True british food

The English appetite has toyed with foods from all kinds of places: the curry has won many friends over the last couple of centuries, French cuisine likewise but for much longer, Chinese style cooking has become widespread in the last 50 years.

But there's one thing that the British do best in their own way.

The Sausage.

When I returned from circuit training last night there was a baked potato, baked beans and, glory of glories, some excellent 'finest' Tescos sausages with Bramley apple. What more can one ask after a punishing workout (and it as punishing, as my body testifies this morning) than rich, savoury food to replenish the energy spent. It had just the right balance of fat, carbohydrate, protein, fibre and that great balance of warm rounded flavours that weren't too strong in anyone direction.

I had my sense of the British sausage as 'quality food' rekindled the last week too.

One of our guys was leaving, so we took him out to The Horse and Groom at Caulcott: also known as THE Sausage pub round here. They've changed management again recently, and the sausages (ordered in advance) were some of the best I've ever had. One of my regrets when Randall and Laura came over was not to have taken them here - sausage, mash and gravy (in this case real onion gravy, made where the dark brown colour comes from hours of caramelising onions) is something not to be missed. The real ales aren't bad either.

Sausage.

It's a wonderfully rounded, wholesome word.