Dyett Bread is an excellent bread to accompany soups and vegetable broths. We tend to think of today’s speciality artisan or rustic breads, made with herbs and spices, as a modern invention, not so, herbs and spices used to flavour breads stretch back to well before this millennium. And this sage and fennel Diet Bread [...]
A Gilded Marchpane disc or cake was the centrepiece of any Tudor banquet. It was a large flat disc of marzipan, sometimes with a raised rim around the edge. It was iced and decorated: for the great occasions the decorations were often gilded or even 3 dimensional sugar iced sculptures (hot sugar syrup moulded in [...]
Lambswool is the traditional drink of the wassail. Called after the light colour and frothy appearance of the drink from the creamy, egg and apple mixture. It is made of hot ale (or cider), eggs, spices, sugar, cream and roasted apples. The word wassail derives from the Old English words wæs (þu) hæl which means [...]
This is an authentic Tudor Butter Beer, or Butterbeer, or indeed Buttered Beere, from the 1500′s. A rich, creamy ale is called for here, but don’t get an ale which is too sweet, as we are adding in sugar as well as egg yolks. The best ale to buy is a real-ale from a specialist, [...]
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 [...]
