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Boiling the Pudding Food
& Drink
That
Real Ambrosia
That
real ambrosia (not a poet's dream)
Food
for celestials, Cornwall's clotted cream?
Ye
eastern epicures who rack your brain,
And
earth explore, rich viands to obtain,
To
Cornwall haste; your
search will then be o'er;
Once
taste our cream ;—you'll sigh for nothing more.
0
never think of Italy or France!
Health,
turbot, cream, await you at Penzance.
And
many a pie she brought (her country's boast)
Surpassing
far all boiled meat and roast
Of
making pies no wonder she was proud,
Her
skill was universally allowed.
Ingredients
various she, with art employed;
Pilchards
and cream she most of all enjoyed;
Potatoes,
leeks, and turnips oft would meet,
With
bacon laid between, in concord sweet;
Onions
and apples made a summer dish,
O’erlaid
with mutton, fat as heart could wish;
Parsley
and spinach, joined with fish or veal,
With
luscious cream, she thought indeed genteel.
Old
Christmas had his own sweet giblet pie,
Which
with the first of luxuries may vie
A
goose's giblets, apples, figs and spice,
Beef,
mutton, onions, pork and currants nice,
With
salt and pepper seasoned, form the treat,
Which
none, who once could taste, would cease to eat,
There
runs a tale (I only hope it's true) :
The
Devill his face would ne'er in Cornwall show.
He
once to Plymouth came upon a tour,
Or
Devonport (I am not very sure);
And,
having a few leisure days to spend,
Purposed
a journey to the far Land's-end
But,
ere he crossed the ferry, news was brought,
The
Cornish, of his trip, advice had got,
And
had assembled in a powerful band,
And
swore he never on their coast should land
Or,
if he did, their prowess all would try,
To
kill the wretch and put him in a pie!
His
highness, therefore, never ventured down,
But
hurried back, with railway speed, to town.
When
looking at the subject of Christmas food and drink in Cornwall We
must start with Butter and Cream after all, without these what would
Christmas be.
There
are various customs and usages, which are peculiarly Cornish, these
from time immemorial have been observed in the parish of Mylor. For
instance, the process of the dairy. Who would think of making butter
without first scalding " the milk ? And even in recent times,
since the introduction of the "separator," the cream is
still scalded."
This was an ancient British practice, and is peculiar to this county
and part of Devon. This process, like many we read of in Holy
Scripture of the Jewish hygienic laws, has anticipated modern
science by sterilizing the milk and destroying the noxious germs,
and is said to have been introduced by the Phoenicians, who at a
very early date traded with this county for tin.
The
process of this “scalding " is to allow the milk twelve or
twenty-four hours for the cream to rise on the surface, and then to
place the pans containing it over the fire in a kettle containing
hot water, and allow it to remain until sufficiently warmed
throughout. It is then allowed to cool and the cream skimmed off.
The butter made from this has certainly better keeping qualities
than that made from the unprepared cream.
“I
find many allusions to this "clotted" or clouted
cream." Polwhele says: "I doubt not that of our cream was
made the very sort of butter so much esteemed by the Romans. Butter
was a British luxury with which the Romans were un‑acquainted
" ;
and,
quoting Mrs. Bray (Borders, II,P• 34),
"Of
what an ancient date your scalded cream is you little think,"
said I to a good old dairy-woman. ' Auntient,' she exclaimed, ' I'se
warrant he's as old as Adam; for all the best things in the world
were to be had in Paradise."
Nothing
on earth or in our poet’s dream
Is
so rich and rare as your Cornish Cream
Its
orient tinge like spring time morn,
Or
baby buttercups newly born;
Its
barmy perfume, delicate pulp,
One
longs to swallow it all in a gulp,
Sure
man had ne’er such gifts ot theme
As
your melt-in-the-mouthy Cornish cream
By
Lindum. Pies
The
following has reference to cream with the famous Cornish pies:
Dear
to Cornish palates, 'one and all;
Appeared
in crusted pomp to grace the hall,
The
pie, where herbs with veal in union meet,
The
tasteful parsley, the nutricious beet,
The
bitter mercury wild, nor valued less,
The
watery lettuce and the pungent cress;
When
ravishing with odours every nose,
The
leek o'er layers of the pilchard rose,
Or,
in a gentler harmony, with pork,
E're
yet of mouths it claim'd the playful work,
Attack'd
the nostril with a tempting steam,
As
opening, it ingulph'd the golden cream."
"Trotter
from quince and apples first did frame
A
Pye, which still retains his proper name,
Tho'
common grown, yet with white sugar strew'd
And
buttered well, its goodness is allow'd."
"Our
fathers most admir'd their sauces sweet,
And
often ask'd for sugar with their meat;
They
butter'd currants on fat veal bestow'd,
And
Rumps of Beef with Virgin Honey strow'd."
A
sweet giblet pie was one of the standing dishes at a Christmas
dinner - a kind of mince-pie, into which the giblets of a goose,
boiled and finely chopped, were put instead of beef. Cornwall is
noted for its pies, that are eaten on all occasions; some of them
are curious mixtures, such as Squab-pie, which is made with layers
of well-seasoned fat mutton and apples, with onions and raisins.
Mackerel
pie: the ingredients of this are mackerel and parsley stewed in
milk, then covered with a paste and baked. When brought to table a
hole is cut in the paste, and a basin of clotted cream thrown in.
Muggetty
pie, made from sheep's entrails (muggets), parsley, and cream. There
is a local saying that "The devil is afraid to come into
Cornwall for fear of being baked in a pie.
A
list of types of Cornish pies.
Squab
pie, made with young pigeons
Nattlin
pie, made with pigs entrails, "Chitlins". Muggety pie, made with sheeo's entrails, parsley and cream.
Fishy
pie,
Likkey
pie, made with Leeks and boiled eggs
Conger
pie, made with the Conger Eel
Tetty
pie. Made with potatoes, onions and left over roast or boiled meat.
Parsley
pie.
Giblet
pie. See Below
Herby
pie, made with
nettles,
peppercorns, parsley, mustard, spinach, & pork
Tiddago
pie, made
with prematurely born ‘veers’ or suckling pigs.
Lamby-pie,
made with very young lambs that have been overlaid.
Bottom
pie.
Piggy
pie.
Sour
sop pie, made with Sorrell
Starry
gazey pie, made with seven sorts of fish.
Duck
or Goose Giblets
Clean
and put the giblets into a saucepan with an onion, whole pepper and
a bunch of savoury herbs.
Time:
1½ hour to stew the giblets, about 1 hour to bake the pie.
Squab
Pie
In
the old days Suab-pie was deemed luxurious beyond all other pies.
The recipe for it has been given by an unknown writer in verse, as
follows:
Of
wheaten walls erect your paste;
Let
the round mass expand its breast.
Next
slice your apples cull’d so fresh,
Let
the fat sheep supply its flesh,
Then
add an onion’s stinging juice-
A
sprinkling – be not to profuse
Well
mix’t, these nice ingredients, sure,
Might
gratify an epicure!
The
Cornish Christmas minced pie was formerly made oblong in shape, in
imitation of the manger where our saviour was laid. The following
recipe is recorded as having been handed down in the same family for
generations.
A
pound of beef suet chopped fine
A
pound of currants,
A
pound of raisins,
A
pound of apples,
Two
or three eggs,
And
allspice. all beat very fine and sweetened to taste, a little salt, and as much brandy and wine as you like.
Other
dishes
Contributed
by Sandra Pritchard nee Vingoe
This
is a Recipe for a dish that has been eaten and enjoyed by my family
and lots of others from the Penwith area for many years. "Raw
Fry" as it is known is a substantial but cheap dish to eat on
cold winter days and was a favourite in the days after Christmas
when bacon from the Christmas pig was plentiful.
Ingredients
for two people.
Three
large potatoes.
four
rashers of smoked bacon
one
ounce of dripping
salt
and pepper
one
teaspoon of Cornflower
vinegar
Method
Peel
and Slice potatoes quite thin
Cut
bacon into largest pieces.
Heat
dripping (or oil) in frying pan and add bacon.
Cook
until sealed then remove bacon from pan,
Put
the sliced potatoes into the pan and seal in the hot fat and bacon
juices.
Add
the bacon and salt and pepper to taste.
Cover
with water and leave to cook on a low heat until the potatoes are
cooked
and just starting to break up.
Add
one teaspoon of cornflower and thicken.
Serve
hot with bread and butter adding a dash of vinegar to taste.
Contributed
by Marge Parrill
3
1/2 lbs ground pork
3/4
cup dried bread crumbs
1/2
tsp pepper
3/4
tsp salt
1/2
tsp garlic powder
1/8
tsp ground cumin
1/8
tsp celery powder
1/8
tsp ground oregano
1/2
tsp onion powder
sausage
sized casings Place
ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Stuff casings with the mixture
(a great deal of work) tie the bottom when you have the amount that
you want and repeat until all the mixture is used. Cut and boil
until done. Yum, yum.
The
Christmas and the Dilly
As
far back as I can remember, I with all the other members of our
family had a special bun, made in the shape of a bird, to eat on
Christmas Eve. My Mother and her brothers, and their parents, uncles
and aunts had always done the same. My great-grandparents, when the
Christmas saffron cake was being made, used to pick out pieces of
the dough, make them into this bird-shape and bake them. Then each
member of the family was given one and the dilly carol was sung (see
Carol section). My
sister gave such buns to her children and my niece, who lives with
me, says, “Yes, I remember that lovely bird”. CORNISH
SAFFRON CAKE
Day
1. Preparing the saffron
Boil
the half-cup of the milk and water mix and cut the saffron into very
fine strands. Next place the strands in a glass jug and pour the
boiling milk and water over it. Cover and leave to steep overnight.
Day
2.
You
will now need the following ingrediants
·
Another
half- cup of milk and water combined
·
15g
fresh yeast
Preheat
oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4
Ginger
cakes and biscuits were popular treats on many festive occasions.
We
used to like some flat cakes of gingerbread, marked in four squares
with a raisin in each square. The names of these were, in schoolboy
literature, "lillybangers"
Honey
Combed Gingerbread
Put
four ounces of fresh butter into a jar, near the fire, with half a
pound of treacle, and half a pound of moist sugar.
Mix
half a pond of flour with one teaspoonful of ground ginger, the
finely chopped ring and juice of half a lemon, and one teaspoonful
of powdered cinnamon.
When
the butter is melted, mix it with the treacle &c., into the
flour, and beat all together for some minutes.
Spread
the mixture thinly upon baking tins and bake in a moderate oven.
Watch it particularly as soon as the ginger-bread is done enough,
take it out, cut it into squares and curl each square round the
finger.
Keep
close covered in a tin box. This ginger-bread will keep for three to
four weeks, but is best when newly made. Should it lose its
crispness, it should be put into the oven for two or three minutes
before being being used. Time 10 minutes to bake. Probable cost 10d for this quantity
½
tsp bicarbonate of soda.
1½
tsp baking powder.
½
tsp cinnamon.
1
tsp ground ginger.
pinch
salt.
Aptly
named Chirky Wheeler - 'chirks' is an old Cornish dialect word for
cinders from the fire. The Chirky Wheeler was made by first dragging
the chirks into the middle of the hearth then adding grigglins
(small twigs and branches) to create the heat to a flat iron plate
which was placed on top of them. Whilst this was getting hot the
following were mixed.
Rub
fat roughly into flour - do not mix too finely (i e leave fat as
small pieces in the mix) as the dough needs to be a little 'flakey'.
Add currants and a pinch of salt and bind
together
with milk. Roll mixture into a thin cake and place on the baker.
Turn as necessary, like a pancake, to ensure it is thoroughly cooked
through and golden brown (or slightly burnt!) on the outside.
The
dish Chirky Wheeler was a favourite on cold winter days and was easy
to make when unexpected visitors arrived. For a sweeter version you
must add 2 oz. of sugar to the ingredients[2] Christmas Drinks
At
the plentiful supper always provided on this night, egg-hot, or eggy-hot,
was the principal drink. It was made with eggs, hot beer, sugar, and
rum, and was poured from one jug into another until it became quite
white and covered with froth.
Pour
beer into a saucepan over low heat and blend in the cloves, cinnamon
and half a teaspoon of the vanilla essence. Now mix the sugar and all the egg yolks in a bowl. whisking them well so that they're light and fluffy.
Gently
a little at a time, pour in the beer mixture while continuing to
whisk. Keep stirring until your Eggy-hot mixture starts to resemble custard.
Pour
and strain the mixture into a jug, making sure to remove the cloves.
Gently
stir in the light rum, remaining vanilla and ground nutmeg..
Then
pour mixture from one jug to the other until the mixture is nice and
frothy.
This
should be enough for 8 people.
This drink comes from an old Penzance recipe and was a
favourite drink with both adults and children. In the summer the
lanes and hedgerows would be searched fro the finest blackberries
which would be turned into a drink for Christmas. Ingredients
6
cups blackberries
Method
Soak
the blackberries in the vinegar for 24 hours.
Geneva
Gin was a staple part of the smuggling trade in Cornwall. On
February 10th 1805 the H.M. Customs seized a thousand
gallons of Brandy, Rum and Geneva from local smugglers at Sennen.
The smugglers put up a fight and shots were fired.
a Sennen man John George was captured, tried and sentenced to
hang for the offence at the Old Bailey on the 24th of
April 1805. [1]
Recipe.
Pick
two litres of sloes
from blackthorn hedges in October or November making sure they are
ripe. Separate two litres of gin into four litre bottles.
Having
washed the sloes cut or prick them and drop a quarter of your crop
into each bottle. This should bring the Gin almost to the top.
Now
add 150g of sugar to each bottle and put the stopper on.
All
you have to do now is gently shake each bottle each day for the
first week then weekly for two months. It is now ready to drink so
open one bottle and try it. Then put the rest away until Christmas
when it will taste even better.
Stop
it up and let it stand for three days and then add to it, three
pints of white wine, a pound and a half of sugar: mix it and strain
it twice through a flannel and bottle it up.
[1]
Old Bailey
Records Reference
Number: t18050424-38 [2]
Today a frying pan can be used instead of the Baker.
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