Chapter Nine.

Mrs Bridget's Apple Pie.

The Butchers.

When I was with my Nan recently I wanted to inquire about this recipe she gave me. Mrs Bridget's Apple Pie. First I asked who Mrs Bridget...? She told me this was a 'little old lady' that came to the Butchers, which my Nan and Nicholas used to run in the 1980's. She said that this recipe used to make customers fly through the doors to grab a pie along with their selection of meats. Nicholas was also a very good addition as Master Butcher, apparently holding the title of...

Nicholas with a piece of machinery used in the shop.

However I re-created the recipe for Mrs Bridget's Apple Pie:

 

Although with my twisting ways I decided to cut some of the pastry out of it. 

With the addition of a lovely home-made vanilla custard, et voila, the masterpiece that could have made millions if the shop was still running :(

The texture of the pastry was really good, it had the right amount of crisp, crunch and softness. I managed to cut the apples up to a good size and keep them as equal as you can is a good tip. I also used honey to drizzle over and it gave the pie a really glossy glaze. Now I know you may think it looks like a 'Tarte Tatin'- or an apple tart. But in my eyes this is the best re-creation I could do.

My Nan was very impressed anyhow and everyone seemed to enjoy it, even Dad had second helpings.
On the other hand, I have some recipes the shop used to sell:

My Nan used to attend a cooking course when she was in her late teens early twenties, where she began to collect recipes and typed them up or wrote them down, depending on how successful she was at them. These select few recipes were so good she made them to go into the shop and they sold really well. Nicholas and Nan both had a good cornish pasty recipe which I think was combined with this one above. If your wondering what all the child-like scribbles are, they were done by my Mum in her high chair when she was a baby.

Still as cheeky!

I managed to get another interview with my Nan about her time as a Butcher, or Butcher's wife. And she describes the 'goings on' in the shop, what they sold etc. It was a very successful business and unfortunately only due to the supermarkets expanding they're meat produce, they had to close in the late 80's. I was not around when the shop was running, however it was true to the name of a family business. Mum, Dad, Uncle Stephen and many more people who were friends and family all had a job at some point with Nan and Nicholas' shop.

Here is the interview... Please excuse the roughness, however it was quite difficult interviewing dear Mrs Marsh, she is slightly deaf and hard to video. I am very grateful for these videos I have posted so far though. Nigella would always prefer this style rather than it being edited!
In the video as well she highlights her memories of what her aspirations in cooking were. She also looks at Delia Smith's recent opinions on baking and how people don't make time to just bake anymore, the '33p' cupcake is definitely what my Nan would make time to do. Nowadays it is interesting how food habits have changed as well. People depend and thrive through the supermarkets and it's all food on the go. Yet there is the popular and ever-growing interest in the cake and baking industry. The glorifying television programmes like "CAKE BOSS"and "The Great British Bake Off", are both trying to impress viewers and make them realise how 'easy' or demanding a baking project is. I really enjoy these programmes as they help younger people value and appreciate old methods of cooking, and cooking to share.
The idea of food as memory is inspiring and with many writers like Elizabeth David, Alice B. Toklas and even chef personalities like Nigel Slater, they all use food as the device to remember a personal account. It is this notion of remembering the taste, how it was made, the textures, they all help you to remember the exact time and place you were in. Looking into my Nan's recipes has really shown me insight into the traditional methods of cooking, looking at how to twist and modernize old recipes, and to remember the good times shared through the food and dishes my Nan and I have shared or cooked together.
Looking into the idea of 'family' and cooking in the home as an important source of wellness and balance to help in family life.

All of us together on Holidays in Disney-world.

To conclude, with this blog I have attempted to portray my Nan's cooking or her recipes through the use of a memoir, and to express food a nostalgic and memorable. I have looked into the course material and have a few comparisons or inspirations from them like Toklas and Slater. Nigella Lawson's personal and anecdotal style is really inspiring and has changed the way chefs or cooks look into the recipes. It helps the reader identify and try to visualise the moment of the first trying of the food, or it's a recipe passed down from generation to generation that symbolises food as secretive or as legacy. I hope to have effectively explain the earliest memories of food my Nan has had and myself. I feel this conjunction of our ideas and opinions has helped bring us closer and has definitely improved my cooking skills! I am now not as terrified with guilt that I can now cook a joint of meat. Make pies, breads and sponges to satisfy and give people pleasure. Mrs Marsh's memoir is a very interesting and skilled set of recipes for home cooking. They symbolise the idea behind getting together as family, friends and just enjoying food together. It is this idea that has inspired me throughout the blog and I hope to have effectively shown different angles of this notion. 

Chapter Eight.

Easter Cakes and Banana Bread.

Family, Food & Nostalgia.


Now as a child Nan was one of the main reasons for getting me up to scratch with cooking skills and was the main teacher for my brother and myself. She was always concerned with this as she felt it is a main asset to be able to cook to prepare us for adulthood. Also she feels quite strongly that the schools in modern day do not enforce home economics and the homely subjects that helped every pupil with the necessary jobs especially cooking.
Here is a little interview with her on her interest of cooking and where it comes from:

Now a recipe, just for Easter time, is my Nan's Easter biscuits that she taught me to make.
These always are my favourite part of Easter time, especially with a nice hot cup of tea and a good movie on the telly.

Follow these simple instructions and this is the result.

Don't forget to sprinkle granulated sugar or caster sugar over the biscuits! Or the bunnies will not be happy!

These Easter biscuits are always really good and even better than the shop bought ones. To test a good Easter biscuit is to test the flavour. The cassia oil is the main functional ingredient that you need to make the lovely taste of them. 2 drops should be substantial maybe 3 if they are little ones. It is the lovely fragrant taste of the oil mixed in with the crunchy biscuit and the sweet sugar, that make a good Easter biscuit a crowd pleaser. As Nigel Slater in his works Eating for England, has a chapter called "The Biscuit Tin". He says:

 " We are the everyday capital biscuit of the world...What France is to cheese, Italy is to pasta, Britain is to the biscuit".

I started liking these biscuits when Nan used to make them with us when we were really young. We would usually try to stuff our faces with our Easter eggs, but Nan would always get to us before we could rip open the boxes. Well done Nan!

Even when I was really, really young I used to love these biscuits when sat in my high chair or in my pram on a day trip somewhere. I used to love the sugary coating and nibble away at the edges. I remember my brother asking Nan "has Annabel been nibbling at all the biscuits?!", this was because that time she made them she used a circular cutter, which gives the effect of the ridges on the biscuits (as you can see above). 

This my Nan with my Mum (little then), her first husband Michael (my Granddad), Uncle Stephen and my great Aunty Yvonne.

 

 

 

This was taken down in Weston-super-mare in the Easter time.

 

These recipes I am sharing are from when my Nan was really quite young to the collection from her recent interests. This part of the blog is essential as it stays true to the theme and it is a main reason why I am so inspired by my Nan all the time. She is the main person who helps everyone out and her cooking is my earliest memories of 'home'. I feel really proud to be able to share these recipes and really enjoy making them when I am away from home. 

 

Another recipe which is a food memory, is my Nan's recipe for Banana bread. 

This 'bread' is the best thing since sliced bread!

You will need a loaf tin for this recipe to give the shape of the 'bread'. It is a cakey texture but in the shape of a loaf of bread. The recipe can be twisted many ways by adding in extra ingredients, Nan puts in white chocolate for me. Cranberries, dark chocolate is a good mix. Also apricots, raisins and sultanas are good too!

This recipe is a main asset to Nan's recipes and everyone really loves it in my family. It is the memory of coming home and grabbing a slice of this with a good cup of tea and chatting about the manic day I just had, that sums up the main reason for my nostalgic and adoration for my Nan's cooking. There are many recipes nowadays of banana bread, it has become somewhat of a modern and cosmopolitan breakfast treat or afternoon snack.

Miss Sophie Dahl has an exciting recipe for this as well....
http://www.sophiedahl.com/recipe/banana-bread

This as famous in the family as my Nan's Victoria Sponge recipe. My Dad, Granddad and Uncle Stephen all ask for a loaf if there is one going.

Chapter Seven:

The Crackin' West Country Roast Dinner.

Now, this is the post most people I know have been waiting for. Mrs Marsh's Home cooking is the main idea behind my blog and this is one of Mrs Marsh's top jobs. I went home to catch up with my Nan and family for Mother's day and this is the best dish we have both cooked together yet. I even managed to get her to re-master the famous 'Mrs Bridget's Apple Pie'.

Mother's Day card I designed for My Nan.

 

With these cookbooks my Nan and myself created the dinner with all the trimmings. Since my Nan has Irish heritage we decided to roasted potatoes and to add the 'west country' to the meal I decided a Cauliflower Cheese would be suitable to add to the trimmings. We used the big book of knowledge (or I did) to find out the directions on cooking the two meat joints. I decided to use pork and turkey, only down to the fact my Dad isn't a great fan of turkey so its a must that you have to please every diner in Mrs Marsh's kitchen.

However with this dish, I always have memories of the meat being the part of the meal, I enjoy yet always found the scariest part. I wanted to do this dish for the family and mostly because it is the main meal I firstly remember that makes me reminisce about living at home with Nan and everyone. Sundays were not days just to catch up on work but they were for catching up with everyone and chatting about the week or watching a film on the telly waiting for Nan to finish making the roast. Nan always was the main chef in the kitchen and my brother or Mum occasionally helped. I, on the other hand used to watch and wait to see if I could pinch a 'pigs in blanket' before Nan saw.
The raw meat has not always been my favourite sight to see in the kitchen, it always makes me feel like I should turn vegetarian when I have to deal with cooking it, however when it comes to the tasting after its cooked. Well that's a different story.
This does reminds me of a scenario in the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, where she describes the killing of a carp in the style of a detective novel. I found this cookbook really entertaining and it is one of my inspirations for my blog as well, as I like her anecdotal style of writing. In the chapter called "Murder in the Kitchen" she says
  "The first victim was a lively carp brought to the kitchen in a covered basket from which nothing could escape...So quickly to the murder and have it over with...Limp, I fell into a chair, with my hands unwashed and reached for a cigarette, lighted it and waited for the police to take me into custody."

It is one of the most famous parts of her cookbook along with the recipe for Haschich Fudge which my Nan probably wouldn't approve of! I find her style of memoir very interesting as she relates all of the parts to actual personal accounts. 

Therefore, with this I wanted to discuss how much the roast dinner symbolises my family connections and how it represents memories of when I was younger. Not just how it symbolises the epitome of all British dishes. However the detective part of my family dinner would be me trying to sneak a bit of meat or a sausage without Nan finding out or feeling guilty because I eating a freshly cooked, maybe even killed piece of animal!

My Nan always says that her inspiration for cooking came from her own mother Mrs Roach and her love of cooking in lessons at school. Infact my Nan always claims that I am rather like her mother in the sense that we share the same eating habits. When I was younger I have to admit I was a nightmare with food and very fussy! I have some family pictures to share...

This is me, being me when I was younger, my brother, Mrs Marsh and Uncle Stephen (My Nan's son).

The young lady in my Great Nan's arms is my Mum. And the boy on the top right is my Uncle Stephen. 

This is my dinner and this time round when I cooked it I managed to get 3 'pigs in blankets'. I really enjoyed cooking this with my Nan as I felt that I was 'adult' enough to actually make most of it. I let Nan do the veg, but I did manage to do the meat, roast potatoes/ parsnips and the cauliflower cheese.  With roast dinners, even Mrs Isabella Beeton discusses that they really bring the family together on the day yet they always produce enough food to put into other dishes for the rest of the week. Thus, I decided to incorporate the recipe for Cauliflower Cheese.
This dish is still a 'Monday night' dish for Nan as she uses the leftover veg and meat to dish up dinner for the family on Monday nights as my parents both work very late on Mondays.
With my recipe for Cauliflower Cheese:

I like to add in 1 whole leek to give a nice spring to the flavour. My Nan was really surprised with this addition and approved. Remember set your oven to 200 degrees centigrade and get it warmed up so the cheese can melt to perfection.

Make the 'roux' for the cheese sauce. Now as you can see this was my Nan's job. I am still mastering this technique.

 Add two tablespoons of Philadelphia cheese to add 'creaminess' to the cauliflower, leeks and the 'greenage'.

Pour the sauce over the veg and make sure it is a oven-safe dish. Make sure its all equal over the veg and spread it flat with a spoon.

Leave in the oven for a good 20-30 minutes and sprinkle some more parmesan and cheddar to make it nice and crispy.

Stay tuned for Mrs Bridget's Apple Pie....

CHAPTER SIX

Memories of the exotic.

Mrs Marsh's Sicilian Orange Cake.

Turning into....

Annabel's Sicilian Orange Cupcakes.

I have decided to turn one of my Nan's recipes she adores, into cupcakes. I think it is an interesting change and also updates the recipe. My Nan took this recipe from Rick Stein in his Mediterranean works and adventures. It always reminds me of afternoon tea with my Nan and my great aunties. Nan would usually always 'knock up' one of these or one of her famous Banana breads (stay tuned for this recipe!!). I love the smell of this original recipe as it is very fresh and reminds me of holidays to Spain I have been on with my Nan. We both share a love for the food in the 'med' and every time she makes this cake everyone at home always has an extra piece.

One of Nan's pictures of me in Spain.

I think to modernize an old recipe is an interesting challenge as you have to master the many problems and face the challenges that arise, whether it be measurements with a recipe or getting the recipe wrong! I had only a few troubles with this challenge, as it was the fluid measurements I had to alter. Although when I was cooking it, I listened to the flamenco music of Cadiz and danced around the kitchen whilst my house mates waited patiently for cupcakes.

Ingredients:

250g of lightly salted butter at room temp.

250g caster sugar

250g of Self-Raising Flour.

4 medium eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons of finely grated orange zest. 

85ml of Fresh Orange Juice.

Oven at 170 degrees centigrade.

You will need two trays of cupcake tins as this makes 24 cupcakes.

Line them with cupcake cases and pre-heat oven!

How to:

Beat the butter and sugar for 4-5 mins

until very pale

Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. ( add pinches of flour to stop it curdling)

 Beat in the orange zest.(Add in a little Vanilla extract)

Add the flour in all at once and then slowly mix in the orange juice.

Add the mixture equally into the cupcake cases (don't overfill them)

Put onto the middle rack in the oven and cook for 45-50 minutes.

For the topping:
Sift 125g of icing sugar.
Stir in orange juice until you have spreadable consistency.
Then cut up the orange you used for the zest and decorate with the flesh. 












I decided to use this recipe as on our course we have been discussing the idea of the 'exotic' food and rationing of the wartime that Britain experienced. I have been discussing with my Nan that in this era the people began to enjoy the cookery books and read as them as a form of a novel or literature. I have managed to record my Nan discussing her earliest memory of fruits and vegetables and the 'exotic' produce she experienced when she was young.

(Please excuse our strong 'Bristolian' accents and my lack of video skills!!)

 

The book on the course that really interested me was Elizabeth David's A Book of Mediterranean Food. The idea of 'taking a recipe' from somewhere or from someone is very relevant with this text. After marrying her lover she sailed around in a boat in the Greek islands. She was born into an upper class family, yet she rebelled against all the social norms. She was almost trapped there after the Germans invaded in the wartime-1940. However she experienced all these new and exotic foods that were different to 'traditional British cooking', and after studying in France as well she was used to the culinary delights and gastronomy. However it was when she came back to Britain after her adventures and introduced in her works that cooking with a bit of garlic wasn't ever going to hurt anyone! My Nan is very similar to David as when she was learning to cook she was very excited to cook with new and interesting ingredients... although she doesn't like too much garlic!

With the notion of home cooking it is very important to have recipes that have been passed down or tweaked along the line of being in the hands of friends, families and acquaintances. I feel that David really pushes the essence of cooking with lots of fresh and exotic ingredients, do not be afraid to change things up in the kitchen! David in her book A Book of Mediterranean Food she has a chapter dedicated to the desserts of the 'med', called "A Few Sweets". She has a lot of orange themed recipes below...

Here is an interesting article on David and her life...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/3323687/You-can-smell-the-sea-or-touch-the-olive-branch....html

Therefore with this post I wanted to stress the idea of cooking with new ingredients and how to twist the 'old handed down' recipes. The exoticism of the recipes when they were first put out have always interested me and also in my Nan's video how she was being introduced to the fruits and veg that were coming back after the war era. What also was interesting was how she talked about her rationing books, she was very lucky as she had a larger family so they managed to get more produce.

Stay tuned...

CHAPTER FIVE:

!!!PANCAKE DAY!!! 

When it comes to pancake day, I do not think you can beat the best pancakes in Britain, that is, 

Mrs Marsh's!

I remember every year since I was little getting so excited at school, waiting for the clock to tick 4 'O' clock, then I could get home and Nan would be preparing the pancake batter waiting for us to come in and cause havoc in the kitchen or end up with ice cream covering my face....

Now, for the recipe....

• 120g/4oz plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 large free-range eggs
• 210 ml milk
• 90 ml water
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• butter, for frying

Mix the flour, salt and make a well for the eggs. Crack them in and stir well to make a thick stodgy like batter.

 Add in the fluids and mix well, however you want the mixture at a good consistency to allow yourself to make the pancakes at a decent thickness.

Get the pan really hot and melt some butter into it before pouring in about a ladle full of the mixture/batter. Don't let the butter burn as well (good tip from Mrs Marsh).

Cook till golden brown on both sides and the time depends on whether you cook with gas or electric!

BEST BIT:

Fold into a triangle (the trick is to let it cool slightly then fold in half, and half again. Pour over chocolate fudge sauce and a big dollop, of my favourite banoffee ice cream. (Tesco's do a good one).

There you go.

Mrs Marsh's Pancake day. 

Forget about the calories.

 Quote of the day.

“You can't just eat good food. You've got to talk about it too. And you've got to talk about it to somebody who understands that kind of food.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Jailbird

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/food?page=2  

This quote is really inspiring as it reflects the idea and purpose behind the blog project. And also it can relate to the idea of my personal blog. I have been discussing with my Nan about her experiences of food and her earliest memories she has of cooking and learning. 

Chapter Four:

With my blog I want to stress the importance of comfort food or true home cooking.

In our daily lives we always need food. Food is the source of our energy, for some our happiness, and it is used for occasions in which we come together as families and friends.

It is the tool we use to come together and talk about how stressful our days are and how interesting we find different facts. Whatever the occasion, food is the key to our social functioning of our day to day lives.

I am really interested in chefs who explore their nostalgic and 'comfort' essence of cooking. There are loads of different famous television chefs across our screens today who go to town on the theme of home cooking and take it to new heights. Nigella is one of those chefs who really takes cooking into a different perspective, and also my Nan loves of bit Mrs Lawson. 

Also, the feeling of the 'comfort' in cooking is 
what most people crave when we are feeling
low and worn out. Or if we just really fancy a
'pig out'! My Nan although not just with her 
cooking, she likes to enjoy the 'comfort' I can
put into cooking. One of my favourites and my Nan's favourite dish is the Spaghetti alla Carbonara. I always make this dish with her when I venture back home to the wonderful treasure that is Bristol.This is one of my favourite dishes ever since I was younger as well, which to some people can be rather tricky dish to get right, as explained later on. I find this is a dish that I can use my culinary skills that my Nan taught me to show off and also to treat my Nan to a night off from cooking!

I always find with Nigella even though she uses some ingredients in recipes that are probably really hard to find in shops, she does really simplify and break down the steps of cooking really incredible food. In my last post I created my Nan's favourite Victoria Sandwich in which I really took into perspective the 'fun' of cooking and how enjoyable it can be. Nigella makes the daily struggle of cooking for the 'light-hearted' chefs and puts the fun back into the chore and tiresome process of making roast dinners or long slow-cooking dishes. In addition to putting the extra sense of comfort and soul into food.
(Nigella's recipe from her website)

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/spaghetti-alla-carbonara-127

This recipe always as sinful in calories that it is, still gives me that guilty feeling of "oh my lord this is so scrumptious, I want seconds!". My Nan always allows me to make this for her and she always says she likes the little twists I make, even if it is adding just some extra black pepper to give it an extra kick. I do add in extra types of cheese just to splurge into the real 'comfort' eating zone, especially if I have had a hellish train journey back to Bristol. However the only slight worry this recipe brings to everyone's minds, even Nigella's, is the fact that after beating the 4 eggs and parmesan mix, you add them raw with the other ingredients such as the cream. Now some people find this is the real 'art' of getting the dish perfect, some people don't use the eggs and, as Nan may think, they have 'chickened' out, if they don't use Nigella's method. My Nan has this wonderful sense of taste and she can always tell what is in certain recipes. I think this is a real talent in cooking as you can test what and how you know is going into your meal and you know what to enjoy.

Here is a video clip of Nigella Lawson on an American Television show promoting the recipe which also features in her book "Feast".

 

Here are our results:

Good hearty and delicious food like this, is the essence of true home cooking. This is what I really love and admire chefs who strive to help this survive. Would you rather go to a restaurant, or eat this creamy, heavenly meal in the comfort of your own home? Mrs Marsh would agree, and cooking this dish together is one of my fond memories and definitely one of hers. She was so delighted we made this when I went to home to see her, she even attempted a second bowl! To help share this among the family, add some selection of garlic breads to go alongside it. 

My Nan really admires chefs like Nigel Slater, Rachel Allen and Jamie Oliver who all include in their works the capturing of the essence in your home cooking. I feel that with my Nan's recipes I get a sense of home when I make them and when she cooks them everyone comes together.