Whitepot, (or white-pot) is a delicious late Tudor early Stuart dessert recipe, particularly associated with Devon in the South-west of England, and it is one of the best baked puddings of the early modern period. These rice pudding whitepot recipes (sometimes bread and butter based puddings) were very popular, and were published in most of [...]
Cambridge Burnt Cream, or Trinity Cream, has been served at Trinity College Cambridge (University of Cambridge) since the early 1600s. It is a nonsense that the French ‘invented’ burnt creme, or creme brulee in the modern era. It wasn’t until the late nineteenth-century that the French translation of ‘burnt cream’ creme brulee came into vogue [...]
This Roast Wild Boar recipe comes from 1669 from Sir Kenelm Digby. This recipe is highly recommended for any winter evening meal, but because wild boar is becoming increasingly popular around Christmas it is far easier to source this meat at this time of the year, and being a rare heritage meat it makes for [...]
If you were curious as to where the father of the British pudding known as ‘Spotted Dick’ or ‘Spotted Dog’ comes from then this is it. 200 years before the first mention of the recipe called Spotted Dick we have this wonderful pudding by the gastronome Sir Kenelm Digby. It also closely resembles another British [...]
Knotts or Gumballs are knotted and shaped biscuits. The recipe comes from The Reverend Henry Fairfax, rector of Bolton Percy near Tadcaster, who took over the compilation of a receipt (recipe) book, which his wife, Mary Cholmeley, brought with her on their marriage in 1626. He added to this original collection of culinary and medicinal [...]
This Beef Stew recipe comes from the wonderfully titled book, “The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened” by Sir Kenelm Digby and was written from the notes he took in the early 1600′s. This recipe has all the hall marks of what we ourselves would consider to be the very essence of a good, [...]
Plague Water is a name given to a variety of medicinal waters of supposed potency against the plague. Most commonly it was a distillation of various herbs and roots that were believed to be efficacious. Typical recipes contained no less than 22 herbal products, both leaves and roots, all steeped in a white wine and/or [...]
Excellent Small Cakes are not really ‘cakes’, they are more like large biscuits. They could only be called cakes by our modern standards by making them with self raising agents in the flour. These are closer to what are known as ‘Welsh Cakes’ today. When made these excellent small cakes should be covered with a [...]
This Chocolate Brownie recipe, like our Hot Chocolate Puddings recipe, is the real thing; they are definitely not your average Chocolate Brownie. If you ever felt you and your friends or family really deserved a treat or reward, or it is a very special occasion, then this is what you should make. Buy bars of [...]
From at least Medieval times salt was mixed with saltpetre, and other ingredients such as sugar, honey, pepper or juniper berries, to carry out the processes of preserving pork. Dry Cured Hams are the hind leg of a pig that have been salted, then air-dried to ‘cure’. This is done using a curing compound, (consisting [...]
When you hear that jam can be made in 20 minutes, any jam, in twenty-minutes, you might well be skeptical … by saying it even I feel like a snake-oil salesman trying to convince you that rubbing on this lotion will miraculously make you live longer. But its true, any fruit, any jam, in 20 [...]
Sticky Toffee Pudding is a great tasting recipe, and certainly a modern British ‘classic’, (alongside Jam Roly-Poly and Spotted Dick puddings) capturing for many the childhood memories of growing up in the 20th Century. Some say Sticky Toffee Pudding was developed in the Lake District in the 1960′s while others claim it is from an [...]
Scones are a great treat at tea time, (once served at 4 pm sharp) and quintessentially British. While the English have taken credit for their popularity, this is a dish which all regions of Britain enjoy, and have a history with. The simple scone is thought to have originated from Scottish Quick Breads, (baked on [...]
These Victorian, regional Cherry Turnovers are a speciality of Buckinghamshire in southern England, where wonderful, local Cherries are grown in many private and commercial cherry orchards. They have a light pastry top and bottom, and ripe, tangy-juicy cherries in the center. Cherries have a very short growing season if you are after picking your own; [...]
Blackberry Jam is a real treat on toast in the mornings. It has a unique, and easily recognisable flavour amongst jams, with its sweet-sharp dance on the tongue and deep berry taste. To help the jam set, (adding in extra pectin) the recipe uses one brambley apple and a small amount of fresh apple juice [...]
Many people’s favourite jam is strawberry, and with good reason, this fruit lends itself to jam making, and is wonderfully delicious when eaten on a fresh piece of buttered Manchet Bread. Collecting the fruit is a great summer time family day out and the return on the labour by having your own home-made jam to [...]
