Brandy Snaps - Just in Time for Christmas!

Brandy snaps are one of those "essential" items in a British Christmas. Just like plum pudding, brandy sauce, mince pies and all the other little things we were brought up to expect to find in a British home at Christmas.

It is not quite Christmas yet but it is time to start preparing all those little items you are going to need. It is already too late to make a Christmas cake; a good one needs to mature for a few months before it tastes just right. It's not too late to make mince pies and we'll have a go at them next week.

But this week it is brandy snaps. You can make them now, and if you actually put brandy in them, they will keep until Christmas - that is if you can keep the family away from them.

Ingredients

• One tablespoon each of: Flour, Treacle, Sugar and Butter
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• Drop of brandy (optional)
  

Preparation

• Gently heat the treacle, sugar and butter in a saucepan until all have melted and you have a sticky sauce in the bottom of the pan
• Stir in the ginger and flour and remove from the heat
• Grease a large baking tray and, using a teaspoon, put well spaced drops of the sticky sauce onto the tray
• Bake at 350 degF for a few minutes. The sauce will bubble and form a lattice structure as it cooks
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little
• Remove the thin baked cookies from the tray (very carefully) using a metal spatula and roll them around a wooden spoon handle

John's Notes
Once you have mastered this recipe it takes only a few minutes from start to finish. I spent most of my evening getting this recipe just right and learned a few things I can offer as a helpful tip.

First, measure the ingredients! That sounds obvious, but I didn't do it the first time and used too much flour (and ended up with something resembling gingerbread).

Second, don't take the tray out of the oven too soon - let the sticky stuff bubble away for a few minutes to ensure the flour is fully cooked.

Finally, clean up your pans as soon as you are finished. Clean-up is easy when everything is still warm and sticky. It won't be so easy the next morning when the sticky stuff has hardened.

How to Make the Ultimate Gravy

What is the secret to a rich tasty gravy? 
It's all in the stock! Gravy is a sauce made from stock thickened with starch. You can actually get good results using instant gravies such as those made by Bisto and Oxo but for an outstanding gravy you can't beat making it from scratch.

Ingredients

• Dripping from a roast
• Flour
• Olive oil
• Seasonings
  

Preparation
We will split the preparation into two parts; (1) the stock and (2) the starch. My favourite method begins with the starch so we will discuss that first.

A Saucy Roux

Warm a splash of olive oil in a pan and stir in two tablespoons of plain or all-purpose flour. Remove from the heat and stir very thoroughly until the oil and flour mixture forms a smooth paste. Do this stage properly and there will be no lumps in your gravy.

Return to the heat and cook gently for a few seconds to allow the flour to swell as it absorbs the oil. Slowly add 1 cup of water, stirring all the time, to thin the roux. Once you are sure you have a perfectly lump free white sauce you can splash in the remainder of the water.

Take Stock

The very best stock is made from fresh dripping left in a pan after cooking a roast (beef, turkey, chicken etc). Stir some hot water into the dripping pan and scrape all the dripping into a tall, slim glass jug. Set aside for a few minutes to allow the fat to rise to the top. Carefully remove the fat with a spoon and discard it.

I like to use a hand blender to smooth the dripping at this stage. Now pour the dripping into a saucepan and cook gently, adding a little seasoning (salt, pepper, basil, oregano and garlic). A splash of Soy Sauce and a few drops of Worcestershire Sauce add a nice additional savoury flavour.

Stir the stock into the white sauce, cover and cook over a low heat until its consistency is just right. Good gravy should be slightly thick but should still pour easily.

An interesting variation is too add some chopped cooked onion, mushroom or other vegetable to the finished gravy.

If you would prefer a vegetarian gravy, simply substitute the roast meat dripping with scratch vegetable stock. To make a vegetable stock simply fry finely chopped onion, potato, carrot and celery until tender then add water and bring to the boil. Cook gently for a half hour.

John's Notes

What no picture? Come on, we all know what it is supposed to look like. I like my gravies to taste very beefy so I use lots of stock and just sufficient starch to thicken the gravy to the point where it will stick to the back of a spoon. You can experiment to get a flavour that suits your family.


So what is the purpose of gravy anyway? For me it serves two purposes. First and foremost it adds and enhances the flavour of a good Sunday dinner. Secondly, it moistens the food making it more easily digestible.

Bonus Recipe - How to Make Beef Tea

1. Buy a jar of Bovril Beef Extract
2. Put one teaspoon of Bovril in a cup and stir in piping hot water.
3. Best enjoyed while watching a soccer match on a cold, wet Saturday afternoon!
   

Recipe for Jam Roly Poly

Jam Roly Poly is one of those very traditional British desserts that probably shouldn't be eaten by anybody over the age of 21. Why? Because it is not exactly the kind of meal that is waistline friendly. If you are a weight watcher you should serve this one in very small portions.

Incidentally, I am a weight watcher. I stare down at those bathroom scales and watch in wonder as the big needle goes up and up. I guess it doesn't help that I prepare, eat and publish these recipes every week!

Ingredients

• 1 cup McDougall's Self Raising Flour
• 1/2 cup Atora Light Vegetable Suet
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Lots of your favourite Robertsons Jam

Preparation

• Blend the flour, suet and sugar together with enough warm water to make a smooth, moist dough
• Roll the dough flat into a rectangle on a floured board
• Spread the jam thickly over the dough
• Roll the dough into a cylinder and seal over the ends to keep the jam inside
• Bake in a 350 degF oven for 45 minutes OR wrap in aluminum foil and simmer in a pan full of water for 2 hours

John's Notes
This recipe makes a very heavy pudding. Hungry kids will love it. It is best served with Bird's Custard drizzled over it (actually, most British desserts are best served drizzled with - or drowned in - Bird's Custard). A couple of things are important if you want this recipe to be a success.

First, use a good quality, thick jam and use lots of it. Some of it will soak into the dough during baking. Roll the dough up into a cylinder quite loosely and remember to seal the ends to stop the jam from seeping out of the pudding during baking.

If you bake the pudding in the oven it will develop a crusty outside layer like a pie. If you steam the pudding the dough will remain soft. You choose.

The quantities suggested will make enough to serve four guilt-ridden weight watchers.

How to Make Mars Bar Rice Krispie Squares

The following recipe was submitted by Sarah:

I dropped in to Blightys on Saturday to pick up a few things and we got to talking about your blogs.  You mentioned that you were interested in any recipes that I’d be willing to share and at the time, I gave you the ingredients for Mars bar Rice Krispie squares.  To make things a little easier for you, here are the instructions:

Ingredients

• 1 imported British Mars bar
• 1 oz (2 tablespoons) margarine
• 1 cup Rice Krispies

Preparation

Melt Mars bar on stovetop (personally, I use the microwave – you just have to be careful not to melt it too quickly).  Add margarine and mix until melted and smooth.    Pour over Rice Krispies and mix.  Press in to pan, wait until cooled, cut in to squares and enjoy.  They also freeze really well.

This recipe can be easily doubled, tripled, quadrupled…  entirely up to you.

A little background on this recipe for you..  My grandmother started making these in the 50’s as a treat for my father and aunt when they were small children.  I believe the inspiration came from Women’s Weekly, and she took the recipe and perfected it.  Every year, this recipe is a staple at Christmas time, and at least 4 batches are made.  My grandmother is now 92 and living in Rochford.  And she still enjoys the occasional Mars bar Rice Krispie square… 

John's Notes

First, I want to thank Sarah, a customer at Blighty's, for sharing her grandmother's recipe. As always, I like to try every recipe before publishing it on this blog. Unfortunately, I don't have any fine imported British Mars bars in stock at the moment. Neither does our importer (the infamous Pugwash). So I had to make a substitution. I used a 230g bar of impported British Cadbury Diary Milk chocolate instead.

I melted the chocolate in a special double boiler that I have used before in these recipes. It is simply a pyrex dish that fits neatly into the top of a saucepan. The chocolate is melted by the heat of the steam from the boiling water in the pan.

Sarah: I promise to try the Mars bar version as soon as I can get more of them in stock!

Why is Yorkshire Pudding Eaten as a Starter?

First and Foremost
Tradition has it that Yorkshire Pudding should be served before the main meal. A big hunking serving of Yo'ksher Pud covered in lashings of onion gravy. No veggies, no meat, just Yorkshire Pudding and gravy.

When I was a young lad my parents explained that this was because poor families wanted to fill their bellies with inexpensive pudding before serving the roast beef. That seemed like a rational idea to me.

That belief lasted for years until I picked up a book written by Peter Walker (aka Nicholas Rhea: the author of the "Constable" series on which the TV show "Heartbeat" is based). The book is called "Folk Tales from the North York Moors".


Nay Lad, This is Why Folk Do it
Peter Walker has an altogether different explanation that, as the descendant of a Viking Warrior, I find quite appealing.

The Vikings raped, plundered, burned and pillaged their way across eastern England for hundreds of years. When a Viking raiding party reached one particular Yorkshire village they received a strange reception.

Sit Thee Down and Eat Lad
It is a tradition in Yorkshire to offer food to visitors. So, when the Vikings arrived, screaming, roaring and beating down cottage doors with their battle axes, the villagers responded by laying another place setting at their tables and serving a heaping helping of Yorkshire Pudding smothered in rich onion gravy along with roast beef and three vegetables all on the same plate.

Vikings may have been merciless butchers, pillagers and rapists, but the smell of good Yo'ksher Pud overwhelmed them and they sat down to eat. The villagers were spared in the expectation of similar feasts in the future.

Gone But Not Forgotten
After the Nordic raiders moved on to find plunder further afield, the villagers changed their eating habits. Thenceforth they served their precious Yo'ksher Pud first just in case the Vikings came back for more.