Blighty's British Recipes Newsletter

Every week a new traditional British recipe is sent out to subscribers of Blighty's British Recipes Newsletter. Our aim is to preserve those good old British recipes that Mum and Grandma used to make.

We started out hosting the recipes on the main Blighty's website but over time we realized it made sense to publish them on a blog instead. Since this blog was already operating it was chosen as the new home for our traditional British recipes.

Now you will find all the recipes from the newsletter right here. But you will also find additional comments and ideas related to British food.

So, if you just want the recipes, subscribe to the newsletter. You'll get links directly to the blog posts containing only the recipes. If you want to read the other posts too (and hopefully join in the discussion by adding your comments) subscribe to the blog using one of the links at the top of the sidebar on this page.

How Times Change in the Kitchen

Have you ever noticed that nearly all the big name TV chefs seem to be men? Did you also notice that the majority of them seem to be British? Compare that with this introduction from a British cookery book from the 1950s:

Unless a woman is a natural-born cook, and enjoys experimenting with new dishes, it is easy for her cooking to get into a rut. She is apt to look through her cookery book, pick out the recipes that look simplest, and having learned how to carry them out serve these dishes again and again ...

But here is a cookery book to lure every woman out of such a rut, and to prevent others from getting into it...

Make a friend in need and an adviser of your cookery book... Its advice is sound, practical, and money-saving.

Those words were written by the book's author - a woman. How times change. The traditional role of the "housewife" is rapidly receding into the history books.

Same thing goes for old-fashioned cooking instructions and measurements (pop the dish into a "quick oven" - I inquired at the appliance store who advised me they stock slow ovens but had never heard of a quick oven).

"Mix the ingredients with a gill of cold milk"? A "gill" is officially defined as a quarter of a pint but apparently some people use the term to describe the one-third of a pint milk bottles provided free to British schoolchildren.

I have thousands of old British recipes and it is immense fun to translate them into modern interpretations.

Every week I publish a recipe by email to subscribers of Blighty's British Recipes Newsletter. Several people have told me how much they enjoy these recipes - it is nice to know they are appreciated.

You too can subscribe to Blighty's British Recipes Newsletter and, of course, it's entirely free. I would be even more pleased to receive your traditional British recipes. Click on "comments" just below this post to tell me what you have to share.

How to Make Lemon Barley Water

It's official name is simply "Barley Water", but thanks to it's modern popularity as a bottled cordial sold in Britain under the Robinson's brand name, it is usually referred to as "Lemon Barley Water".

"The Official Drink of Wimbledon"

The oldest tennis tournament in the world is held every June at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in the south London suburb of Wimbledon, England. It holds the distinction of being the only tournament among the four "grand slam" events still being played on grass courts.

Wimbledon - the tournament - attracts worldwide interest and products associated with the event get a very high profile. Perhaps the most famous product associated with Wimbledon is the soft drink provided to players during the tournament - Lemon Barley Water.

Barley Water is a Health Drink

It was first served at Wimbledon in 1934 (excuse the pun). Beverages prepared from barley date back to ancient times and have always been regarded as health drinks with curative powers for ailments such as cystitis.

The commercial product produced in the UK under the Robinson's brand contains a lot of sugar. Not a problem if you burn as many calories as a championship tennis player, but for those of us who could use a few less calories in our intake, the homemade version can be prepared with an artifical sweetener. I am not aware of a "diet" version of Robinson's Barley Water.

Rhubarb Barley Water?

As I said at the beginning of this post, the official name of the drink is simply "Barley Water". The beverage can be flavoured with your choice of fruit juice. In fact Wimbledon experimented with several flavours including lime, orange and rhubarb.

Robinson's (now part of the Britvic corporation) produces lemon and orange barley waters as cordials (meaning they are sold as a concentrate for dilution with water).

Buy Robinson's Barley Water at Blighty's and Nobody Gets Hurt

Sure, you can be lazy and buy a bottle of Wimbledon's finest beverage at Blighty's Tuck Store, but it's more fun to make it yourself. Just be aware that you will use a lot of fuel and that will cause accelerated global warming so you will be responsible for destroying the ability of this planet to sustain human life.

Not convinced? Neither am I, so here's the recipe:
Ingredients

• 50g of pearl barley
• 2 litres of water
• One lemon
• Sugar or Splenda

Preparation

1. Put the pearl barley in a pan, cover with just a little water and bring to the boil
2. As soon as the water is boiling, remove from the heat, strain and discard the water
3. Add the 2 litres of water to the barley
4. Squeeze the lemon juice into the water
5. Dice the lemon rind and add it to the water
6. Bring to the boil and simmer for an hour and a half
7. Cool and strain into a pitcher; sweeten to taste

If you would like to subscribe to Blighty's British Recipes Newsletter you will receive a recipe like this one by email every week.