Pub grub. What is it?

[Dave M]

I'm in the middle of a Padstow pub crawl and making a point of looking at the menus to try to help me compose some reviews. I just found myself about to say 'traditional pub grub' but found myself wondering what that is. I'm looking at a menu with a burger, fish & chips, ham egg & chips, ploughmans and lasagne.

Those are the kind of things that do it for me and are what I expect to see in a pub rather than a place with pretentions of being a restaurant. I just wonder what others think, should a pub only do pork scratchings, crisps, pickled eggs and of course chocolate?

[Rex_Rattus]

Nice one this Dave. I use the term "pub grub" quite regularly in my reviews so I should have some idea of what I think it is. All the things you mention qualify. It must be unpretentious. Sausages, pies (can be steak & ale), basic lasagne, sandwiches, burgers, and the such like all qualify. Steak is OK as long as it comes with chips and doesn't have some poncy foreign sauce over it. It has to be reasonably priced. But once you start charging £10 for a homemade burger with caramelised onions and rocket salad with parmesan shavings then you have crossed the line from "grub" to "cuisine". And the other thing that disqualifies anything from being pub grub is the use of French in its description. Anything with "au jus" in the description is so far offside that it shouldn't be seen in a pub let alone be described as pub grub. I doubt whether it is possible to produce a list of every type of food that qualifies as pub grub, because regional variations will probably apply, but the things that don't qualify will be immediately obvious to anyone who uses pubs regularly.

[Millay]

That sounds like traditional pub grub to me as well Dave. I always think if there no more than say 6 things on the menu or if there’s a dish of the day board it seems more pub grub than restaurant food. Unfortunately you are just as likely to see lime & coriander crab cakes with rocket salad and Peruvian vinaigrette on a pub menu these days than bangers & mash.

[Alesonly]

My Idea of Pub grub is
Pork Pies' Sausage Rolls Toasted Sandwiches Like Cheese & Onion' Ham & Cheese' Egg & Bacon' Bacon & Cheese Etc .
Hot Pies like Steak & Ale' Chicken & Mushroom' Beef'' Steak & Kidney' Chicken & Ham' Etc With Mash not Chips. Pickled Eggs. Scotch Eggs. Pork Scratchings Nuts & Crisps.
None of this fancy or over priced muck Just some thing too soak up the Ale..

[Maldenman]

Filled rolls wrapped in clingfilm are rarely seen anymore but are just the job sometimes for that quick cheap food fix. Also a relic from the past are those heated trays or shelves that contained pies, pasties and sausage rolls.

If it has to be meals then I prefer simple stuff, ploughman's, a bowl of chilli, perhaps sausages or scampi and chips but not too much fried stuff as the smell of cooking oil and vinegar are a bit off-putting. A good Sunday roast is fine though provided that all the tables aren't set for eating.

[arwkrite]

Not many places do a fresh roast beef sandwich with a choice of English Mustard or Horse Radish Sauce these days. Or sandwiches of ham cut freshly off the bone. You only get mild flavoured cheese or something supposedly Stilton.Whatever happened to the cheese so sharp it shriveled the inside of your mouth ? It went great with local made chutney and a pint of beer. Some pubs do provide low quality food. Sausages and meat pies from a " Value " chain store with warm up chips.What reads well on the menu, when it arrives, can so often be a disappointment.If the price charged is low that can give an idea of whats coming but it aint necessarily so. I love a good pie........I will murder that Dave...my diet is shot to hell . Off to the fridge now !

[Strongers]

I use the term 'pub grub' a lot and I would read it as burgers, pies, sausages, ploughmans etc. I would class nuts, crisps and pork scratchings as bar snacks and if I spotted Pickled or Scotch eggs I would make a point of mentioning them by name as they are so rarley seen in London.

[Farway]

I also use term Pub Grub often, to me it is sort of traditional stuff one could readily cook at home, or your mum did, generally under a tenner, or maybe even a fiver

It would include fish & chips, bangers & mash, pasty maybe, ham, egg & chips, beef & ale pie, burgers. Would not include lasagna, hand cut chips, venison, pasta of any form or shape, bowls of chlili

I think pub grub does depend upon area as to what is traditional, deep fried pizza may well classify in Scotland, as could haggis, neeps & tatties or mutton pies I guess. Maybe pie & liquor in some parts of London? I suggest all of these would seem pretentious in other parts of the UK

I would not differentiate between mash or chips for some meals, fish & chips yes, but bangers can go with chips,as as can any pie go with either

Ref local customs, I was horrified in Chester when the pie, chips & salad arrived with gravy on the chips & salad

[NickDavies]

...Also a relic from the past are those heated trays or shelves that contained pies, pasties and sausage rolls...

I worked somewhere on and off 30 odd years ago where the only food available came from such an apparatus. "The Pie Machine" it was called. Its contents, supplied I imagine by Walls or Bowyers were kept for hours at exactly the right temperature to incubate the finest strains of salmonella, and indeed anything left in it when it was turned off at closing time remained there when it was turned back on the next morning. I don't recall it ever being cleaned in my two years of its acquaintance. That we never killed anyone is, in hindsight, a miracle.

[arwkrite]

If the pie had been there long enough the contents were so tough it could crack your teeth. Happy days. Should we really be complaining about the wide variety of food now available in pubs ? Are we stick in the muds viewing the past in rose coloured glasses ? Holidays abroad have raised the expectations of many people as to what a bar should serve.Despite what is said I believe the cafe society has caught on in Britain but, like so many things, we have adapted it to our own tastes.Turning the clock back may be more difficult than we think.