Welcome to Old British Recipes!

I’m Leigh and I love old-fashioned, vintage, historical, and long-forgotten British recipes, so my goal is to breathe new life into these once-loved recipes in both your kitchen and mine! Do bear with me, though, as I am still constructing the new blog, so any feedback is very welcome!

I have added a section to the blog where old family recipes from our lovely visitors can be uploaded for others to enjoy. Preserving recipes passed down from our ancestors, much-loved great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, mothers, and fathers is incredibly important.

Additionally, there will be a section where you can find many old, out-of-print recipes that I’ve collected and organised into handy sections but have not yet tested – although I have been busy testing a few and I have uploaded photos. I hope you have fun experimenting with the old British recipes.

Our latest recipes

  • Creamy Fried Sandwiches

    These creamy fried sandwiches are an easy vintage recipe sourced from the 12-18th October 1985 issue of the British magazine Cooks Weekly. You will only need a few everyday ingredients, such as your choice of bread, cream cheese or…

    Creamy fried sandwiches on a plate with salad, brown table background.

  • Old-Fashioned Cheese Pudding

    This Old-Fashioned Cheese Pudding is a quaint vintage British recipe that makes good use of a few pantry ingredients – cheese, milk, eggs, breadcrumbs, and some seasonings. Its taste and texture are very similar to a quiche, so this…

    Cheese pudding baked and still in baking dish with a serving spoon to the side.

  • Old English Bakewell Tart

    This is a nice & easy Old English recipe for Bakewell tart, which doesn’t require any ground almonds. The shortcrust pastry is crisp and buttery, while the sponge filling is soft, fluffy, with classic frangipane flavours, and the topping…

    Slice of Bakewell tart on serving plate.

  • American Pancakes

    This vintage recipe for American Pancakes comes from my copy of ‘The Dairy Book of Home Cookery’. This pancake recipe is quick and easy and produces a delicious golden, fluffy pancake with crispy bits along the edges and a…

    A plate of pancakes, featured image.

  • Traditional Flapjacks

    This recipe for Traditional Flapjacks creates authentic British old-fashioned flapjacks with just three ingredients: demerara sugar, butter, and rolled oats. The result is a buttery, crispy-edged, chewy, oaty biscuit that is irresistible and perfect with a cup of tea.…

    A batch of flapjacks cooling.

  • A Plain Salad [Victorian Era Recipe]

    This salad recipe from the Victorian Era may have been named A Plain Salad but it is a really tasty worthwhile recipe to have to hand whenever you need to throw together a basic but good salad to accompany…

    Three bowls of salad with a linen tablecloth background with purple embroidery flower pattern.

I love old British food customs, especially for afternoon tea, high tea, five o’clock tea, and the like, so I will be featuring those often on the blog. There’s just no better way to spend time with family than with a good cup of tea, delicious home baking, and some humble bread and butter.


A Victorian Five o'clock Tea: 

''Briefly, the requirements for 5 o'clock tea are: A little tea-table covered with a white of fancy cloth, a tea-tray on which are placed a small silver or china tea-service, as many cups and saucers as are wanted, and a kettle and hot water jug. On the table itself should be placed cakes and thin bread and butter, unless they are placed on a cake-stand at one side - no loaf of bread is ever put on the table for 5 o'clock tea. The manner of serving is simply to pour out cups of tea, handing it round yourself, unless your daughters or a man is present, in which case they relieve you of part of the duty ; the guests do not gather around the table, but keep the seats they have previously occupied.''

''Extracted from The Monster Cookery Book, Tit-Bits Palatable, Economical, Practical. For Breakfast, Dinner, Tea, and Supper. Published 1898.''

For baking ideas for an authentic Victorian 5 o'clock tea, afternoon tea, or high tea do have a good look around our old British recipe collections especially for cakes, biscuits, bread, savoury pies, and sandwiches.
Tea table with biscuits, tea cups, and tea pot.

For a delicious, tried-and-tested Cornish Fairings recipe, take a look at this easy Fairings recipe, perfect for filling up the tea-time biscuit jar.

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