Regional Foods of the North West
The North West includes the Lake District, Cheshire and Lancashire, taking in the great cities of Liverpool and Manchester.
From the tarns of Cumbria to the grassy plains of Cheshire, there is a wealth of fantastic scenery and superb food from the North West.
Meat dishes
Most of the traditional dishes are clearly developed to be suitable for feeding hard-working people who have to cope with a bracing climate. Many meat dishes would be made with lamb because so many sheep graze on the hills of this region. A typically robust meal would be Lancashire hot pot, a lamb stew incorporating the potatoes and other root vegetables grown so widely in the area. Similarly appealing to the thrifty is tripe, which is a cow’s stomach lining. Usually, it's served with onions, and black pudding - an earthy dish made from blood and oatmeal with many variations, all claiming to be the best. The famous long Cumberland sausage is another dish that uses the less appealing parts of an animal so that nothing is wasted. Meanwhile, the sea, lakes and rivers provide more delicate flavours, such as the shrimps of Morecambe Bay (page 40). Furthermore, there's stuffed herring and trout, which are caught on the line and increasingly farmed in the region. A real local speciality is the mild-flavoured char (page 105), a relative of the salmon, which got left behind in the Lakes after the Ice Age.
Cheese
This region also boasts two of the finest British cheeses: Cheshire and Lancashire. White, crumbly Cheshire is mentioned in the eleventh-century Domesday Book and was the only cheese that the British Navy would stock on board in the eighteenth century. Meanwhile, Lancashire is creamier and is regarded as one of the best cooking cheeses. But also, and especially, a great toasting cheese as it melts into a velvety mass when heated. If you’re fond of a cheese sandwich, large wholemeal flour bread rolls, or baps, are popular in the region, being an ideal way to eat in a hurry. They are also known as ‘barm cakes’ after a Lancashire word for the froth on liquid that contains yeast.
Blackberry & Apple 'Cheese'
Try making this Blackberry & Apple 'Cheese' for the perfect accompaniment with any Cheshire or Lancashire cheese!
If you fancy trying out any of the recipes mentioned, use the page numbers provided for where to find the recipes in the Around Britain cookbook, which includes more regional recipes from across Britain.
Mini Simnel Cakes
Try these super cute Mini Simnel Cakes for an easy-to-share alternative to the traditional Simnel Cake.
Cakes and pastries
Similarly long on history are Eccles cakes, small, flat, raisin-filled pastries, which date from at least the eighteenth century. They are closely related to the larger but equally convenient sweet, hand-held and fruity Chorley cake. Another great Northern comfort food is gingerbread, closely identified with the Lake District village of Grasmere. It is usually a crisp spicy biscuit and therefore offers a contrasting texture to the more moist parkin cake that originates across the Pennines in Yorkshire. Simnel cake (page 178) is now closely identified with Easter, but one early version of it was known as Bury simnel cake at a time when it was traditionally a gift taken by serving girls returning home on Mothering Sunday. Its link with Easter probably stems from the 11 pieces of marzipan used to decorate its top – one for each true disciple.
Have you ever wondered where the Liverpool term ‘scouser’ comes from...?
It seems to be from a popular Merseyside dish rather like Irish stew, which was similar to a Scandinavian dish known as lobscaus. The stew became known as ‘scouse’, and use of the name broadened to mean a local person. If you have any pictures or videos of the North West and its delicious food, or if you have a go at making one of the regional foods of the North West, feel free to share it with us on Instagram and Facebook!
