bakingforbritain.blogspot.com/2005/09/chelsea-buns-of-london.html
This is great reading.. all about the origins of Chelsea Buns
Kentish Kipper Savoury, a quick snack April 15, 2008
I made this one today because ‘it was quicky and easy to make’. I have to admit I burned a couple because ‘I was on the phone’ and forgot about them, but fortunately, they were still edible, just shrivelled and crispy.
Here’s the recipe:
For 1
2 kippers
2oz butter
1 dessertsp anchovy essence
1 generous tablesp mushroom ketchup
2 tablesp double cream
1 tablesp flaked almonds
2 tablesp dry herbs
black pepper to taste
2 slices wholemeal bread
Pound the flesh of the kippers with a fork, together with the butter, black pepper, anchovy, herbs, mushoom ketchup and double cream or mix in a blender. Add the flaked almonds. Spread on wholemeal bread and stick in the grill for about 10 minutes until it is lightly brown (do not go on the phone like I did). Then I added fresh parsley to garnish.
Notes
I didn’t use anchovy or the mushroom ketchup as I thought the taste would be just as good without it. It also meant an extra £2 or so. The meal was about £5 mainly because of the fish but maybe Lidl has cheaper fish and I will have a look out for that.
Taste:-
Very nice and the almonds looked great and made it look attractive and ‘ homemadey’.
We don’t see much of kippers much these days do we?
Another blog I will add to my blogroll April 15, 2008
I will add enitharmon.wordpress.com to my blogroll as she is a fan of English Grub and talks about english cooking in her blog (amongst other things). She is from ‘Oop North’ and is a ‘Radio Star’.
(Even though she admits to liking French Jams). (I am can be so politically incorrect in cooking).
English Cream Tea with Strawberry Jam (from France) April 14, 2008
After work in Kent, I enjoyed a delicious ’Waitrose’ Cream Tea for £2.95 (well, it was either doughnuts and muffins again). Actually, perhaps other people were asking about it as I feel this addition was fairly recent. It was interesting seeing that a number of other customers were buying it too.
The scones were lovely and fresh (do they make it themselves?) and the cream was real Cornish Clotted Cream. However, they made a ’faux pas’ by serving ‘French’ strawberry jam (it even had no lumpy bits!). Why can’t they have chosen ’proper’ jam?!
Sticky Chelsea Buns at Last! April 11, 2008
I was in Spitalfields today (hunting for something else) and I ended up bumping into a shop called A Gold at 42 Brushfield Street. Blimey, it was a proper British Shop with humbugs, sugar mice, chelsea buns, brandy snaps, proper fruitcake and cakes I hadn’t seen for ages. There were loads of nice things perfect – for tea, I nearly fell over! There were no muffins, croissants and cookies to be had. The Chelsea Buns looked wonderfully sparkly and fresh, nothing like buns that could have been delivered three months before by a nameless company such as 3663.
I will go there again for some inspiration. I was in a bit of a rush so couldn’t stay too long.
I did notice that some of the ‘fast food or trendy shops’ nearby were almost empty.. but this shop, though small, was ‘jam’ packed. Everybody looked excited and happy, and like me, reluctant to leave for the office.
web.mac.com/sabinaspaldi/iWeb/Site/Local food shops .html
Scouser Nosh April 11, 2008
J is a ’scouser’ and I’ve been talking to him about his ‘Northern Origins’ (as he says). He was saying that he was brought up on Bubble & Squeak, Black Pudding, Everton Mints and Pigs Trotters.. apparently his father is fan of them. I didn’t realise that pigs trotters were ‘English’… My other side of me is German, so I knew they go potty about pig trotters and when you talk about it to people in the South, they ‘think it’s weird’.
I did find Everton Mints in Woolies recently and bought him some. It’s not always easy to find. He was pretty happy about having some.
What is a Bakewell Tart? April 10, 2008
In the South we get a small tart with white icing and a cherry on top otherwise known as ‘Mr Kipling’. However, when I went ‘up North’ to Bakewell, a Bakewell Tart is completely different! Why? Has the Southern Bakewell tart been ‘Americanised’?
I love what I suppose is the northern ‘Bakewell Tart’. It’s really delicious.
I went to a Farmers Shop in Kent a while back and they stocked lots of British cakes. but they also had the ‘Southern or Americanised Bakewell Tart’.. It would be lovely to get the gooey Northern Bakewell Tart down here.
Will Toad in the Hole be tampered with in the future…. maybe they will make one with bloody waffles?
Now, here’s my favourite Bakewell Tart Shop..but even they know call themselves ‘a patisserie’ . A patisserie in England? Eh?!
www.bakewelltartshop.co.uk
Listen up! Some of us are fed up with muffins, cookies, peanut biscuits, American coffees April 10, 2008
Ok, ironically, I have a muffin mix in my cupboard (ouch, slipping), but that was because a) sometimes I can be pretty lazy cook b) there’s wasn’t much of a selection of English cakes c) they’re easy to make
Confession over.
However, I am also sick to death of gateauxs, blueberry muffins and cookies and waffles. You can’t go anywhere in any English village or town without seeing some of these ‘evil alien species’. They have a ‘grey squirrel factor’. It doesn’t exactly help our British business does it? How come Gordon Brown allows this stuff in.. surely they ought be taxed heftily?
In the future, maybe I shall make a more conscious effort to ‘boycott muffins’.
Tonbridge Biscuits.. the story continues April 10, 2008
Yesterday, I made some ‘proper’ Tonbridge Biscuits with plain flour, without any weirdy gluten free stuff. Well, it ended up a lot more tasty and I added heaps of sugar. You could really smell the homely buttery and herby caraway taste. Ironically caraway isn’t very British, maybe it is the Indian Empire connection? I really must learn more about the history of cooking.
I gave some to my colleagues and had a ‘thumbs up’. One of the more honest colleagues, said they were ‘jawbreakers’.. which is true! They were pretty hard… so any tips to make them less like ‘rocks’ would be helpful. Maybe I won’t cook them so long, the only thing with that, is that they won’t be so brown which I like.
I would show you a ‘plain flour’ version, but they’ve all been scoffed!
English Cooking April 8, 2008
I spoke to a person aged about 60 and another about 21 and talked to them about English Cooking. Naturally the older person said they ‘remember breadpudding’ but I was also surprised that the 21 year old loved breadpudding too. In fact his mother is a very good cook, so much so, he likes cooking now. You would think that all 21 year olds are brought up on burgers and takeaway chinese food, but not all of them.
It’s great to think that bread pud will survive into the next generation. It’s funny how you never see this being offered at restaurants and similar establishments. The Chain Restaurants may want us to scoff American burgers all the time, but some of us, brought up on English cooking, don’t want this. Something different, means perhaps English food! Even my boss who is Indian, wants to bring back English food! I am already given her some of my homemade ginger cake! I eat her curries but she eats my English food! She recognises that we need to bring our culture back, being Indian she needs her culture too.
