Great British Food

Great British Food Love buying and eating British? Then Great British Food magazine is for you!

Great British Food brings our best food and drink to life and tells its story from plot to plate. Its aim is to get people thinking about how they shop and to encourage them to leave no stone unturned or deli counter investigated! Alongside interesting, informative features and interviews with top chefs, Great British Food also showcases the latest and tastiest grub to hit the shops. Plus, with over 50 super seasonal recipes in every issue, we promise Great British Food will make your mouth water and inspire you back into the kitchen to cook with our nation's fabulous produce.

23/09/2026

Cheese, Onion & Potato Pie – Proper Comfort Food

Here’s another instalment in our series celebrating the plates and bakes of our British school days.

Cheese, onion and potato pie is a cracking one to have in your culinary wheelhouse. It can be made with ingredients most of us have knocking about in the fridge/cupboard (otherwise the components are pretty cheap), and it easily feeds a family of six, with lashings of gravy and some veg on the side.

This is something we remember very fondly. Smooth mash, loads of gooey cheese, soft caramelised onions, and a lid of thick shortcrust pastry. It felt like a proper treat.

It’s an incredible main, or works as a side dish with roasted meats or grilled sausages. Enjoy!

💭 Did you have cheese, onion and potato pie at school?

🌟 Ingredients (makes 1 big pie)

1.5kg floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
50g salted butter
2 medium to large onions, finely sliced
200g strong Cheddar, grated
Seasoning
Oil for cooking
Splash of milk

For the topping:

150g unsalted butter, cubed
300g plain flour, plus extra for rolling

🌟 Method

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the potatoes and cook until very tender. Drain and allow to cool a little.

2. Meanwhile, fry the onions in a little oil with a pinch of salt, until very very soft and caramelised.

3. Mash the potato (we like to use a potato ricer) into a bowl and add the butter, plenty of seasoning and a splash of milk – enough to beat it to a creamy consistency.

4. Fold through the grated cheese and onions and spoon into a medium to large baking dish. Set aside to cool.

5. For the pastry, rub the butter into the flour to make breadcrumbs, then pour in a little ice cold water, bit by bit to bring the dough together.

6. Roll to fit over the mash base, cut to size, and press over the top, cutting a slit for steam to escape. The pie can now be chilled for up to two days, or baked straight away at 200C for 35-40 minutes.

21/09/2026

Make Whitby’s Famous Lemon Buns 🍋

There’s nothing that puts a smile on our faces more than seeing Britain’s foodie traditions passed down through the ages.

For example, if you hotfoot it to Whitby in Yorkshire (one of the UK’s most atmospheric towns) and seek out , you’ll be able to sample these delightful buns – created by founder Elizabeth Botham in the late 1800s.

The enriched, bouncy breads are studded with dried fruit, flavoured with lemon zest, and crowned with a thick, toothsome layer of lemony icing.

They’re a light, fruity alternative to big, heavy cakes in an afternoon tea.

💭 Have you ever tried Whitby’s famous lemon buns?

🌟 Ingredients (makes 12)

1.5 tsp dried yeast
250ml warm milk
500g strong white bread flour
60g caster sugar
100g butter, at room temperature
2 medium eggs, beaten
1 tsp fine salt
Zest 1 lemon
1 tsp (optional) lemon extract
100-150g raisins

To finish:

200g icing sugar, sifted
2-3 tbsp lemon juice

🌟 Method

1. Combine the milk and yeast to allow the yeast to activate and bloom.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour and sugar.

3. Add the warm milk and combine with a knife. Add the salt. Leave to rest for 10 minutes.

4. Knead in the eggs, lemon zest, lemon extract (optional) and butter. It’s easiest to do this in a stand mixer but can be done by hand – although it will take a little longer.

5. Knead for up to 10 minutes until you have a smooth dough. Try not to add too much extra flour – it'll make the dough too heavy.

6. Cover and leave to rise for around an hour until it’s doubled in size.

7. Knock the dough back, fold in the raisins and cut into 12 equal pieces, forming them into buns. Pop them on a large lined baking sheet or in a large baking tin, cover and leave to rise again until doubled in size.

8. In the meantime, set the oven to 210C.

9. Bake the buns for 8-10 minutes until risen and golden. Allow to cool.

10. Beat the icing sugar with the lemon juice, bit by bit until you have a thick, smooth mixture. Spoon over the top of the buns and serve. They’re best eaten on the day of making.

18/09/2026

Make Your Own Chip Shop Mushy Peas

Brits love a pea – any way it lands on the table. Steamed or boiled alongside a roast. Whizzed up with ham stock into a soup. Fried into a fritter. They’ve been a staple on our shores for centuries.

One of the most indulgent ways we like to serve them up is smooshed into a thick dip for dunking chips and smearing over fried fish. Yes, we’re talking mushy peas.

You might think these are just regular garden peas whizzed up in a food processor (true, some fancy restaurants will do this with fresh peas), but your traditional chip shop variety is conjured by soaking dried marrowfat peas, prized for their floury texture and almost nutty taste, and boiling them down until thick and spreadable with seasoning.

Some of the very best we’ve tried were eaten at – a brilliant seafood restaurant in Bath. We asked the chefs their secret as we left. The answer? Loads of butter and a hint of garlic.

So, without further ado, here’s what we think you’ll agree are some of the tastiest mushy peas around.

💭 Are mushy peas a must-have with your fish and chips – or a no-go?

🌟 Ingredients (makes 1 big batch)

200g dried marrowfat peas, soaked overnight in cold water with 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 shallot, very finely chopped
1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
1 tsp sugar
250ml vegetable stock
Butter and seasoning to taste
Oil for frying

🌟 Method

1. Fry the shallot in a pan in a little oil until very soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

2. Now drain and add the peas, stock and sugar. Boil, then bring to a simmer until the peas are soft and most of the liquid has cooked off.

3. Add the shallots and garlic and a big slice of butter. Crush with the back of a fork.

4. Season to taste, adding more butter to your liking. If you prefer your mushy peas thinner, add more stock. Serve alongside a big bowl of chips.

16/09/2026

Loaded Yorkshire Pudding Breakfast Burritos

OK, so there’s nothing Mexican about these bad boys (though you could add some spices to the beans), but you get the drift.

It’s a really fun mash-up for a weekend morning. Puffy Yorkshire pud, filled with all the fixings of an English breakfast: crispy bacon, beans, hash browns, mushrooms.

You can make the puds the day before, wrapping them well in clingfilm. This recipe makes one large burrito for a hungry bod or for two to share.

💭 What’s the essential ingredient in your ultimate full English?

🌟 Ingredients

For the Yorkshire pudding:

100g plain flour
3 large free-range eggs
Large pinch salt
225ml milk

To serve:

Baked beans
Crispy bacon
Cooked sausages
Grilled or fried mushrooms
Cooked hash browns
Your favourite sauce

🌟 Method

1. The majority of the fillings for your burrito will cook at the same time as your Yorkshire pud. So first, you may want to get a tray in the oven with your sausages, hash browns and mushrooms (the bacon can be added 8-10 minutes before the end of cooking time). Pop the beans, ready, in a pan on the hob.

2. Set your oven to 220C, and pour around 3 tbsp oil into the bottom of a roasting tin.

3. Whisk together the flour, eggs and a little milk until smooth, then carefully pour in the remaining milk. Allow the batter to sit for a few minutes.

4. Pour the batter into your prepared tin and cook for 30-35 minutes until risen, golden and crunchy at the edges. Take it out and allow it to cool a little, pressing down the puffy edges.

5. Chop and spoon in your fillings (we like to add a splash of brown sauce too), roll up, and tuck in!

13/09/2026

When Life Gives You Courgettes, Make Cake 🍋‍🟩

It’s glut season. Trees heavy with early apples, plums and greengages. And gourd plants working quickly, their yellowy/orange blossoms (perfect for stuffing) soon replaced by courgettes and marrows.

If you grow your own, or know someone who does, you’ll be familiar with the seasonal rush – to harvest, use, pickle and preserve everything.

Now, not everyone likes a courgette (the trick really is in the way you cook them), but even the most adamant of haters (we’ve found) will make light work of a slice of courgette and lime cake...

💭 What’s your favourite way to use up a courgette glut?

🌟 Ingredients (makes 1 loaf cake)

150g unsalted butter, melted
200g caster sugar
Zest 2 limes
1 tsp lime extract (optional)
2 medium courgettes, roughly grated
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs

For the icing:

Icing sugar
Lime juice

🌟 Method

1. Line a 2lb loaf tin and set the oven to 180C.

2. Beat the sugar with the butter, lime zest, and lime extract (optional) until it becomes a little thicker and creamy.

3. Squeeze out the courgettes through a clean cloth and fold them in.

4. Alternately mix in the eggs and flour, finishing with the baking powder.

5. Spoon the mixture into your tin, and leave to sit for 10 minutes.

6. Bake for around 40 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool.

7. Sieve around 200g icing sugar (more if you like it covered more thickly) and squeeze in lime juice, a few drops at a time, stirring until you have a thick glaze. Drizzle this over the top of your cake, and serve. Earl Grey or Lady Grey tea is fantastic with this.

12/09/2026

Homemade Baked Beans: Better Than Tinned?

A staggering half a billion cans of baked beans are sold in the UK every year. That’s an average of 17.5 cans per household!

Cheap, filling and packed with protein and fibre, they’re a regular choice not only for cash-strapped students, but as a quick lunch over toast, or served up after a long day, spooned into a steaming spud with loads of butter and cheese.

They are one of our favourite comfort foods. The story of baked beans goes back to the Heinz company in Pennsylvania during the mid-1800s.

Beans were already popular in the States, especially in New England where salted cuts of pork were simmered low and slow with molasses and stock.

In 1886, Heinz decided to commercialise the offering, making it more convenient for consumers.

By the end of the century they were being shipped to the UK, finding themselves in luxury stores such as Fortnum & Mason.

Later, the maker would adapt the recipe to suit British tastes, with a thick, tomato-based sauce.

Here’s how to make your own at home. They taste best the day after making, and will keep in the fridge for up to three days.

💭 Heinz or homemade – which gets your vote?

🌟 Ingredients (serves 4-6)

2 tsp onion granules
1 tsp garlic granules
¼ tsp celery salt
4 cloves, heads crushed between your fingers
½ tsp mustard powder
1 tsp sea salt
¼ tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp treacle
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp c***r vinegar or white w**e vinegar
250ml passata
2 tins haricot beans
Seasoning (to taste)

🌟 Method

1. Combine all the ingredients, except the beans, in a pan and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

2. Add 1/5 of the beans and use a potato masher or fork to crush into the sauce to thicken.

3. Add the remaining beans and simmer again to the thickness you desire. Add seasoning to taste. Serve warm.

09/09/2026

Burnt Basque Cheesecake with Boozy Fruit Salad

Created in Spain’s Basque region in the 90s, there’s no getting away from the fact that burnt cheesecake is top of the dessert table right now. It’s become a pastry chef go-to, and we’re lapping it up.

The beauty of this sunken-middled, crustless, burnished pud is that cooking at a high temperature caramelises the sugars, creating a nutty, butterscotchy flavour. Setting quickly, the top shields the underneath from overcooking, resulting in an ethereal, silky, soft-set pud.

Using mascarpone and double cream best replicates the original recipe, but you could replace some or all of the mascarpone with a cream cheese of your choice, or swap out the cream for sour cream for a lighter, sharper finish.

We’ve used Great British Food Award-winning Aperoffi from Grounds for Good to macerate the fruity garnish. It bursts with sweet and bitter orange, rhubarb, gentian and rosemary and gives a bright finish to the creamy cake.

💭 Are you a fan of a gloriously burnt top on a cheesecake?

🌟 Ingredients (serves 8-10)

225g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
800g mascarpone
200g double cream, whipped
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp Potion De V vanilla extract

For the garnish:

200g mixed summer fruits (berries, plums, apricots, peaches)
50g caster sugar
50ml Grounds For Good Aperoffi or another fruity spirit
Zest 1 lemon

🌟 Method

1. Double-line a 20cm, loose-bottomed deep cake tin with 2 layers of greaseproof paper, overlapping them on the diagonal. Set your oven to 240C.

2. Whisk together the eggs and sugar in a large bowl. Fold through the mascarpone and cream. Add the vanilla. Sieve in the flour and fold into the mixture.

3. Once smooth and combined, spoon the batter evenly into your prepared tin, and pop in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. The cake will puff up and rise with a dark top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before chilling. The middle will sink dramatically – don’t worry, that’s how it’s meant to be.

4. For the topping, chop any stone fruits into bite-sized pieces and combine with your berries in a bowl. Add the sugar, lemon zest and spirit, and allow to infuse for at least an hour. Serve alongside your cheesecake.

06/09/2026

Brummie Cakes – The Savoury Bake You Need To Try

These aren’t cakes at all – rather, they're tender, scone-like bites, filled with savoury snippets of fried bacon and melty cheese.

Hailing from post-War Birmingham (hence the name Brummie), they were cooked up in households across the West Midlands in the mid-19th Century as an affordable, filling, portable snack – and a canny way to use flavoursome, cheap bacon trimmings from the butcher.

They’re at their best warm, split and spread with butter – or even filled with more cheese and bacon.

💭 Have you ever tried Brummie cakes?

🌟 Ingredients (serves 4)

225g self-raising flour
30g unsalted butter or lard
75g (around 3-4 slices) smoked streaky bacon or bacon offcuts, cut into small pieces
100g Cheddar, grated
150ml milk
Large pinch salt
1 tbsp ketchup (optional)
Splash Worcestershire sauce (optional)

To finish:

Milk

🌟 Method

1. Set the oven to 200C and line a baking sheet.

2. In a pan, fry off the bacon snippets until cooked through, with golden fat.

3. Rub the butter into the flour. Add the salt and bacon and its juices and rub through. Add half the Cheddar, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce.

4. Pour in the milk and use a knife to bring the dough together.

5. On a floured surface, form the dough into a flat 18cm round, then cut into four pieces with a sharp knife. Brush with milk, and top each one with the remaining cheese.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

05/09/2026

Let’s Bring Fairy Buns Back!

If you didn’t have fairy buns at your birthday party growing up in Britain, you’d have felt cheated. Along with cheese and pineapple on sticks, ham sandwiches, Party Ring biscuits and sausage rolls, they’re a nostalgic bake many of us will have swooned over as youngsters.

The fluffy sponge. Creamy buttercream. And cutesy effect achieved by cutting the top of each cake, slicing it in half, and arranging it like a pair of fluttering butterfly wings.

Times they are a-changing, and the classic cupcake is being usurped by brownies, brookies, cookie pies and other modern-day treats. We say, let’s revive them!

A few tips. Firstly, beat your sugar and butter really well, for several minutes, to get air into the fat. This is the stage to put the work in – beating too much when the flour is added will result in heavy, doughy sponge. Secondly, don’t overfill your cases which, again, will prevent your cakes being light. Go for 2/3rds filled, max.

💭 Did you have fairy buns at your childhood birthday parties? 🧁

🌟 Ingredients (makes 12)

110g soft butter
110g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
110g self-raising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
Milk – a splash
White w**e or c***r vinegar - a splash

For the buttercream:

225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
350g icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Food colouring of your choice (optional)
Sprinkles (optional)

🌟 Method

1. Set the oven to 180C and line a 12-cup cupcake (not muffin) tin with cases.

2. In a bowl, whisk the butter and sugar until very very well combined and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one by one, alternating with the flour. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add a splash of vinegar. If the mixture is too stiff (it should be dropping consistency) pour in just a little (no more than 2 tbsp) of milk.

3. Evenly spoon the mix into your prepared cases, ensuring none are more than 2/3rds filled.

4. Pop into the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until risen, set and slightly golden at the edges.

5. Allow to cool completely.

6. While the cupcakes cool, make your buttercream. Whisk together the butter, vanilla, milk and icing sugar until super smooth and creamy. Add a touch of salt. And food colouring to the shade you like.

7. To prepare the buns, slice a 1cm layer from the top of each one. Pipe or spoon buttercream into the middle. Cut the top into two pieces, and arrange them on top (cut side facing outwards) to resemble wings. Finish with your favourite sprinkles.

02/09/2026

Whatever Happened To The Cottage Loaf?

Ooh we love a cottage loaf – and in these days of sourdoughs and fancy patisserie, they’re becoming rare as hen’s teeth. There’s something so comforting and satisfying about ripping off the top of the bread and diving into the fluffy, cloud-like middle.

No one’s exactly sure of the origins of this bread, but common suggestions are that its name relates to the design (the lid almost being like a thatched roof on a cottage), or that stacking doughs on top of one another helped to maximise oven space.

You’re unlikely to find this precious British bread outside of very traditional town and village bakeries, but you CAN make it at home!

💭 Do you remember seeing cottage loaves at your local bakery?

🌟 Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour, and extra for dusting
1 sachet dried yeast
1 tsp fine sea salt
50g butter, or lard
350ml warm water

🌟 Method

1. Grease a large bowl.

2. Add the flour to another large bowl and stir through the yeast. Add 2/3rds of the warm water and combine with a knife. Let it sit for a few minutes. Stir in the salt.

3. Add more of the water if needed – you want a soft, pliable but not wet dough.

4. Bring it together, and tip onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for up to 10 minutes until smooth. Don’t be tempted to keep adding more flour as this will produce a denser, drier loaf. Keep working at the dough and it will become less sticky. Using a dough scraper is really helpful at this stage.

5. Pop your dough into the prepared greased bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for around an hour until it’s doubled in size.

6. Tip your dough out onto a floured surface and knock out the air by folding it in on itself a few times.

7. Take off a third of the dough and put it to one side. Shape the larger ball of dough into a round. Do the same with the smaller piece of dough.

8. Lightly wet the very centre of the bigger piece and pop the smaller on top. Dust a wooden spoon with flour and push it through the centre of the loaves.

9. Use the wooden spoon to make indents around the bottom loaf, and use a sharp knife to cut slashes in the top of the smaller loaf.

10. Pop the bread inside a large, clean plastic bag and prove for another hour. Heat the oven to 210C.

11. Dust the loaf all over gently with flour and bake for 15 minutes before lowering the oven temperature to 190C for another 20 to 25 minutes. It should be golden all over and the base should sound hollow if you tap on it.

12. Allow to cool (very hard, we know) before tucking in! You’ll want lashings of really good salted butter.

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