In a London pub, I was looking for a vegetarian option and chose "cheese & pickle sandwich." To my surprise, it was a very thick layer of pickle on good bread, with a light dusting of shredded cheese on top. Proportions were the exact opposite of what I expected.

I thought "live and learn" and gave the takeout box to a street person sitting on the sidewalk outside.

Eheh Bilbo.

hard cheese, 29FEB.

The Ploughman's Lunch I had in a very ordinary town pub recently consisted of:

Half a plate of lettuce, tomato and cucumber
Two triangular thickly-cut pieces of Cheddar cheese
Coleslaw
Pickled onion
Chutney
Two thin slices of a crisp apple
Two thin slices of orange
A piece of baguette about 6 inches long, sliced down the middle with butter.

With a pint of Butcombe bitter beer, it was more than I should have eaten for lunch, and I dozed off during a talk I wanted to hear.

Orange? ORANGE?

Heresy.

In the town where my mother lives, across the road from the dreaded behemouth Walmart, there's a modest supermarket that keeps a long aisle devoted to "International Foods": sections of kosher, Thai, Mexican, and so forth, along with five shelves by four feet stocked with British things. Whenever I visit and my old ma needs something from the store I linger in that aisle and pick up exotic items to encourage the grocer and as an act of WalMart defiance.

I still have unopened Bird's custard from a few years ago, bought in memory of late great CW who said he could never use it because it's only for "birds". Once I bought a jar of Branston Pickle, and I think I managed to use most of it on grilled cheese sandwiches before giving the rest a decent burial. Somehow it wasn't quite what I'd expected. No one else in the house gave it more than a polite sniff.

oh, do use up your custard, stoke. it'll probably go down better with the family than the Branston pickle did.

And use your head in the amount of milk to stir the custard powder into. The directions on my can say to make a paste with a small amount of milk. Ask me how I know that the paste will remain a big lump. Use plenty of hot milk!

Yes, start with a gooey paste, but you have to boil that up in the total quantity of milk (and quite likely a bit more) and KEEP STIRRING.

(You can always use up a thicker mixture as a layer in a cold trifle, provided it's been properly cooked first).

PS: Bird's custard powder that is, not Branston pickle - that would be very odd.

Thank you dear authentic Bird's users! Encouragement and tip about milk amount, stirring are just what I need.

I have chopped cranberries left over from soaking in vodka for liqueur, was thinking about using them in trifle just yesterday. This could spur me to action.

We are lucky in Florida Our local Publix carries all sorts of British foods,Branston pickle,Birds ,pickled onions, ginger marmalade The list goes on!!

We are lucky in Florida Our local Publix carries all sorts of British foods,Branston pickle,Birds ,pickled onions, ginger marmalade The list goes on!!

Yes, start with a gooey paste, but you have to boil that up in the total quantity of milk (and quite likely a bit more) and KEEP STIRRING.>>

we make ours in a microwave oven.

for one pint of custard, measure out 2 level tablespoons of custard powder [no, I'm not talking about Branston!] a one of granulated sugar, then add sufficient cold milk to make a paste - you need to stir thoroughly at this point. Then keep adding the milk very slowly, trying as far as possible to mix the milk thoroughly into the paste with as few lumps as possible.

Then cook for 2 minutes in the m/wave on full power, remove and stir, and repeat until you get to the required consistency; if it's too thick just add a bit more milk. much easier than cooking it on the hob, IMO.

Must try this in microwave annhig- I always use the stove . The other day I made my first custard from scratch with eggs - lovely taste !

northie, I have to confess that I've given up making "proper" custard, since our local dairy [the people who make the clotted cream] started making its own.

If you have problems with it starting to curdle, a bit of cornflour should help.