How to Make Swine in Scrumpy

For a couple of years now, Blighty's customers have been eating a lot of McWhinney's Irish Pork Sausages. I eat them myself at least once per week. This week sausage night came round once again and I wondered if there was something a little more exciting I could do with my bangers.

Then, while flipping through the pages of an old book of Celtic recipes, I came across a Cornish recipe for Pork in Cider. If you would like to call this recipe by its original title of Cornish Pork in Cider, be my guest. I changed the name to "Swine in Scrumpy" for two reasons.

First, I thought it sounded better. Second, I modified the original recipe very slightly to accommodate ingredients that I had available. I am quite pleased with the result.

Ingredients

• 1 pack of McWhinney's Irish Pork Sausages
• 1 cup of flour
• 4 small Granny Smith apples
• 1/4 cup cream
• 2 sticks celery
• 2 small onions
• Parsley, salt, pepper, cinnamon
• 1 jug rough cider direct from a farm (or a can of imported English cider)
  

Preparation

• Cut the sausages into small pieces
• Coat the sausages in flour and brown in a little oil in a frying pan
• Chop the onions and celery and fry in oil until soft
• Peel, core and chop the apples; toss in a little cinnamon
• Mix all the ingredients with the cider in an oven-proof dish
  
• Bake at 325F for 90 minutes
• Remove from oven and stir in the cream
• Sprinkle the top with parsley
  

John's Notes

The recipe includes a pint of "scrumpy" (aka "rough cider" as found on farms in the south west of England). If you know a farmer in Canada who makes rough cider you are very lucky. The rest of us will have to make do with a can of English cider from the liquor store.

Just remember that the cider used in this recipe is the fermented kind from England. The non-alcoholic, sweet cider sold in supermarkets in Canada will give the dish an entirely different flavour.

Bonus Recipe

I had a little MacDougall's Plain Flour left over from the sausage preparation so I mixed it with an equal amount of Hamlyn's Scottish Oatmeal. I then broke a couple of eggs into the mixture, added just enough cold water to make a sticky mixture. I then rolled balls of the mix in flour and pan-fried it to make some tasty dumplings that I served with my Swine in Scrumpy.

Recipe for Welsh Faggots

It's time to get back to savoury dishes again before this blog and the Blighty's British Recipes Newsletter get a reputation for being overly obsessed with desserts. Actually, that probably wouldn't be a bad reputation to earn. I read some advice once that seemed sound at the time: "life is uncertain, eat dessert first!"

So this week's recipe is for Welsh Faggots. This recipe was considered a nutritious and delicious lunch by Welsh miners. The original source suggested it could be eaten hot or cold. I made Welsh Faggots and ate them hot but I can see how they would taste good cold too.

Ingredients

• 1 kg calves liver
• 2 onions
• 1/2 cup Atora Shredded Light Suet
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• Salt & pepper
  
• 1/4 teaspoon sage
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon mace
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme

Preparation

• Grate the onions
• Wipe away the tears from step 1
• Finely chop the liver
• Stir all the ingredients together until well mixed
• Empty into a well-greased oven dish
• Bake at 350 deg F for at least 60 minutes

John's Notes

The aroma of the herbs while the dish is in the oven is intoxicating. All the family will be really looking forward to eating it. I served mine with Bisto Onion Gravy and it was simply delicious. The herbs used in this recipe really give the meal its distinctive flavour.I recommend Batchelor's Marrowfat peas as a good accompaniment to this meal.

Bonus Recipe

Here's a dessert recommendation to go with Welsh Faggots. Break up a whole pack of stale chocolate biscuits and soak in milk until mushy. Break 2 eggs into the mix and stir thoroughly. Pour into a greased oven dish and bake at 350 degF until the top is brown and a knife pushed into the centre of the pudding comes out clean. Serve with whipped cream.

Recipe: Iron Duke's Field Pudding

The Iron Duke, as every British schoolchild knows, was Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington. The Duke led the British army to victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

It isn't easy to feed a large army in a foreign land. Some supplies were brought from England in the wagon train, others had to be procured locally from a potentially hostile local population. While enlisted men survived on pork, beans and hardtack, officers dined in style.

Nonetheless, army cooks had to improvise often using simple ingredients that could be prepared in the field using very basic cooking facilities. At the same time, officers' mess meals had to be fit for a gentleman's table.

This recipe is an adaptation of a traditional British recipe that meets those conditions precisely. It uses simple ingredients, can be prepared in minutes and is definitely worthy of an English gentleman's table. Blighty's Britfood Tips dedicates this recipe to one of Britain's greatest soldiers - the Iron Duke.

Ingredients

• One large stale cake
• 1 cup of sherry
• 2 cups of custard
• 3 tablespoons strawberry jam
• 1 shot of brandy

Preparation

• Break the cake into small pieces, thoroughly mix with the sherry until the sherry has been absorbed by the cake
• Press the sherry soaked cake into individual serving bowls
• Mix the jam and brandy together and pour over the cake
• Pour a layer of custard on top of the jam
• Top with a knob of Devon Double Cream
• Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving
  

John's Notes

At first, I thought this was just another trifle. But then I remembered a previous recipe on this blog in which we established that, although there are many different ways to make trifle, all of them contain fruit. There is no fruit in this dessert.

This is a dessert that could easily have graced the Iron Duke's field table. It took me no more than ten minutes to prepare and my family thought it was "brilliant" as they say in England.

Scotch Mushroom Recipe

 

Some say that the word "Scotch" is reserved for the description of Scottish whisky. Anything else should rightly be called "Scottish". For example, what some refer to as "Scotch Pies" should properly be called "Scottish Meat Pies". With that in mind I stand by my description of this week's recipe for "Scotch" Mushrooms and you can probably already guess why.

Yes, one of the ingredients is Scotch Whisky. We used Scotch in another recipe recently. If you bought a bottle to use in that recipe I recommend that you drink the remainder and buy a fresh bottle. Scotch that has been left in an opened bottle too long is not suitable for cooking. 

Trust me on this. If your spouse doesn't believe that story, just tell him or her that you read in Blighty's British Recipes - so it must be true.

Scotch Mushrooms is a superbly easy recipe and makes a good appetizer. It is simply marinaded button mushrooms.

Ingredients

• 30ml Scotch Whisky
• 45ml oil
• 10ml lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 cup of button mushrooms
  
• Seasoning
  

Preparation

• Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a blender
• Add to the mushrooms (raw or lightly cooked)
• Toss and store for several hours for best flavour
• Use a container with a lid and turn the container several times during storage to ensure the mushrooms are evenly coated
  

John's Notes
My wife and I couldn't agree on the best part of this recipe. She loves mushrooms and could eat them with every meal. I was deeply concerned with getting the marinade just right and went to a lot of trouble to make sure that the whisky was at its best before I used it ;-)

I made my Scotch Mushrooms with raw mushrooms to make a light and delicious salad appetizer. Some may prefer to lightly cook the mushrooms before adding the marinade.