Traditional short paste would have been made with two thirds plain flour and one third butter with a small amount of water to bring it all together. I have tried many different old fashioned and modern pastries: just butter, half butter-half lard, with / without egg, with / without sugar and in the end, there [...]
December 8, 2011 | Read article
This is another recipe from The British Baker and is included in the chapter entitled `Useful and General Recipes’, nestling comfortably inbetween `soda flour’ and `short paste’. And it is called Mince Meat, two very separate words to our modern one. The other key yet subtle difference between the old style Mince Meat and the [...]
December 8, 2011 | Read article
This recipe is reliably good and hails from Sonia Allison’s Book of Preserving (1979) and although it could take up to 3 and a half weeks before you’ve got your finished article, you can cut each stage down to fit your own time frame. Wash fruit thoroughly and scrub if waxed. Peel fruit and slice [...]
December 8, 2011 | Read article
Many a traditional English morsel has fallen out of favour in more recent times, but the mince pie endures: the warmth, hospitality and comfort of the season all wrapped in a little spiced pastry parcel, it’s potent beneficent glow offering a warm welcome to all who cross the threshold at this most sociable time of [...]
December 8, 2011 | Read article
March is more than 6 months ago now and Spring a distant memory, but this post is still fresh in my mind. Not least because March is when it was written and because I haven’t written anything since. To date this post has so far proved to be the fullest stop I have ever written. [...]
November 14, 2011 | Read article
