Kitabı oku: «The Taste of Britain», sayfa 6

HISTORY:

Several modern recipes are found. They vary in concept; one from Cornwall is similar to a French tarte Tatin; one from Cambridgeshire appears related to German Streusel. However, a distinctively English version does exist in the South West, especially Dorset, Devon and Somerset. Here, raw apples are added to a plain cake at the outset, as if they were raisins or currants in a fruit cake. Apples have always been added to various cakes and puddings in apple country, but little documentary evidence survives. An example is a farmhouse recipe from Somerset (Webb, c. 1930). One from Dorset, ‘one of the most famous of all English tea cakes’, is in Spicer (1949). A modern collection asserts that Dorset apple cake is distinguished from others by being baked in separate tins before being sandwiched with butter (Raffael, 1997).

While popular in domestic circles and often made for sale in cafes, it can also be found in many craft bakeries in the region.

TECHNIQUE:

Apple cakes from the South West have minor variations in detail, such as addition of dried fruit and candied peel in a recipe from Dorset. They call for apples, flour, butter and caster sugar in the proportions 4:2:1:1. Chemical leavening is used. The apples (sour cooking apples are generally required, although some prefer eating apples because they are drier) are peeled, cored and sliced into segments. The butter is rubbed into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. The sugar is stirred in, followed by sliced raw apple, and dried fruit and spices if required; the mixture is bound with egg and milk. It is scaled off into greased tins. The surface is levelled and sprinkled with granulated sugar. Baking takes 1 hour at 180°C.

REGION OF PRODUCTION:

SOUTH WEST ENGLAND.

Bath Bun
DESCRIPTION:

A CIRCULAR BUN WITH NIB SUGAR ON THE TOP AND A HIGHLY GLAZED SURFACE; DIAMETER 60-70MM, DEPTH 50MM. WEIGHT: ABOUT 75G. COLOUR: GOLDEN BROWN WITH SHINY GLAZE, SPRINKLED WITH CURRANTS AND SUGAR. FLAVOUR AND TEXTURE: LIGHTLY SPICED AND SWEETENED, CLOSE TEXTURED, WITH LUMP SUGAR UNDERNEATH.

HISTORY:

Bath has long been an important pleasure and health resort. Bath buns are one of several distinctive foods which became famous as the town grew during the eighteenth century. The Bath cook and author Martha Bradley (1756) gave a recipe for a Bath seed cake which appears different to other seed cakes in its use of wine and rose water. This instruction came, in fact, from Bradley’s lengthy quotation of an earlier household manuscript, possibly dating from the seventeenth century. Elizabeth Raffald (1769) tells how to cook ‘Bath Cakes’, which are caraway (seed) cakes shaped into buns. The light, yeast-leavened rolls were enriched with cream and butter, but no eggs. Some caraway comfits were worked into the dough and more were strewn over the top. This recipe is repeated in Farley (1783) - a work largely derivative of Raffald - and Henderson (c. 1790), a work largely derivative of Farley. When Henderson was re-edited by J.C. Schnebbelie (1804) the tide of the recipe was transformed to ‘Bath Cakes or Buns’. While Raffald sent her cakes in ‘hot for breakfast’, Farley, Henderson and Schnebbelie suggested they be eaten at either breakfast or tea. A cookery book produced in the Midlands in 1807 calls them Bath buns (Simon, 1960). The proportions are very similar to those in Raffald, except some of the cream is replaced by egg. It, too, deploys caraway, a defining ingredient in these early recipes.

That Bath buns were not universal in the city during the Georgian era may be inferred from the letters of a visitor who never stinted his descriptions of food and drink. John Penrose wrote in 1766 (Penrose, 1983): ‘…with our Tea Cambridge-Cakes buttered. We have had these too ourselves. They are round thick Cakes, a penny apiece, hardly an Ounce weight; look like Dow [dough], all white and soft: these we toast a little by the fire, just to warm them through, and then butter them; they eat exceedingly well.’ Were his Cambridge cakes the forerunners of Bath buns? Jane Austen refers to ‘disordering her stomach with Bath bunns’ in a letter of 1801 (Austen, 1995).

Meg Dods (1826) included recipes for both Bath cake and Bath buns in her description of English specialities. She likened the dough to the French brioche (it included eggs and butter) and suggested caraway seeds for the cake and caraway comfits (sugar-coated) for the buns. Neither cake nor buns were described in the Victorian cookery bibles of Eliza Acton and Isabella Beeton, although the buns occur in Mrs Marshall (1887), retaining their spicing with caraway. The nineteenth century, however, does seem to be the period when Bath buns underwent considerable change and normalization, losing for the most part their distinctive caraway flavour and gaining the now-accepted adornment of nib sugar as well as candied peel or grated citrus zest and dried fruit.

The defining moment appears to have been the Great Exhibition of 1851. The catering contractors served Bath buns in their tens of thousands (David, 1977). This led to the development of a ‘Cheap Bath or London bun’ described by Kirkland (1907) which was little more than a bun with eggs, orange peel, sultanas and a final ornament of nib sugar. The fat used was lard.

The general move away from caraway is confirmed by Dallas (1877), who suggests a plain brioche dough for Bath buns and Skuse (1892), who advises lemon zest.

In the town of Bath, buns made from a recipe adapted from one dated 1679 are still available. It was used by James Cobb, who founded his bakery in 1866. It does not deploy caraway, except in a residual addition of a pinch of mixed ground spice. The firm of Cobb’s continued to trade until the late 1980s, when the business and recipe were acquired by Mountstevens Ltd, who continue to make the buns and have several shops in Bath itself. Beyond the town, it is largely the ‘cheap or London’ variety that is produced.

The sun is shining at Stroud Farmers Market. It is shining on four fruit and vegetable stalls, three of them organic, piled high with broad beans; tufted carrots; young beetroot complete with emerald tops; red-skinned potatoes, white-skinned potatoes, yellow potatoes, potatoes blotched pink and white, with their names scrawled on bits of cardboard - Pink Fir Apple, Desiree, Pentland Javelin, Charlotte, Duke of York; shaggy, multifarious salad leaves; onions and shallots; crisp cabbages. It is shining on boxes of white cherries, Merton Glory, blushed down one side, and others of gooseberries as green as opals. It is shining on seven meat stalls, among them offering Gloucester Old Spot and Tamworth pork, Gloucester Long Horn and Hereford beef, Cotswold lamb, tree-range chickens from Chepstow and Aylesbury ducklings, and game - rabbit as well as fallow and muntjack venison from the countryside about. It shines on two bread stalls, two cake stalls, two stalls selling apple juice, perry and cider; another with fresh trout, trout pâté and watercress; and on three cheese stalls, one of which has sheeps’ milk cheeses coated in ash stacked up like so many small square turrets.

I lurch away up, laden with a couple of chickens from Chepstow, belly pork from Minchinhampton, green back rashers from Dursley, a kilo of carrots from Highrove, kale tops from Wotten, a bag of cherries, a large lump of extra mature Double Gloucester and a Dublin loaf from the WI stall. Second helpings anybody?

Matthew Fort

COOKERY WRITER AND BROADCASTER

TECHNIQUE:

The recipe used by Cobb’s was quoted by Grigson (1984). Strong white flour, eggs, butter and crushed lump sugar are used, roughly in the proportions 3:2:1:1, and to the following method. A ferment of yeast, sugar and water is allowed to work for 10 minutes and then eggs and a little flour are added; this is covered and left for about an hour. The ferment is kneaded with the remaining flour, butter, crushed lump sugar, and a little additional granulated sugar, plus small quantities of lemon juice and mixed spice. It is left to rise, then knocked back and shaped and proved. The buns are baked for 20 minutes at 220°C, glazed with sugar syrup and sprinkled with crushed sugar lumps.

REGION OF PRODUCTION:

SOUTH WEST ENGLAND, BATH (SOMERSET).

Bath Oliver
DESCRIPTION:

A ROUND BISCUIT, 75MM DIAMETER, 3MM THICK. WEIGHT: 10G. COLOUR: PALE CREAM. FLAVOUR AND TEXTURE: NEUTRAL, SLIGHTLY SALTY; VERY CRISP. A CHOCOLATE-COATED VERSION IS MADE, KNOWN AS A CHOCOLATE OLIVER, 40MM DIAMETER, WITH A THICK COATING OF BITTER CHOCOLATE.

HISTORY:

Bath Olivers are named for William Oliver, a doctor who was born in Penzance in 1695. He lived most of his life in Bath and was the city’s most important practitioner during the time of its greatest expansion. The accepted account is that Dr Oliver created a recipe for thin, palatable, easily digested biscuits, to be eaten by those who came to Bath to take the waters and recover from excessively rich diets. The story continues that Dr Oliver set up his coachman as a baker; providing some premises, 10 bags of flour, £100 and the recipe. This recipe passed by a sort of apostolic succession from Atkins, the original coachman, to Norris, to Carter, to Munday, to Ashman, until it finally came into the possession of Cater, Stoffell & Fortt, who had a shop in Bath until the mid-1960s. The biscuits were always known as Dr Oliver’s, then, when in the hands of Fortt, as Original Bath Olivers. Olivers or Bath Olivers were quite possibly a similar biscuit, but not produced by those with the sacred recipe. Nor did they have the distinctive packaging and stamp of the good doctor’s head. Although today they come in paper packets with the familiar livery, for many decades they were sold in tall tins.

Although there is this apparently cogent account of an early origin for the biscuits, the earliest reference so far discovered to Olivers is given by Maria Rundell (1807), herself a resident of the city; she gives a recipe which shows them to have been a plain yeast-leavened biscuit. Similar recipes, for example one for ‘Bath biscuits’ in The Family Cookery Book (1812) can be found from the same period.

Law’s Grocer’s Manual (c. 1895) commented that there were several makers of Bath Olivers, and John Kirkland (1907) noted the biscuits were a speciality ‘still made in great quantities in Bath, and in which some of the leading houses take great pride’. He observes that there was considerable diversity in the recipes and methods of manufacture, and that the biscuits should be very thin and rich, made with butter only. These statements confirm the biscuits were not as exclusive as legend instructs and cast some doubt on the notion that they were an early version of a health food.

The modern biscuits, still manufactured under the name of Fortt’s Original Bath Olivers, but no longer owned by Cater, Stoffell & Fortt, are probably rather different to those known at the beginning of the last century. Various sources agree that they required great care, and possessed distinctive characteristics: they wanted a well-leavened dough, thorough kneading, and were dried in a warm cupboard for 30 minutes, then baked in a slack (cool) oven (Simon, 1960); a special bowed rolling pin was used, so that the biscuits were thinner in the middle than at the edge; there was a singular method for docking (pricking) the dough which required 2 biscuits placed faces together, pricked, and pulled apart again; they should burn a little in the middle during baking ‘which is correct for a good Oliver’ (Law, c. 1895).

The chocolate-coated version has been made since at least the 1960s.

TECHNIQUE:

The recipe used for Fortt’s Bath Olivers is a trade secret; the ingredient list shows the biscuits are still yeast-leavened and contain butter; other ingredients are wheat flour, milk, animal fat, salt, malt extract, hops, and an antioxidant (E320). A commercial recipe for craft bakers calls for flour and butter in the ratio 4:1. The flour and butter are rubbed together and made into a stiff dough with milk in which a little sugar and yeast have been dissolved; a little salt is added. They rise for 90 minutes; the dough is kneaded with a brake until smooth; it is rested before being rolled to a thickness of about 3mm and cut into rounds of the appropriate size; these are docked and allowed to rest. They are baked at 190°C until gold and crisp.

REGION OF PRODUCTION:

SOUTH ENGLAND, FORMERLY BATH (SOMERSET).

Blueberry Pie (Double-Crust Fruit Pie)
DESCRIPTION:

DOUBLE-CRUST PIES MADE WITH SHORT-CRUST PASTRY AND A FRUIT FILLING ARE DISTINCTIVELY BRITISH. DIMENSIONS, FLAVOUR AND APPEARANCE WILL DEPEND ENTIRELY ON THE MAKER: WHETHER LARGE OR INDIVIDUAL PIES, COOKED ON A PLATE OR IN A DEEP DISH, IN FOIL CASINGS, AND SO ON. A WIDE RANGE OF FRUITS MAY BE USED AS FILLING: THE COMMONEST ARE APPLE, ALONE OR COMBINED WITH SPICES, DRIED FRUIT OR BLACKBERRIES; OTHERS, ESPECIALLY RHUBARB, GOOSEBERRIES, PLUMS AND CHERRIES, ARE USED. IN THE NORTH, THIS IS SOMETIMES MADE IN A THINNER VERSION CALLED A ‘PLATE PIE’, OR IT MAY BE MADE RELATIVELY DEEP AND A THIRD LAYER OF PASTRY ADDED BETWEEN 2 FRUIT LAYERS IN THE FILLING.

HISTORY:

Pies have long been a favourite dish in Britain. The word has been in the language since at least the start of the fourteenth century. There are many recipes and almost any edible item seems at one time or another, to have been put between 2 layers of pastry and baked in the oven. Sweet fruit pies have been known since at least the seventeenth century, when Murrell (1638) gave recipes for ‘tarts’ of pippins (apples) flavoured with spices, orange zest and rose water; tarts of gooseberries or cherries are also cited. These were similar to modern pies, requiring a double crust, with sugar scattered over the surface before baking.

Fillings varied according to availability of fruit. Apple was probably the most popular, cherries were used in Kent and Buckinghamshire (Mabey, 1978). The blueberry pies now available in Dorset come within this genus of dishes, although their fruit filling is of a more recent tradition, imported in fact from North America (Davidson, 1991). The bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) is a bush that grows on acid soils in northern Europe. In Scotland it is known as whinberry (because it grows amidst whin, or gorse) or blaeberry and in Ireland, and in North-East England it is also known as blaeberry (blae means blue). Whortleberries are closely related.

Florence White (1932) records bilberry pies in Yorkshire. Bilberries were available for anyone who cared to pick them in many heathland areas along the south coast, in Wales, the Pennines and in Scotland. Gathering bilberries from the wild is time-consuming and the preserve of enthusiasts; recently, interest in using them as a local speciality in hotels has been rekindled in mid-Wales.

TECHNIQUE:

Short-crust pastry is prepared from flour and fat in the ratio 2:1. Lard is the preferred fat, making a crisp pastry. A mixture of lard and butter is sometimes used to give more flavour whilst retaining the shortness. Fruit is prepared; a portion of pastry is rolled 5mm thick and used to line the pie dish; the fruit, sugar and any other flavourings are placed in this; another disc of pastry is used to cover the top, and the edges are sealed. The top may be sugared or decorated. Pies are baked at 220°C for 10-15 minutes, then at 180°C for 30 minutes.

REGION OF PRODUCTION:

SOUTH WEST ENGLAND, DORSET, THOUGH DOUBLE-CRUST PIE MADE WITH FRUIT OTHER THAN BLUEBERRIES IS PRODUCED NATIONWIDE.

Colston Bun
DESCRIPTION:

A ROUND BUN RING MARKED INTO 8 WEDGES; 140MM DIAMETER, 30-40MM DEEP. WEIGHT: ABOUT 250-300G. COLOUR: GOLDEN BROWN, WITH A GLAZED SURFACE, CREAM INTERIOR.

FLAVOUR: SWEET, WITH LEMON AND SPICE.
HISTORY:

The Colston bun is a popular teabread in Bristol. It is said to have gained its name from Edward Colston (1636-1721), a merchant who made a fortune trading with the West Indies. He founded an almshouse and a school, now a charitable trust administered by the Society of Merchant Venturers. The connection between Colston and the bun is through this trust. Each November, to commemorate the grant of the Charter to the Merchant Venturers, a service is held in the Cathedral attended by the pupils of Colston School. After the service, they are given a small currant bun (called the ha’penny starver), a Colston bun, and a 10 pence piece (the modern British coin based on the old silver florin). Of the 2 buns, it is said the smaller is for the child to consume immediately, and the larger to be taken home to share among the family.

The marked divisions on the top of the bun suggests a connection with the old-fashioned enriched breads known as wigs or whigs (see Hawkshead wigs p. 232), which were also marked in sections. Variant names are Colston ring or ring bun. The ha’penny starver was made with the same dough. They are made today by most craft bakers in the city.

TECHNIQUE:

The recipe calls for flour and butter in the proportions 8:1. The yeast is set to work with sugar and flour in a little warm milk for about 30 minutes; in the meantime, the butter is rubbed into the flour, together with a little sweet spice (cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg), plus grated lemon rind and a little dried fruit and candied peel; then the yeast mixture is stirred in, plus enough warm milk to produce a coherent dough. After rising, shaping, proving and marking, the buns are baked at 220°C for 20-25 minutes. They are glazed with sugar syrup whilst still warm.

REGION OF PRODUCTION:

SOUTH WEST ENGLAND, BRISTOL.

Cornish Fairing
DESCRIPTION:

A ROUGHLY CIRCULAR BISCUIT, 50MM DIAMETER, 7MM THICK. WEIGHT: 20G. COLOUR: DARK BROWN WITH AN IRREGULAR, ROUGH SURFACE. FLAVOUR: SWEET, DISTINCTLY SPICY.

HISTORY:

A Cornish fairing is a ginger biscuit of a type long associated with fairs in the South West. Some speculate that the name fairing means a ring-shaped biscuit sold at a fair, but most authorities agree that it actually means objects (not necessarily edible) which could be bought at fairs and were popular as gifts. As we come home with a goldfish in a bowl and candy-floss, so our forebears returned with a little packet of goodies. Florence White (1932) quotes information from Cornwall that ‘a proper and complete fairing’ included gingerbread biscuits, lamb’s tails (caraway dragées), candied angelica, almond comfits and macaroons. Early in the nineteenth century, the poet Keats mentioned the ‘gingerbread wives’ of Barnstaple (Devon). Recipes for Barnstaple Fair gingerbread are still to be found, even if the sweetmeat itself is no longer available. Almost every fair and festivity in Britain probably had some edible keepsake: in Nottingham it was the cock-on-a-stick, in Bath the gingerbread Valentines, and so on. In more cases than not, the memento was spiced bread, cake or biscuit-the consequence of the medieval love affair with spices. Just the same process can be seen across the water in continental Europe.

The history of the specific biscuits now called Cornish fairing is largely unrecorded. All that is known is that they have been made for many years by a baker’s firm called Furniss, which was founded in 1886 in Truro.