Showing posts with label traditonal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label traditonal. Show all posts
Tomorrow night on the fifth of November all of the UK will be celebratin what is called Bonfire Night. Its a night where families and communities gather together to burn bonfires and shoot of fireworks in recognition of Guy Fawkes failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament back in 1605. Of course, as with any celebration, there are traditional foods associated with it. And for Guy Fawkes/Bonfire night, it is hot soups (to keep your hands warm), baked potatoes (baked in the fire), roasted sausages (grilled over the fire), sticky Cinder Toffee, toffee apples, and this Yorkshire Parkin loaf.
Fireworks and bonfires are all well and good, but for me (o surprise here) any celebration is always about the food. End of. I absolutely love these dishes and bakes of the UK, that are steeped in history and tradition. Parkin is a a strongly-spiced sticky gingerbread-cum-cake-loaf flavoured with treacle and dark brown sugar, and it's gorgeous. I have seen it baked as a low cake and as a loaf. I favor the loaf.
This does not look like much, but it smells heavenly when it is baking. It is one of those cakes that actually gets better tasting with each day that passes. It looks dry, but it is not. It's stodgy and moist and very delicious. With each day that passes the syrups settle in and it gets stickier and more delicious . . . very moreish.
Do take care not to dry it out however. I tend to take it out of the oven as soon as the sides spring back when touched. The centre will be just set. It continues to bake a bit after you take it out and it ends up just perfect.
It is one of those cakes that begs to be devoured eaten whilst sitting before a cosy fire with a hot cuppa in one hand and a slice of cake in the other. It speaks to my heart of everything Home Sweet Home-ish. It is loaded with sugar and syrup/treacle however, so nowadays, I can only have a smallish taste . . . *sniff* *sniff* boo hoo . . .
It is beautiful served in thin slices, spread with softened butter. I am sure that is not the British way to do it, but it sure is the Canadian way. We love our tea loaves buttered. That's just the way it is with us. You can take the girl out of Canada, but you can't take the Canada out of the girl.
*Yorkshire Parkin*
Makes 1 2-pound loaf
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
110g black treacle (1/3 cup, black strap molasses)Preheat the oven to 150*C/ 300*F/ gas mark 1. Butter a 2 pound loaf tin well and line with baking paper. Set aside.
Measure all of the dry ingredients into a bowl, and whisk well together. Put the butter, syrups and milk into a saucepan. Gently heat over low heat to melt the butter without boiling the milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients. Add the wet mixture all at once and stir well together. Pour into the prepared baking tin.
Bake for about 1 1/2 hours in the middle of the preheated oven. The cake around the edges should spring back when lightly touched, and the middle be just set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin, set on a wire rack before removing. Once cold wrap in grease-proof paper and pop into an airtight tin. Best left to set for a few days to ripen and develop its full stickiness.
You can of course make this with regular corn syrup if you can't get the golden syrup, but there is an appreciable difference in taste, DO try to get Golden Syrup if you can, or at least golden corn syrup. In any case I hope you will try it. It is these autumn and winter foods that I love the most! Bon Appetit!
I thought this weekend I would make our Christmas pudding for this Christmas and get it done and put away so that it is nicely ripened for the big day. Christmas puddings are a really big deal over here in the UK.
Back home we might have had a Carrot Pudding with Brown Sugar Sauce, but we didn't really do Christmas Puddings as such. The carrot pudding would usually have to be made on the day, although admittedly, my MIL used to make it and freeze it, and then just reheat it in the top of a double boiler.
Christmas Puddings are a very traditional thing here in the UK. Christmas (or Plum) Pudding is the traditional end to the British Christmas dinner. But what we think of as Christmas Pudding, is not what it was originally like!
Christmas pudding originated as a 14th century porridge called 'frumenty' that was made of beef and mutton with raisins, currants, prunes, wines and spices. This was quite liquidy, would need to be eaten with a spoon like a soup, and would have been a fasting meal during the preparations up to Christmas.
By 1595, frumenty was slowly changing into a plum pudding, having been
thickened with eggs, breadcrumbs, dried fruit and given more flavor with
the addition of beer and spirits. It became the customary Christmas
dessert around 1650, but in 1664 the Puritans banned it as a bad custom. (Those old Puritans were a bunch of party-poopers!)
In 1714, King George I re-established it as part of the Christmas meal,
having tasted and enjoyed Plum Pudding, and by Victorian times, Christmas
Puddings had changed into something very similar to the ones which are prepared and eaten
today.
The Plum pudding is a national symbol – It does not represent a class or
caste, but the bulk of the English nation. There is not a man, woman or
child raised above what the French would call proletaires that does not
expect a taste of plum pudding of some sort or another on Christmas
Day.
~London Illustrated News, 1850
Traditionally a Christmas Pudding is prepared on the last Sunday before Lent, which is lovingly referred to as "Stir Up Sunday." Stir-up-Sunday is usually a family affair.
Each family member is supposed to stir the mixture from East to West to honour the journey of the Magi. This ritual is also thought to bring the family luck and prosperity in the coming year.
At one time it was also customary to hide a number of small trinkets in the mixture, a bit like the twelfth night cake. These charms often included a silver coin (wealth), and a ring (future marriage).
Woe betide the guest who stumbled across a thimble in their serving. A future of Spinsterhood was a cert for them! Nowadays this generally isn't done, although Todd does remember his mom putting coins into theirs.
I am doing mine a bit earlier this year so that I can present you a tutorial on it and give you time to get in any necessary ingredients, etc. "Stir-up-Sunday" this year will be the 19th November.
125g dried figs, quartered (3/4 cup)
100g raisins (2/3 cup)
75g golden raisins (scant half cup)
75g dried currants (scant half cup)
50g glace cherries (1/3 cup)
65g candied ginger (scant half cup)
100 ml brandy (6 1/2 TBS)
125g butter, softened (1/2 cup)
140g soft light brown sugar (2/3 cup)
1 tsp freshly grated orange zest
1 large free range egg
25g blanched almonds chopped roughly (3 TBS)
25g toasted pecans, chopped roughly (3 TBS)
90g soft white bread crumbs (1 generous cup)
30g plain flour (1/4 cup)
15g self raising flour (1/8 cup)
1/2 tsp each ground mixed spice and ground cinnamon
pinch salt
Mix
all of the dried fruit together in a bowl. Add the brandy and stir,
mixing well together. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave on the
counter overnight to macerate.
The next day bruht a 1 litre
pudding basin (5 cup) well with melted butter and place a round of
baking paper in the bottom. Set aside.
Cream the butter,
sugar and orange zest together until light and fluffy in a large bowl.
Beat in the egg. Stir together both flours, nuts, spices and bread
crumbs. Add the macerated fruit and stir together to combine. Stir this
mixture into the creamed mixture combining well together. Spoon into
the prepared pudding basin, pressing it down to compact, smoothing the
top withthe back of a wooden spoon. Tap on the counter several times to
remove any air holes.
Place a large sheet of tinfoil on
the counter. Top it with an equal sized piece of baking paper. Butter
the paper. Make a pleat in the centre of both sheets together. Wrap
them over top of the pudding, leaving room for expansion. Secure
tightly with either a rubber band or kitchen string.
Place a
small heat proof trivet in the bottom of a large saucepan (with a tight
fitting lid). Lower the pudding into the saucepan, placing it on top of
the trivet. Fill the saucepan with enough boiling water to come 3/4 of
the way up the sides of the pudding bowl. Cover tightly and simmer over
low heat for 4 to 4 1/2 hours, topping up as necessary with boiling
water. Do NOT let it boil dry.
At the end of that time,
carefully fremove it from the saucepan. Leave to cool overnight. The
next day remove and discard the messy wrappings and rewrap in some clean
baking paper, foil and string. Store in a cool dark and dry place
until Christmas.
On Christmas Day, boil or oven steam (in
the container) for about an hour until heated through. Unwrap and turn
out onto a serving plate. Serve with your favourite sauces.
(You can serve it with Brandy Butter, Brown Sugar Sauce, Cream, Custard, etc.)
This was fun. I hope you will give it a go and make your own Christmas Pudding this year. It's really not that hard to do, and when you make your own, you know exactly what has gone into it! Bon Appetite!
I am doing mine a bit earlier this year so that I can present you a tutorial on it and give you time to get in any necessary ingredients, etc. "Stir-up-Sunday" this year will be the 19th November.
The fruit mixture of the pudding is a mix of dried figs, currants, raisins, golden raisins, cherries and candied ginger.
All are mixed together in a bowl the night before you go to make your pudding and a portion of brandy is poured over top and the fruit left to macerate in this overnight on the counter top.
A clean towel over top to keep it safe from dust and insects. If you don't like to use alcohol, you can use orange juice in an equivalent amount.
The next day softened butter is creamed together with soft light brown sugar, orange zest, ground cinnamon and ground mixed spice.
You can easily make your own mixed spice: Combine 1 TBS ground cinnamon,
1 tsp each of ground coriander and nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger,
1/4 tsp each of ground cloves and all spice. Mix well and store in an
airtight container out of the light for up to 6 months.
An egg also gets beaten into this, a bit at a time so it doesn't curdle.
Fresh soft white bread crumbs are mixed with chopped blanched almonds and toasted pecan nuts.
Two kinds of flour are stirred into this mix of nuts, bread crumbs and spice. Plain flour and self raising flour.
You can make your own self raising flour by adding 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt to every cup of plain flour.
You then mix the macerated fruit together with the flour/nut/bread crumb/spice mixture.
This mixture then gets added and stirred into the creamed mixture to combine. Make sure everyone gives it a stir and makes a wish.
Don't forget East to West, just don't ask me which is which, lol! If you are putting trinkets in this is when you would do it.
I would wrap them in cling film first or waxed paper, and don't forget to warn any guests that they are there when it comes to eating!
The pudding basin is prepared by generously brushing it with melted butter and placing a round of baking paper in the bottom.
Pack the pudding mixture into the prepared pudding basin, smoothing the top out with the back of a wooden spoon.
Once you've done this tap the bottom of the basin on the countertop a few times to settle and work out any air holes.
This is the most complicated part of the pudding. Creating the lid to wrap it in. Lay a large piece of foil on the table, and top it with an equal sized piece of baking paper.
You then make a pleat in the paper, bearing in mind that the baking paper will be the side against the pudding. Butter the paper.
I fold them in half with the paper on the inside, and then, from about 2 inches down, I fold them back on themselves.
It should look like this on the paper side, and like the top picture from the foil side.
Wrap this over the top of your pudding basin, leaving plenty of room for expansion, paper side towards the pudding. Tie it tightly onto the bowl with some kitchen twine, bakers twine or even using a rubber band.
I use bakers twine and using a generous length, after I have knotted it, I fashion a handle with the excess that I bring back over the top and secure on the opposite side. This makes it easier to lift out of the pan when its done.
Trim off the excess paper and foil so it looks nice and neat.
You will need a large saucepan that is large enough to hold your pudding basin, with a tight fitting lid.
If you have a small trivet you can place it in the bottom of the pan, or you can do like me and fashion your own using a canning jar ring and some balls of foil.
The pudding basin gets set on top of this and boiling water gets poured down inside the saucepan just to come up 3/4 of the way of the sides of the pudding basin.
Tightly covered, the saucepan is then put on a low heat and the pudding simmers away for about 4 1/2 hours. Make sure you check it periodically and top it up with more boiling water as needed. You don't want it boiling dry.
At the end of that time, remove the pudding basin and let it cool on a rack overnight. Once it is cold you can remove the old wrappings and wrap it with clean new wrappings and then store it in a dark, cool and dry place until Christmas Day! Instructions for re-heating are in the recipe.
And there you have it . . . . Christmas Pudding!
*Christmas Pudding*
Serves 6 to 7
It
wouldn't be Christmas without one. I try to make mine in November so
that it is nice and matured by the time Christmas rolls around.
(You can serve it with Brandy Butter, Brown Sugar Sauce, Cream, Custard, etc.)
This was fun. I hope you will give it a go and make your own Christmas Pudding this year. It's really not that hard to do, and when you make your own, you know exactly what has gone into it! Bon Appetite!
The Toddster loves apple desserts more than anything else in the world. If I want to make him happy . . . all I have to do is to bake him a treat which includes apples in some way. He is a man with simple tastes and values.
Apparently his mom made the best apple pies on the face of the earth. Unfortunately I never ever had the chance to taste them as she had passed away well before the Toddster and I met . . . but I have heard all about them. I cannot make an apple pie like hers, but I can make a pretty mean Brown Betty!
Over in North America Brown Betty's are popular apple desserts in the autumn. You can't beat them. Tastily buttered bread crumbs layered with apples, sugar and spice. It has a definite YUM factor, without an awful lot of fat.
The bread crumbs get all crispy on the bottom and the top, and the middle layer melts into the apples and their sweet juices, almost helping to thicken the mixture.
Low in fat. High in taste tempting pleasure.
To me it's the perfect dessert!
I added nuts. Tastily toasted hazelnuts . . . and tasty wholemeal seeded bread . . . extra health insurance and nuttiness.
Simply Scrumptious.
With lashings of fresh, warm custard to pour over top . . . it went down a real treat. Nom! Nom!
*Apple and Hazelnut Brown Betty*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe
This is just wonderful, simply wonderful . . .
7 ounces fresh wholemeal bread crumbs
(I used a seeded wholemeal loaf)
3 ounces butter, melted
100g hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
4 ounces caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
the grated zest of 1 lemon
the juice of half a lemon
2 pounds of cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks
1 TBS demerara sugar to sprinkle
Vanilla ice cream, creme fraiche or custard to serve
Pre-heat the oven to 190*C/375*F. Butter a 1 1/2 litre oven dish and set aside.
Melt the butter. Mix the breadcrumbs and hazelnuts together in a bowl. Toss with the butter. Set aside.
Mix the chopped apple with the sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon zest and the lemon juice.
Place 1/3 of the bread crumb mixture in the bottom of the buttered baking dish. Top with half of the apples. Add another 1/3 of the breadcrumbs, sprinkling them over the apples. Top with the final half of the apples, and sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top. Butter a piece of aluminum foil and lay over top, sealing the edges.
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until the apples are tender and the top is nicely browned. Serve warm with creme fraiche, custard or ice cream.
I had some leftover chicken which I wanted to use up, from having roasted Nigel's chicken last night. (It's a very very very good roast chicken recipe by the way, moist and tender, and scrummily browned!) I could have done any number of things with it . . . but then . . .
I got to thinking back to when I was a girl. My mother used to host the odd luncheon party at our home. Usually I was at school when these events were going on, but I got to watch the preparations . . . and if she was doing finger sandwiches, I got to eat the crusts that were cut off.
They always tasted so good for some odd reason. She'd have thrown them all into a bag and we could just snack on them after school. There would be little brown bits of bread with egg salad clinging to some of them . . . and perhaps deviled ham to others . . . scrummy yummy.
I always watched her preparations with longing. I could hardly wait to grow up and have these kinds of parties of my own. Those ladies would sit down to feasts of finger sandwiches, and perfection salad . . . crisp and flakey biscuits slathered with deliciously creamy Chicken à la King . . . tea breads spread with butter, and tiny tarts filled with lemon or jam, or pretty . . . sweet berries, sitting atop the pastry like little coloured jewels.
Everyone was all prettied up in their nicest afternoon dresses, pretty little hats, patent leather purses and pumps . . . the air was filled with laughter and giggles and women's chatter.
Of course when I worked as the Chef at the Manor, I got lots of practice at cooking for luncheons . . . there was never anything as simplistic as this Chicken à la King dish . . . those were ladies of a different class . . . not for them simple things . . . their tastes ran more to smoked salmon, and rich soups . . . fancified salads, and terribly fiddly desserts . . . most often the plates would come back to the kitchen . . . hardly touched . . .
Not that the food wasn't par excellence . . . but rich women don't really eat do they . . . they taste and then push the food around on their plates . . . all the while longing to actually eat what was there, but fearful of looking like a glutton in front of the rest or putting on an ounce . . . sad really.
Anyways, it was fun for me to get to stretch my abilities and cook all those different things . . . but my heart longed for simpler times, and simpler ladies . . .
or was I only looking at things through rose coloured glasses . . . and the fancies of a daughter's memories??
Todd and I feasted on this tonight. We both enjoyed . . . a bit indulgent yes . . . but worth every delicous morsel. Once in a while you just have to treat yourself.
I don't know why dishes like this have gone out of fashion . . . it's really very, very good.
*Chicken à la King*
Serves 2 to 3
Printable Recipe
Delicious chicken in a well flavoured velvety sauce, served over baking powder biscuits or flaky patty shells.
6 white cupped mushrooms, sliced (about 1/2 cup)
3 TBS red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 TBS butter
1 1/2 cups velouté sauce
2 poached small chicken breasts, cut into cubes (1 cup of meat)
1 medium egg yolk, lightly beaten
2 TBS dry sherry
2 TBS chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
fine sea salt and ground white pepper to taste
Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the mushrooms and chopped bell pepper and saute until softened, without browning. Add the sauce along with the chicken breast meat. Gently heat through. Remove 1/4 cup of the sauce and use it to temper the egg yolk, carefully, beating constantly. (Add it a little at a time so as not to create scrambled egg.) Return the yolk/sauce mixture to the pan along with the sherry, the parsley and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon over split warm baking powder biscuits or flaky patty shells.
I have to confess I am a real old film buff. I could sit and watch old movies all day long . . . the black and white images don't bother me. I just adore them.
I think it's because they take me back to a simpler time . . .
A time when men were men, and women were women . . . a time of solid values and simple needs. There was no need to keep up with the Jones's . . .
Socks were darned and the washing was hung out on the line.
Perhaps I was born 30 years too late . . .
but then again . . . I do like my modern day luxuries, such as electric mixers, and hoovers, and dish washers . . . oh and big screen telly's and such. Not to mention that, if I had been born 30 years earlier, I'd probably be dead now . . . so . . . perhaps it's better that I was born when I was . . .
In fact, if I had a golden lantern to rub and my own personal Genie to wish upon . . .
nahh . . . I wouldn't change a thing . . .
Ok, so MAYBE I'd wish away a stone or two or three. That would be ok. I also wouldn't mind looking like Maureen O'Hara. A million pounds would also come in handy.
In honor of The Quiet Man, one of my favourite films and St Patrick's Day . . . Irish Soda Farl.
*Soda Farl*
Makes one 9 inch round soda bread
Printable Recipe
A delicious soda bread so named because it is made in a round shape, or "farl." Simple to make and very tasty split and buttered. Try the leftovers split, toasted, buttered and spread with jam for a breakfast treat the morning after baking. (Store any leftovers in an airtight container or bag)
280g plain flour (a generous 2 3/4 cup)
2 TBS caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 284ml carton of buttermilk (approximately 1 1/4 cup)
whole milk (if necessary)
1 TBS oil
Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter a heavy 9 inch round baking dish well. Set aside.
Sift the flour into a bowl. Whisk in the sugar, baking powder, soda and salt, wisking all well together. Whisk together the buttermilk and oil. Stir all at once into the dry mixture to form a soft dough, without overmixing. It may be necessary to add a bit of milk as needed. You don't want it to be too dry, or too sticky. Dump into the prepared baking dish and spread out with floured hands to fit.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and turn out of the pan onto a wire rack to cool a bit before cutting into wedges to serve. Delicious!
Tune in tomorrow to see what I served this tasty bread with!
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