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Ploughman’s Lunch
How to make a ploughman’s salad….
A staple of any menu in any of the restaurants I look after is a ploughman’s salad. For me it is a classic lunchtime dish and one that if well executed really is hard to beat.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a ploughman’s salad is basically a robust plate of chunks of cheese with pickles, bread and chutney….in a nutshell.
I like to expand on that when I serve them. First of all you have to serve good cheese. So many chefs let themselves down by serving cheap ‘plastic’ cheese which utterly defeats the purpose. I serve cheese local to the area the restaurant is situated in, it makes sense to me. I don’t serve French cheese on a ploughman’s because I look upon it as an English salad to be eaten in England. So in the North West of the country we serve a lovely Garston, a Kendal Crumbly, maybe a Kelthwaite or a Lancashire whilst further South there will be a fine Poacher and a cross border blue. The cheese should be cut into healthy chunks, none of these nouvelle slivers, this is a salad designed for someone who has spent all morning working the land!
Pickles next, gherkins or cornichons or plain old dill pickle are a must as are some pickled onions and a pile of pickled beetroot. A pot of sharp piccalilli and another of a fruity chutney are a must along with a thick chunk of fresh bread, preferably white.
Salad vegetables ar kept simple; topped and tailed crunchy radishes, a stick or two of peeled celery, some sweet cherry tomatoes and a chunk of apple and cucumber all freshly washed is all that’s needed. You can add some nice English lettuce, a crunchy one such as Webb’s or Gem if you fancy.
Fill the plate up, don’t be shy and make sure you drink a pint of fine English real ale to go wth it. You know it makes sense!
MIles,
thanks a lot !
Now you’ve put Polughman’s Lunch on my brain !
I’m not going to be happy until I get one
Best
Hungry Rod
February 21, 2009 @ 9:39 am
Miles,
Simple and delicious…. mine’s a Poacher please!
Cid
February 21, 2009 @ 10:28 am
Miles,
Now you are talking of a real good old fashioned english pub lunch. Now that the weather is picking up and our minds can turn away now and then from casseroles, it will be on our menu too. Thank you for a timely reminder.
Elsie
February 21, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
Miles,
First off, anything that includes beet root is a favorite of mine. Elsie is right, I’m also starting to shift my interest from stews and casserole-type dishes to fresh, simple, and clean choices. I’ve always loved cheeses, but have some trouble with the protein in milk (not the sugar) and have found the higher-end cheeses, the raw and less processed forms work much better for me (there’s a reason for that, but I’ll resist launching into it here).
:-)
Did you know many blue cheeses have wheat in them? I have to be careful of those, but love a big chunk of good cheese and agree that little slivers just don’t cut it.
I like the name of this salad and will add that to my culinary verbiage. Ploughman’s salad — that does evoke a hearty plate of good ingredients. Always something new to learn around here!
Good post, Miles.
Melissa
February 21, 2009 @ 2:36 pm
Miles,
A walk in the countryside followed by a Ploughman’s and a pint of Timmy Taylor’s in a good pub just cannot be beaten. My chums and I have just started planning a trip up Scafell (probably in April) and this will definitely be on the itinerary.
GDave
February 21, 2009 @ 4:31 pm
Simple, fresh, and elegant. Nicely done.
February 21, 2009 @ 9:08 pm
Rod,
You’re like me (well as my brother you would be!) in that you have a craving for one but once consumed you’ll not be bothered about one for a few months.
Funny buggers aren’t we?!
Miles
February 21, 2009 @ 9:43 pm
Dave,
Thanks mate, it’s like anything in cooking though; use good ingredients and the rest is easy.
You know that!!
Miles
February 21, 2009 @ 9:44 pm
Greedydave,
Know Scarfell mate, get yourself a pint or two of Jennings finest down you when you’ve finished. Great stuff!
Taylor’s is bloody good though.
Miles
February 21, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
Melissa,
I must confess that I didn’t know that about blue cheese and I really do thank you for that.
Miles
February 21, 2009 @ 9:47 pm
Elsie,
The weather is a turning
Miles
February 21, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
Cid,
Knew you’d be in for the poacher like a rat up a drain pipe
Miles
February 21, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
Ahhhh, but how many forget? The preponderance of mediocre food in Manhattan is amazing.
February 22, 2009 @ 2:21 pm
Dave,
Forget or knew in the first place…at the end of the day it comes down to wether you can be bothered to cook good food or not, there’s no in between.
Miles
February 22, 2009 @ 5:43 pm
I’ve a terribly soft spot for cheese; in fact, it runs a very very close second to seafood. The mention of Kendal Crumbly brings back memories of the first and only time that I was fortunate enough to sample some of that excellent cheese, in an old Italian restaurant/deli which shut its doors about 20 years ago. Ah well, all this talk of cheese means that I’ll be off to Woolworths tomorrow to buy a pack of their delicious assorted cheeses
February 23, 2009 @ 4:35 pm
Xenny,
You’re a sly old African fox!! What are you doing scoffing our Kendal Crumbly-stick to the biltong
Seriously though, I’m going to do a fancy cheese on toast with it, more of that later.
Woolworths? They’ve all gone over here.
Miles
February 23, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
Oh Miles:
That post brought back some wonderful memories of my first visit to your country. My husband and I were down in Portsmouth for the day looking at the Mary Rose and other things historical and it was a cool and almost cold day in June with a fair amount of fog covering the island - which sharpened the sounds whilst dulling the sights. The weather kept the crowds away and it seemed like we were the only two people around.
We went to go eat a late lunch at a nearby pub and were treated to a ploughman’s lunch featuring the last of a homemade stilton - that remains the best I’ve ever had. It was still firm and amazingly flavorful even if almost the last bite. Bread was light and a bit sour.
Speaking of good English cheese, I had a really good Sage Derby last week bought here in the US at the local market.
February 24, 2009 @ 2:07 am
Hi Laura,
Lovely to hear from you. A cool day in June in England? Never!! Try August
Sage Derby can be both wonderful and plastic, you have to get a decent one but isn’t the colour intriguing?
It’s great that you can still recall a meal in such detail and attach it to a memory of a day away, that’s the magic of food isn’t it?
Nice to hear from you again.
Miles
February 25, 2009 @ 9:37 am