For the last blog in our picnic-themed month, how better to
end with a good old-fashioned English Cream Tea?
It’s almost like when we were putting together our monthly themes in January (2020 looked so promising back then!), we knew that Friday 26th June was National Cream Tea Day!
We didn’t by the way, but now we do, we may as well talk
about.
What we learned in our meticulous research on the topic (blog
reader: by that do you mean you typed something into Google?) is that there is
something called The Cream Tea Society.
Founded by Rodda’s Cornish Clotted Cream and Wilkin and Son Tiptree, (the cream and the jam in your scone so to speak) it’s a celebration of this quintessential British pastime – eating small finger sandwiches, with lots of cakes all washed down with a cup of tea.
We have two questions before we go any further.
- Jam or cream on your scone first?
- Tea taken white or black?
Well, if you answered anything other than jam first and tea
taken black you are wrong?
Why would anyone want to dilute the taste of tea (strong
English breakfast or Assam please) with something that comes out of cow?
And why, oh why, would anyone think of putting cream on a scone first, after all we are not heathens.
Unless you are from Devon of course.
They prefer the cream first method, probably because their friends/enemies over the border in Cornwall do it the opposite (and right) way.
I guess we’re not going to be welcome in Devon anytime soon!
That’s fine with us though because we all know who makes the best pasties don’t
we?
Yep, Greggs!
In all seriousness, however you take your sandwiches, tea
and scones, a cream tea is one of life’s great pleasures and guess what, from 4th July we will even be able to partake of this pleasure in a hotel or restaurant.
Imagine that!
For our recipe, we are going with an old school savoury favourite.
Cucumber sandwich
- 1/2 cucumber, peeled
- Salt
- 6 thin slices of good white bread
- Unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Black pepper
Method:
- Cut the cucumber into slices as thin as you can and put them in a bowl. Sprinkle very lightly with salt) and leave in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
- Lay out a few pieces of kitchen paper on the work surface, place the cucumber slices on them, and pat dry with more paper – this is important as you don’t want soggy sarnies
- Lay out the bread and butter each slice generously. Arrange the cucumber on half the slices, overlapping each round, and sprinkle with the pepper. Top with the remaining slices.
- Pressing down firmly, cut the crusts off, and then cut into neat fingers. Serve immediately, with good black tea, cakes and scones, jam first!
About Oliver Parkinson
Sous Chef of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.
