ForumGarden

I am from the USA and a club I belong to is doing traditions from other countries.

I signed up to do high tea but I do not know what is done at high tea. I know that it is like a light meal around 4:30P.M. I would like to do a really great tea and follow all the rules. Would any of you English help me?I realize your country is in a rather sad state right now but whenever it is convienent i would love to hear from you.

If I know the British, trouble in the country shall NEVER effect tea time!

this sounds like a cool thread, I'm anxiously awaiting the answer!

I dont personally do high tea Bridget,

but try this link that helps with High Tea etiquette...



http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/lowtea.html



PS, good luck, tally-ho old bean!

Mrs Beeton's Cookery and Household Management will be an excellent source of reference for you, Bridget. It was published in 1874, I think, and it covers food, etiquette etc.

When I visited a Victorian Tea-Room recently my brother had a 'High Tea', this was served on a three tier silver cake stand, the bottom layer contained sandwiches (with the crusts cut off!), the next layer was scones, jam and cornish clotted cream, top layer was mini pastry nibbles all served with a large pot of English tea (proper tea leaves).

Reading Abbeys link, the above is actually a low tea!!



Mrs Beeton where are you?????

this is nice..........Afternoon Tea - Free Pictures - FreeFoto.Com Photographs of a traditional English Afternoon Tea including Scones, Jam and Cream, Tray Bakes, Lemon Cake

lady cop wrote: this is nice..........Afternoon Tea - Free Pictures - FreeFoto.Com Photographs of a traditional English Afternoon Tea including Scones, Jam and Cream, Tray Bakes, Lemon CakeYUM!

Abbey Thanks for the link. I think it has everthing I will need including recipes. I am so excited I think I will practice on my sisters. They will love it. You know I didn't expect a response so soon. Like soneone else said; nothing stops the British from their tea. I had an Aunt ,who has since passed, that was born and raised in England. She was a WWII war bride. Her oldest son was born about the time Prince Charles was born. We always thought he looked somewhat like Prince Charles when he was a little boy. Haven't seen him since he was about 12 yrs.

hmmm a high tea in scotland is your main meal followed by tea, toast, scones & cakes, think the above refers more to afternoon tea, not the same as high, but thats here

buttercup wrote: hmmm a high tea in scotland is your main meal followed by tea, toast, scones & cakes, think the above refers more to afternoon tea, not the same as high, but thats here


Thats what Abbeys link says too, the 'high' referring to sitting at the high table for a meal.

I'm going to have to put them right at that Victorian tea room!:D



I wouldn't want to be in Bridgets shoes though, all that cooking!! How many have you got to make it for Bridget?

Bridget, afternoon tea is more of a light snack at 4.30pm, high tea is more of a meal as I understand it. Betty Boop is correct when she says that a three tier cake tray is used, but with different selections of cakes on every layer. i don't know which cakes are available to you but we would probably include fairy cakes, madelines, battenburg, lemon or coffee or walnut cake or madeira, fondant fancies and of course the traditional victoria sandwich, basically a selection of traditional cakes plus gateaux.

Of course it goes without saying, there would be scones with butter, cream, strawberry jam and a huge pot of tea. However you would first have crumpets or English muffins, dripping with butter and before that you would have sandwiches cut into tiny triangles and without crusts. These are usually cucumber or you can have very thinly sliced ham or shrimp perhaps. You can also offer game pie with salad and boiled baby potatoes, in their skins and dripping butter.

Dont forget tea is poured into bone china cups with saucers, NOT mugs! Offer milk, lemon and sugar CUBES (with tongs!) to flavour the tea.

All plates which have cake selections on them should have paper doilies on the plate. Guests should be given a tea plate with napkin and fork, oh and jam for the scones should be served with a small spoon, not a knife.

However, I think if you have a wide selection of cakes and sandwiches available to your guests and they're all beautifully presented and have little labels indicating the contents of sandwiches, etc, then I think your guests will be thrilled and thoroughly enjoy your high tea! Good luck!

Bridget, don't forget it's got to be proper tea leaves so you'll need a tea strainer!!!

Re-reading this thread us Brits sound so anally retentive :wah:

posted by buttercup

hmmm a high tea in scotland is your main meal followed by tea, toast, scones & cakes, think the above refers more to afternoon tea, not the same as high, but thats here


from abbeys link

High Tea is often a misnomer. Most people mistakenly refer to afternoon tea as high tea because they think it sounds regal and lofty, when in all actuality, high tea, or "meat tea" is dinner. During the second half of the Victorian Period known as the Industrial Revolution, working class families would return home tired and exhausted. The table would be set with dinner foods like meat, bread, butter, potatoes, pickles, cheese and of course tea. Because it was a substantial evening meal, traditional British foods like shepherd's pie, Welsh rarebit, or steak and ale pie were often on the menu. The meal was served family style. It was termed "high" tea because it was eaten at a high dining table rather than a low tea table.


Being scots like buttercup I too think of teatime as the evening meal. My wife being english calls this dinner, whereas to me dinner is what she calls lunch. Being english she is of course given to strange custums and talks funny as well.

gmc wrote:

Being scots like buttercup I too think of teatime as the evening meal. My wife being english calls this dinner, whereas to me dinner is what she calls lunch. Being english she is of course given to strange custums and talks funny as well.Funnily enough we say teatime for our evening meal (up North)

i have friends from down South and they call it dinner,

whereas us northerners call dinner the meal the southerners call lunch.

The only meal i think we have in common is breakfast, of course if you miss it and combine it with a mid morning meal then it becomes brunch an Americanism.

Confused?......

me too!

I also say Dinner for lunch time, and tea for the evening meal!!

And I'm way down south!!!

Far Rider wrote: This crusty old dad attended high tea all dressed up, a three piece suit, tie and all, heck I even showered aforhand! I took my daughter on a date there, we ate finger sandwiches and cakes and jams and jellies... and listen to a piano violin live performance. And of course I teased her the whole time we were there. talking in my english accent and copying all the sterotypical english mannerism and generally we had a blast.... mind you we were hungry an hour later and ate hot dogs at the ice rink.



But we had fun, especially ice skating!Far,

you are cordially invited to high tea anytime at my house.

Ya crusty old bugger! :wah:

You have all been so nice in responding to my high tea question. Thanks so much. Now some questions if you don't mind.

#1--How do you make cucumber sandwiches?

#2- What is a traditional victorian sandwich?

#3- Have read all of Rosamune Pilcher books and shes from Scotland and she refers in her stories about biscults at tea. What are biscults? In America we use biscults which are flour and water with some soda for sauage and gravy or with fried chichen always smothered in gravy. No wonder everyone over here is obese.

#4- What is the proper brand of a tea for an afternoon tea?

#5-I have a huge silver tea service that is never used, would it be proper for an afternoon tea or is it for only special occasions?

Thats for starters, hope I don't scare you all off.

Oh yes, I found your names for your different meals quite interesting. I live in the midwest, on a farm. We are quite civil but midday meal is lunch and dinner is supper unless your going out then its called dinner. Of course on a farm it is traditional to have our heavy meal at noon and supper is leftovers or sandwiches or soup. Sometimes I make a great big salad and we eat it for supper for a couple nights. But we are really trying to watch our weight.

Will try!!

Do you know what a sandwich is at all???

Can see how this gets confusing!!!

Victoria Sandwich - Basically its a sponge cake!!



8oz Self Raising Flour

8oz Castor Sugar

8oz Butter or Margarine

4 eggs



Cream the butter and the sugar together untill light and fluffy, and the eggs gradually, beating well. Sieve the flour into this mixture and fold in lightly.

Divide the mixture evenly between two 7" shallow cake tins and bake at 170 - 180 oc for twenty minutes or so!



When cooled you 'sandwich' the two halves together with jam and sprinkle the top with castor sugar!!

:yh_rotflI'd love to be a fly on the wall on the night in question and see the end result!

Biscuits. ummm



Help i need a translator!



They tend to be sweet biscuits, you have oreo's over there don't you???

Bridget wrote: #1--How do you make cucumber sandwiches?http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~bcohen/cucu ... _sand.html seems quite accurate. The thinner the sliced bread, the better. It can't be too thin. Keep the sandwiches covered in clingfilm, and cool, to retain moisture until the moment of serving. Trimming off the crusty edges and quartering the rounds is required.

I would allow, and indeed prefer, plain white bread to wholemeal, but I'm perverse. I'm probably right that the Victorians would have too.

Thin bread. Remember.

Bridget wrote: What are biscults?There are not many biscuits that qualify. Invariably, in England, a biscuit is what you would call a cookie.

Garibaldi: " slightly soft rectangular biscuit with embedded currants, and hence known as the squashed fly biscuit."

Rich Tea: "What else are Rich teas for? Humility. Through Rich tea biscuits we learn that not all biscuits have been blessed with a fantastic taste, and that there is space in this world for dry bland biscuits that you can dunk in tea."

Bourbon: "For the benefit of those outside the bourbon distribution area, a bourbon cream is two rectangular biscuits roughly 3cm x 6cm, and 5mm in depth, on either side of an oval of chocolate goo which never spills out from the sides of the biscuit [Unless you force it to. ]"

and that, to be honest, is about it.

Spare a thought for the poor, anaemic, albino cousin of the bourbon biscuit - the custard cream!

- Harry Hill

Bridget wrote: #4- What is the proper brand of a tea for an afternoon tea?Never, in my experience, anything Chinese. No Lapsang Souchon, no Green Gunpowder. Unless you have a guest who insists on very very dilute tea with no milk or sugar.

Possibly:

Assam

Ceylon PG Tips

Darjeeling

You would do well to find any of these as leaf tea, not as tea bags. Especially the Darjeeling, as large leaf if it's available - it tends to be lighter, fizzier, sparkly, and a tea-bag just won't cut that at all.

You will have read that the pot is taken to the kettle, having been previously warmed; the pot is poured in the presence of the guests; and that milk and sugar are available on the table but left for the guest to apply as desired.

Bridget wrote: #5-I have a huge silver tea service that is never used, would it be proper for an afternoon tea or is it for only special occasions?Afternoon tea is invariably a special occasion. It would be sinful not to use it.

posted by abbey

"Funnily enough we say teatime for our evening meal (up North)

i have friends from down South and they call it dinner,

whereas us northerners call dinner the meal the southerners call lunch.

The only meal i think we have in common is breakfast, of course if you miss it and combine it with a mid morning meal then it becomes brunch an Americanism.

Confused?......

me too!"

Quote tags not working for some reason. I think the reason is factory working, You didn't get time for a full meal in midday and in case case if you are working hard a big meal is not a good idea. coming home knackered after working all day with kids to look after-bear in mind northern women worked as did many in scotland unlike the effete southern english. You will note most of the traditional dishes can be prepared beforehand and just reheated-like lancashire hotpot.

abbey wrote: Re-reading this thread us Brits sound so anally retentive :wah:


Lol! You cheeky moo! LMAO!! :wah: :wah:

Bridget wrote: You have all been so nice in responding to my high tea question. Thanks so much. Now some questions if you don't mind.

#1--How do you make cucumber sandwiches?

#2- What is a traditional victorian sandwich?

#3- Have read all of Rosamune Pilcher books and shes from Scotland and she refers in her stories about biscults at tea. What are biscults? In America we use biscults which are flour and water with some soda for sauage and gravy or with fried chichen always smothered in gravy. No wonder everyone over here is obese.

#4- What is the proper brand of a tea for an afternoon tea?

#5-I have a huge silver tea service that is never used, would it be proper for an afternoon tea or is it for only special occasions?

Thats for starters, hope I don't scare you all off.

Oh yes, I found your names for your different meals quite interesting. I live in the midwest, on a farm. We are quite civil but midday meal is lunch and dinner is supper unless your going out then its called dinner. Of course on a farm it is traditional to have our heavy meal at noon and supper is leftovers or sandwiches or soup. Sometimes I make a great big salad and we eat it for supper for a couple nights. But we are really trying to watch our weight.


Cucumber sandwiches are made from 2 slices of thin bread, Thinly spread with butter (or margarine) then with a thin layer of cucumber slices (preferably peeled). Cut into crustless triangles. One sandwich can make 4 triangles, but 8 triangles are 'posher'! Lol!

Our biscuits are like your cookies, but better. We have tea and biscuits down to a fine art as thats what we snack on all day! Lol! (And its why the Brits have bad teeth! (All forumgarden company excluded! Lol!))

Darjeeling, Earl Grey and China are all acceptable teas, although personally I prefer PG Tips.

Your tea service would be perfect for afternoon tea! Don't forget to have an extra pot with boiling water for waterine down the stewed tea at the bottom of the pot...and don't forget your teastrainer! (I bet you'll think I'm speaking a foreign language now! Lol!)

BBs victoria sandwich recipe was great, but don't sprinkle the top with caster sugar - use icing sugar! And if you put a paper doily on your cake first - then sprinkle - you can lift it off and have a pretty pattern on your cake!

Also, we have breakfast, lunch and dinner here, in the warmer South! Lol!

Good luck with your tea - it sounds scrumptious!!!

spot wrote: There are not many biscuits that qualify. Invariably, in England, a biscuit is what you would call a cookie.

Garibaldi: " slightly soft rectangular biscuit with embedded currants, and hence known as the squashed fly biscuit."

Rich Tea: "What else are Rich teas for? Humility. Through Rich tea biscuits we learn that not all biscuits have been blessed with a fantastic taste, and that there is space in this world for dry bland biscuits that you can dunk in tea."

Bourbon: "For the benefit of those outside the bourbon distribution area, a bourbon cream is two rectangular biscuits roughly 3cm x 6cm, and 5mm in depth, on either side of an oval of chocolate goo which never spills out from the sides of the biscuit [Unless you force it to. ]"

and that, to be honest, is about it.

Spare a thought for the poor, anaemic, albino cousin of the bourbon biscuit - the custard cream!

- Harry Hill


Don't forget chocolate digestives ~ the yummiest biscuit known to man! Or even the plain digestive. Some people prefer chocolate hobnobs, but they're not my cup of tea! Lol! (Unintentional pun! hehe)

There's also that staple of English cuisine - the Ginger Nut.

Some people like Nice biscuits, which I feel are completely misnamed! and then there are your old-fashioed but true blue malted milk biscuits which remind me so strongly of chldhood.

Also, there is the manner in which one eats a biscuit! Are you a cruncher, a nibbler or a dunker??? Dunking, of course, is completely acceptable in ones home environment but totally unacceptable in public, sadly! I wonder if the Queen's ever dunked? And bourbons and custard creams simply HAVE to be eaten by eating first one biscuit, then scraping the cream out with your teeth before eating the other biscuit! How do you eat yours?? hehe

Now what about the proper way to hold the teacup, do you really sticks the little pinky out like they always told us when we took "etiquette " lessons in school.

*that really shows my age*

One does, of course. Did you doubt it?

Originally posted by Rapunzel

[QUOTE]Darjeeling, Earl Grey and China are all acceptable teas, although personally I prefer PG Tips.[QUOTE]



:yh_rotfl Yeah! the stuff the monkeys drink!!!

Thank you, I didn't know if it was true or not, never having been to a tea party except with my teddies bears as a child.

Always made me wonder as a kid, if you weren't careful of that pinky sticking out you could poke someone in the eye.

I have come into this discussion several weeks late. Have you had your tea party yet.....how did it go ?

We used to have sticks of celery with our 'tea' which was really special on a Sunday.....can't remember if anyone mentioned crumpets.....scrummy....oh yes....my mum & dad used to have winkles on a Sunday with brown bread. I couldn't stand the sight of the winkle...they used to use a long pin thing to get the winkle out of the shell. Actually, I think ours was more of a working class sunday tea rather than the high tea that you want to achieve.

Bez:)

Bez wrote: I have come into this discussion several weeks late. Have you had your tea party yet.....how did it go ?



We used to have sticks of celery with our 'tea' which was really special on a Sunday.....can't remember if anyone mentioned crumpets.....scrummy....oh yes....my mum & dad used to have winkles on a Sunday with brown bread. I couldn't stand the sight of the winkle...they used to use a long pin thing to get the winkle out of the shell. Actually, I think ours was more of a working class sunday tea rather than the high tea that you want to achieve.



Bez:)




Working class, you sure???

I think we had the working class Sunday tea!!! Left over Yorkshire Pudding with Jam!!! And if we were really lucky maybe a Trifle, sometimes with 'real' fruit!:D

Wow! I thought everyone had said all they could about English teas. Great to hear from you and your additional imformation. I am printing it off and plan to use it as a sort of program at the tea. No, the tea hasn't happened yet. It won't be until after the first of the year, I'm not sure yet just when as the president of our club is still preparing the programs for the upcoming year.

Good morning all....I guess with all the info thats been coming in a BANQUET could be held.......

working class.....yes we were.....the celery was grown on our own allotment and the winkles gathered on the beach....the brown bread was the luxury.

Actually....my Mum (whos 2 brothers were vicars) was the 'posh one' who inherited the tea service, silver water jug and the etiquette and the "must keep up the standards attitude). ...my dear old dad was came from a very poor background (no shoes as a nipper and a***e hanging out of his trousers ....so he said).....that's another story though....one worth telling another day.

Bez a

Thanks Bez for your imput. Found it quite interesting as it sounds like your folks were of the same class as mine. My parents were married in the late twenties and struggled through the great depression of the thirties. My sister and I were of her second set of children so we missed the horrors except for my older sisters stories. They made it tho and divorced after it was all over. Their vegetable garden and pen full of chickens were their salvation. I remember a story told that one night someone got in and stole my Moms chickens and my Dad over heard the guy bragging about it at work the next day , so that night he went to that guys house and stole Mom's chickens back. Never a word was said between the two guys about the incident. Now people call the police at the drop of a hat. I would love to exchange stories with you about English life compared to us Americans. I used to take the English Life magazine but it was mostly castles and such. I have a nice life but not of the castle level. On my mother's side her family were Scotch-Irish. Yes I am bull-headed. On my husbands side of his father, they came from the parish of Chesam, Buckinghamshire,England. They came to American in 1630. We have a great big book of their family history chocked full of stories that I love to read. Hope to hear from you or anyone else who has anything they might want to say.

Betty Boop wrote: Working class, you sure???

I think we had the working class Sunday tea!!! Left over Yorkshire Pudding with Jam!!! And if we were really lucky maybe a Trifle, sometimes with 'real' fruit!:D


At my grans we used to have tinned peaches with tinned evaporated milk..now that was a treat but we had to eat bread and marge (ugh!) first.

Hallo Bridget. High tea at my Grans was always something savoury like beans, eggs or sardines on toast, followed by bread and marge, then cake or tinned fruit. Sometimes if we were very lucky it would get corned beef hash or bubble and squeak with a fried egg on top. Yummy!!

Spect you've done it by now...do hope it was a roaring success.



PS As a matter of interest, what kind of trouble are we in over here? I hadn't noticed anything unusual!!!

I just found this thread, it's great.

So good to hear from you Astra. No we haven't had our tea yet. I will be the hostess and it is planned for April, 2006. I had no choice of when it was planned as to the date. April was fine for me so I said yes. Everyone is to bring their favorite teacups and if they are keepsakes tell about them. Found a book on teas the other day. Still have printed out all the imfo the ladies gave me last summer on teas in England. Think it will be a really fun time. Someone even suggested we have a tea by Mrs. Bouquet from the t.v. show, Keeping Up Appearances. Will give a full report whens its over.

i have hyacinth's royal doultan tea set...you can use it if you like!

Attached files

We normally sat at the dining table for tea, but when we had our 1st TV we were allowed to sit in the 'sitting room' and tea was bought in on a tea trolley....I really miss these old nostlagic occasions...so many memories.

Oh, LC your tea service is beautiful. Too bad we live so far from each other or I most certainly would take you up on it. Read your line under your reply. You don't really hate Christmas do you? What with shop lifting, people killing themselves because of depression, Walmarts being overcrowded, lack of money to buy what we really want. My husband is a royal Scrooge in the a$$. He was raised by two very tight-fisted people who thought gift giving was a lot of nonsense. it wore off on him. I do believe some people go overboard on the gifts and toys. My gift want list this year is a new shower head, a Cardinals ball cap and a make-up mirror with lights yet. Don't think that will break anyones bank. OOPs, sorry to get off the the subject of tea parties.