Elegantly Substantial Traditional English Lunch for 8

• English roast chicken with all the trimmings – plus some Trifle

When you speak to ladies of a certain generation, you will notice that they use ‘meat’ to mean ‘beef’. Thus ‘We only ate meat once a week’ doesn’t preclude the consumption of vast and daily, or twice daily, platefuls of ham, pork, chicken and lamb. A fine Sunday lunch was roast chicken as it always used to be done, with parsley and thyme stuffing, bread or onion sauce, roast potatoes and sausages and honey-roast parsnips, rather than the modern take (lemon, garlic, onions, olive oil –) much as I love it.