High tea to impress !

[pupuce]

My Belgian cousin wants to have friends over for "tea", the English way (a bit like the Ritz IYKWIM)... she means scones, sandwiches and cakes.... I know how all of that goes but I want to double check with my expert panel !

What time should she serve it ?
What's the official recipe for cucumber sandwitches ? Are they cut in triangle ?
Any other filling recommended for a posh tea ? I suggested smoked salmon....

Any suggestion ???

THANKS

I believe tea was traditionally served at 4pm

I'm not English so treading on dangerous ground here, but egg and cress (as well as smoked salmon) also seems to a traditional filling for afternoon tea. I think cutting the sandwiches into either triangles or thirds is acceptable but I stand to be corrected. Make sure she cuts the crusts off!.

Must say, if I lived in Belgium I'd be too busy scoffing the output of the local patissserie to faff about with scones etc. Why oh why aren't there more patisseries in the UK??

Our recipe is:
Cut the bread thinly and butter it lightly with well softened butter or spread. Spread with mayonnaise. slice the cucumber thinly and spread on the bread. Sandwich together and cut the crusts off. I always cut them square myself, triangles seem too much like caterers. You can peel the cucumber but the peel looks nice on.

This is a family favourite, my children love 4pm tea with little sandwiches, cakes, fruit and (caffeine free) caffe orzo for tea.

I agree about the patisseries though bells. There are plenty of traditional bakeries outside London, but they can't rival the belgian ones.

hang on a minute, I've just noticed the title of the thread. We're talking about afternoon tea here, not high tea?. High tea is what you have in the evening instead of dinner in the north of England, and includes such delights as kippers with brown bread and butter (only toffs eat them for breakfast!), or other simple hot savoury dishes.

The Ritz serves their sandwiches cut into crust free fingers.

I do mean afternoon tea- sorry !
Thanks for all the great tips. Keep them coming

AND YES THE BELGIAN DO KNOW HOW TO COOKAND MAKE PATISSERIE

I think scones with preserves and cream and also Earl Grey tea rather then PG - in cups and saucers of course and probably with leaves not bags.

Smoked salmon sandwiches must have lemon juice and black pepper and should be served on brown bread

I'm really hungry now!!!

I would say the definitive afternoon tea is finger sandwiches (cucumber, egg mayonnaise, smoked salmon, very thinly sliced beef with horseradish); scones, clotted cream and jam and a selection of cakes and pastries. Proper tea, preferably in a silver teapot and fine bone china to drink/eat from.

It puts pasta spirals with tuna and tomato sauce (the 'tea' that dd has just had) to shame!

Enid,

How very lovely

I meant the 'afternoon tea' as opposed to the pasta spirals, although that sounds quite tasty too ! xx

what about good old victoria sponge and fruit cake

The sandwitch is closed not open - correct ?
Any butter with cucumber and salmon ?

She mustn't forget the fruit cake, Pupuce - I believe M & S Dundee cake was one of the biggest sellers in the Paris/Brussels shops. Sliced thinly, of course.

At Browns they serve choux pastry swans with cream in. Fab and slightly bonkers. Also bread and butter and scones and other little cakes and sandwiches. They also do tea with a glass of champagne, which is v nice too.

Ooh, yum yum.

At university the very eccentric local hotel did the best afternoon tea ever. Very thin bread and butter (you could see through it), welsh rabbit (savoury cheese on toast), little sandwiches, fruit cake and always fondant fancies. All served on a squeaky, wheely trolley by a elderly lady with magenta hair in an atmosphere of genteel yet mad decay, with squabbling ancient residents, sagging sofas and painting by numbers pictures on the walls. It was total heaven and I cried when it was demolished and redeveloped as executive homes. Oh, happy days.

Nothing to add, just wanted to say what a yummy thread this is turning out to be!

Thanks for all your good tips.
Marina : I believe all non-UK M&S are now a thing of the past ! I am fairly sure the Paris one is now closed and Brussels must be too.... oh what will all these Eurocrats do without M&S ???

Yes, M&S now closed (since christmas) and very sadly I'm still suffering withdrawal symptoms.

I remember my Grandma always serving those fondant fancies - little square cakes covered in pink and yellow icing. Can you still buy those? and sugar in cubes with silver tongs!

No, you're wrong, Pupuce. There are five branches of M&S here in Jakarta. Sadly, they are all small and expensive and sell only a limited range of food, such as crisps, sweets and biscuits. But any port in a storm..........!

You're right but most EU locations are now closed.
Here is the page where they list the countries where there is a shop

Thanks for the link; it proves there are loads of M&S outside the UK, which cheers me up very much.

I was served afternoon tea in Tokyo by my SIL Japanese parents. It was slighty sureal as they had the Wedgewood china and the Earl Grey tea but the little crustless sandwiches had marmalade on (a la Paddington bear) and were stylishly decorated with a fern leaf and we washed the whole lot down with vodka and orange "scoodiver". Tremendous!

Pupuce, your cousin will also need a tray or table cloth and napkins (white linen, lace or hand embroidered?)a small seive, cake forks, a cake slice and, I would suggest, a crystal bud vase.