St Georges Day

Now I am very hungry, but as St George commanded us, we must all eat up heartily on 23rd April.Pity I am on a diet then.Isn't the whole 'saints' thing a bit odd?When you really think about it?Not that I often do though.

papaoscar DH used to go in Menzies too !

I celebrated the day with scallops and crispy black pudding followed by king prawns in a cream sauce with saffron rice and finished off with Eton mess

Good to celebrate- and good to reclaim the St Georges flag for England, rather than allow it to remain what it became, a symbol for the National Front, the EDL and other neo-fascists.

Strangely enough though, he was Syrian and would probably not be allowed to come into Britain nowadays. He is the Patron Saint of many other places too:

Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Georgios), Classical Syriac: ܓܝܘܪܓܝܣ (Giwargis), Latin: Georgius; c. 275/281 – 23 April 303 AD), born in Lydda, Roman Palestine, was a soldier in the Roman army and was later venerated as a Christian martyr. His father was Gerontius, a Greek Christian from Cappadocia, and an official in the Roman army. His mother, Polychronia was a Palestinian Christian.[3] Saint George became an officer in the Roman army in the Guard of Diocletian. In hagiography, Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic (Western and Eastern Rites), Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox churches. He is immortalized in the tale of Saint George and the Dragon and is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. His memorial is celebrated on 23 April, and he is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints.

Many Patronages of Saint George exist around the world, including: Georgia, England, Egypt, Bulgaria, Aragon, Catalonia, Romania, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Russia and Syria, as well as the cities of Genoa, Amersfoort, Beirut, Botoşani, Drobeta Turnu-Severin, Timişoara, Fakiha, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg im Breisgau, Kragujevac, Kumanovo, Ljubljana, Pérouges, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Rio de Janeiro, Lydda, Lviv, Barcelona, Moscow and Victoria, as well as of the Scout Movement[4] and a wide range of professions, organizations and disease sufferers.

For me though, he heralds the arrival of the delicious St Georges Mousserons, a big, dull white fleshy mushroom which growns about this time of year in England - but will have to wait for mine until second week of May up here in the mountains- got a bit circle of them in our field- love them. (Mousseron gave the English lanuguage the word 'mushroom' btw).

Happy St George's Day all.

or the bagel shop in Brick Lane?

In Soho I often dropped into the Nosh Bar for a hot salt beef on rye and a glass tea... magic! Not that I'm Jewish or anything...

haha! papa Pie and mash shop on Wandsworth Bridge Rd closer for me! I think you can probably eat food from most countries in the world in London! Sometimes when we go to see a film we try to have a meal that matches.. usually manage it! Off to Hackey Empire on Saturday for a Blues concert..maybe find an American South meal to follow!

Ah, Ps, I used to walk down Chapel Market in Islington in the old days and look at the eels squirming for sale, then go into a pie-shop, scrubbed bare boards and steamed up windows, and have a dollop of eel-pie and mash with green liquor gravy. Magic! Only matched by a huge salt-beef sandwich, with onions and mustard, when around Whitechapel. Those were the days. Good old St. George!

GB, Bath chap - a breadcrumb covered joint of boiled bacon delicious cold and sliced with mustard pickle. Bath bun - a large curranted teacake ideal for splitting, toasting, buttering, and jamming. Sally Lunn - a similar large teacake, usually plain, originating from Bath, a town which has much to answer for in terms of calories, and I'd forgotten about the Bath Oliver!

I had not though of fried fish as a typically Jewish dish! Fried fish is a staple in any coastal / river region across the world, and as England is part of an island it is probably as English as anything else!

Pie & mash with liquor..now you're talking! Or whelks?

Still - there's nothing English or British about 'St George' either - Turkish, wasn't he?

When I lived in Cornwall in the sixties, you could buy a whole or half roasted pig's head from a café in our village - wonderful! And of course that's what brawn is made from - also known as 'head cheese'.

Fish and chips, though? Not really indigenous - the fried fish a Jewish staple (eaten cold on Shabbos) and the chips from Belgium, where they are still popular street food, with a nice dollop of mayo.

In true patriotic style we're having Boeuf Bourguignon.

I am sure Battenberg did..just not sounding right! Slice of Mountbatten anyone?

Sorry papaoscar I haven't even heard of bath chaps, bath buns or sally lunns !

I thought Granny23 was looking for ideas for this evenings meal not a list of (yucky) cakes

'Wicky' says Battenberg originated in UK.

UGH ! Wish I hadn't bothered (sick emot)

Bath chaps ??? I think I need a Google k

Battenberg cake?????? How did that get on the list

So who wants English fare and what have we got to offer? Yes, we all know about roast beef and Yorkshire pud, fish and chips and a nice cup of tea.
But what about boiled beef and carrots with pease pudding, roast pork or chicken with sage and onion stuffing with roast potatoes, mushy peas, or liver and bacon, steak and kidney pie and pudding, Lincolnshire and Cumberland sausages, smoked English back-bacon, black pudding, Bath chaps, cornish pasties, Bakewell tart, Battenburg cake, lardy cake, bath buns, Eccles cakes, Sally Lunns, jam doughnuts, Chelsea buns, real muffins and crumpets, fruit crumble, real custard, English marmalade, custard creams and other biscuits....all washed down with a nice cup of Rosie-Lee or a large glass of good English beer....and for once not a whiff of curry, not that I've got anything against it. Have a nice day!

Happy St George's Day everyone.

I don't think you are being at all ignorant Granny23.

I have never heard of anything traditionally English to be eaten on St George's day except for perhaps Fish n' Chips or Chicken Tikka Masala

Ye olde roast beef of England ???

Happy Saint George's day to all English friends.
Pardon my ignorance but is there anything special to do or eat to celebrate the day? (stuck for ideas for tonight's menu)

Me too, Janerowena.
Nice to see the flag flying over Downing Street.