The Perfect Cricket Tea :

With thanks to these excellent guides to making cricket teas:

FROM BREEDON CC:

Choose the right ingredients for your cricket tea

  • Four loaves for sandwiches
  • An assortment of savouries (probably two of each) such as pork pie segments, mini sausage rolls, mini scotch eggs, cocktail sausages.
  • An assortment of cakes, tarts, sweet items, or those chocolate Rice Crispy things
  • Some crisps or tortilla chips (emptied into a bowl or two)
  • Some fruit – bananas, clementines, strawberries (or similar) – usually goes down well
  • And, of course, tea… and orange squash

Vary the plot a little:

  • Bread or finger rolls to do some of the sandwiches
  • Samosas or onion bhajis as savouries
  • Scones with jam and butter or cream
  • Hot savouries such as pizza get devoured, but they’re more effort – your call.
  • Sandwiches can be as simple or complicated as you want

Rely on some staple sandwich fillings

  • Cheese
  • Tuna mayo (and sweet corn / cucumber)
  • Egg mayo
  • Coronation chicken
  • Chicken and chutney
  • Corned beef
  • Sausage (good in rolls)
  • Beef
  • Pate

You can add to any of the above appropriate combos such as cucumber, tomato, mustard, pickle, piccalilli, chutney, lettuce.

Sample shopping list

With a bit of skill and judgement, you can get all of this cricket tea list at any supermarket (there should be tea, sugar, orange squash in the pavilion, but check and add to the list if you need them).

  • Sarnies bread (square sliced loaves best): four loaves
  • Margarine: one 500g tub
  • Cheese
  • Ham: pack of 20 slices
  • Eggs: six large
  • Tomatoes: six
  • Medium cucumber
  • 1 Hellmann’s mayonnaise (small jar)
  • Other savouries sausage rolls: frozen pack of 50/100 cocktail sausages
  • Two frozen packs of 40 pizzas – thin margherita or pepperoni frozen
  • Two twin packs of Doritos or tortilla chips
  • Six-pack mini scotch eggs
  • One pack cakes ‘n’ stuff bar fruit cakes
  • Two bar lemon cakes
  • Two chocolate Swiss rolls
  • Two packs of 10 jam tarts
  • Milk: two pints

In addition to the food, you will need:

  • A bit of time and space. Sarnies for 22 plus a bit of preparation at home will take up a couple of hours the morning of the match/or the night before.
  • Enough room in your fridge for five trays of sandwiches and anything else you’ve bought or made that needs keeping fresh. Enough room in the freezer for the frozen stuff.
  • Clingfilm: seal those sarnies quick for best results
  • Sharp knives
  • About five sandwich trays. Get them from the pavilion kitchen or use your own
  • Tupperware or similar container for the sausage rolls and sausages

Follow these instruction to make four loaves into sandwiches

  • Get the fillings ready in bowls. Grate lots of cheese into a bowl, slice up the other stuff.
  • Work fast. Cut sarnies diagonally into quarters. With a sharp knife you can do several rounds at once. Stack them in rows on a sandwich tray and when it’s full cover it immediately with cling film and stash it in the fridge.

FROM BURNHAM CC:

HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT CRICKET TEA (June 2010)
Been asked to make a cricket tea? Need help in knowing what to provide? Never fear: here is a guide that will ensure your team-mates and rival players regard you as a budding Jamie Oliver. Budget for up to £40 and, do not fear, you will be paid back. The club have a large fridge and, for the more daring, an oven.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS
1. Cups of tea. You’ll need 2 pints of milk and check to see if teabags are required (the club usually have a stock). Go for ten bags in the pot (we have a big urn) and, ideally, have mugs of tea ready as soon as tea commences – rather than halfway through which smacks of a hurried preparation. Sugar is at club.
2. Jugs of squash. Remarkably, not everybody likes tea and, on hot days, some players prefer squash/or drink both. Ideally, have two jugs of squash readily available (show offs will have 2 flavours) and if these have been chilled in the fridge beforehand, so much the better.
3. Sandwiches. You are catering for 22 players and possibly a few guests, so plenty are required. Usually, aim for three medium-cut loaves (perhaps 2 white and a brown). Cut all sandwiches in half (the triangle shape always looks superior) or even quarters to make them go farther.
Make sure they are wrapped in clingfilm/tin foil and kept in the fridge
4. What shall I put in them? Favourite flavours are
(a) cheese and red onion (buy cheese already grated – saves a lot of hassle)
(b) cheese and tomato
(b) ham and tomato (buy the ham trim, which is a lot less expensive but just as nice)
(d) egg and mayo
(e) tuna or salmon paste or a few prawn
(f) sandwich filler
(g) sausage
(h) salad sanwiches with mayo; lettuce, toms, cucumber – much underestimated, especially if it is hot.
(h) I’ve never seen strawberry jam or peanut butter – but cannot think why.
4. Cakes. Homemade jobs are obvious preferable but, if time/skill does not allow, then they will have to be shop bought. The moister the better. Those very sweet Mr Kipling jobbies never get neglected.
5. Chocolate bars: not necesary if you’ve made your own cakes but mini rolls, jaffa cakes, wagon wheels etc rarely get left.
6. Crisps: a big bowl of them or 26 packets of Walkers at the co-op for £2.50. Job done.

EXTRA POINTS
Tea, juice, sarnies and cake ticks all the basic boxes. But there are plenty more options that will earn you extra points
7. Some salad (rocket), cress or small tomatoes scattered among the sarnies can be pleasing on the eye..
8. Dips and something to dip in them!
9. Pasta with mayo and a few spices/peppers/chillis for flavour (plastic forks needed!!)
10. Sausage rolls (homemade if possible)
11. Scones with strawbery jam and clotted cream (exquisite!)
12. Fruit – grapes, strawberries and, especially, melon go down well.
13. mini sausages
14. chicken wings/drummers (messy – get serviettes!)
15. Indian or Chinese finger foods.
16. pasta slices.
17. rice with smal bits of chicken in
18. quiche
19. your own speciality.
20. the list is endless.