Britain's best dish

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Posted at 2:12PM, 14 July 2009 by Mary Cadogan - Food writer

I've just got back from London after doing a stint as a guest critic for Britain's Best Dish for ITV. If you are not a daytime telly-watcher you've probably never heard of it, but it's a nationwide competition to find the best British dish . Not a dish that is necessarily British, such as Toad-in-the-hole or Shepherd's pie, but a dish that is made in Britain by cooks in their home. It could be a curry, a chilli or a pie, a new invention or a recipe passed down through generations and honed to perfection along the way.

When I was asked to take part, I jumped at the chance to taste and judge the best of home cooking. Not restaurant food or dishes trying to emulate restaurant cooking, but good honest dishes made for sharing with friends and family in the home. The regional heats are judged and mentored by Ed Baines, Jilly Goolden and John Burton Race and they choose a starter, main and dessert to represent each of seven regions.

If the dishes we ate are representative of the cooking that is going on all over the country, the future is safe.

This is where I came in, along with my fellow critics Charles Campion and William Sitwell, to help choose the three dishes that would go through to the final and the prize of £10,000. I was really hoping to taste some great dishes and I wasn't disappointed. If the dishes we ate are representative of the cooking that is going on in homes all over the country, the future is safe. We worked our way through starters that were pretty as a picture and bursting with flavour, mains that included pies and puddings made with the lightest, fluffiest pastries, perfect roasts and delicately spiced curries. And there were some seriously good puddings that had us greedily scraping our plates and hoping for more.

What's your favourite home-cooked dish? Which well loved recipe would you enter if you were to take part in a cookery competition?

Comments

Elaine

16 July, 9:42AM
Elaine

Hard to beat a roast chicken â if you buy a good free-range bird, it's really versatile and such a crowd pleaser. I often do roast chicken for just the two of us, but recently cooked two chickens for a weekend away with friends. We stuck most of the veg under the chickens. it was dead simple and everything had an incredible flavour. We made a gravy from the roasting juices and simply served mash alongside. it also felt very British!

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miniminx

16 July, 1:41PM
miniminx

my mum's self-saucing chocolate pudding :) when i was a wee girl growing up on the other side of the world, i used to tease my mum about her 'bland british food' so its somewhat ironic how much i find myself turning to it the older i get!!!

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CloClo

5 August, 5:26PM
CloClo

Toad in the Hole - with Waitrose's pork and leek sausages, with mash, broc and onion gravy. Steak and Kidney pie with mash, veg and gravy (though chips is fine!). Faggots, chips and gravy. There's lots.

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lili

27 October, 6:07AM
lili

How do I track <a href="http://www.mytobling.com/"><strong>Cheap Ugg Boots</strong></a>?

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