Yorkshire puddings

What comes to mind when you think of England? The Queen, Buckingham Palace, Stonehenge, red double-decker buses, the feeding of the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, and the rain! What about the culinary side? Scones with clotted cream, crumpets with butter, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, steamed puddings and stilton cheese. Not far off the truth eh?

Steamed Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce.

I was sent off to boarding school when I was young, and one of the hardest parts to deal with was the food. It was terrible - stodgy and tasteless. It led me to live off an unhealthy diet of Jamaican exports - banana chips and chicken noodle soup - for years! Seriously, that's pretty much all I ate. Everyone coming across the Atlantic was instructed to bring me my supplies!

Gordon Sharp is ready to carve the beef!

It's only recently that I came to realise that English cuisine does have its merits. But the funny part is thatthe 'natives' actually do appreciate and know what a quality meal consists of. So it's amazing to me that they all stood by, for as long as they did, accepting the utter destruction of edible provisions. How frightfully English!

Baked potatoes with stilton.