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It seems that even in the 18th and 19th Centuries, the world of cookery books was dominated by celebrity chefs, when cooks employed by royalty or those who ran famous eating houses were the main beneficiaries of the boom in the publishing of cookbooks. There was also a rise in the number of vegetarian cookbooks published during the 19th Century and the writers of those were often already known too. Mrs Bowdich for example, who published ‘New Vegetarian Recipes’ in 1892, was the owner of a vegetarian restaurant on Gray’s Inn Road in London.
To celebrate all this, the Keats House Museum in London has been showing an exhibition of the period’s celebrity cookbooks, from the collection at the Guildhall Library. This coming weekend is the last chance to see the exhibition as it closes on 26th February.
This is a recipe from one of the featured books ‘The Complete Confectioner’ by Frederick Nutt, and what I love about this is the instruction to include carraway seeds, ‘as many as you think proper’!
Judges Biscuits by Frederick Nutt, 1819
Take six eggs and break them into copper pan, yolks and whites together, whisk them well for above five minutes, mix half a pound of powdered sugar with the eggs, and whisk them for ten minutes, put as many carraway seeds as you think proper, and half a pound of sifted flour, mix it well with a wooden spoon, and put three papers on your plates; then take a spoon and drop them on papers about the size of a crown-piece, sift some powdered sugar over them, let them be rather thick in the middle, and the oven rather sharp, and when they come out, cut them off the paper while hot.
Regency ‘Celebrity’ Cookbooks
Keats House Museum
until 26th February 2012
Keats Grove, Hampstead, London NW3 2RR UK
Well, summer’s finally arrived. No really. Yesterday was the hottest September day on record and the heatwave is set to continue over the weekend. Not so much the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’, which John Keats apparently wrote on 19th September (in his poem ‘To Autumn’), but a time to bring out the barbies and bikinis.
It’s been a funny old year for weather, which is affecting various crops in different ways. We had a terrible year for tomatoes as the damp, warm weather meant the plants got very mouldy. But apples are apparently early and yielding well. And while it may seem natural to hit the beach in all this glorious sunshine, it is actually autumn and there’s nothing better to do on a nice autumn day then spend a quiet hour picking blackberries. Blackberries are a true superfood as they’re very high in antioxidants, vitamins C, E and K as well as manganese. And they’re free! Folklore dictates that you shouldn’t pick blackberries after Old Michaelmas Day, 11th October, as the devil has been doing unpleasant things to them! The date at least probably makes sense, as by then the fruit may have been affected by mould. So get picking over the next few days.
Another wonderful thing to do in the autumn is to make chutney. Storing up some of summer’s sunshine to be brought out in the depths of winter is very satisfying, and bubbly cheese on toast topped with chutney is a great comfort food! I may leave further chutney making ’til the hot weather’s over, as it’s also a lovely activity for colder days! But I now have a store of blackberry and apple chutney tucked away in a dark cupboard ready to be brought out when winter really does kick in!
Blackberry and Apple Chutney
1lb / 400g Blackberries
3/4lb / 300g Bramley apples
½lb / 200g Onions
1 level tsp salt
¾ pint / 0.5 litres Malt vinegar
2 level tsp freshly grated ginger
½ level tsp ground cloves
10oz / 250g Demarara sugar
Thoroughly wash the blackberries and put them in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Prepare the apples and onions by chopping them finely or mincing them in a food processor. Put them into the pan with all the other ingredients except the sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes to allow the fruit to soften, then add the sugar.
Leaving the pan uncovered, simmer the chutney until it thickens. This should take 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Meanwhile heat some clean jars in an oven set at 100˚C for at least 10 minutes to sterilise them.
Pour the chutney into the jars and seal straight away. The chutney is best left for at least 2 weeks before eating, to allow the flavours to fully develop.
*My hollyfoods range of chutneys and jams are for sale in Par Ici in Twickenham in west London.
- Cakes for Japan
In a brilliant stroke of charitable inspiration, Maiden on Shoreditch High Street, London, are hosting a pop-up, sushi inspired cake shop to raise funds for the Red Cross and their work with the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
So pop along until 7pm today for sushi-lookin’ confectionary. Bakers involved include Ms Cupcake’s vegan cakes and whoopie pies from Accidentally Vegan. There are also events coming up in Leeds and Manchester, and why not host your own…
Cakes for Japan
Maiden
188 Shoreditch High Street
London E1
I’ve been wanting to try Zilli Green since it opened in February. Not least because it has been the subject of wildly varying reviews, from the good, to the bad and the downright ugly! Aldo Zilli runs several restaurants and bars, as well as being a tv chef. He decided to open a vegetarian restaurant after adopting a healthy lifestyle and appearing on ‘Celebrity Fit Club’. He doesn’t cook in the restaurant himself, leaving the honours to head chef Enzo di Marino, a long-standing vegan. I checked before going that everything on the menu is veggie, including all the cheeses (and yes, that includes the parmesan!)
Zilli Green
alpine strawberries in the garden
To coincide with the first week of the Wimbledon tennis championships (taking place just down the road from here and famous for strawberries and cream!), our first alpine strawberries ripened this week. They may be tiny, but boy, do they pack a lot of flavour. They’re so easy to grow, especially if bought as small plants, and they make an attractive addition in pots on the deck. They look fantastic sitting on top of a pile of cream or ice cream and they really do have the most intense strawberry flavour – the exact opposite of the huge, red, but insipid tasting specimens available year-round in supermarkets!
And to keep up the Wimbledon theme, we’ve discovered that the ideal accompaniment to Pimm’s is not lemonade, as previously thought, but elderflower cordial! It’s less sweet and has a hint of vanilla. Just perfect!
