Piccalilli and Ploughmans Lunch

[SepticTone]

I really like piccalilli, almost as much as I like Branston Pickle.

I understand that British piccalilli is different from the American sort, being extremely yellow, containing cauliflower, and being extremely tart: you know the sort of tart; one taste & those saliva ducts at the side of your mouth go into overdrive.

There's a debate about whether a trad Ploughman's Lunch should have piccalilli or Branston as the pickle on the plate. Ploughman's Lunch is also my favourite pub lunch, rather than the cooked heavy stuff usually on offer in pubs.

Ploughman's Lunch, for those unfamiliar with it, is a trad British pub staple (for those pubs still open after Blair introduced a smoking ban in pubs & allowing them paradoxically to stay open 24/7, thus effectively sounding the death knell for most pubs, along with the death knell for numerous Iraqis, as the idiot's political bequest, but another story).

In my area you get, generally speaking:4 slices of cheese, usually Cheddar of course, with a lump of Stilton, Lancashire & a bit of Double Gloucester, some tomatoes, some salad stuff (no dressing: we're British!), a slice of ham, a slice of pork pie, maybe half a boiled egg, a large dollop of Branston (or Heinz or homemade piccalilli), butter & a large lump of crusty wholemeal bread. Oh, & a pint of Old Speckled Hen or John Smith's bitter goes down well with it, too, hereabouts.

The piccalilli/branston debate rages on unabated, as an inclusion in a good Ploughman's.

It should cost no more than £3.50 in Lancs, otherwise you're being ripped off.

I'd eat one now, except it's too cold outside.

Just for info.

[davec]

Hmmm... we have pickled cauliflower, both alone and in combination with other stuff (not opossum meat, thank God), so I can't see why our piccalilli should vary from the British variety. Seppock perversity, sez I.

Why no dressing on salad? Would the flavor collide with the cheese and relish, etc.? If you have lots of stronger flavors on a plate, a naked salad can refresh the palate between nibbles.

I've had both the imbibements you mention, and would have them more often, in particular the Samuel Smith bitters, if it weren't for the import price gouge. Samuel Smith brewery just can't miss on anything it does, IMHO.

The whole meal sounds great--much better and more healthful than most pub grub, which too often is anything cheap that can carry a load of salt and grease.

A meal like that here would be at least $10 or 6.25 pounds, but then again your pubs are serving large numbers of people of all income levels, while British food here is a specialty of interest only to well off middle- and upper-middle class folk, and in much smaller numbers, so they can get away with the gouging.

[SepticTone]

They don't put dressing on salads here unless the dressing is named, so you can avoid ordering it, as a lot of traditionalists don't like it, as it's foreign, and we have salad cream anyway, if you want something fancy on a salad.
Olive oil, for instance, when I was a kid in the 60's (age giveaway alert!!) was only available in chemists shops (Pharmacies) in little bottles, for putting in your ears if you had an earwax problem. True.
It was only in the late 70's/early 80's that people here ( & I'm talking everyday working class folk, not toffs ) actually learnt that it was marginally edible, & not a pharmaceutical product.

They may charge 6 quid for a Ploughman's down South, particularly if they see an American coming, but not up here in Lancashire, as we're all poor and Americans don't come here, except to York, which is in Yorkshire though, & they're all robbing bastards over there.

[Cap'n Jack]

where did my last post go to?
I'm new to this and I thought I made some great points.
Maybe not?

[cbrzychcy]

I feel sorry for where ever you're getting your Ploughman's from, Dave. there is a wonderful little pub in Austin (about an hour's drive for me) that serves some pretty yummy pub grub. The Ploughman's there is only just over $6, which I honestly don't think is bad considering what you get and that everything is fresh!

[SepticTone]

where did my last post go to?
I'm new to this and I thought I made some great points.
Maybe not?

You mean this one?
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=98&start=40
or this?
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=209&start=10

I've checked the moderation queue & there's nothing awaiting moderation, so maybe you pressed the wrong button?
Or your memory's not quite what it was.

[Cap'n Jack]

ST, I must have pressed the wrong button.
Shame, I was going on about real pubs vanishing, smoking in pubs and stuff.
ah well, I will pass on that one now, it was a veritable literary masterpiece too!

[davec]

I have a cousin who lives in Austin, but I've never been there. I've only met him twice, very briefly. I don't think we have too much in common. You know the old saying, "you wouldn't have dinner with your family if they weren't your family". I'd need some other reason to visit.

His stepfather used to run a business when they lived in Brownville, taking wealthy Houston businessmen on 'hunting trips', although I've been told the 'wild game' in question was most likely senoritas. He once ran out of booze on such a trip and tried to go back into town on--honest to God--a snowmobile to get more, as he was too in his cups to drive a car. Common misconception--you can still get busted for DUI, even on a bike. He did.

I visited Big Bend Park one January, and it was -13F/-25C and blowing snow the day I got there. (I hate going places during peak tourist season!) But I think that's pretty unusual. How many of y'all down there own snowmobiles?

[cbrzychcy]

Hmmm, I don't actually know anyone who owns a snowmobile, Dave. Snow is pretty rare this far south in Texas so there really isn't any reason for it. The pub that I was talking about is called the Dog and Duck (Dog and Duck Pub) and it's a nice place to go. If you're ever in the area, I'll take you on a tour of some of the pubs in Austin. There is also B.D. Riley's, an Irish pub on 6th Street. B.D. Riley's is pretty awesome because the pub was built in Ireland then taken apart and crated up, then shipped to Houston and trucked on into Austin and re-assembled by some Irish carpenters.

[Kate]

I've actually heard of piccalilli before - it was the stuff that James Herriot (his pen name, but too tired to remember his real name right now) smothered over a slab of bacon that was mostly fat, because one of his clients offered him a meal and he didn't want to be rude and turn it down, but he had a horrible abhorrence of fat so he ate almost the entire jar of piccalilli. Good set of books - made me want to be a vet. Then I realized that you spend four years (AFTER college) in school and a ton of money, and as a reward you get woken up at all hours of the night, dragged out into all sorts of weather (Yorkshire stockmen of the 1930s aren't any different from Missouri cattlemen of the 2010s), kicked, bitten, and trampled. Actually, I would have done it were it not for the "ton of money" bit - I'd like to be able to settle down and have a family someday, can't do that if I'm trying to pay off the massive amount of loans I owe.

The Ploughman's Lunch sounds really good. I wish we had a pub around here, but unfortunately the closest thing we have is "Waxy O'Shea's Irish Pub" in Branson - which is NOT anything like a real pub. I was very irate when I ordered chips and they turned out to be slightly thicker fries than normal.