Baking - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: Baking

31
Jan
2021

REPOST – General Satisfaction

categories: Baking, Berries, Custard, Desserts, England, Lemon, Limoncello, Meringue, Pudding

Pop quiz hotshots…

General Satisfaction is:

a) A minor character in the Stanley Kubrik classic Doctor Strangelove,

b) A new character in the game Clue / Cluedo. ” It was General Satisfaction in the billiard room. With the Candlestick” or,

c) A Victorian nursery pudding with the most awesome name ever?

I made this to take to my family on Christmas day and let me tell you…general satisfaction became major happiness as people tucked in. And who would not be happy with this mix of lemony berries, topped with sponge finger biscuits liberally soaked in limoncello, topped with a lovely lemony custard and then baked with a meringue topping?

Yep. It’s like you’ve died and gone to heaven….

One of the side effects of the Paleo diet is that I seem to have become hyper-sensitive to sugar. The first version I made of this was so sweet I actually couldn’t eat it, Someone else in the house had no such qualms. He’s lying in a diabetic coma as we speak.

My first introduction to General Satisfaction came from recipe came from Tamasin Day-Lewis’ Supper for A Song . There is also this version online:

General Satisfaction

I “unsweetened” this by swapping out the jam for a slightly more tart lemon curd and adding some fresh (frozen) berries into the base mix. I also added some limoncello to the custard mix. Just because…name me one thing that isn’t made better by a liberal splash o’ booze. And you know, it is the season….

It was still pretty sweet though.

This is at it’s best straight out of the oven with the custard runny and the meringue all crispy. However the last few pieces were also pretty good at room temperature a few days later as part of an afternoon tea.

And if you make this, true to it’s name, I promise you will not be disappointed!!!

I am also interested to know what are most kookiest food names you have come across? General Satisfaction must be right up there but I would love to know yours!!!

Wishing you and yours not only general satisfaction but super happy fun times for 2015. May it also be the year you learn to stop worrying…

Signature 1

General Satisfaction

Print Recipe

A lovely tangy take on a Victorian nursery pudding.

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

1 level tbsp cornflour
425g full cream milk
1 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped (or 1 tbsp vanilla essence)
3 large eggs, separated
5 tbsp caster sugar
170g lemon curd
1 cup mixed berries, thawed if using frozen
1 tbsp warm water
1/4 cup limoncello, maybe a bit more….
10–12 savoiardi or sponge finger biscuits

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180c.

For The Custard

Mix the cornflour with 1 tbsp milk.
Pour the milk into a small, heavy saucepan. Add the vanilla seeds, empty pod and cornflour mix.
Bring to the boil, stirring then drop the heat and simmer, still stirring for a coupe of minutes. Remove from the heat.
Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl then whisk in a tablespoonful of the milk mixture. Repeat three times then pout the combined egg and milk mixture into the warmed milk.
Set the pan back over low heat, and whisk until the custard thickens and is perfectly smooth. Don’t let it boil. Remove from the heat, and whisk in 2 tablespoon of the sugar and half of the limoncello. Set aside to cool.

For The Lemon Berry Sauce

Mix the lemon curd with 1 tbsp of just boiled water until runny and pour into the base of a medium baking dish.
Scatter the berries over the curd then press them down with a potato masher to flatten them down a bit and get their juices running.
Lay the savoiardi on top of the curd and berry mix and sprinkle with the remaining limoncello.
Poor the cooled custard over the biscuits, straining if it is lumpy.

For The Meringue

Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then whisk in the remaining sugar, little by little until you have a firm shiny meringue.
Spoon the meringue over the custard.
Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 20 minutes until the meringue is pale golden and crisp when you tap it.

Notes

Adding a little bit of the milk to the egg, prevents the egg from cooking.

15
Jan
2021

Whiskey and Rye Blondies

categories: Baking, Brownies, Music

A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile….

Why I am I quoting that bit of pop perfection and rock and roll enigma that is American Pie? Because today, 15 January, way back in 1972, American Pie reached number one on the Billboard charts. And we are celebrating that event not with an American Pie (because that would be waaay too obvious…and we want options for the 50th Anniversary next year!) but with some good ol’ Whiskey and Rye Blondies!

Whiskey and Rye Blondies

The recipe for these Whiskey and Rye Blondies comes from Ella Risbridger and her wonderful book Midnight Chicken. I can heartily recommend this book – it was my choice for a Tasty Reads book last year but if you don’t want to buy the whole book, you can get the recipe for these blondies here!

The Blondies are very rich – a little really does go a long way with these. But they are also delightfully fudgy and more-ish so if you are tempted by a second helping I won’t blame you!

Why not whip up a batch now as we delve into the 8-minute 33-second opus that is American Pie?

American Pie – The Song

American Pie is the titular track on the Don McLean album American Pie. The album with its absolutely iconic cover was in my parent’s record collection for as long as I can remember. I am sure they played other songs but the only ones I can ever remember hearing are American Pie and Vincent. And I remember hearing a LOT of American Pie and Vincent when I was growing up.

I also occasionally like to torture my friends by choosing American Pie as a karaoke song. By which I mean I did it once and was politely asked to never repeat the performance. By management. And my friends.

American Pie references many people and events – the recurring theme of the “day the music died” is about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper in February 1959. It also mentions The Beatles, The Byrds Bob Dylan, Karl Marx, Charles Manson, the Rolling Stones, James Dean, the Kennedy’s and good lord…so much more! There are multitudes of explanations about the lyrics of American Pie on the internet. You can find one of them here. This is an absolutely fascinating rabbit hole to go down if you have a few hours / days to spare.

But before you do that, let’s all join together and sing…

Bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die

Have a great weekend!

And if you have another 8.5 this parody is also worth a watch!

26
Oct
2020

Savoury Impossible Pie

categories: 1970's food, Books, Pie

This past week saw the 155th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland. It is one of my favourite books so I celebrated with a savoury impossible pie!

Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day.

Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

This recipe comes from my vast collection of clipped recipes. I think that this one came from the wrapping of the deviled egg plate that my friend Ali gave me for my birthday a few years ago.

Impossible Pie?

“Why it’s simply impassible!
Alice: Why, don’t you mean impossible?
Door: No, I do mean impassible.

(chuckles)

Nothing’s impossible!”

The Impossible Pie was invented by Bis-quick in the 1970s. The idea was that instead of making a filling and a crust you could mix everything together and magically, in the oven, the ingredients would separate out so you end up with a crusted pie.

The OG impossible pie was coconut but since then pretty much every flavour imaginable has been made. Yinzerella over at Dinner is Served 1972 has made a number of them both sweet and savoury so if you want a primer in them, head over there pronto! Then come back here for my try at Savoury Impossible Pie!

My pie had peeled tomatoes, bacon, parsley, corn, spring onions and cheese – someone cue Blink 182 singing “All the good things” please!

It also looked like some sort of Klimptesque art when I started to mix it through. So pretty!

However, the success of an impossible pie surely has to lie in whether or not that magical crust appears. So was this recipe a success?

Was there a crust? There was something. But a proper pie crust? No. So technically…cooking fail.

Having said that, it was absolutely delicious. It may not have turned out exactly as planned but it was still worth making and definitely one to put on the rotation list!

You know what? If it bugs you like it bugged me that it wasn’t impossible, leave out the flour and call it a Klimt Garden Frittata. I promise I won’t tell anyone and believe me, you and your friends will love it!

Savoury Impossible Pie – The Recipe

“I suppose I ought to eat or drink something or other; but the great question is ‘What?’”

And we’re done!

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end:

Then stop.”

15
Oct
2020

Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets

categories: 1970's food, Asparagus, Bacon, Pie

I’m not exactly sure where this recipe for Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets came from. It has obviously been clipped from a magazine and sticky taped to a piece of paper. But when? And by whom? It has been floating around in my collection of “Recipes to Cook” for as long as I can remember.

The recipe gives both imperial and metric measurements which would indicate it comes from some time after 1970 which is when Australia went metric but not too far after because people still understood imperial measures. So it likely was not me who clipped it but whether it was my mum or my nana or a complete stranger I do not know!

Well, whoever clipped it so it could fall into my hands deserves a round of applause because I thought these were really delicious. Emphasis on the” I” there. The fussiest eater in the world was not convinced. “What’s in these? It is cream? It’s not like the usual quiche you make.”

“I used cream cheese”

“It’s too much”

“Well…you did eat six of them….”

Both sides make a fair point here. The Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets are richer than a normal quiche, primarily due to the cream cheese filling. But you also don’t have to eat half a dozen of them in one sitting.

I made these twice recently which is something I rarely do with recipes for the blog. Usually, I make something, eat it, blog it and move on. However, the first time I made the tartlets I used fresh asparagus. I was going to post that version. But it felt like cheating. Of course a fresh asparagus and bacon tart was going to be amazing. It’s asparagus! And bacon! And for those of us who like a little bit of rich – cream cheese!. Would these taste as good using tinned asparagus?

They weren’t quite as good as the fresh version but they were still really good. And I am not being an asparagus snob here. I grew up on tinned asparagus. My nana’s asparagus rolls which only ever used tinned asparagus are one of my top ten things to eat ever! The only reason I have not posted that recipe here is that I honestly think I could not do nana’s memory justice as my version would never live up to hers!

Anyway…that’s given me some food for thought…maybe I will post that recipe one day. But as for the Asparagus and Bacon Tartlets? They’re really good. And if you find them too rich? Stop at four, or two or one.

These also reheat up well and I thought they were also quite nice to eat cold.

They are also perfect fare for a socially distanced picnic in the park!

The Recipe

Have a wonderful week!

24
Sep
2020

Hasta Luego Cantina!

categories: Birthday Cake, Cake, Cantina, Mexico, Tasty Reads

Hola amigos!!!! It’s done!!! It’s taken me SIX years but have finally finished cooking my way through Cantina by Paul Wilson. Not every recipe mind you, just the ones I wanted to cook. Sixty-one recipes. Which is more than enough I feel to pass judgement on this as a book. But first, let’s celebrate with some cake!

This was my birthday cake this year, a cake spent in the middle of lockdown when we were allowed no visitors. So a very solitary birthday. But we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about Cantina as exemplified by this recipe. Because everything that is wrong with this book is in this recipe. As is everything that is right. So let’s get to it.

A Rose is A Rose is A Rose

A rose may be a rose. And a rose by any other name may smell as sweet. (Ooh la la – look at me, with the Gertrude Stein and the Shakespeare refs in the one post!!!) But, apart from me showing off my fancy book learning, seriously, Cantina bandies about terms that have one meaning to mean something different.

(I have already waxed lyrical about how annoying this book on this point ere. So if you want to see my earlier rant click here.)

This is quite clearly a cake.

Except in Cantina where it is called a Lemon Aspen and lime Slice with Mescal Roasted Pineapple. Maybe I’m being really pedantic here but I’ve been cooking out of this book for 6 years. Believe me, I need to vent!

But everybody’s like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece…

You may have noticed my slice..erm cake is missing the Mescal Roasted Pineapple. The cheapest mezcal I could find was $55 a bottle. Most were in the range of $90-100. Of which I would use 80ml of a 750 ml bottle. I’m sure that over time I would be able to find other uses for the remaining 89% of that bottle.

This seems likely given the general state of the world

Seriously dropping that much money to use less than a tenth of the bottle for is frivolous at the best of times. Let alone during a global pandemic / economic crisis etc. Fair enough the book was published in 2014 so way before covid but the cost equation still stands. It’s a lot of money to drop on one recipe. And you know it’s not like you can use the remainder on the recipe for Chorizo with Apricot and Mezcal Aioli (again, not an aioli). Because when you read that recipe it contains no goddamn mezcal at all. None. Nyet. Cero.

I was so incensed at this the first time round I tweeted the publisher.

They responded that it was a typo.

Eerrrrrrmmmmmm … no.

Speaking from embarrassing experience, a typo is when you work for an accounting firm and you hand your boss a report that leaves the o out of the word accounting.

Twice.

Why’d you have to make things so complicated?

This slice is made up of a lemon cake, a lemon syrup, a mousse, a lime curd glaze and the mezcal roasted pineapple. Five components. Thirty-two ingredients if you make your own lime curd (I did not) and the pineapple (which as per above, I also did not make).

Included in these thirty two ingredients is 100g of lemon aspen. Do you know what lemon aspen is? Nope, me either. According to Cantina’s glossary, it is

“A small, pale yellow fruit, with a lemon flavour and aroma and spongy flesh…it is available from bush food specialists and gourmet greengrocers”.

Let’s just put aside the fact that it was neither available from gourmet greengrocers or bush food specialists when I was looking for it.

Because you know what else is a small pale yellow fruit with a lemon flavour and aroma?

A lemon.

Readily available all over the damn place.

I also made the soft shell crab tacos with guacamole, shaved fennel and sweetcorn salad for my birthday dinner. Softshell crabs weren’t available for love or money so I made these with lobster tails. Because you know, it was my birthday and dammit if I wasn’t going to get fancy!!!

It’s delightful, it’s delicious, it’s de-lovely

You know the absolute worst thing about Cantina? It’s cheffy, it’s pretentious, it’s fiddly, pretty much everything was a pain in the arse to cook. But when they worked, which was most of the time? They were so damn tasty that they almost made all the effort worthwhile. So, whilst I part of me really wants to consign this book to the second-hand shop pronto, I am going to hang onto it for a little while longer!

Both the cake/slice and the tacos were mouthwateringly delicious, even if they were also a lot of work to prepare!

The standout recipe for me from Cantina was the Heirloom tomato escabeche. It was so good!!!!!

I have a challenge with myself that I will reduce either through binning or donating 1000 things in the next 12 months. Twenty days in I am up to 190 so it is going well. But there’s a long way to go I may need to put Cantina on the donation pile later in the year!

Next up on my Tasty Reads book cook though Silvia Colloca’s Made in Italy. I only have about ten recipes left to cook from it so I should easily be done by the end of the year. And based on everything I have already cooked it is pretty down to earth which is exactly what I needed after the high-end madness that was Cantina!

So tell me, do you have a cookbook you find infuriating? What was frustrating about it? Did you keep it or give it away?

And have a great week!