Showing posts with label Traditional. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Traditional. Show all posts
London Particular is a delicious Split Pea Soup! The name comes from the famous fogs of London back in Dickensian times, which came to be known as London Particulars or Pea Soup Fogs.
Fogs so thick that you could scarce see your hand in front of your face.
From Wikepedia: Pea soup fog (also known as a pea souper, black fog or killer fog) is a very thick and often yellowish, greenish or blackish fog caused by air pollution that contains soot particulates and the poisonous gas sulphur dioxide.
Not just common in Dickens's day these heavy fogs continued sporadically throughout the ensuing years. In fact there was a particularly bad incident in 1952 which was called "The Great Smog of London," which came to be known as one of the worst air-pollution events in the history of the United Kingdom.
I think actually fogs such as this were quite prevalent throughout Europe, especially in the colder months when people were using their coal fires. My mother had a photograph of me standing in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1959. You can just barely see me and only the feet of the tower as the fog is so dense and so thick.
I dare say those "Pea Souper" fogs were not as near delicious as this fabulous soup, London Particular, which had its beginnings at the Simpson's in the Strand restaurant in London.
This soup is rib-stickingly thick and very delicious, and really quite simple to make!
My mother always made us lovely pots of pea soup after we had enjoyed a baked ham either for New Years or Easter.
We always had a ham on those special occasions and the bone was always used to make a delicious soup.
Hers was done in the French Canadian style however, using whole yellow dried peas. They are not so easy to get these days, and I have never seen them over here.
We did so love her soup. She used to make a huge pot of it and we would enjoy it once on the night, with the remainder being frozen for future use.
Always whenever any of us (after we had grown up and left home) made the trip home, she would be certain to feed us a supper of this soup and another of her home baked beans at least once during our stay.
I can't speak for anyone else, but for myself I can say that this was something I always looked forward to and enjoyed very much.
This is not that soup, but it is just as delicious in a different sort of a way. Its thick and flavourful . . . and as I said, very simple to make.
You do need to begin by soaking the peas over night, so be prepared, you will need to do this in advance of making the soup, but once you have done that, the soup comes together very quickly.
If you are lucky enough to have homemade ham stock in the freezer, use that. I have never seen a ham over here sold on the bone and so I have never had a ham bone over here to make stock.
Instead I relied on ham stock cubes to make my stock. You can also use chicken stock if you wish.
Other than the split peas and stock, there is bacon, carrots, celery and onions. Simple.
As an homage to my dear sweet mother I chose to add a bay leaf and some Nova Scotia Summer Savory. You can leave those out and the soup will still be delicious, but if you have them to hand, I do recommend.
You could in also use a bit of dried thyme instead of the savory, if you find that impossible to procure. I bring mine back with me from Nova Scotia and keep it in my freezer. It is that precious to me.
It takes about an hour and a bit to cook, so not that long really. Once the peas are nice and tender, you then puree half of the soup.
I used my immersion blender to do this. (Don't know what I would do without it!) You can also use a food processor or a regular blender.
You then stir the pureed portion of soup back into the pot and reheat the soup gently, seasoning it to taste with salt and plenty of black pepper . . . ready to be serve ladled into heated bowls . . .
Garnished with clippings of crispy bacon and chopped fresh parsley . . .
As always Todd enjoys his soups with a piece or two of buttered bread or a crusty roll . . .
The North American in me prefers mine with crisp crackers and I always crumble some of them into the soup. A "common" practice I know . . . but a leftover from my childhood. The heart wants what the heart wants . . .
Yield: 6
London Particular
So named because of the thick "pea soup" fogs that used to plague the city of London for years and years! This recipe is adapted from a book I have entitled "Mom's Favourite Recipes," published by Octopus Books.
ingredients:
- 300g dried green split peas, soaked overnight in cold water (1 1/3 cups)
- 25g butter (2 TBS)
- 4 rashers/slices streaky bacon, diced
- 1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 sticks celery, trimmed and roughly chopped
- 1 1/2 litres of ham or chicken stock (6 cups)
- 1 bay leaf, broken (optional and my inclusion)
- 1/2 tsp summer savoury (optional and my inclusion)
- salt and black pepper to taste
To garnish:
- a handful of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
- 4 rashers/strips of streaky bacon, grilled until crisp and snipped
instructions:
How to cook London Particular
- Drain the peas in a colander and rinse. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. When it begins to foam add the bacon and onion. Cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened and the bacon has begun to release it's fat. Add the carrot and celery. Continue to cook for a further 5 minutes or so until golden.
- Add the peas and the stock, along with the bay leaf and savoury, if using. Bring to the boil, stirring. Boil rapidly for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce to low, cover and then cook for about a hour, until the peas are very tender. Remove the bay leaf and discard.
- Cool the soup slightly and then puree half of the soup in a blender or food processor until smooth, or use an immersion blender. Return to the saucepan and reheat. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper.
- Ladle the hot soup into heated bowls, garnishing with parley and bacon. Serve immediately. Crusty rolls or crackers (my preference) are lovely with this.
When I was a child I would crumble so many crackers into my soup that it became almost pudding-like . . . I so enjoyed that. Tomato soup was especially good this way, with a knob of butter melted on top. Oh boy, now I am drowning in happy foodie memories. Yum!
I decided to bake Pitcaithly Bannock today in honor of Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight.
This is an annual celebration of all the best that Scotland has to offer from every corner of the country.
To honor it I chose to share a recipe of Historical import.
I have adapted the recipe from one in the book Scottish Baking, by Sue Lawrence. I picked it up a few years ago when we were in Scotland.
The original recipe was written by a Margaret Stewart in 1799, so its very old. She lived in the Manse in Erskine, near Glasgow, where her husband was minister.
One of my ancestors, Boyd McNayr was born near Glasgow, in the county of Lanarkshire in 1778.
His father was a soldier in the Kings Navy and he went with his father to the New World when he was 8 years old, so in 1786.
He was left with a family in Halifax, Nova Scotia, while his father went off to do Navy stuff. I can only assume he was in a ship wreck as his father was never seen nor heard from again.
When I saw the dates and origins of this recipe, I was particularly interested.
I can only assume that since Boyd was left with people in Halifax his mother was passed away and that he had no other family.
This must have been a sad little boy who had already faced many challenges in his life.
I like to think that he may have enjoyed slices of Pitcaithly Bannock with his mum as a small child.
It was known to be a type of celebratory type of Scottish shortbread biscuit, created to be served on special occasions.
The addition of caraway, orange peel and nuts was a very common place thing to do at that time.
Sugar would have been a luxury, and indeed these are not really sweet cookies.
Most of their luxurious flavour comes from the addition of caraway seed and orange zest.
Make sure your caraway seed is fresh, or you might just as well leave it out as it won't have much impact.
These are wonderfully crisp and buttery, with a bit of a sandy texture from the ground rice/rice flour.
You can make your own rice flour by blitzing raw rice in a food processor until finely ground, or in a spice/coffee grinder. Easy peasy.
They are very easy to make. You simply beat butter and sugar together until light and pale in colour.
I did mine by hand as I don't have an electric hand mixer and I didn't want to drag the stand mixer out from where it is stored.
Once you have achieved this you stir in the flour and rice flour, orange zest, caraway seed and a pinch of salt. I would do this by hand.
If it is over mixed you can toughen this delicate mixture. So best to do it by hand.
Once the soft dough is done, you press it into a prepared tin evenly, using floured hands. I tried to get it as evenly as I could.
You will need to prick it all over with a fork prior to popping it into a very slow oven.
Don't be too pedantic about the placement of these pricks . . . they bake out in the baking.
I went to the trouble of making a pattern with the fork and it all baked out, so it doesn't matter what it looks like . . . just prick it all over with a fork.
Dust it with more sugar and cut it into fingers or squares as soon as you take it out of the oven.
Once it has cooled it will be too late to do so.
You will be rewarded with beautifully crumbly, buttery, crisp shortbread fingers, wonderfully flavoured.
Pithcaithly Bannock
Yield: Makes 24 servings
A Scottish type of shortbread which was considered to be very festive and would often be decorated with large caraways and orange peel. You can bake it in a round and cut it into Petticoat Tails or bake it in a Swiss roll pan such as I have done and cut it into fingers. Either way it goes down a real treat with a hot cuppa!
ingredients:
- 225g butter, slightly softened (1 cup)
- 100g golden caster sugar, plus more for dusting (1/2 cup)
- 200g plain flour, sifted (1 1/2 cups all purpose, less 4 tsp.)
- 100g rice flour/ground rice (2/3 cup)
- pinch salt
- 1 heaped tsp of caraway seeds
- the finely grated zest of a small orange
- 40g finely chopped blanched almonds (7 1/2 TBS)
instructions:
How to cook Pithcaithly Bannock
- Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ gas mark 2. Butter a 9 by 13 inch Swiss Roll tin and line the bottom with baking paper creating an overhang to help you lift the bannock out of the pan when you need to.
- Measure the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale. This will bake about 3 to 5 minutes. You can beat by hand as well, which will take roughly twice the time. Sift the flour and ground rice into the bowl. Add a pinch of salt and the orange zest and almonds. Stir to bring together into a soft dough. Don't over mix. Using floured hands press this into the prepared tin in an even layer. Prick all over with the tines of a fork.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until uniformly pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and dust with more caster sugar. Cut with a sharp knife into squares or fingers. Let cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before lifting out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container.
Stored in an airtight container these will keep for days and days. If anything they get better tasting as the days progress. They would indeed be very pretty at Christmas time with a bit of icing on top and some sprinkles, or even bits of candied cherry. In any case, Happy Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight!!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
All the bakes of my childhood were embroidered with the appearance of an old patterned Dundee Cake Tin that my mother had collected somewhere during her travels.
It had Scottish tartan's printed on it, all around the outside, and on the underside I believe there was actually a photo of a Dundee Cake. To me it represented one thing and one thing only.
Deliciousness! Because I knew that inside the tin would be some cookies that my mother had baked or plain cake, or maybe, if we were really lucky . . . date squares!
It wasn't until I got much older that I began to wonder what exactly a Dundee Cake was!
I knew it was a fruit cake of some sort, which was quite apparent from the tin, and I knew it was Scottish in origin, also apparent from the tin . . . but exactly what kind of fruit cake it was escaped me.
When we were in Scotland several years ago, I picked up a recipe book on Scottish Baking, written by Sue Lawrence, entitled simply . . . Scottish Baking.
Above you will see the photo of the Dundee cake in her book. It is so pretty with its rings of blanched almonds decorating the top.
It is a fruit cake, but not as heavy and rich as a traditional Christmas type of fruit cake. This is more of an "Enjoy with a hot cuppa" kind of a fruit cake!
Light in colour and with a nice "citrus" flavour, it is one of my favourite fruit cakes.
Most cakes will include glace cherries of some sort, but a traditional Dundee Fruit Cake will not. You may see it in some, but it's not tradition that any are included.
What sets it apart from other fruit cakes is that, plus the inclusion of Scottish Malt Whiskey and that lovely ring of blanched almonds on the top.
I does include plenty of dried currants and raisins, and candied citrus peels of course! This recipe also includes the finely grated zest of on orange. YUM!
A traditional fruit cake can take up to three hours baking in a slow oven. This is not unusual. Even the full sized Dundee cake will take about 2 1/4 hours altogether, so it is not a quick bake by any means.
What I loved most about Sue's recipe is that it gives you the option of baking muffin sized cup cakes! And they bake in about half an hour! BONUS!
This quick bake time makes them absolutely flippingly perfect for serving up at your tea break with a nice hot cuppa!
Moist and delicious and stogged to the hilt with lovely dried fruits and beautiful citrus flavours . . .
Hot steaming mugs of tea are most pleasurable when enjoyed with cakes such as these.
Just look at all of those lovely currents and raisins studding that sweet buttery batter . . .
I found myself wondering why I hadn't baked these before, especially where they are so quick out of the oven.
We are people who adore a good fruit cake in this house, but I don't often make one as they are so time intensive. Store bought ones are always ALWAYS disappointing. Dry and lacklustre.
This pleases on every level. These smaller cupcakes are quick to bake. Moist. Delicious. In short perfect! I highly recommend!
Yield: Makes one cake or 10 cupcakes
Scottish Dundee Cake & Dundee Cupcakes
A traditional Scottish Fruitcake that is very much beloved. You can either bake it in a 7 inch cake tin or in 10 large muffin tins.
ingredients:
- 175g unsalted butter (3/4 cup + 1 TBS)
- 175g caster sugar (1 cup less 2 TBS)
- the finely grated zest of one large orange (I use my micro plane grater)
- 3 medium free range eggs
- 175g sifted self raising flour (1 cup plus 5 TBS)
- 1/2 tsp mixed spice
- pinch of salt
- 150g dried currants (scant cup)
- 150g raisins (scant cup)
- 50g chopped mixed peel (6 1/2 TBS)
- 1 TBS whiskey (preferably malt)
- 16 to 20 whole blanched almonds
instructions:
How to cook Scottish Dundee Cake & Dundee Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Butter and line a deep 7-inch round cake tin or line 10 large muffin tins with papers. Set aside.
- Cream the butter, sugar and orange zest thoroughly until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a teaspoon of the measured flour to it with each to help prevent the mixture from curdling. Stir in the mixed spice, salt and flour. Stir in the fruits and mixed peel along with the whiskey to combine well. Spoon into the 7 inch tin, levelling off the top. Alternately divide the mixture between the muffin cups. For muffins, top with the blanched almonds right away and pop into the oven. For the cake, just pop into the oven without the almonds at this point.
- For the cake, bake for 1 1/2 hours, remove from the oven and place the blanched almonds in two concentric circles on top of the cake, then return to the oven and bake for a further 45 minutes. For the muffins, bake for about 35 minutes until done. In either case a toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean. Remove from the oven for a wire rack and let cool completely before removing from the baking tins.
- Store in an airtight container.
I am very much in love with these little gingham cupcake liners. They were perfect for this and I had actually forgotten that I had them, only discovering them when I was rooting through my baking cupboard. I really hope you will bake these delicious Dundee Cake Muffins, or even the full size cake if that is what you are looking for. If it is even half as good as these smaller ones are, you are in for a real teatime treat!
Up Tomorrow: Apple Mystery Dessert
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