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Saturday 28 February 2015

Towards evidence based biscuits.

I am keeping busy. Stopping and thinking is bad mmkay.
So naturally I thought of Eliza Acton.

You may not know the name but you should. Think of recipes...where you have a list of ingredients and times? She invented that. Modern cookery for private families, her chef d'ouevre, was the first cookery book aimed at norms not pros. It also had the first revipe in English for Brussels Sprouts.
Now that alone should get this mother of xmas flatulence a mention. Mrs Beeton came later and robbed Eliza blind.
Now Eliza always tested her own recipes, which Beeton never did. Plus she ran a girls school a mile from my house. So cookery, farts and schoolgirls. What more could one want.
I am fond of many of her recipes. I find her xmas pud way better than the modern ones. But sometimes you need to play with the recipes to see the intent.
Today we are trying her recipe for "a good scottish shortbread" and then her enigmatic threadneedle biscuits which will form part of a later post.
Hoping you can make out the recipe. Pound of flour 9 oz butter 2oz sugar 1oz candied citron basically put dry things together and...this bit is weird.
You melt the butter and squdge it in. Normally the recipes say rub in butter but dont handle too much. This is waaay easier.
Then you squdge it into molds.
Moderate oven is about 160c
She says 20 mins but use your fingers. Like men they should be hard everywhere you touch.
Foal describes the result as yummy. I agree. I recommend sprinkling with demarara sugar before baking as victorian tastes seem to have been less sweet.

6 comments:

  1. Ooh, delicious.

    Firstly - I am a massive fan of brussels sprouts, but I had never thought of having them with toast. I think I know what I'm having for tea now :D

    Secondly - I'm actually really surprised at how plain the shortbreads are; Considering the victorian taste in wines (Sweet), spirits (Sweetened), absinthe (With more syrup than is possibly decent) and most puddings (Slathered in suet and dried fruit and infinite sugar and honey) that really stands out. Were they intended to be had with drinks? Maybe they're supposed to be the less-cloying foil to a really rich drink (Port and walnuts is a classic for a reason, the opposite of really sour madeira and really light cake)

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    Replies
    1. Oh, and whatever the recipe with the cabbage and cayenne and lemon juice is - that sounds amazing. And really stymies the stereotype of the Victorian palate being averse to spices.

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    2. Stewed red cabbage...flemish receipt.
      Sounds great doesnt it.
      Elizas book is available free online according to teh wiki tho i have a nice hardback. Southover press.

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    3. And the shortbread...well Elizas recipes are often much lower on sugar than modern tastes. You can adjust of course but i think try it her way first. The candied citron lifts it a lot. I cheated and used combined grated lemon and lime zest i quick candied. You could also substitute lemon zest grated in and add a little more sugar. Or if you want to get freaky lemon zest and fresh tarragon....
      Eliza gives no serving suggestion here. My feeling is its intended for sherry or as a cheese biscuit. However if you put demarar sugar on the bottom of the mold before forming it adds a sweet crunch.

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  2. Inspired by the vague thought of that recipe, I've just devilled some brussels sprouts. Wanting the red colour and sweetness of the reducrrant jelly in some versions, I put in the nearest thing I had to that, which was raspberry jam. Raspberry, turmeric and mustard, on sprouts, fried in peanut oil until they caramelise, with a quick dash of salt and black pepper to finish.

    More addictive than is possibly reasonable.

    Hmm, I've got yuzucha (Made with yuzu, really closely related to citron) which might do it. But also fuck yes to candied lime and lemon peels (A close second to crystallized ginger, IMO) and I need to start putting tarragon seeds on things, since I don't think I've ever done that. Or caraway seeds, for that matter. Or fennel seeds. And considering how much I love those sort of semi-sweet herby flavours, I need to correct this.

    You do realise that, after your fashion, I've baked more in the past couple of weeks than I have in the past three years?

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  3. I'm always interested in the items on the margins of pictures. Like those sugar-free sweets. Lovely. But in excess, they have a laxative and possibly flatulent effect. Not what a girl wants! :(

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