h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"you like mashed peas, I like sauerkraut"

There, in a nutshell, is why the UK can never truely be part of 'Europe' ... A nation divided by food from its continental neighbours

Entry: Traditional Mushy Peas - A Great British Delicacy - A87795904
Author: Lanzababy - U10790805



Those two sentences now read:



Certainly not a sophisticated food, and most definitely not to be found in any remotely 'high class' restaurants1, mushy peas are, on their own, somewhat lacking. But put them next to freshly deep-fat-fried fish and chips, or highly calorific steaming-hot pie and mash, and somehow, for some people, the resulting combination of aromas flavours and textures works remarkably well, creating the epitome of comfort food.

I've added a longish footnote about bicarbonate of soda, and a link to our own wonderful entry on this substance.

""This soaking tablet is bicarbonate of soda, baking soda, an ingredient used in many recipes. But why do we use it here? It is traditionally used to speed up the soaking process. The peas have to soak up sufficient water before they can be cooked, otherwise they will be hard and indigestible, and never soft enough to allow them to turn mushy. Some sources also credit the bicarb with reducing any gas produced when digesting pulses. This may be down to the fact that the pulses are softer and therefore easier to digest.""


I've read all sorts of recipes and questions about adding bicarb to dried peas/beans and all the answers. Now the Guide will have all of this wisdom distilled into one place

good work

Ooo... just reading through it again, do we not (yet), have edited entrys on pease pudding or
pea soup, to link too? OK... I'll add them to list of entrys someone* oughta write

Added:

[If you feel your peas are too bland, you may wish to pep them up a bit by adding a tiny dash of Worcestershire Sauce, some vinegar (balsamic is good but turns the peas a bit brown) or even some mustard.]


And we don't have an Entry on mustard! (To which I have developed a massive allergy this last year - and also discovered to how very many prepared foods, contain mustard.< /end rant > )

A good pea soup recipe would be a great idea! We could have variations from all over the place. Lil mentioned one... and so did Tav?

We just need a co-ordinator - *looks at 2legs

I would have to ask my mum. Got to ask her for a few other things for Entries anyhow. Guess one recipe more or less doesn't make a difference.

A colaberative entry on pea soup then? with the range of people on here, from all over the place, we can have loads of regional variations in it

mmmm... no entry on mustard?! I'm nabbing that one for myself then

Nice to have an entry on mushy peas. I enjoy the tinned variety, but I would normally have them with battered or breaded fish.

A few comments on the wording:

{Traditional Mushy Peas - A Great British Delicacy}
Call me pedantic, but mushy peas are not a delicacy in any sense of the word. I appreciate sarcasm, but it is likely to be misunderstood in a title, where you don't have the context.

{a texture which for the most part disinclines itself to adequate description}
Hell, you're describing it - try harder! I actually found the introduction difficult to read, as you allude to the peas without adequately describing them.

{Interestingly, in previous centuries peas were rarely eaten fresh}
Previous to what? This comes after you have mentioned 8,000 years of history, and then Greeks and Romans.

Icy

I was actually thinking to myself that the title really should have a question mark at the end. It is an ironic statement. These are very far from being a delicacy, but (hold your hats here) I googled British delicacies and it came up with fish'n'chips and shepherds pie etc.



So, what do you think, shall I add a question mark to the end of the title?

[Traditional Mushy Peas - A Great British Delicacy?]

There are certainly lots of entries with a question mark in the title (at least 50). Some of these are of the form:

Object - dubious description?

for example:

Asteroids and Meteorites - Mankind's Fate?
The Bussard Ramjet - an Interstellar Drive?
Auchan Supermarket - The World's Greatest?
Harringay, Haringey - So Good They Named It Twice?
Falun Gong - an Evil Cult?

etc.

So a question mark at the end of the title would be in good company.

Yes, it's amazing how much information an additional character can impart, sometimes.

I like this, but perhaps a note about geographical distribution? In North Wales, for instance, if you ask for peas with your "sglods" (chip supper) you're likely to get just that - unmushed marrowfat peas or hard little green bullets. Touristy areas tend to be more switched on, perhaps to cater for the summer influx from Manchester and Liverpool.

When I went to live in East Anglia (Suffolk) in the early 1980's, mushy peas were virtually unknown. The reaction you got in a chippie in Ipswich, Woodbridge or Felixstowe if you asked for them... Norwich, or at least chippies in the town, could provide them but you had to specify.

There is a strong and darkly muttered Northern English rumour that London chippies wouldn't be able to tell a mushy pea if you dropped a ton of the things on them - people who have ventured that far South have come back complaining about how a city of eight million people knows nowt about mushing a decent pea. Can people who've used London area chippies cast light on this?

Although one of the best chippies in the country - Papa's in Folkestone, Kent - happily serves mushy peas as standard. I can happily testify to this, and to Papa's being a chippie that could compete on equal terms with the best in the North. I've also had mushy peas in Broadstairs and Ramsgate and loved them. But mushy pea coverage across England and Wales (can't speak for Scotland) does appear patchy.

I think they've gotten a bit butter in some of those areas; I know chippys in suffolk (Lowestoft sort of areas), that certainly do them, and have since the 90's, or very late 80's....
I've also noticed that mushy peas are creaping more on to pub menus too, to go with fish N chips; some state 'peas', which means taht, ordinary garden peas, whereas others, with mushy peas, will state mushy peas Not really sure about other areas... though

We only seem to have kebab shops in Cambridge, no chippys

I'm not sure about the peas UK coverage, either in the past or the present. I don't want to write something too prescriptive and then find out we're wrong.

Is it worth mentioning that they're not necessarily a UK-wide traditional food, but in some areas are having a revival (along with more interest in old British recipes)?

Yes, that, (the last bit), might be worth a mention; I'm off out for a meal, towards the end of this month, at what is a fairly highly regarded 'gastro pub', more gastro than pub in fact, and it has mushy peas on the menu (acoming on the plate, alongside the haddock and chips)... At the kinda prices they're chargin, they're aiming fairly high end market, certainly not your useual £8 for a plate of fish n chips

Also, I think, but not totally sure, a lot of fish N chip shops cheat, and rather than making mushy peas, do a kind of weird version, which involves using ordinary frozen peas, rather than the dried marophat peas

all I can say for that last part is 'ewww' no wonder people have the wrong impression of these peas!

I had fish & chips at the pub the other week, and for a reason I can't work out, the mushy peas were served in a styrofoam container the size of an eggcup - it was hardly two forkfuls. I was naturally disappointed (although the other styrofoam cup of tartare sauce was very nice indeed).

I recommend all mushy pea aficionados inspect receptacle volumes before ordering.

I've added a footnote, trying to describe the texture, as someone had asked us to. A photograph will do wonders here.


footnote 1: [We'll try though. Imagine a thick daal-type mixture, interspersed with larger softer peas. The perfect mushy pea portion should be equal parts of both the purée and individual, well-cooked peas.]

Added:

[These esteemed peas are not necessarily a UK-wide traditional food, but in some areas are enjoying a revival of popularity along with more interest in old British recipes.]

I might do some more digging around into the history of eating dried peas v garden peas. I've run out of time just now, but it is interesting!