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Miss Foodwise

Celebrating British food and Culture

feasting

When it comes to Mincemeat, you have to plan ahead

11th October 2019 by Regula Leave a Comment

Mincemeat is an ancient recipe that gives you a taste of Medieval times gone by when the usage of this mixture was widely common for sweet as well as savoury dishes. That is if you were well off, dishes with these rich ingredients were the privilege of the very rich and one of the first recipes dates from the 14th century scroll presumably written by the chef of King Richard II.

Mincemeat is best made at least a month in advance so that the flavours can mature. You can use it for different recipes: as a filling for Mince pies of course but also for Eccles cakes and a couple of other British bakes.

The combination of fruits and spices for mincemeat is often diverse, but raisins, currants and candied lemon, cedro and/or orange peel are standard. Some old recipes also contain prunes, dates, figs or candied ginger. Spices are usually cinnamon, cloves, mace and nutmeg. There is always grated apple or pear and sometimes also lemon or orange juice – mostly from Seville oranges (these are very acidic and also the basis for English marmalade – see recipe here).

You can make the mincemeat in this large quantity and store it in the fridge for up to 6 months in sterilised preserving jars.

And then for a little joyeus news: my new book ‘Brits Bakboek‘ has been nominated for ‘Het Gouden Kookboek’ a prestigious kookbook award in the Netherlands. I’m absolutely chuffed and honoured to be nominated as the only Belgian on the list!
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Filed Under: Baking, Christmas, christmas & thanksgiving, feasting, Historical recipes, Medieval Tagged With: British food

Hot Cross Buns – The Tale Of English Buns # 2

29th March 2018 by Regula 6 Comments

Bake them on Good Friday: The history and tales behind these spiced buns are plenty and intriguing, steeped in folklore dating back as far as Anglo-Saxon Britain. This is perhaps one of the most iconic of buns.

Every year well before Easter Marks & Spencer starts piling up Hot Cross Buns from chocolate & salted caramel to blueberry and marmalade. Marmalade I can understand as you do add candied orange peel to the dough, but chocolate & salted caramel and blueberry just creates a whole different bun, the cross being the only reminder of a traditional Hot Cross Bun. But what is traditional or original with a recipe as old as this one? If you scroll down to the recipe you might discover I too dare to add something which isn’t traditional from time to time.

The tradition of baking bread marked with a cross is linked to paganism as well as Christianity. The pagan Saxons would bake cross buns at the beginning of spring in honour of the goddess Eostre – most likely being the origin of the name Easter. The cross represented the rebirth of the world after winter and the four quarters of the moon, as well as the four seasons and the wheel of life.

The Christians saw the Crucifixion in the cross bun and, as with many other pre-Christian traditions, replaced their pagan meaning with a Christian one – the resurrection of Christ at Easter. …

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Filed Under: 20th century, Baking, Bread, feasting, Food & Social history, Spring, Uncategorized Tagged With: baking, Best of British, British food, buns, English buns, Food history, food traditions, spring

Swedish Saint Lucia Buns on the darkest day of the year

13th December 2017 by Regula 11 Comments

First of all good news! My book Belgian Café Culture (Authentieke Belgische Cafés) has won the ‘Food History’ Award for Belgium at the Gourmand World Book Awards! I’m extremely happy that our Belgian café heritage is getting such recognition, in the hope that this will lead to some day preserving cafés as protected heritage. Now on to todays business…

Ever since I spent some time in Sweden I can not stop baking traditional Swedish delights! So of course I had to bake on Santa Lucia, which is celebrated in Sweden today. They go by a few names: Lussebullar, Lussekatt, Lussekatter, St.Lucia bullar and plain old saffron buns.

According to tradition it is the eldest daughter of the family who is in charge of baking these buns. Santa Lucia is the christianised pagan feast of the winter solstice. Today is the darkest day of the year and therefore light has to be celebrated and cherished. Before christianisation the Nordic people would celebrate the goddess Frigga or Freya and her awakening from the tree in which she was hiding with her child Baldur. This marks the shortest day and the moment in which the days will start to lengthen again. For pagans today is christmas….

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Filed Under: Afternoon Tea, Baking, European food, feasting, Scandinavian food, Sweet, Uncategorized Tagged With: breakfast, buns, sweet

Stir-up Sunday, History and Plum pudding

18th November 2016 by Regula 5 Comments

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Let me start with blowing my own trumpet, it’s my blog so I’m allowed! I’m pleased to have tracked down a copy of Delicious Magazine while in Budapest because in it they have elected my book Pride and Pudding as one of the best books of 2016! After the hard work creating this book I am of course flattered and beyond happy to get this kind of news! So thank you again Delicious Magazine UK!!

Now on to the news of the day!

This weekend will mark the last Sunday before advent which is traditionally Stir-up Sunday. According to (rather recent) tradition, plum pudding or Christmas pudding should be made on this day. It is a custom that is believed to date back to the 1549 Book of Common Prayer (though it is actually not); where a reading states ‘stir up, we beseech thee’. The words would be read in church on the last Sunday before Advent and so the good people knew it was time to start on their favourite Christmas treat.

It was a family affair: everyone would gather to stir the pudding mixture from east to west, in honour of the Three Kings who came from the east. Sometimes coins or trinkets would be hidden in the dough; finding them on Christmas Day would bring luck and good fortune.

There are a lot of legends and claims made about the origins of the plum pudding. Some say it was King George I who requested plum pudding as a part of the first Christmas feast of his reign, in 1714. George I was christened ‘the Pudding King’ because of this myth but there are no written records prior to the twentieth century to tell us that this king deserved this title.

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Filed Under: 19th century, Christmas, christmas & thanksgiving, feasting, Food & Social history, Historical recipes, Pride and Pudding, Pudding, Sweet, traditional British bakes, Victorian, Winter Tagged With: Best of British, christmas, Food history, Pride and Pudding, pudding, Victorian

Winter feasting

23rd December 2015 by Regula 6 Comments

Planning christmas dinner ahead of time

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I had it all under controle weeks ago, I only needed to sort out the bird for which I was late. To get a good bird, and with that I mean a bird that has roamed freely and has had a happy life without cruelty, I need to order at the farm over 6 months in advance. And I wasn’t that prepared this year. Getting a turkey, goose, duck or a capon like that is not easy in Flanders. Yes you can walk into a supermarket and get one, but since I don’t know where that bird has been, I tend to try and avoid it. Why? By buying factory farmed meat, you support it. So the number one thing to do if you want to take a stand is just not buying it anymore.

I now have a small turkey in my fridge, from a brand with a good name I’m not going to name. I’m going to treat it like a capon and go medieval this year. For the veg I have done my prep a little while ago, and there are a couple of side dishes which I am doing on the day itself. For us that is tomorrow, we traditionally come together for christmas eve rather than christmas day as we don’t have father christmas coming. Confusingly our father christmas came 6th of december and he is called Sinterklaas or Saint Nicolas. This is a pagan tradition which was adapted by christianity, and in some areas, Saint Nicolas became father christmas and was moved to christmas day. Children get gifts twice this month… imagine if you do not have a lot of money to spend.

But back to christmas and the food that come with it.

The veg prep in advance

Root vegetables.
These are so easy to prepare in advance so you can just finish them off just before serving. Especially if you have no help in the kitchen and the whole family has come to enjoy the celebrations at your house. First things first is choosing your roots, these can be parsnips, celery roots, turnips, celeriac and carrots. Clean and cut celeriac and turnip into dice, quarter thinner ones like parsnip or celery root, and leave small carrots whole.

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The best way forward and this will take a little time, is to fry these veg separately because they will each be done at a different stage. If you get your mind set to it, it is actually a relaxing task and arranging all the veg to cool is actually quite pleasant, especially if you are a bit OCD, check my tray. Now leave them to cool, bag them carefully and chuck in your freezer. Then when you need them, defrost in your fridge overnight and glaze them with some butter and stock if you have it just before serving. If you are doing this the day before, you do not have to freeze them of course. Make sure the roots are warm all the way through and place in a warmed serving dish. The full and detailed recipe will be up on the Guardian soon but I think you will manage.

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Next up are Brussels sprouts.
Now I am not particularly fond of sprouts, I don’t think they are pleasant to bite into except when they have stewed for hours in a quintessentially Dutch/Flemish dish called Hutsepot. In this dish, potato, roots, and sprouts are stewed with salty meat and sausage. A bit like a cassoulet but without beans and vegetables instead. But it can not be christmas without sprouts, I always prepare them, without fault. So here is an idea to make them a little more fun. I’ve added roasted pumpkin to give a little sweetness, and nuts to bring out the earthiness of the sprouts, and kale because I like it and because it gives a little silkiness and it works like a shawl around the other veg.

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I prepped these veg in advance by blanching the sprouts and the pumpkin and then freezing them. Again if you are doing this the day before, you do not have to freeze them. The kale is blanched on the day, then finished off by tossing it in a hot pan with a generous know of butter, salt and pepper. The pumpkin is charred on a grill and the sprouts also tossed in a hot pan with butter. You can add bacon if you must, but some chopped up nuts and whole ones are enough for me.

Celeriac
Another veg that is always on my christmas table. I peel and cube these in advance, blanch and freeze or keep in the fridge until needed for either celeriac puree or soup. I saved you on time to do this in advance and it feels very good when you just have to finish these veg on the day. You feel wonderfully prepared!

Over to the fresh and crisp vegetable sides to make on the day
Kohlrabi is to winter what cucumber is to summer, a refreshing mouthful. I simply peel and dice the kohlrabi and toss them with a very simple dressing made of yoghurt diluted with water and salt and pepper. Then the whole lot is mixed with torn up watercress leaves and basil just before serving. More watercress then basil. It looks pretty and is perfect to bring a little fresh note to the meat and butter heavy table. Keep covered in the fridge until needed.

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More roots – fresh beetroot and carrot salad
I can’t seem to get enough of them, but they are extremely healthy. If you can get your hands on multicoloured beets and carrots then use these. Some people just really love this stuff and will empty the plate quite quickly. This salad is made on the day. Just use a food processor or mandolin (careful!) to finely grate the carrots and beets. Cut parsley finely and mix in with the roots. Make a dressing by mixing a little apple vinegar, olive oil, yoghurt and salt and pepper. Now toss in with the roots. If you used more vegetables you might need to double the amount of dressing.  Now cover up and place in the fridge until needed, or serve at once.

Beans, for bean lovers
Beans at the christmas table? Why not? I love beans. All too often I won’t have a large appetite after cooking christmas dinner, I will be running around giving people more sauce, more meat, more whatever. So I will end up, not eating meat and enjoying the vegetables instead. These beans are also good the day after for lunch. They are tasty. Vegetarians on your table will also be grateful for these. These are also okay to make a day in advance, or a couple of hours in advance. Soak a cup of white beans overnight and cook until done, let them cool. Finely chop up a half of red paprika, heat up a little olive oil in a small pan and fry lightly with one crushed clove of garlic. This will help it digest better. Chop up a handful of parsley and mix in with the beans, paprika and garlic. Now prepare 1/4 cup of yoghurt with a teaspoon of water and season with salt and pepper. Toss in with the beans, ready.

Mulled wine or Ypocras. (find my recipe here)
You need to make this a couple of days or  a week in advance so the flavours can develop. You can even make the base and freeze it. I always make my mulled wine to an ancient recipe for Ypocras, or Hypocras. The spice mixture for ypocras was known as ‘Gyle’ and usually contained cinnamon, grains of paradise, long pepper and cardamom pods. These spices were bruised with a pestle and mortar and then left to steep in the red or white wine overnight or possibly even longer to soak up all the flavours.

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Of course it can’t be christmas without christmas pudding if you are British, or obsessed with Britain like I am. But unfortunately it is too late to cook a christmas pudding, this is definitely a task you should do weeks and sometimes months in advance if you like a boozy pudding. I you want to be prepared for next year, you can start your pudding early with this recipe I posted a couple of years ago here >

I’ve written up the vegetable recipes in a more detailed manner for my friends over at Burleigh pottery, these are the links to the pages:
Preparing for christmas part one >
Preparing for christmas part two >

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I’m wishing you a happy christmas wherever you are, and I hope to see you over on this blog again in 2016!

Love

Regula x

Filed Under: christmas & thanksgiving, feasting, Uncategorized Tagged With: christmas, feasting, thanksgiving

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Meet Regula

Meet Regula

My Books: Pride and Pudding

My Books: Pride and Pudding

Brits Bakboek (British Baking)

Brits Bakboek (British Baking)

Belgian Cafe Culture

Belgian Cafe Culture

NT Book of Puddings

NT Book of Puddings

Check out my husband’s ART

Check out my husband’s ART

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Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. Read More…

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