Festive Fayre
As the year-end fast approaches I felt it appropriate to publish to the website some old fashioned recipes that bring back childhood memories of when Mother would use the dining room table for her prep area, as that room contained the only lit fire in the house. We didn’t have central heating until a decade or more later and the kitchen was too small to do much other than wash the dishes or put things in the oven.
But in many ways, we were modern. The mincemeat for the pies came in a Robertson’s jar with the then traditional “Golly” on the label. We used to collect them and send them off for lapel pins to collect. In between reading my Enid Blyton books about Noddy, Big Ears and Golly I would pester Mother to peel off the label and …., oh well, that was then.
It was not until I was an expatriate that I resorted to starting things like mincemeat, Christmas cake and Christmas Pudding (in olden times also called Plum Pudding) from scratch because the stores only sold something imported from America that resembled a wrapped slab of dehydrated manure they called mincemeat.
I was guided in my method by “Mrs Beetons Book of Household Management” (originally published in 1859-61), “Modern Cookery Illustrated” (1948) and more recently by “The Williamsburg Art of Cookery (or, Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion)”.
The first part is to soak the fruits in brandy for several days until they have taken on as much as they can and do not appear to be getting any fatter. Then, you bring it all together.
Mincemeat
Required:
- A pair of scales in pounds and ounces
- A grater
- A juicer
- A zester
- A large mixing bowl (glazed pottery if possible)
- A knife (not too sharp!)
- Kilner or Mason Jars
Ingredients
- One pound each of Raisins, Currents and Sultanas, soaked as above described.
- One pound of “Atora” brand, or other shredded suet. (If you can’t find this in a store, ask your butcher to fine mince (or fine chop, depending on which side of The Pond you reside) some.
- 2 lbs of moist brown sugar (Demerara).
- 3 large lemons & 3 oranges – you need the zest from the skin and their juice, less any pips.
- 2 pounds or slightly more of “Bramley” or other cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped very fine. (I sprinkle them with some of the lemon juice to prevent browning.)
- 1 oz of candied orange and lemon peel as well as a similar or slightly larger quantity of glacé cherries, chopped quite fine.
- Unless you have a problem with nuts, take a few ounces of walnuts, almond and hazel nuts and chop them fine or make a coarse powder,
- Grate half a nutmeg and put together with a good pinch of ginger powder and ½ teaspoon of mixed spice. If anything else takes your fancy, feel free to throw it in! (Some recipes call for a “dollop” of marmalade!)
Method
In a large bowl, mix all of the above ingredients thoroughly together. When you have accomplished that, mix in enough brandy to bind it and show moistness without having a runny mess. It should glisten nicely and be wet without any evident signs of a syrup.
Then, take as many Kilner or Mason jars as you will need and sterilize them as you know best. Make some discs of wax (greaseproof) paper so that they are about an eighth of an inch larger than the necks of the jars.
Fill each jar to the neck and place a wax paper disc over the top so that all of the air is dispelled from between the surface of the fruit mix & disc and the edge forms a seal up the neck. Close the jar and let it rest in a cool, dark place for as many months or years as you wish until you need to use it to you’re your mince pies. Every 4 or 6 months, crack the jar open, gently lift off the paper seal and pour brandy over the top; as necessary using a clean skewer to poke holes down to the bottom so that the liquid will percolate throughout the jar. Replace the seal and lid
Method for making Mince Pies using the above Mincemeat
The true way is to make a good puff or short pastry. You know best how to make one that appeals to your palette. In recent times, with an increasing abundance of ready made pastry available from the store, I buy pie pastry and roll it a little thinner than it comes out of the packet.
I then use a large crinkled edge pastry tart cutter to cut out the bases which I then line the pre-greased with butter tart pans. Then, take a heaped teaspoonful of the mincemeat from the jar and place it in the middle of each tart base. Then cut out, using a slightly smaller tart cutter, the tops. Moisten one edge of the top, or lid, and press it down over the mincemeat, sealing the edge with the tarts bottom. Pierce a small hole in the top of each.
You can brush the tops with milk or egg-wash if you wish and then bake them in a hot-ish oven, circa 450˚F. They should be ready in about 20 minutes but be careful, resist the temptation to eat them straight from the oven as the mincemeat can be exceedingly hot and may burn the roof of your mouth. After they have cooled slightly, pop them out of the pan and let cool on a rack.
Should these delicious morsels live long enough, they can be gently re-warmed in the oven. Some take them with brandy butter and others with whipped cream although there are those who call themselves purists that insist they are perfect by themselves. Incidentally, they are also delicious cold!
Christmas Cake
Let me preface this recipe by saying that the longer the cake is kept after making, the better it is, provided that every 6 months or so it is kindly blessed with a generous hand holding a brandy bottle such that it pours a generous amount of liquid over the maturing cake. This blessing is of course merely to ensure that the cake is maintained in a damp, moist condition whilst it ages. The darker the cake, the better the vintage and flavor!
Required
- A pair of scales in pounds and ounces
- A measuring jug with pints (or liters if you have a conversion chart)
- A flour sifter
- A large mixing bowl (glazed pottery if possible)
- A knife (not too sharp!)
- A damn fine beater (or whisk)
- A large (or multiple smaller) lightly greased and floured cake tins
- A working oven
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- Take around a 2 pound mix of currents and raisins, with sultanas if you wish, but ensure that they have been well soaked in brandy until they are quite plump.
- Half a pound of mixed peel, finely chopped or sliced.
- ¾ lb. of self raising flour.
- 3 oz ground almonds.
- ¾ teaspoon of cinnamon
- ¾ lb Demerara sugar.
- ½ oz powdered ginger
- Good pinch of salt
- ¾ lb. of “Atora” brand, or other shredded suet. (If you can’t find this in a store, ask your butcher to fine mince (or fine chop, depending on which side of The Pond you reside) some.
- 8 eggs
- Enough brandy as described below.
Method
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whisk the eggs until light and fluffy and then slowly mix with the sugar / butter mixture until the batter is quite smooth. Sift the flour, cinnamon, ginger and salt together and then gradually add to the butter / sugar mix, followed by the fruit and finally the almonds. Add about 2 tablespoons of brandy to moisten the mix and then turn in to a cake tin that has been lined with 2 thicknesses of greaseproof or wax paper. Bake in a slow oven (circa 300 - 325˚F) for 5, 6 or more hours until cooked through. As necessary during cooking, the browned top may be protected with wax / greaseproof paper &/or aluminum foil.
The cake should be cooled on a wire rack and once cold, stored for at least a month in an airtight tin lined with wax / greaseproof paper. For longer storage periods, frequently bless the cake with a gentle dressing of brandy. It will keep and mature for years if well tended.
Christmas (Plum) Pudding
After the turkey fest, the traditional pudding is served with either brandy butter sauce, Birds (English) Custard or whipped cream. It’s all a matter of personal taste! If you can still move after the turkey fest, you wont after the pudding.
Required:
- A pair of scales in pounds and ounces
- A measuring jug with pints (or liters if you have a conversion chart)
- A flour sifter
- A large mixing bowl (glazed pottery if possible)
- A knife (not too sharp!)
- A damn fine beater (or whisk)
- A large (or multiple smaller) lightly greased ceramic or Pyrex pudding bowls
- String
- Muslin or cheesecloth and wax / greaseproof paper
- A working oven
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- A 2 lb mix of currants, raisins and sultanas that have been pre-soaked in brandy as mentioned above.
- ½ lb of mixed peel, finely chopped.
- 1 teaspoonful of mixed spice
- 6 oz of treacle (Lyles Golden syrup is best in my book)
- ¾ lb of breadcrumbs.
- ¾ lb of “Atora” brand, or other shredded suet. (If you can’t find this in a store, ask your butcher to fine mince (or fine chop, depending on which side of The Pond you reside) some.
- 8 eggs
- At least a wineglassful of brandy
Method
Mix all of the dry ingredients together and then add the eggs which have previously been well beaten until light and frothy. Add the brandy.
Turn the mix into enough pre-buttered heat proof (white) basins. Cut rounds of wax / greaseproof paper large enough to cover the top and be tied under their lip on the side. Also cut aluminum foil in a similar manner. Place the paper and foil over the pudding mix and tie them tightly around the side leaving sufficient string with which to make a string handle over the top. )Note: traditionally, a cheesecloth was used in lieu of the more modern paper / foil.)
Place in a saucepan with sufficient to come at least ¾ of the way up the side of the basin. Boil gently, topping up the water as it evaporates, for some 5 or 6 hours. Allow to cool and then store in a cool dark place. A mature pudding has stood for at least 6 months (and in many cases several years) before it is consumed. During storage, frequently bless the puddings with a gentle dressing of brandy. They will keep and mature for years if well tended.
On Christmas day, place the pudding in a pan of boiling water and keep it boiling for at least 2 hours. To serve, turn the pudding out on to the serving dish by placing the plate serving side down over the top of the unwrapped pudding and inverting the basin. Lift the basin off. Immediately pour brandy or rum over and ignite with a match. Take flaming to the table and serve with accompaniments as described above. Should you have available, stick a small piece of Holly or Mistletoe in the top of the pudding but discard before eating.
Wassailing
For some, The Holidays was a time to look forward to because it involved "Wassailing". I have taken the liberty of showing here the defintion and history of wassailing as publihed on line by Wikipedia:
Origins of wassailing
Some scholars prefer a pre-Christian explanation of the old traditional ceremony of wassailing. How far the tradition dates back is unknown but it has undeniable connections with Anglo-Saxon pagan ritual. Of recent times the word Wassail (from the Anglo-Saxon toast wæs þu hæl, "be thou hale" — i.e., "be in good health") has come to be synonymous with Christmas. The word wassail isold English (OE) and so dates from before 1066. According to the Oxford English Dictionary "waes hael" is the Middle English spelling parallel to OE "wes hal".[1] The American Heritage Dictionary, fourth edition, gives Old Norse "ves heill" as the source of Middle English "waeshaeil".[2]
Christmas was not celebrated anywhere before the third century, and only gradually moved northwards through Europe. Charlemagne was crowned on Christmas day 800. It was probably the Normans who brought the celebration to England. Many sources claim that William was crowned king of England on Christmas day 1066. However if you check the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (see reference below), it was described as "childer-mass day", Holy Innocents Day, or December 28. Therefore the tradition of wassailing predates the celebration of Christmas. Trolley the Wassail is celebrated on Twelfth Night January 6. However most people insist on wassailing on 'Old Twelvey Night' (January 17) as that would have been the correct date before the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752.
The practice has its roots in the middle ages as a reciprocal exchange between the feudal lords and their peasants as a form of recipient initiated charitable giving, to be distinguished from begging. This point is made in the song "Here We Come A-Wassailing", when the wassailers inform the lord of the house that
- "we are not daily beggars that beg from door to door but we are friendly neighbors whom you have seen before."
The lord of the manor would give food and drink to the peasants in exchange for their blessing and goodwill, i.e...
- "Love and joy come to you,
- And to you your wassail too;
- And God bless you and send you
- a Happy New Year"
... which would be given in the form of the song being sung. Wassailing is the background practice against which a carol such as "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" can be made sense of.
Although wassailing is often described in innocuous and sometimes nostalgic terms, the practice has not always been considered so innocent. In fact in early New England wassailing was associated with rowdy bands of young men who would enter the homes of wealthy neighbors and demand free food and drink in a trick-or-treat fashion. If the householder refused, he was usually cursed, and occasionally his house was vandalized.
The example of the exchange is seen in their demand for "figgy pudding" and "good cheer", i.e., the wassail beverage, without which the wassailers in the song will not leave, "we won't go until we've got some."
The Orchard-Visiting Wassail
In cider-producing areas of England, such as the West Country, wassailing also refers to drinking (and singing) the health of trees in the hopes that they might better thrive.
An old rhyme goes: “Wassaile the trees, that they may beare / You many a Plum and many a Peare: / For more or lesse fruits they will bring, / As you do give them Wassailing.”
The purpose of wassailing is to awake the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in the Autumn.{"England In Particular", Common Ground 2007} The ceremonies of each wassail varies from village to village but they generally all have the same core elements. A wassail King and Queen to lead the proceedings, and song and/or a processional tune to be played/sung from one orchard to the next, the wassail Queen will be lifted up into the boughs of the tree where she will place toast that has been soaked in Wassail from the Clayen Cup as a gift the tree spirits and to show them the fruits of what they created the previous year. Then an incantation is usually recited such as
Here's to thee, old apple tree, That blooms well, bears well. Hats full, caps full, Three bushel bags full, An' all under one tree. Hurrah! Hurrah!
Then the assembled crowd will sing and shout and bang drums and pots & pans and generally make a terrible racket until the gunsmen give a great final volley through the branches to make sure the work is done and then off to the next orchard. Perhaps unbeknown to the general public, this ancient English tradition is still very much thriving today. The West Country is the most famous and largest cider producing region of the country and some of the most important wassails are held annually in Carhampton (Somerset) and Whimple (Devon), both on 17 January (old Twelfth Night).
Private readings about people in Somerset in the 1800s revealed that inhabitants of Somerset practiced the old Wassailing Ceremony, singing the following lyrics after drinking the cider until they were "merry and gay:"
"Apple tree, apple tree, we all come to wassail thee, Bear this year and next year to bloom and to blow, Hat fulls, cap fulls, three cornered sack fills, Hip, Hip, Hip, hurrah, Holler biys, holler hurrah."[3]
Wassail bowls
Wassail bowls, generally in the shape of goblets, have been preserved. The Worshipful Company of Grocers made very elaborate one in the seventeenth century, decorated with silver.[4] It is so large that is must have passed around as a "loving cup" so that many members of the guild could drink from it. There are surviving examples of "puzzle wassail bowls", with many spouts. As you attempt to drink from one of the spouts, you are drenched from another spout. The drink was either punch, mulled wine or spicy ale.
Wassail Recipe
For the devoted, here is but one of the many recipes that will make a version of Wassail:
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon whole cloves
- 6 cinnamon sticks
- 3 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
- 3 3/4 cups white sugar
- 2 quarts water
- 2 quarts orange juice
- 2 cups lemon juice
- 1 gallon apple cider
Method:
- Wrap the cloves, cinnamon stick, and ginger in cheese cloth, and tie with string.
- In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, water and spice bag. Simmer and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, and refrigerate overnight.
- Before serving, stir in the orange juice, lemon juice, and cider. Reheat over medium low flame, and serve warm. Be careful not to boil.
Happy Holidays!
Family Rogerson's Florida Chocolate Bread Pudding
Required:
- Measuring Cups
- A medium and large bowl
- Whisk
- Spatula
- Spoon & measuring spoons
- 13” x 9” Large (glass) baking dish
Ingredients
- 1 pound of Hawaiian (Sweet) Bread
- Bread Knife
- 2 cups of heavy cream divided 1½ cups and ½ cup
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of sugar
- ¼ cup melted butter + butter for greasing
- 4 large eggs
- 8 x 1 oz squares of finely chopped baking chocolate
- 1 cup chopped pecans (you can use whatever nuts appeal to you)
Method
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease baking dish. Cube the bread using bread knife. Place cubed bread into the large bowl.
In the medium bowl, whisk together 1½ cups of heavy cream, 2 cups of whole milk, 1 cup of sugar, the melted butter and the eggs. Then pour this mixture over the cubed bread in the large bowl and let stand 15 minutes.
Stir in to the large bowl the chocolate and pecans. Then spoon the mixture into the baking dish and drizzle with the ½ cup of cream and the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Bung it in the oven for about an hour, until the center is set.
© 2009– The Unshaven Chef at TheBuyersCove Inc.
- A pair of scales in pounds and ounces
- A measuring jug with pints (or liters if you have a conversion chart)
- A flour sifter
- A large mixing bowl (glazed pottery if possible)
- A knife (not too sharp!)
- A damn fine beater (or whisk)
- A large (or multiple smaller) lightly greased and floured baking sheet
- A pastry brush
- Plain (not crinkled edge) pastry cutter
- A working oven
- Wire cooling rack
- 16 oz of Self Raising Flour
- A good dollop or at least 2 generous pinches of salt
- 4 oz (1 stick) of butter
- 4 oz of sugar
- 2 large or extra large eggs with sufficient milk to make a pint (350 ml) of liquid
- 8 oz mixture of choice comprised of dark and golden raisins and currents
- A pair of scales in pounds and ounces
- A measuring jug with pints (or liters if you have a conversion chart)
- A large mixing bowl (glazed pottery if possible)
- A large pan (for heating over the fire)
- A pastry board (floured)
- A pudding cloth (floured)
- A warmed serving dish
- 8 oz of Self Raising Flour + extra for flouring
- A good dollop or at least 2 generous pinches of salt
- 4 oz shredded suet
- 3 oz of caster sugar + extra for dusting prior to serving
- 2 oz of currants
- 2 oz sultanas
- ¼ pint (approx) water + water for large pan
- A pair of scales in pounds and ounces
- A flour sifter
- A Kitchenaid mixer with paddle beater
- 1 7” cake tin or 2 7” sandwich tins lightly greased
- Spatula
- A damn fine beater (or whisk)
- A working oven
- Wire cooling rack
- Sharp knife for splitting the cake in to halves
- 4 ozs Butter or margarine
- 4 ozs caster sugar (finer than cane sugar but not as fine as confectioners sugar)
- 2 large eggs
- 4 ozs of Self Raising Flour
- 2 tbsp (if required) of chocolate or other additive
- Jam for filling or frosting filling and / or topping and / or icing sugar / topping
- Moist orange cake – add grated rind of an orange and up to 2 tbsp of orange juice and / or Cointreau to the cake mix. Use orange flavored filling / frosting.
- The Queen’s Fruit Cup cakes – throw in 2 ozs of currants or raisins and instead of baking in a large tin, spoon in to paper cup cases (half filling each case). Bake 15 minutes in the oven at 190ºC, 375ºF, Gas mark 5 until they look cooked and firm enough.
- Cherry cup cakes – use 2 ozs of chopped cherries instead of the currants / raisins mentioned above and bake as for The Queens Fruit Cup cakes
- Butterfly cakes – instead of using large tins, half fill paper cup cases with the plain mixture and bake as for The Queens Fruit Cup cakes. When cold, dig out part of the tops and reserve on one side. Place a dollop of butter cream / frosting over the “wound”, slice each reserved top in half and stick each half in to the butter cream / frosting so that they look like the wings of a butterfly in flight.
Homemade Scones taste best!
Required:
Ingredients
Method
Preheat oven to 200ºC, 400ºF or gas mark 6
- Using the sifter (to aerate), shake the flour in to the bowl
- Shake over the flour the salt and using the knife, cut the salt into the flour.
- Cut the butter into thin slices over the flour, then using the fingers of one hand and the cupped palm of the other, rub the butter into the flour salt mix allowing the mixture to fall from the hand into the flour. The mix should have a yellowish hue and the butter be fully absorbed in to the flour mix.
- Sprinkle the sugar over the flour mix followed by the dried fruit mixture.
- Using the knife, cut the sugar and dried fruit into the flour mix until absorbed and the fruit is in pieces not clumps.
- Beat the eggs and milk mixture until light and frothy.
- Make a well in the flour etc mixture and pour in nearly all of the egg/milk mix, reserving sufficient to glaze the tops of the scones
- Cut the egg/milk mix into the dry ingredients until it all holds together. Using fingers, scrape the mix off the knife and gently knead the mixture until it doesn’t stick to the bowl. As necessary sprinkle extra flour onto the mix and knead in; but not too much mind!
- When its ready, turn out onto a floured surface for rolling except you aren’t going to roll it. Gently pat the lump into a circular shape not quite as thick as the cutter is high!
- Cut out rounds, knead the off-cuts together into a smaller ball of similar thickness to the original and cut out more rounds; repeat until all is used up. (Depending on the size of cutter, you should make 8 quite large to 12 reasonable sized rounds)
- Place the rounds on the baking sheet, glaze the tops using the brush and reserved egg/milk mix and bung in the oven for circa 15 minutes until nicely browned - but not burnt!
- Tip on to a wire cooling rack and leave to cool.
When ready to eat, cut in half (cut is parallel to bottom and top), ladle with butter or whatever substitute suits yer fancy, add fresh whipped or clotted cream and / or strawberry jam (preserve / jelly) and, enjoy!
Keep in airtight tin until all consumed – if they last that long! Best within 3 or 4 days of baking.
© 2009– The Unshaven Chef at TheBuyersCove Inc.
Spotted Dick - A pudding to conjure up childhood memories!
With memories of school dinners but otherwise good solid food for warmth and strength during the cold of winter, this traditional pudding (dessert) will put hairs on your chest!
Required:
Ingredients
Method
- Put the large pan filled at least half full of water on to the heat surface and bring to the boil whilst making the pudding mix
- Using the mixing bowl, first mix the dried fruit with the sugar so as to coat the fruit well
- Add the remaining dry ingredients to the bowl and mix well
- Add enough cold water to make a soft, but not sticky, dough
- Turn the dough on to the floured pastry board
- Knead the dough in to a plump looking sausage 6 – 9 inches long
- Flour the pudding cloth quite generously
- Place the dough in the center of the pudding cloth and sew the long edge to seal. (Several large safety pins can be used to seal the edge if you can’t sew).
- Tie the short ends tightly with fine string
- Place the sealed pudding cloth in the boiling water in the large pan and boil steadily for 1½ hours. NB As necessary, top the water up in the pan during the boiling time and bring the water back to boiling point as quickly as possible.
- Turn the pudding out on to the warmed serving dish, slice the pudding and sprinkle with extra caster sugar
N.B If desired, the pudding may be served with traditional (Birds) Custard (Birds English Dessert mix is how it’s sold in USA).
© 2009 – The Unshaven Chef at TheBuyersCove Inc.
Victoria Sponge
The rich sponge sandwich named after an English Queen
Rich and plain cakes differentiated: Rich cakes have a ratio of at least 50% of fat to flour (by weight). The amount of fruit or flavoring is irrelevant. A plain cake may be rich in fruit whilst a plain rich cake such as Madeira has none.
Required:
Ingredients
Method
Preheat oven to 180ºC, 350ºF Gas Mark 4
- Sift the flour into the bowl of the weighing device
- Slice the butter / margarine in to the bowl of the Kitchenaid mixer
- Drop the sugar over the butter / margarine in the Kitchenaid mixer bowl
- Fix the paddle in to position on the Kitchenaid mixer
- Start the Kitchenaid mixer on a slow speed, increasing to half speed as the mixture blends together and leave it for as long as it needs to become fluffy and light yellow in color. Use the spatula to scrape down the sides / paddle from time to time
- Alternate pouring in a dollop of beaten egg and flour and continue the beating until it’s all thoroughly mixed and as light as a cake
- If you want to make a colored / flavored cake, throw in a couple of tablespoons of Cadbury hot chocolate drinking powder or some similar product (cocoa powder). Camp liquid coffee is a nice alternative if you like coffee (the concentrated liquid gives more flavor than merely adding instant coffee powder).
- Carefully place in the prepared tin(s) scraping out as much as you can with the spatula but leaving a sufficient film on the paddle / bowl for the kids and immature adults to lick clean.
- Bake in middle of the oven 40 – 45 minutes for a single tin or 20 – 25 minutes for 2 tins
- Cool on wire rack and when cool, split open with knife and fill with jam and / or frosting of choice. If liked frost the top of the cake or lightly dust it with icing (confectioners) sugar.
Variations:
Storage
Rich cakes store well in airtight tins when cool.