Ingredients

1 cup flour

1 lb.² day-old white bread

1 Ib. currants

1 Ib. sultanas (raisins)

1 Ib. raisins, seeded 3/4 Ib. suet

4 oz.³ peel, finely chopped

2 oz. almonds, shredded 1 apple, grated

1 orange, juice and grated rind

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1/2 nutmeg, grated

1 teaspoon salt

6 eggs, beaten to a froth

1/2 cup stout

1/4 cup brandy

Method

Trim crust and grate bread into crumbs. Put all the ingredients into a big bowl and ask as many friends or members of the family as you can to stir the mixture — for luck. Now add a few silver coins — for luck. Add one extra splash of brandy — for extra luck, Now, put the lot into greased pudding basins and seal with foil and waxed paper, firmly tied on with string. Steam, for 8 hours. For second cooking, just 4 hours is enough. Serve with a sprig of holly and brandy, and warn your guests about the silver coins.

8. Porridge Recipe

Take a half cup of water for every person and bring it to the boil, adding a good pinch of salt. Sprinkle, on to the boiling water, a small handful of Scottish oatmeal for each person and stir. Simmer gently for a quarter of an hour, stirring'occasionally. The Scots, themselves, eat it just like this, but others prefer porridge with milk and sugar, or jam, or golden syrup.

Shepherd’s pie — a pie consisting of chopped meat and onions, covered with a crust of mashed potatoes.

9. Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup leftover meal, minced

1 onion, minced pepper and salt leftover gravy or stock

2 cups leftover boiled or mashed potatoes

Method

Mix the meat and onion and season. Mois­ ten with gravy or stock. Put the mixture in the bottom of a pie dish and cover with a thick layer of mashed potatoes. Cook for 45 minutes. Simple, cheap and nourishing. Shepherd's pie can be served as a meal in itself or with a green vegetable, like cabbage or spinach. It is a favourite dish in many British pubs, where it is cooked in big trays and kept warm on a hot plate.

10. Welsh Rabbit Recipe

Ingredients

8 oz. Cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 cup beer

dash of Worcestershire

1 tablespoon butter

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Mix cheese with beer, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and butter. Cook on a low heat, until all ingredients are melted and blended. Pour over toast and grill under a fierce heat. You can add to your basic mix chopped onion, garlic salt, ket­chup, mushrooms,, chopped herbs, mustard, tomato puree or anything else that takes your fancy. Welsh rabbit can also be offered as an alternative to dessert.

Part V additional texts

ADDITIONAL TEXT 1

English Pub

The English pub is a lot more than just a bar where people go to drink. For centuries the pub has been where people come to with their friends and relax in their free time? And today the pub is often the centre of the community in which it is situated, attracting men and women, young and old to enjoy the unique atmosphere on offer.

The origin of the word ‘pub’ gives us a clue as to how it came into being. ‘Pub’ is a shortened form of ‘Public House,’ and this is how the pub started. In old rural England, rather than each person visiting their friends separately, one house would open in the evenings, and all the people would gather there to meet their friends, chat about their day and the news of the time, and relax after a hard day's work. Over time, this public house became more and more central to the life of the village, and the modern pub was born. The person who owned the house where people gathered became known as the landlord, or, if female, the landlady. Licensing laws¹ were introduced early on to limit the hours of business, and pubs to this day are open from 11a.m. to 11 p.m. Very recently, people have suggested that these hours be extended to be more like the rest of Europe, where there are no restrictions, but many people think that this would be a bad change for safety reasons. There has been a lot of protest in England as people are so connected to the traditional opening times and do not want to change their habits. At the moment the old licensing hours are still in place.

Through its centuries of development, the pub has acquired lots of varied traditions, and become a central part of many English people's lives. Today, there is a pub in nearly every residential street in England, and they are as popular as ever. As before, the main function of the pub is to give people a place to meet with everyone they know from the local community. Many people go to the pub every evening, after dinner, to chat with their friends and to relax. The nearest pub to a person's house is called his 'local,' and here they will know the landlord, the landlady, and the people who often go there, the 'regulars.' The landlord will often even know which drinks the regulars like best, so on entering your local, you can just ask for 'the usual' and you will get your favourite drink. The most popular drink is bitter, also known as ale, which is a kind of beer that is less fizzy² than normal beer, and is kept at room temperature. This is served in pint glasses (an old Engfiish measurement, a bit more than half a litre), which are always filled right up to the top, with a varying amount of froth, or 'head' on top, according to how the customer likes it. All pubs sell a wide range of drinks, and usually some bar snacks, for example crisps³ and nuts. Many pubs also have a full menu of main dishes, which usually consists of simple, traditional, tasty food, at cheap prices. People often go for a 'pub lunch' with their colleagues, and many pubs are full at lunchtime as well as in the evening. The origin of pubs as simply a house where people meet is reflected in their appearance. Often from the outside a pub will just look like an ordinary house, with just a sign displaying the name to tell people that it is actually a public, and not a private house. Inside, the furniture usually consists of the kind of comfy chairs and sofas that are often found in people's own sitting rooms. There are often pictures of local places on the walls, and sometimes even a wood fire burning in winter. The interior is designed to make people feel as comfortable as possible, as comfortable as if they were in their own house.

People do not have to just sit and talk though. There is always music playing, and often a juke box, where you can pay a small amount of money to play your favourite songs from a selection offered. Pub games are also very popular. Darts is one of the most popular, a game in which people throw small pointed darts at a round board about two metres away, and score different amounts of points depending on which area they hit. This game looks fairly easy, but is actually very hard, and takes a lot of practice (the regulars are often very good darts players!). Snooker⁵ is also very popular, and pool, which is a simpler, easier version of snooker, which takes less time to play and is more popular with young people. Many people will go to the pub just to play a few games of pool, and often play with complete strangers -the loser has to pay for the game. Table football is also popular, and sometimes board games can be borrowed from the bar to play whilst you sit with your friends. There is often a selection of daily newspapers for the customers to read, and sometimes a few books. A television with a big screen is becoming more and more popular, and groups of friends often meet in pubs to watch football matches or horse races. During an England football match all the pubs are full of supporters cheering their team on.

All pubs have a name. Sometimes this is connected to a historical figure, for example ‘The Wellington’ and ‘The Salisbury’ after famous English military leaders. Sometimes it will be named after a geographical feature in the area, perhaps a river or a lake. Sometimes the name seems to have nothing to do with anything, and actually sounds quite funny. Some of the most popular names are ‘The Three Arrows,’ The Brown Cow,’ ‘The White Horse’ and ‘The Red Lion.' So don't be surprised if an English person says he is ‘going for a pint in the Cow!’

Many other coun­tries have tried to imitate the English pub, for example there is a ‘Red Lion’ in St Peters­burg, and a ‘Dick­ens Pub’ in Samara. They may recreate the out­ward appearance, and inside they may have similar furniture, and simi­lar drinks, but the atmosphere is un­likely to be any­thing like walking into your local En­glish pub, where you know every­body, including the landlord, and you can relax with your friends almost as if you were at home.

Licensing laws – (брит.) закон о торговле спиртными напитками.

Fizzy – (разг.) шипучий.

Crisps – чипсы (хрустящий картофель)

Juke box – музыкальный автомат (в настоящее время CD)

Snooker, pool – виды игры на бильярде.

(School English, March, 2005 #3 (115), pp 8-9)

ADDITIONAL TEXT 2