Regional Foods of the North East and Yorkshire
Northumberland’s wild and beautiful landscape boasts a dramatic untamed coastline, craggy hills and low-lying plains. A network of rivers weaves through the North East on to Yorkshire’s desolate moors and the famous dales.
The North East and Yorkshire boasts some gorgeous regional foods; from Kippers and Pan Haggerty to Parkin. Find all you need to know about the regional foods of the North East and Yorkshire in our food guide below.
The North East Coast
The sea has long provided much of the region's food. For example, kippers have been smoked over oak fires in the pretty harbour of Craster for more than 100 years. Meanwhile, other regional fare includes the potato and cheese supper of Pan Haggerty (see page 36), one of several recipes that combine vegetables with cheese – which is itself made in numerous dairies across the region. In addition, there's scones and griddle cakes such as Singin’ Hinnies (pages 58 and 67) are particularly popular in the region, as is the steamed, lemon-flavoured Newcastle pudding. However, a top favourite is the Stottie cake, which isn’t a cake at all! It’s a savoury bread that is great for bacon or chip butties.
Meat and Cheese
Additionally, another traditional Northumbrian dish is Pease Pudding, which is made using split peas, and usually served with pork. Indeed, this meat is probably the best loved in both this region and Yorkshire to the south. The delicate pink and mild flavour of York ham comes from the dry-salt curing method, which has been exported around the globe. Yorkshire’s countryside features moors, dales and sweeping valleys but also industrial cities like Leeds and Bradford and historic centre, York. Meanwhile, sheep flourish in the gritty, bleak moors landscape, with their milk made into cheese until it was replaced by milk from the cows who populated the grassy lowlands. It is made into cheese such as tangy, crumbly Wensleydale (traditionally accompanied by apple pie), and is an ingredient in Yorkshire Curd Tart, an early version of cheesecake.
Yorkshire Puddings
Next Sunday Dinner, try making your own Yorkshire Puddings with this super simple recipe!
Yorkshire
The Yorkshire palate seems to appreciate particularly dark, rich, and sweet goods such as the classic comfort food Parkin. It's a moist, heavy gingerbread made with oatmeal and black treacle, which used to be put in to cook as the bread oven cooled. It can often be found together with buttered toasted teacakes and the wonderfully named old peculiar cake in the many excellent teashops that flourish in Yorkshire. However, the dish many people think of when the county is mentioned in relation to food is the classic Yorkshire pudding (page 180). The batter of plain flour, eggs and milk (or milk and water) was once cooked on an open fire underneath the roasting meat so that it soaked up the dripping juices.
True Yorkshire hosts serve their ‘puddings’ as an appetite-quenching first course, rather than with the meat.
Fish & Chips
Yet any summary of Yorkshire fare would be incomplete without crediting the county with the finest fish and chips in the land, where the abundant produce of the North Sea is served in crisp batter with mushy peas and chips given extra flavour by being fried in lard. However, today, the influence of Asian cooking is strong in towns such as Bradford, where folk are more likely to participate in an authentically prepared curry than paper-wrapped fish and chips. Feel free to share with us on Instagram and Facebook any pictures or videos of the North East or Yorkshire and their delicious food, or if you have a go at making one of the regional foods of the North East and Yorkshire!
