A Holiday Special

I am not sure if this dish can be counted as a hot dish or not. It is best when served as warm as possible, but there is no way in which it can be piping hot. To many diners this is an offence, for which I apologise. There are times when I sympathise with the hot-food brigade. Although Alastair Little relates the time when the late Egon Ronay once sent back his soup on the grounds that it was too hot, I am not in favour of lukewarm soup. Indeed, I am more likely to complain of food being too cold than too hot, regarding this as a greater disservice to the taste of the food. However, I am still occasionally perplexed by the British obsession with hot food. Some even demand that their roast beef is very hot when, by definition, a rare and well-rested piece of beef can never be more than warm but is nevertheless extremely palatable, especially when served on a hot plate with a light but hot gravy alongside.