The exciting world of baked goods

[muckefuck]

• Took us a while, but we finally got around to trying out clafoutis. Due to bad timing, monshu was doing the baking while I was still in orchard harvesting apples, but it doesn't seemed to have suffered much for having been made with Grannies that had been sitting around for a bit and pommeau de Normandie rather than Calvados. In texture and taste, it's like a bread pudding without the bread, if that makes any sense. I'm keen to experiment with other flavours, but the GWO was happy enough with it as it was.
• On the subject of bread, monshu brought home a heavy black loaf from the farmers' market. I'd just been reading in Sheraton's German cookbook about "bread sandwiches": a piece of pumpernickel (buttered, natürlich) between two pieces of rye (also buttered, selbstverständlich), and this struck me as the perfect bread to use for such a thing.
• We didn't leave the Welsh Heritage Festival with much in hand besides "Welsh cookies" which were being sold by some guy in Michigan from an old family recipe. [N.B.: Bear lovers may want to follow this link irrespective of their interest in British baked goods. In case you're wondering: Yes, Mike was there in person. No, I didn't get his number.] snowy_owlet called them "griddle cakes", which is what they looked like. The batter was also rather pancake-y, although a little less chewy. They are perfect for nibbling and a fabulous accompaniment to afternoon tea; it took a great deal of self-control for bunj and I to put them out of reach so e. would have the opportunity to taste them.
• Speaking of British baked goods, Guy Fawkes is, of course, right around the corner and I've once again volunteered to bake the Parkin cake. Now, IIRC, teapot_farm last year threatened to share her great-grandmother's frighteningly traditional recipe. We've spent a whole year preparing ourselves, Teapot, and I think we're finally ready for it. Bring it on!
• But in the flurry of new experiences, the only real revelation came in the parking lot of the Apple Holler off I-94. The place is a cheesy as only a southwestern Wisconsin tourist trap can be, but it was the only orchard around with Northern Spies, which apparently hold the status of a sacramental food among upstate New Yorkers. But when e. stood in (I mean on, of course) a big ugly line snaking out the bakery and into the range of mediocre overamplified live reggae for apple cider donuts, I knew they must be something special. OH MY GOD "special" doesn't begin to cover it. It was a spiritual experience akin to eating my first Krispy Kreme donut hot off the line. They couldn't be more different in character, though, as least as donuts go, being more like the cruellers my Dad taught me to make than anything else, but rolled in cider-stained granules rather than the confectioners' sugar we preferred.

Comments

[profundojoe.livejournal.com]

Why exactly don't we hang out more? :)

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

YOU TELL ME!

[grunter.livejournal.com]

Bread sandwich?

Wouldn't that just be a butter double-decker?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

No, because the middle slice is a different sort of bread than the other two.

Pain de Muertos

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

And don't forget, Day of the Dead is coming up!

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I couldn't possibly forget that! Do you want to join us for the annual pilgrimage to Pilsen on Halloween weekend?

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

Zombies produced by government bioweapons research couldn't keep me away!

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

See, I commented about 3 months ago to see if you still wanted the recipe, since my mum finally sent it - and got no reply, so I couldn't tell if you'd lost interest. Now your interest is confirmed, I shall post it for you tomorrow once I can get at the relevant mail box...

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

But to keep you going until then - Mrs Beeton's parkin...

Ingredients:
2lb of fine oatmeal, 1 1/2 lb of treacle or golden syrup (note: golden syrup is for soft southerners), 3oz butter or lard (note: ditto butter), 2oz of brown moist sugar, 1/2 oz of ground ginger, milk.
Method:
Let the treacle warm gradually by the side of the fire until it becomes quite liquid. Rub the butter or lard into the oatmeal, add the sugar and ginger, and stire in the treacle with a wooden spoon. The vessel which held the treacle should be rinsed out with beer, but milk may be substituted. This is added gradually until the right consistency is obtained. The mixture must be smooth, but not drop too easily from the spoon. Have ready 1 or 2 greased Yorkshire pudding-tins, pour in the mixture, and bake in a steady oven until the centre of the parkin feels firm. As the mixture improves by being allowed to stand, each cake should be baked separately when the oven is a small one. Let the parkin cool slightly, then cut it into squares, remove them from the tin, and when ncold place them in a n airtight biscuit-tin. The parkin may be kept for monthes.
Time: To bake, from 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Sufficient for 1 or 2 cakes.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Apparently, flour is for wussy southerners as well! Do you have any idea how much beer might be necessary to obtain "the right consistency"?

(How ironic: At brunch the other day, I told tyrannio "I'll follow the directions unless they include, 'Add half a cup of lard so that Jews may not enjoy this cake.'" And, lo and behold!)

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

I would guess not very much beer... I haven't made it though, so you get to experiment a bit. Probably less than half a pint.
Parkin varies in wussiness along two axes - oatmeal/flour and treacle/syrup. So the most evil parkin is all oatmeal and treacle, while parkin-in-name-only would have almost entirely flour and syrup.
And lard is probably negotiable. Substitute your artery-hardening fat of choice.

My grandma's recipe, as written by my mum:

1lb medium oatmeal, 1lb self-raising flour, 2lb [black] treacle [my note says "too bitter, use half syrup"], 4 oz lard, 4oz margarine [I would definitely use 8oz unsalted butter], 1tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp milk, 1oz ground ginger, 1tsp bicarb soda.

Set oven to regulo 3. Mix all dry ingredients, except bicarb soda. melt treacle, lard and marg in pan; dissolve the bicarb soda in the milk and add to this. Mix the dry ingredients onto the pan. Pour into a greased tin (it will be soft and runny) and bake for about an hour.

My great aunt Lily's recipe, ditto:

8 oz plain flour, 4oz coarse oatmeal, half tsp bicarb soda, half to 1tsp ground cinnamon, 1and a half to 2 tsp ground ginger, more if liked; 4 oz butter or cooking fat, 4 oz moist brown sugar, 5oz black treacle, 2 eggs, quarter pint milk.

Sieve the dry ingredients. Put the butter or fat, sugar and treacle into a pan and melt carefully. Add this to the dry ingredients, beat well, then add eggs and milk and beat again. Put into an 8 inch square tin and bake in the centre of a slow or moderate oven, gas 2-3, or electric 300-325 degrees, for about one and a quarter hours.

My mum says: "I strongly suspect Mum's recipe is a wartime version - little sugar, no butter, no eggs." I'm pretty sure this is also true of the Mrs Beeton recipe, which was from a wartime version of her book, and thus occasionally sneaks in potato as filler when you are least expecting it.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I might save the eggless, low-sugar version for the time tyrannio and innerdoggie decide to throw a "Wartime Rationing"-themed Guy Fawkes party.

Many thanks! (Now all I need to do is review the research I did last year to translate terms like "treacle" and "golden syrup" into good American.)

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

Northern Spy is available? Woo hoo!

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

For a certain value of "available". I must've searched ten trees or more without finding a single edible apple.

Next year, we're definitely going to get started earlier. e. plans to call up the orchards every day starting in mid-September to ask, "Are there Spies yet? Are they ready? Huh? (pause) How about now? Are they ready now?" Let her know if you want to be included in the resulting expedition.

[tyrannio.livejournal.com]

Try Nichols Farms at many Chicago-area farmers markets: I've certainly seen them with Northern Spy.