On a cold winter day, there's nothing nicer than a tasty, traditional British pudding. Our sticky toffee pudding, a favorite and prized dessert option in Delaware Today’s Best of Delaware lineup, is at the top of the list. But the British also love: apple and rhubarb crumble; bread and butter pudding and jam roly poly. The names alone are sweet and comforting. But where did these scrumptious desserts originate? And what should you serve with them – cream, ice cream or custard?

Apple and rhubarb crumble

Apple crumble apparently originated in World War II. Only a very small amount of flour, butter and sugar were needed for the crumble topping. Adding rhubarbs, pears, berries or other seasonal fruit made the best of what was available. Cream, ice cream or custard are ideal with this simple pudding, though warm custard is the best winter option.

Bread and butter pudding

Thrifty households could happily use up stale bread in this steamed pudding. In the early 17th century, milk, butter and eggs were added to give additional richness and taste. Stale bread is essential for this dessert; smother it in custard to bring out the taste of the fruit.

Jam roly poly

Jam roly poly has been around since at least the middle of the 19th century. Traditionally, made from suet dough, it's steamed with a jelly filling, usually strawberry or raspberry. This pudding is rarely served with ice cream – custard is definitely the best option.

Sticky toffee pudding

When it's blowing a gale outside, there's nothing nicer than sticky toffee pudding. This indulgent steamed pudding combines brown sugar, chopped dates (Medjool preferably) and toffee-flavored sauce. As a fairly recent addition to British dessert menus, it began as "icky sticky toffee sponge" in the Lake District in the 1970s. Although this dessert can be served with custard, it's best with cream or ice cream.

Enjoy the darling of the British desserts, sticky toffee pudding, at go brit! in Lewes or go fish! in Rehoboth Beach near the Boarwalk. You're sure of a sweet and sumptuous taste experience that will have you coming back for more.

If you’ve ever been to a British pub and haven’t heard of a Chip Butty, we would be shocked. Due to its carb-on-carb nature, a Chip Butty has become known as a proper sandwich for those who have had a little bit too much to drink. However, once you get passed the oddity of the whole thing, you come to the realization that it’s really quite delicious after all.

So you might be wondering, what is a Chip Butty exactly? Well considering that “chips” are what an American may call “french fries” and a “butty” is just an English way of saying “sandwich”, simply put, a Chip Butty is like a french fry sandwich.

All that is needed to concoct one of these indulgent sandwiches is white bread, (generously lathered with butter) and a good amount of thick-cut chips. It’s up to you to decide if you’d like yours the plain, traditional way or if you’d like to add a little something extra. Some of the more popular choices in topping would be ketchup, vinegar or some nice English brown sauce.

For some, a sandwich like this may be a bit frightening to say the least. However, for those who have tried it, we’re sure it’s hard to remember a life without ever having tasted it! Without a doubt, the Chip Butty leaves a lasting impression!

Many Americans are familiar with the famous dish called, “Shepard’s Pie” but how many of you are actually aware of what it is or where it truly came from? Well for such a seemingly simple dish, the Shepard’s Pie actually has a long history of uncertainty. It seems that just about everyone has their own interpretation on the specifics of this dish. From its origin to the ingredients, chances are, one out of five individuals are going to give you a different answer.

For one, if you do any research on the dish, you’ll most likely come across dozens of articles – one claiming its Scottish origin and another claiming it got its start in Northern England. Every once in a while, you may even come across someone who is most certain that the Shepard’s Pie was created in the hills of Ireland. So where do we land on this? Well, I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble figuring it out!

Then there is the age old disagreement on the proper ingredients to use in a Shepard’s Pie. Depending on where you grew up, the answer can take many turns. You see, the way that the Shepard’s Pie started out was as a way to get use out of any leftover meat you may have had on hand. In the end, the three most popular meats used became beef, lamb and mutton. Now regardless of which meat you decide to go with, one thing that all variations of this dish have in common is that they’re all filled with a delicious combination of vegetables and baked in a mash potato crust.

We all may have our own opinions on the specifics of the dish but the one thing that we can all surely agree on is the fact that this delicious meal has become one of the age-old classics in comfort food all over the world!

For those on this side of the pound, the name of this simple (yet delicious) meal may be a tad bit confusing. Not to worry however; this dish isn’t made with any bizarre ingredients that you’ve never heard of. On the contrary, “bangers” are your standard Cumberland sausage, whereas “mash” is simply a slang term for mashed potatoes.

Quickly catching popularity, bangers and mash have become a pub staple over the years, making it no surprise that the dish has gained equal favoritism on the Go Brit! menu. What may be surprising however is the fact that one of the key ingredients isn’t featured in the famous name.

That’s right, some may say that a plate of bangers and mash just isn’t complete without a little bit of English brown sauce! Described by the Huffington Post as a “darkly spiced, slightly syrupy, savory flavor bomb”, some may even go as far as to say that it is the glue that holds the dish together.

Traditionally served with a side of mushy peas, if you have yet to try this tasty dish, now’s the time! It’s the perfect meal to keep you warm this winter season!

There's a long tradition of quizzes in the UK, whether it's a casual pub quiz, a fundraiser for a national charity or a televised contests between university colleges. If you want to test your knowledge of UK knowledge, then our new trivia night should be right up your alley.

To get you in the trivia mood, here are a few fish- and-chip facts, though in the trivia nights we'll deal with all subject matter:

• History buffs: Did you know the potato originally came to England with Sir Walter Raleigh? During WWII, fish and chips were the only foods not rationed in the UK.
• Math lovers: There are more than 10,000 chip shops in the UK, and the record for the most number of portions of chips sold in a day is 4,000. In the average year, Brits eat 300 million portions of chips.
• Culture connoisseurs. Food is a hugely important theme in Charles Dickens' classic 1838 novel, Oliver Twist - fried fish warehouses, the forerunner of today's fish and chip shops, get a mention. In the 1999 film East is East, main character George Khan runs a fish and chip shop in 1970s Salford, near Manchester.

So, for a night of fun and food, come along and learn some fascinating new facts about fish, chips, and the unique collection of nations that make up the United Kingdom.

Don't miss it starting on Wednesday, January 9.

Size does matter when it comes to spuds, but that is not the only difference between British chips and American fries

The size and depth of potato slices are so important to us at go brit! that we diligently cut chips to the exact size every time.  As you know, British people call "chips" what Americans know as French fries (an American looking for a packet of potato chips in a shop in any part of the UK will have to ask for "crisps"). The name for those fried sticks of potato, which go so well with fish or burgers, isn't the only difference between the two.

Size matters! The traditional fries, as found in America, are generally thin and of a uniform length. There are several advantages to thin fries, most importantly that they cook quickly whether being fried in oil or oven baked. British chips tend to be much fatter than fries, at least a thumb's width or sometimes even thicker. Their chunky appearance is created by peeling potatoes by hand, then hand cutting or using a special chipping machine to slice them into thick pieces of potato.

Darker color and texture. As fries are thinner and take a short time to cook, they emerge from the fryer or the oven in a golden color. British chips are fatter and, therefore, take longer to cook in the hot oil. This longer cooking time means that the outside of the chip is often quite brown when it is removed from the oil. Traditionally, British chips were deep fried in animal fat, normally lard or beef dripping. This method of preparation has fallen out of fashion because of the health implications. Nowadays, most chippies fry their chips in a good quality vegetable or sunflower oil.

Vinegar or ketchup? When buying chips from a chippie shop in the UK, you will be offered salt and vinegar. Some chippies will have ketchup, brown sauce or mustard, but it will be in little sachets and you will be expected to pay extra for it. Salt and vinegar is very much the standard accompaniment for chips. No worries, at go brit! you can have it your way!

Sticky. Toffee. Pudding. Just those three words on their own are enough to make most English people's mouths water. Many British chefs claim to have invented the iconic dessert, but most sources credit a hotel in the Lake District in 1960.

We're proud to say that here in the First State, we've got the top billing on this pudding. So why do we all love it so much?

It's comforting. Sticky toffee pudding harks back to the more traditional sorts of English puddings, such as "jam roly poly." Consider it a taste of yesteryear. Sticky toffee pudding is served hot, and on a cold day, it's the perfect after, as we say in England, to a meal.

It's stodgy, gooey and sinfully good. Enjoy it with cream, custard or ice cream - or on its own. The combination of flavors and textures with the warm sauce and cream are heavenly and amazingly good in the raw with just the toffee sauce covering it.

It's original. No matter the recipe, sticky toffee pudding tastes like nothing you've ever had before. In some places, fruit is added to the mixture; traditionally dates are used, but prunes are an alternative. Some cooks make little individual puddings; others prefer one larger pudding to divide among guests.

Whether you're looking for a perfect dessert for a small dinner gathering or an office party, you'll make a huge hit with our takeout pudding. We offer pan sizes of the pudding that start at six servings for $26 and 12 servings for $50.

Fish and chips is a real British tradition, and something that is taken very seriously. There are annual competitions to find the best outlets for this delicious meal in the UK. One of the easiest ways for chippies to differentiate themselves from the competition is to vary the type of batter they use. Some chippies prefer to coat their fish in a very thick batter to protects the fish from the hot oil and keep it moist and tasty. Others prefer to use a very light batter, almost like a tempura to cook their fish.

We love our beer batter! In England, even some of the more upmarket chippies have adopted it to use in their batter recipes. The downside to using beer to prepare batter is that it is obviously more expensive than using water, either still or carbonated. But it's worth the taste! Beer works much in the same way as carbonated water in that the bubbles in the beer add a lightness and crispiness to the finished product. Different beers can be used, and a darker beer gives more flavor and color. Because the fish is fried at such a high temperature, the alcohol burns off during the cooking process. Now you know why the batter for the fish at go brit! is so delicious.

In fish and chip shops across England, when buying your fish and chips you will be offered a side serving of mushy peas. Many Brits think mushy peas are the essential accompaniment to fish and chips and can't imagine eating fish and chips without the peas. But what exactly are mushy peas, how are they made and what gives them that bright green color?

The basics

Mushy peas are not your usual garden-grown variety. They're made from marrowfat peas, a bigger and rounder sort. To be sure, marrowfat peas stay in the ground longer than the normal garden peas.

The process

Mushy peas are dried and later plumped by soaking them in water overnight. Once they are softened, they are boiled in a large pot with salt and a spoonful of sugar until they turn into a thick soup. The peas can then be canned and stored or frozen in portions to be defrosted as needed. Often they're colored artificially as they're more grayish than green.

Very few restaurants, or fish and chip shops in England, will make their own peas, with most buying them in bulk from wholesalers. Not so at go brit! where mushy peas are made fresh daily and without any artificial food coloring! What a powerhouse of British goodness. You want to try? Come on over! We've got lots to share.

Potato peeling competition raises questions about winner

Watch our commercials on WBOC featuring the final round of the inaugural potato peeling competition.The two finalists peeled and chipped some 400 to 600 pounds of potatoes per day. But who will get the glory: the seasoned veteran go fish! or the young upstart go brit!?

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