
Cook: Mayonnaise & Tartare Sauce…”He little knows of England
who only England knows.” Charles Esme Francatelli was an Englishman born and bred, and prided himself on that fact, but he had inherited a gift for cooking from his Italian forebears and also had the advantage of being a pupil…

Cook: Honey Brandy Butter – or Florence White’s “American Sauce”
We can’t have a pudding receipt without Brandy Butter to accompany it. No refined sugar please. Every recipe out there seems to have more icing sugar added than it contains butter! It’s just not necessary and such sweetness leaves an…

Cook: Pudding in a Hurry? Sir Charles Rowley’s 1857 Plum Pudding gets the Gluten Free treatment
My grandma’s Plum Pudding was always the highlight of our Christmas. When I was just a girl who didn’t even like Christmas Pudding, seeing the Christmas pudding bowl come out, accompanied by its Brandy Butter, epitomised the yuletide spirit and…

Cook: Sourdough, Gluten Free. A far cry from Bath and Sally Lunn’s Buns
Sourdough. Bread. This is a book in itself. We went to Bath on the weekend. Sally Lunn’s is a Bath institution and her buns do not escape Florence White’s attention. They are eggy, creamy, and contain small beer yeast as…

Cook: Marrow Bone. Simple Ways fit for Her Majesty.
Florence White devotes a few short entries to Marrow Bones. I admit right up front, that bone marrow is my secret pleasure. Osso Bucco is an enduring favourite dish not least for the somewhat messy picking of the bones at…

Cook and Travel: Sea Vegetables & Welsh Laverbread
It may seem odd to the British Readers, that I first heard about Laverbread only in February this year. We had travelled to this charming, unpretentious gastropub near Abergavenny for a weekend in Wales – it’s where my son wanted…

Cook: Scottish Fare Part II; Two and a Half Shellfish Receipts: ‘Potted Shrimp for an Australian Yuletide Table’ & ‘A Pot of Warm Langoustines’
Potted Shrimps, writes Florence White in Good Things In England, are delicious as an appetiser with wholemeal bread and butter. The Shrimps recipe is “From a Cookery Book belonging to Miss Hope, dated 1797”. Her brief ingredients list requires a…

Travel & Cook: Autumnal Scottish Fare Part I – Your Gratin, Miss Barrowman’s Custard?
Toasty Gratin of Haddock with Creamy Scotch Goat’s Cheese The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.* This dish is bold in its simplicity. Its…
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