish prepared in this way it is not what we know as a 'Lancashire' hotpot.
Lancashire hotpot is made with mutton or lamb, nothing else, as it was created in a time when mutton was plentiful and cheap. It is made in a tall, (originally huge), brown, straight sided pot. Potatoes and onions are the other two main ingredients but as this dish was invented by poor people looking to fill as many mouths as possible, any seasonal vegetables found their way in there resulting in several recipe variations. The top is covered with a layer of overlapping, sliced potatoes, creating a wonderfully crunchy edged layer of potato on top, the identifying feature of the Lancashire hotpot. Outside of Lancashire, and in posh culinary circles, a pastry lid is added but this is unforgivable. The 'hotpot' was traditionally put in the oven in the morning and left to slow cook all day, ready for the men coming home from work in the evening, and could be kept hot for hours wrapped in blankets for delivery to them at their place of work. See 'hotpot'.
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.
- Lancashire stew
2
Lancashire stew is an east Lancashire name for pressed beef and may also be referred to as simply 'stew'. The difference between pressed beef and 'stew' is the size of the meat pieces with stew having a much smaller size.
This is the filling of 'stew 'n 'ard'.
Just to add another layer of confusion potted beef may also be referred to as stew in Lancashire, or as 'potted stew' or as 'stew pot'.
See also: 'pressed beef' and 'stew 'n 'ard'.
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.
- lane or track to pasture
The lane or track from the homestead or village to pasture land often acquires a special name which differs from region to region. In Cornwall it may be known a 'bounder' and in upland areas of northern England it may be known as a 'rake' or 'raike'.
- langoustine
A miniature lobster (nephrops norvegicus) of European seas. It has long slender claws.
Otherwise known as scampi, Norway lobster or Dublin Bay prawns.
- Langstroth hive
The Langstroth hive, was design by Lorenzo Langstroth and patented in 1852, in the United States, and was the first hive to make practical use of removable frames (rather than top bars) and a hive which can be split down, (though he was not the first to use frames).
The ease of use allowed bees and comb to be managed in a way previously impossible as the bees are encouraged to make their comb within the frame and discouraged from making comb which is attached to the side of the hive or to other comb thus allowing a frame to be easily lifted in and out during inspection or harvest.
The Langstroth hive thus became very popular with bee keepers world wide and our own 'National' hive is based upon it, as are many others.
See also: 'bee hive' and 'National hive'.
- lard
Lard was pig fat in rendered and un-rendered forms but these days the name is only applied to the rendered fat. Rendering is achieved by cutting the fat up into small blocks and heating gently to melt the fat which is occasionally poured off. What is left are little nutty lumps, crispy bits, the original pork scratchings.
Lard comes in several grades, the finest being 'leaf' or 'flead' lard (valued by bakers), the next is 'fatback' and the lowest grade is 'caul'. The fat surrounding the offal was also rendered into lard but did not keep white or 'sweet' for long and had to be used quickly.
Each fat has its uses the main being in baking and pastry making.
The finest short crust pastry is made with lard, and hot water pastry cannot be made without it. Lard is 100% fat whilst butter has 20% water (and other things) so lard is better for cooking.
Flead fat comes out of the animal as a sheet and the non fatty bits have to be carefully cut out before it can be used, though the lard can be extracted without this faff by pressing between rollers. Lardy cake is made from flead lard.
In times past lard was flavoured with Rosemary (during rendering).
Before the advent of petro-chemicals the cheap and plentiful lard had many other uses including the lubrication of moving parts (e.g. axles).
See also: 'lardy cake', 'pork scratchings' and 'dripping'.
- larder / spence / pantry
A cool area, close to the kitchen, food preparation area, or 'scullery', and used for food storage prior to the invention of the fridge. A larder could be a cupboard, a 'walk in' cupboard, a whole room or a cellar. They were made vermin proof and were usually found on the cool, shady, north side of a house.
Within larders there was usually one or more large flat stones primarily used for cooling hot food (and usually known as a 'cold stone'). Large larders had hanging hooks (embedded in the roof joists) from which meat and game was hung.
These days the larder will have been converted into a cupboard or utility room but the 'cold stone' may still be present.
Another name for a larder was a 'pantry' and in Scotland a larder was known as a 'spence'. A 'Lardner' was the old occupational name for the keeper of a food cupboard, or larder, within large households, but not in Scotland where they were known as 'spencers' (the origin of the surname).
Funeral parlours also make use of a 'cold stone' but it is often referred to as the 'slab'.
See also: 'thrawl' and 'ice house'.
- lardons
Bits of pork fat cut up and fried to make lard. You could of course just use lard, but smoked pork is the exception as it makes a lovely lard which can be used to flavour anything you fry in it.
- lardy cake / shaley cake
A lardy cake is made from freshly rendered lard. Its origins are in Wiltshire where it is still popular but is also common in Gloucestershire, Suffolk and in the West Country where it may have other names. Each county has its own version. In parts of the Midlands it was known as 'shaley cake'.
Lardy cake once gained quite a popularity with the upper classes and is said to be eaten at Buckingham Palace. A version of it called 'dripping cake' can be made using dripping instead of lard. Several regions of England have cakes (of different names) made with lard, or containing lard.
See also: 'flead cake'.
- last
The last is a very obscure unit of volume and is equal to 640 gallons.
- lave net fishing
A 'lave net' is a triangular net mounted on a 'Y' shaped, hand held wooden frame which is collapsible when not in use. The frame is made of three woods, ash for the long handle ('rock staff'), willow for the arms (the 'rimes') and pine for the spreader ('headboard') which holds the rimes apart during use.
This method of fishing is peculiar to the River Severn and has been used for catching salmon for hundreds of years.
The net is braced against the flow of the river, often in strong currents, and fish are swept into it. The fisherman keeps one hand resting on the net so that he can feel the vibrations when a fish enters.
This method of fishing is near to extinction but a band of men, the 'Black Rock Fishermen' are attempting to maintain the traditions by holding net making courses and by giving demonstrations on the river Severn.
- laver / laver bread / bara lawr
3
Common in South Wales where it is known more usually as 'laver bread' (or in Welsh: bara lawr) and is a seaweed (porphyra umbilicalis) which is harvested at low tide, in winter. The seaweed is boiled for hours and formed into a gelatinous puree which is then mixed with fine oatmeal. Formed into small cakes it is fried in bacon fat and served with bacon and/or cockles (like the 'dredgermanâs breakfast' which is served with oysters). Interestingly laver was once eaten more widely in Britain, especially in Devon, Somerset and Scotland. Well done to South Wales for keeping it alive, and where it is also available in tins enabling all year round eating.
The taste is definitely of the sea, salty, seaweedy and with background taste which reminds you of shellfish.
See also: 'dock pudding'.
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.
- leaf lard
The highest grade of pork lard which comes from around the kidneys and inside the loin. Leaf lard has little pork flavour making it suitable for baking, and bakers value it for its ability to produce flaky moist pie crusts. May also be known as 'flare', 'flear', or 'flead' (Kent).
- league
The league is a unit of length equal to 3 miles, but a league at sea is different to a league on land. Much used by poets and authors, but nobody else.
- leaguer
A 'leaguer' is a naval term for a barrel which was used to store food, water and other ships provisions. It has a capacity of 150 gallons (682.5 litres).
On HMS Victory 530 leaguers of water was sufficient for 6 months sailing.
See also: 'barrel'.
- leap / lip / lib
The 'leap' in England, up to the 18th century, was a unit of dry measure equal to half a bushel or 4 gallons, whereas in Wales, at the same time, it was a traditional unit of distance equal to 6 feet 9 inches (2.0574 metres).
- leek pudding
Sliced and fried leeks are baked into a suet crust in the same way as steak and kidney pudding. Popular in the north east of England. It may be combined with onions to make 'leek and onion pudding'. Eaten as a complete meal or as a filler with meat.
See also: 'onion pudding', 'rag pudding' and 'bag pudding'.
- leftovers
Many traditional British meals are the product of leftovers and we have a long history of re-using foods to make excellent dishes. The word 'leftovers' implies that a meal wasn't finished, and at our house, though we ate everything that was put in front of us, and wiped the plate clean with bread, my mother could often produce 'left-overs' for another meal. In fact a prudent housewife would deliberately make extra food at one meal time in order to make life easier for herself at the next one, utilising the so called 'left-overs'.
'Bubble and squeak' and 'pan heggarty' are good examples of leftover meals as is the pudding 'wet Nelly'.
Traditionally Monday was the day that most 'left-over' meals appeared, being made, in theory, from the remnants of Sunday lunch. If you did 'bubble and squeak' on Monday, and fish and chips on Friday, that only left three weekday evening meals to sort out.
Victorians wasted nothing, and were not as snobbish about leftover food as we are. They invented the saying "Waste not, want not!". They ran the biggest empire the world has ever seen without a single 'use by date'.
Britain currently throws away thousands of tons of perfectly good food per year, much of it not even cooked once, some still in its packaging.
Leftovers in Victorian times, obtained from hotels and clubs, were once sold in our cities from specialist shops, and 'left-over' recipe books were enthusiastically written, though the Victorians called it 'secondary cooking' and often used the word 'hash' in association with anything which was cooked again.
Any truly inedible food scraps or kitchen waste were put in a bucket and were called 'wash'. The wash was collected by a 'wash man' every few days for feeding to pigs, hence the origin of 'hogwash'.
Quote: The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. ~ Calvin Trillin.
See also: 'bubble and squeak;, 'pan heggerty, 'rumbledethumps', 'raw fry', 'colcannon', 'champ', 'stovies', 'panackelty', 'wet Nelly', 'bread and butter pudding', 'Saturday pie' and 'hash'.
- leveridge *
5a
A liver pudding. Like a black pudding but made from liver. Thought to be extinct!
Lane's Extinction Grading: Extinct
Extinct but a useable recipe, knowledge or appropriate experience exists.
- libations
A 'libation' was originally the pouring or offering of a drink to a god but the word became synonymous with any alcoholic drink during the Victorian period and is still used in this context today, though rather infrequently and usually in either humorous or very formal situations.
- licky / likkey pie
Pie made from leeks, pork and eggs (Cornwall). This was once a feast day dish.
- licorice stick / Spanish
3
Licorice sticks are pieces of root from the licorice plant and are sold unprocessed for chewing on. They were a healthy form of confectionary and are still sold from jars in sweet shops though you also used to be able to buy them from chemists as they are considered to have a medicinal benefit. In Yorkshire, where licorice used to be grown, they are known as 'Spanish' or 'Spanish sticks' a clue to the source of the original plants.
See also: 'Pontefract cakes'.
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.
- lights / lungs
Lungs, particularly those from a slaughtered animal are known as 'lights'. These days used as pet food but 'lights' were once widely eaten in Britain. On the continent recipes for 'lights' abound.
See also: 'pluck'.
- limers
Naval term for any citrus juice drink, or more recently, for the powdered crystals which make up such drinks at sea. Scurvy, the enemy of the long distance sailor, was kept at bay with citrus fruits, due to their vitamin 'C' content, and the name comes from the early practice of carrying limes.
- limpet
A creature of rocky, inter-tidal zones. Once valued as food in Britain, and still is elsewhere in rocky coastal zones of the world, but have fallen from favour with us. Rubbery if boiled too long otherwise wonderful. Easy to harvest if you can sneak up on them, and flip them off, before they pull their shells down tight to the rock with amazing, storm resisting force. I pride myself on being an expert limpet stalker.
alt: The 'limpet mine' took its name from these incredible creatures.
- limpet pie *
Once a common dish of coastal communities living on rocky coasts. Limpet pies were made in the same way as cockle pies (by their counterparts living on estuaries), with bacon, but also with sliced hard boiled eggs.
A Cornish recipe for limpet pie uses limpets, vegetables and clotted cream.
- Lincolnshire chine / stuffed chine
A Lincolnshire chine is a cured shoulder of pork, (originally of Lincolnshire Curly Coat pig), which is deeply scored, almost sliced, before being stuffed with chopped parsley (which creates a green striped effect across the meat). It is simmered very slowly or steamed for about 6 hours, but is served cold.
Sometimes known as 'stuffed chine' or 'Lincolnshire stuffed chine'.
- Lincolnshire Curly Coated pig
5a
The Lincolnshire Curly Coated pig is a very old breed which, and after widespread popularity in its home county, became extinct in the 1970's, but this particular breed is mentioned here because it also gave rise to a unique method of butchering, peculiar to Lincolnshire.
The Lincolnshire Curly Coat was so big and fat (often up to 40 stone) that they couldn't get access with a saw to cut down the middle of the spine, so the pig was butchered by cutting through the rib bones on either side of the spine, producing a cut which is exclusive to Lincolnshire.
The Lincolnshire Curly Coat was exported to Austria, Russia and eastern European countries where it was crossed with other breeds such as the Mangalitza. A Hungarian breed has been brought back to England in an attempt to recreate the Lincolnshire Curly Coat (or something like it).
See also: 'Lincolnshire chine' and 'Barnsley chop'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Extinct
Extinct but a useable recipe, knowledge or appropriate experience exists.
- Lincolnshire plum bread
A type of fruit loaf still made in Lincolnshire. Contains dried fruits.
- Lincolnshire sausage
Wide pork sausages from Lincolnshire which are distinctive for two reasons. Firstly they are coarsely ground, not minced, and secondly that they are strongly flavoured with herbs (especially sage) rather than pepper.
- link
A link is a unit of length, there being 100 links to a chain, which is 22 yds, so one hundredth of 22yds (66ft).
- liquor
3
The word was originally used, several hundred years ago, to describe any liquid fit for drinking but its meaning changed and came to mean any alcoholic liquid. Older uses of the word have persisted in traditional drink industries (e.g. malt liquor in brewing). But many will make a connection with strong alcoholic drink when they hear this word because it has persisted in this usage in America but hardly anyone uses it in this context in Britain any more, instead we now use the word 'spirits'.
The word 'liquor' is well known in London and the south east of England to describe a flour and parsley based sauce (but exact recipes are guarded within families). Traditionally this type of liquor is served with pie and mash, and with stewed eels and mash. It is added to the dish like gravy, but in larger quantities, until the components of the meal are just poking out of it like little edible islands or ice-bergs.
[US]
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.
- live brining
Brine which has bacteria added to it, or which has naturally formed within it. Such brines were crucial to the taste of once famous cured hams. The complexity and flavour of these brines relied on simply being used over and over again, the flavour improving with each use (in theory), something not possible with modern health regulations. Some live brining does take place in our modern world, but in a limited and strictly controlled manner.
- liver and onions
You either like liver or you hate it, and enough of us love it to keep this fantastic dish alive and well. At the risk of sounding like a pointless modern safety warning; contains liver and onions!
- loaf
A single unit of larger bread. A loaf can be any size, weight, shape, texture, colour or nationality and is therefore an 'equal opportunities' description. Whilst breads may have different designations and names depending on shape and ingredients (e.g. cob, bloomer, etc) they can all still be referred to as a 'loaf' of bread.
alt: 'Using your loaf' is the process of thinking and planning, and a lazy person may be described as 'loafing' around.
- lob scouse
2
Or just 'scouse'. A thick stew like dish made from mutton/beef/mince, potatoes and onions and traditionally served with pickled red cabbage. Scouse should be firm enough "for a mouse to trot over it".
Not surprisingly popular in Liverpool to where it migrated from being a traditional seaman's dish, probably of Scandinavian origin, to being the locally favoured meal. But 'lob scouse' is not just popular in Liverpool, it is also eaten in North Wales.
The much less preferred no meat version, was made by sailors who were at sea longer than meat was safer to keep, is called 'blind scouse'.
See also 'loblolly'.
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.
- loblolly / burgoo
5a
'Loblolly' is a thick, gloopy oatmeal porridge made by English seamen, and to which other ingredients were also added. 'Loblolly' bears some similarity to 'frumenty' and may owe its existence to it.
'Loblolly' was also known as 'burgoo'. It was often served to sick seaman, and the untrained surgeon's assistants on English Navy ships of the 1590's became known as 'loblolly boys', a derogatory name, (typical of the Navy), for a post which eventually became a skilled medical position.
Though the word 'burgoo' is little used in Britain it has survived in the former British colony of America, a historical clue as to how the original settlers arrived, and what they were fed on the way out there, but is associated there with a dish which is more stew like and contains no oats.
The word 'loblolly' in parts of the US has also come to be associated with anything gloopy e.g. marshes and bogs, and a tree which grows in bogs ( in the south eastern part of the new colony) was called, by the early settlers, the 'loblolly pine' (Pinus taeda) and is still known by this name today.
The word 'lob' is linked with another nautical dish 'lob scouse', another type of stew.
[US]
See also: 'lolly'.
Lane's Extinction Grading: Extinct
Extinct but a useable recipe, knowledge or appropriate experience exists.
- local
In the last few years the word 'local', when associated with food, has come to be accepted as 'within 30 miles' but the definition varies, and is evolving in terms of food supply.
In real life nobody would define local as within 30 miles. If your bakery or barbers was 30 miles away would you say it was local? However the emphasis on this definition of 'local' is a successful strategy to encourage people to consider where their food comes from and how many 'food miles' are involved in its production, storage, handling, delivery, etc. and so this magic figure of 30 miles has become a very useful standard, not forced on us from above, but voluntarily adopted nation wide, by producers and consumers alike.
It is amazing that with the current state of our industrialised, transport dependant, food network, that we should think that 30 miles seems a reasonable 'local' distance but it is serving a very useful purpose. But I believe it will increasingly be viewed at generous and will reduce as we return to more local sources for our food. Personally I would describe a 30 mile (48 km) radius from any point as 'regional', and a 5 mile (8 km) radius as 'local'. A radius of 5 miles gives a circumference of 31.5 miles. In my opinion f you can walk in a circle around your place in a single day then its definitely local and 31 miles is achievable, but pushing it for even a decent walker. Don't try this if you live near the sea.
The word 'local' now features in an increasing way in marketing, so much so that food fraud involving mis-use of the term is common and it is estimated that 18% of claims to be local are indeed lies. Whilst this is of course bad news it has a silver lining in that 'local' is now valued, that there's money to be made by advertising and selling it. As the tide turns, and we go back to local growers and suppliers perhaps the supermarkets have seen the best of their times.
Much of the abuse of the word 'local' takes place in pubs, restaurants and other catering establishments where 'locally made' is being used to describe meals made on the premises, or close by, but made from ingredients from anywhere in the world. This term is replacing the equally abused 'home made' which has been used to mean the same thing, and is open to abuse in the same way. 'Locally sourced' is another term which can be twisted, as ingredients bought from your local supermarket can be deemed to be locally sourced.
What we need is another term to replace 'locally made and 'sourced locally', one which means 'All ingredients grown or reared locally', something which gives an indication of the radius from which the ingredients are gathered (at source), something which indicates just how serious the producers of the meal are about supporting local producers, perhaps something like 'local-7' to indicate from within a seven mile radius (local) or 'local-30' to indicate locally, but regionally.
See also: 'food miles'.
- lock in
Due to licensing laws first created in 1915, as a response to a wartime demand for a reliable work force, pubs were required to be closed at times much earlier than the pub occupants would have liked. The 'lock in' quickly developed and involved the locking of doors and the closing of curtains to give the impression that the pub had closed whilst the occupants inside carried on drinking quietly, often accompanied by the local bobby.
Since 2003 the relaxation of these antiquated licensing laws, some 85 years after the war ended, has allowed for the issue of an 'all day' license and so the 'lock in' is becoming less necessary, but it still persists in smaller pubs, particularly is rural areas where a relaxed attitude to licensing laws is traditional.
Interestingly, just after the smoking ban of 2006/2007 'lock ins' became popular with smokers, as once the doors were shut, out came the ash trays and a feverish simultaneous lighting up ensued.
See also: 'pub'.
- lolly
'Lolly' is the abbreviated form of 'lollipop', a flavoured sweet confection on a stick. In more recent times the word was also applied to flavoured sweet liquids (ice lolly) frozen around a stick.
Confusingly for tourists a 'lollipop man' (or lady) does not make or sell lollipops but fearlessly leaps out into oncoming traffic with a hand held circular road sign resembling a giant surreal lollipop.
Alternative uses: Lolly is an old English word for 'tongue' and which came to be applied to that food type (lollipop) which is dealt with mainly by the tongue and might possibly an even older English word for soup or stew (as in 'loblolly').
Slang: Lolly was a slang word for 'money'.
[Aus-NZ-Eire]
- London Beer Flood
In 1814 (October 17th) a huge vat of beer containing 135,00 gallons of beer ruptured when the strengthening hoops failed. The collapse caused a domino effect with other adjacent vats and resulted in 323,000 gallons of beer to burst out of the Horse Shoe Brewery and onto the street. The wave of beer demolished two homes and knocked down the wall of the Tavistock. Arms. The area was populated by poor people many of whom were living in the cellars which quickly filled with beer. Eight people died from drowning and building collapse. The brewery on Tottenham Court Road (formerly belonging to 'Meux and Company') was demolished in 1922 and the Dominion Theatre now stands on the site.
- London fog
London fog is a drink made from Early Grey tea, steamed milk and vanilla syrup.
See also: 'Earl Grey tea' and 'London particular'.
- London particular
A soup made from bacon stock (derived from boiled smoked bacon), and split dried peas (yellow or green). It is so named because of the thick, dense 'pea souper' London fogs that were so common during the Victorian age and in the first half of the last century.
- long net - rabbit
2
A long net is, as the name suggests, a long net capable of spanning a whole field, and is used to capture a large number of wild rabbits in one go.
The net is erected, preferably between rabbits and their burrows, when the rabbits are out feeding. They are then scared into the net, by men or by a dog. The rabbits may also be scared out out their burrows into a waiting net.
The long net is traditionally used at night.
Long nets are traditionally 100 yards, 50 yards and 25 yards long and are still made and sold to these lengths today (advertised and sold in imperial measurements). They are approx. 5 or 6 feet high, fully stretched, but are set at 2-3 foot height to give them 'bag' (50-100 percent 'bagging'). The strands of the net are available in different 'weights' with lightweight versions for open ground, and heavyweight (10-12 oz) for working amongst brambles and gorse. Hemp and cotton construction is still favoured over nylon because it is less likely to tangle. Modern long nets come with lightweight, high tech, carbon fibre poles.
See also: 'gate net', 'ferrets' and 'snare'.
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.
- Lord Randall's pudding
Lord Randall's pudding is a steamed marmalade and apricots sponge pudding.
Nobody seems to know who Lord Randall was or why a pudding was named after him but there is an unconfirmed story that a Lord Randall was poisoned by his sweetheart, which is hardly a recommendation for a pudding.
- Lord Woolton
Minister of Food (appointed in 1940) and popular front man for war time recipes designed to make the best of rationing and food shortages. Lord Woolton spoke on the radio. He was cheerful and treated housewives like he was speaking to his daughters so many people trusted him. See also 'Woolton Pie' and 'The Kitchen Front'.
- Lorne sausage
Also known as 'sausage slice', 'slice' and 'square slice'
I originally thought Lorne sausage was just a different name for what everyone else in Britain calls 'square sausage' or 'sliced sausage' but the Scottish version is different in a couple of important features. The 'Lorne sausage' is, like other sausage slices, about 3 inches (approx. 75 mm) along each side but it is made from beef, not pork as in the rest of Britain, thus making the beef version uniquely Scottish. Secondly square sausage elsewhere is consumed in much smaller quantities compared to 'linked' sausages and can even be viewed as second best to actual sausages whereas in Scotland vast quantities of 'slice' are sold in favour of the sausage (sometimes referred to as 'link').
The Lorne sausage has things added to it in the same way that sausages have things added to them and so you may come across 'tomato slice', 'onion slice'. etc. There is a version which has a stick of black pudding running through the centre and this is known as 'black eyed Lorne'.
There are several theories as to how the sausage got its name. Some say it originates from the ancient district of Lorne, now part of the Argyll and Bute region, but even people from Argyll aren't sure about this. Then there are those who say it is taken from a Scottish comedian (Tommy Lorne 1890-1935) who liked eating square sausage, but if that's the case I might get several pies named after me.
Popular throughout Scotland and north east England.
See also 'square sausage' and 'black eyed Lorne'.
- lumper
A 'lumper' is a man who unloads fish from a fishing boat but it is a term which once applied to any manual handler, or loader, of goods or freight.
- Lunch
The midday meal which, for most of us, and usually happens between noon and 1pm. If you are lucky enough to have kitchen facilities and cooks at your place of work you may experience a cooked meal but for most working people lunch is cold food such as sandwiches and pies.
Modern work pressures gave rise to the term 'working lunch'.
- lunch tongue
See 'tongue'.