Britain's 'secret' regional foods

What regional specialities fly below the radar? We find out a few of our reader’s favourite treats.

Some foods are ubiquitous around the British Isles. Fish and chips, roast dinners, and baked beans on toast are common dishes on tables in all counties. And some regional foods now enjoy the status of being well-known throughout the country – the Cornish pasty being one good example of a ‘break-out’ meal.

But other foods remain staunchly local (sadly), like the North East’s stottie cake (pictured above), which I recreated in the lovefood kitchen. 

Regional dishes

We asked lovefood readers for their favourite 'secret' regional foods on Twitter. Here's what they came up with...

Pease pudding
I’m actually very familiar with this one, it being partnered frequently with stottie cake along with slices of boiled ham. It’s mostly made of split yellow peas, water, salt and/or stock, boiled down to a spreadable paste. Commonly found in the North East, pease pudding is also enjoyed in various midlands areas, and a couple in the South too.

Piebarm
The piebarm, also known as a ‘Wigan kebab’, is a barm cake (a type of floured bun not dissimilar to stottie) with a meat and potato pie placed between the halves. Here’s a picture of one uploaded to Twitter. Talk about a filling filling… Thanks to @StirPRLondon for that one.

Liverpool Tart
Described to us by @ChristinaMcMc, the Liverpool Tart is "lemons and brown sugar, boiled down with some cinnamon and nutmeg, then poured into a pastry case." Though the recipe has existed since 1897, it apparently found popularity as a comparatively cheap treat during wartimes – funnily enough, lemons weren't rationed in wartime Britain. 

Parmos

Twitter user @18kari told us all about parmos – a Teesside special (though it's found in a few other places too). A parmo is a breaded turkey or chicken escalope topped with white sauce and cheese. They’re often served up with creamed cabbage and a salad. Apparently, they’re rather good after a night out, and garlic sauce is “compulsory.”

Yorkshire Tart

Interestingly, the filling of the Yorkshire Tart is based on curd, rather than cream or custard. The curd is mixed with raisins, sugar and eggs and baked in a slightly sweetened pastry crust. According to @javaria_akbar, the resulting dish is quite firm, and very sweet.

Cumnock Tart
@TheCumnockTryst tweeted us this description of a Cumnock Tart. They're lacking an exact recipe though, so if you have one, please do share! It’s a Scottish rhubarb or apple (or both) tart, which is “glazed twice with sugar syrup to produce a rich colour and sticky, shiny top”. The pastry is a classic savoury lard type. Yum!

A big thanks to everyone who made us aware of all these regional specialties. In particular, we seem to have a lot of different styles of tarts dotted around...

Surely there are more great regional dishes out there. Let us know about the ones you know of in the comments below - we’d love to try making them for ourselves!

Pease pudding image attributed to EKez, parmo image attributed to Karl Bomersbach. 

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