What is a Ploughmans Lunch

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Go into almost any British pub for a taste of British food and you are likely to see a Ploughmans Lunch on the menu, but what is a Ploughmans Lunch? Most certainly, it is not for the fainthearted as it can often contain cheese, meats, pickles, sometimes even a slice of pork pie as well as bread. Always ask what’s on offer before ordering. Every landlord has his own version, ranging from a simple snack to a full and hearty meal.

A ploughmans lunch does exactly what it says on the tin, it was a lunch packed for a ploughman to take out into the fields for his lunch. Just where the name or contents of a Ploughmans comes from has been lost in the mists of time though there are records of it mentioned in 18th century literature.

A basic Ploughmans is crusty bread, cheese plus pickled onions and chutney but this can vary considerably and it may also contain a selection of cold meats, ham, maybe a slice of pate and/or a slice of pork pie, sometimes slices of apple or other seasonal fruit. Traditionally the cheese, bread and pickles would be home-made by the ploughmans wife – making it a cheap and substantial lunch. Today, a good Ploughmans will be cheeses of the region and at the very least British; the same for the meats and other accompaniments. The bread must be a thick wedge of crusty bread or a baguette, anything less will not hold up when piled high with cheese, chutney and pickles.

And to drink …in a pub it must be a pint of the local beer or cider.

Though the image it conveys, as a hearty sustenance for working in the fields, may be a bit outdated in today’s world of cubicle jockeys, there are few meals I can think of that are so delicious and yet so inherently simple. It is precisely the rustic nature of the ploughmans lunch that makes it so appealing and romantic.

The ploughmans lunch is supposedly from a bygone era, but any attempt to pin the exact time period down lands you in the 1960s. Although its origins are strongly in doubt, its ingredients are not.

First, you have the cheese. “Tradition” would dictate a nice hunk of Cheddar(English, of course) or Stilton. Personally, I’d love a bit of Stinking Bishop as an alternative. Just keep it robust and, above all, keep it English.

Next up, the pickle! No two ways about it, it’s a Branston pickle all the way. (For those not in the know, Branston pickle is an English pickle relish.) There seems to be very little wiggle room here, though I did find a few references to using pickled onions in addition (not as a substitute, mind you). For those of you around the world who cannot get Branston, we have included the recipe for you as a special treat. Last, a hunk of bread! Fellow New Yorkers, I completely visualize Sullivan Street’s Pan Pugliese in this role. Regardless of what you choose, keep it white, crusty and rustic!

Most ploughmans recipes I found also included a salad. To me, this seems just a little at odds with the rest of the meal. A hunk of cheddar, a hearty loaf of bread, and a bed of mesclun greens? It just doesn’t sound right. I much prefer the idea of using that stomach space for a pint of beer to wash it all down with!
Though we might be a long way from an English pub, it just takes a bit of cheese and some imagination to get you there. Enjoy!

Branston pickle – the perfect accompaniment to a ploughmans

Branston Pickle is made from a variety of diced vegetables, including swede, carrots, onions, cauliflower and gherkins pickled in a sauce made from vinegar, tomato, apple and dates with spices such as mustard, coriander, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cayenne pepper.

Branston Pickle is sweet and spicy with a chutney-like consistency, containing small chunks of vegetables in a thick brown sticky sauce. It is commonly served as part of a ploughmans lunch, a once common menu item in British pubs. It is also frequently combined with cheddar cheese in sandwiches, and most sandwich shops in the UK offer “cheese and pickle” as an option. It is available in the standard ‘chunky’ version, though there is also a ‘sandwich’ variety, where the vegetable chunks are smaller and easier to spread. In recent times, Premier Foods have also brought out a ‘squeezy’ variety in a plastic bottle. There was also a spicy type made for a short time, but this did not prove as popular and is now hard to find.

Branston pickle recipe

This is a Branston pickle-type recipe. I have adjusted the ingredient list from the common ‘Internet’ recipe that seems to exist everywhere. My version is below and I can vouch for its success. I tend to add chillies to everything I eat, pickles being no exception. If you are like-minded, you will find the chillies don’t make the pickle too hot, they just add just a little bite. However, if your aim is to make a fairly authentic version of Branston pickle, I would add a scant tablespoon of mustard powder instead. The preparation for this recipe can easily take an hour or so, so put your music on first!
Servings

Makes enough to fill a 2 litre pickle jar.

Ingredients:

250 g carrots, peeled
3 small white turnips, peeled
10 big cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 cup dried apricots, chopped
1 cup prunes, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 medium cauliflower
2 large onions, peeled
2 apples, peeled and cored
2 courgettes, unpeeled
15 small cocktail gherkins, see Chef’s notes
225 g dark muscovado sugar, brown sugar or jaggery
1 tsp sea salt
60 ml lemon juice
350 ml cider vinegar
200 ml Malt vinegar
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp black mustard seeds
6 dried Chile de Árbol powdered in a coffee grinder or 1 scant tablespoon of mustard powder (see recipe notes)
1 heaped teaspoon ground allspice
A big grind of black pepper
1 to 2 Tbs of caramel colouring – see talk page
1 Tbs of arrowroot powder

1. Mise en place
2. Chop all of the ingredients into 2.5 mm (1/8”) cubes. This is a job for your mandoline if you have one. A good one will slice and julienne in one go.
3. Method
4. In a large pan, mix all of the ingredients apart from the colouring and the thickening. Don’t be concerned that there appears to be very little liquid at the start. It doesn’t take long for the mixture to amalgamate.
5. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer for about 1.5 to 2 hours or until the harder ingredients, like the swede, have softened to your liking.
6. Take a ladle or so of vinegar from the pan and add to a small bowl containing the arrowroot and mix to a paste, then return it to the pan. Add the caramel colouring and mix well. Stir and cook for 5 minutes more then remove from the heat and allow to cool properly.
7. Bottle in sterilised jars, leaving for a month to mature in a cool, dark place.

8. Chef’s notes
9. You could use cornflour instead of the arrowroot. I used the latter only because I had some to hand.
10. Use 2 teaspoons of chili powder if you don’t have Chile de Árbol.
11. Mix the colouring very well or you will get ‘darker’ areas in the pickle.
12. I am not totally convinced that it is necessary to add pickled gherkins to a recipe that is to be pickled – however, it won’t do any harm. I added a full 340g jar of small pickled gherkins with vinegar to the most recent batch I made and it tasted perfect. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

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