A Proper Ploughman's

Anyone who has spent any time in pubs in Britain, or a pub anywhere in the world that aspires to “Britishness” (whatever that means), has probably heard of a ploughman’s lunch. At its most basic, a ploughman’s lunch (often just shortened to ploughman’s) is a cold platter consisting of bread, cheese, and pickle. Of course the pickle in question is not what an American pictures upon hearing that work; as has been famously said, we and the British are two peoples separated by a common language. In the UK, pickle, also known as sweet pickle, is a condiment made of chopped vegetables and fruits pickled in vinegar and sugar or other sweet ingredient; think chutney. Alongside this trinity of basic components, a ploughman’s might also include an apple, butter, fresh or pickled onions, lettuce, or even some cold ham or sausage. Naturally, all this begs to be washed down with a pint of good English bitter, pulled from a nice, well-kept cask in the pub’s cellar via hand pump.

Personally, my first experience with this particular piece of British cuisine took place in Hong Kong, of all places. I visited the then British colony for the first time in the summer of 1990, and had a room at the YMCA in Kowloon. However, I needed to withdraw some funds from my bank, which had an office on Hong Kong Island, so I rode the Star Ferry across the harbor and began to search for it. After about an hour of fruitless searching, I finally stopped at a pub to ask directions and have a pint. The pub I happened upon was The Bull and Bear. Opened sixteen years before, in 1974, The Bull and Bear was one of the first British-style pubs in Hong Kong, and was the watering hole for lawyers, financiers, British military, and one very lost American naval officer. The manager, a lady named Sonya with somewhat scary eyeliner, lots of earrings and blonde spiky hair, was kind enough to give me some directions, pour me a pint of Bass Ale, and hand me the bar menu. Along with the usual stuff, like sandwiches and fish and chips, I saw something I’d never seen before: a ploughman’s lunch. Since it was listed without description, I asked Sonya what it was. She replied, “That’s a proper British lunch, that is.” Her tone seemed to imply that as an American, I wouldn’t enjoy it. Since I’ve never been one to refuse a challenge, I immediately ordered one, loved it, and have been hooked on ploughman’s ever since. Who knows, perhaps that was Sonya’s plan all along?

As a meal, a ploughman’s has much to recommend it. There’s bread of course, preferably of the crusty, farmhouse variety not the sliced white, though I have seen that, along with some butter to spread on it. For the cheese, we want a good English one, such as a farmhouse Cheddar, Cheshire, Lancashire or Wensleydale. Or best of all, a small wedge of Stilton, the king of English blue cheeses. Personally, I’m extremely partial to pickled onions, so I like my ploughman’s to include them, along with the standard pickle. Since the meal requires little more than a refrigerator and a cutting board to prepare, you can see why it has become such a favorite in pubs with limited cooking facilities.

The history behind the ploughman’s is equally interesting. At times it has been accused of being totally inauthentic, a mere marketing ploy, dreamed up by some sharp advertising executives in the 1960’s to convey a faux antiquity on a new lunch creation. However, this accusation was debunked quite thoroughly by beer historian Martyn Cornell in his essay entitled “The Ploughman’s Lunch – Guilty or Innocent?” Cornell determined “that bread, cheese and pickles was a genuine “traditional public house meal” from at least before the Second World War, which had been knocked on the head by wartime rationing of staples such as cheese, and that bread, cheese and pickles was something genuinely consumed by ploughmen – or ploughboys – for their lunch. The dish wasn’t invented by marketing men in the 1960s, but revived by the Cheese Board, representatives of Britain’s cheese makers, in the 1950s, and the name Ploughman’s Lunch might be marketing flannel, but it seems to have its roots in authenticity.”

So there you have it, the ploughman’s lunch, one of several classic British pub foods. If your travels ever take you to Britain, I strongly encourage you try one of these platters. Even if you can’t make it overseas, you can still give it a try, as they are so simple to make. Besides obtaining some good bread and English or English-style cheese, the trickiest component to locate is the pickle. I buy mine at the commissary of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, but like most things, you can always find it on line. I recommend Crosse & Blackwell brand, though Heinz makes one as well. Put it all together with a fresh ESB or English-style pale ale from a local craft brewery, and you’ll find it a match made in heaven. Or at least in England’s green and pleasant land.