Miss Foodwise

Celebrating British food and Culture

Regula

My first Podcast episode on ‘Regula Culinaria’: Fat Tuesday

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Welkom op aflevering 1 van mijn podcast ‘Regula Culinaria’ In deze podcast ga ik, Regula Ysewijn, het hebben over culinaire tradities, hun oorsprong, hun evolutie en hun invloed op het leven. Het is eigenlijk verder bouwen op de culinair historische onderwerpen waarover ik schrijf in mijn boeken. Alleen geeft deze podcast me de vrijheid om breder te gaan.
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Regula Culinaria komt natuurlijk van mijn naam, maar wist je dat mijn naam Regula Latijn is voor de wet of de regel? Nu in deze podcast gaan we ons hoegenaamd niet aan de regels houden hoor.
Vandaag is het Vette Dinsdag. Vette dinsdag, hoezo vet?
In veel landen eten ze vandaag pannenkoeken maar wij hebben die al gebakken op lichtmis. Hoe zit dat nu eigenlijk en wat zijn onze gebruiken op vette dinsdag in Belgie. We kijken op het einde van de aflevering ook kort naar de gebruiken in het buitenland.
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Onderwerpen in de aflevering

‘De strijd tussen Vastenavond en Vasten’ is een schilderij uit 1559, geschilderd door Pieter Bruegel de Oude. Het toont ons meteen wat de kookboeken uit die tijd en later ook verraden…

Wafel recept uit een 16de eeuws handschrift 

Dit recept maakt een lopend beslag zoals het beslag dat we zien op het werk van Pieter Bruegel de Oude. Het bestaat uit bier, verse gist of biergist, gesmolten boter, eieren en lichtbruin meel.

Om te maicken dicke wafelen 
Neemt zess eijeren mit dat witte ende zess sonder wit ende slaetse wel cleijn mit een lepel vol versche ghest mit een half cruijse warm biers, die helfte meer boters gesmauten mit den bier, mit veel suijckers alsoe dattet wel soet is, ende dan neemt gebudelt meel ende menget wat dicker dan die lepel daer in overeijnt in staen mach , ende mengetse eenen halven dach te voeren eer ghijse backet ende setse bij tvier dattet warm blijft ende maict het vier van koelen ende maket yser wel heet ende doet dat deech daer in ende backsche ende neemt versche boter ende doet daer suijcker in ende maect die boter wel heet ende ghietse over die waefelen.
476 UB Gent

Het Carnaval van Binche

Het is een 400 jaar oude traditie die zo belangrijk wordt geacht dat het in 2004 de Unesco-wereld- erfgoed status kreeg.

Verdere links

Voor het carnavals recept van de Italiaans – Toscaanse Cenci moet je hier zijn: bij Julskitchen

Regula Culinaria

Vergeet mijn podcast niet toe te voegen aan je favoriete podcast app (Apple podcast neemt 10 dagen om een nieuwe podcast goed te keuren dus voorlopig enkel via de link hier of in je spotify app), en ‘subscribe’ in de rechter kolom bovenaan om bericht te krijgen van een nieuwe aflevering. Voorlopig zal er eens per maand een aflevering online komen. 

Anoniem, 1610-1620

Kitchen renovation with ecological aspect

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I’m excited to show you all our finished kitchen! It’s been great to read all your responses to my stories on Instagram while the renovation was ongoing – you helped me make some important choices for our worktops!

For the new kitchen we chose practicality and durability as the rule of law. You all know my vintage kitchen downstairs with the ESSE stove and the open shelves and the apothecary cabinet… the little drawers on the apothecary cabinet are troublesome for a working kitchen and the open shelves gather a massive amount of dust.

My husband Bruno designed the kitchen and we based it all on a vintage cabinet we found last year which was a reddish wood, shortly after we found the cabinet that has become our kitchen isle which settled the matter. We needed a reddish wood for the kitchen cabinets. The wood has a sustainability grade number 2 which is great and as I mentioned in my last post the sintered stone worktops are also an ecological choice.
Our walls are nearly 3 meters high so the upper cabinets can hold a great amount of our stuff – and keep it dust-free. 
Just before works started on the kitchen we also found these two old factory stools and although the wood isn’t the same, I think they make the result a bit more rough, which is nice.
When it came to choosing worktops and wall cladding, I wanted something natural and eco-friendly. Marble would have been my first choice, but in a working kitchen it poses many issues with staining. I am also aware that there isn’t an endless supply of marble so I looked into other natural options. I was surprised to find out about ‘sintered stone’ which is a man-made material composed entirely of natural minerals. I came into contact with a company called Neolith who see it as their company ideology to be as eco-friendly as they can be. They assured me that as a keen cook, ‘sintered stone’ would be ideal. It’s durable, nonporous, and it’s even being installed in restaurant kitchens as an alternative to steel, so it’s also very hygienic. On top of that, Neolith’s designs are very versatile, so I had the choice of various patterns which look exactly like marble. I was immediately sold when I saw the bold Abu Dhabi White from their new Six•S collection. But it wasn’t just purely an aesthetic choice as I said. I wanted to make a conscious choice, like integrating old furniture. Neolith is one of the most sustainable and environmentally-friendly materials on the market right now. 

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‘The Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook’ my new book

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Copyright Greetje Van Buggenhout

I’m happy to announce the publication of my new book: ‘The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook’!<
(Scroll down for the reference list which wasn’t printed in the book because of the page count limit)

For this book I jumped into my collection of cookery books of not only the early 20th century in which Downton is set but also the Victorian era when our most beloved cook Mrs Patmore was training as a chef. I made a little excursion into the oldest cookery book in the English language for the first festive recipe for goose and witnessed the curiosity for continental cooking around the late 1920’s….

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Burleigh Pottery x Regula Ysewijn Competition

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I am a huge Burleigh Pottery fan, as you will know if you have been following me on this website and my Instagram. I have used almost exclusively British pottery in my cookbooks Pride and Pudding and Oats in the North, Wheat in the South and a lot of that is Burleigh ware. That’s why Burleigh Pottery and I thought it was a super idea to team up to celebrate British pottery and my latest book on British baking! As an extra treat I’m finally sharing the pictures I took at Middleport Pottery many years ago, scroll down to find a reportage.

On to the giveaway! The winner will receive my book Oats in the North, Wheat in the South and Burleigh Pottery are offering this amazing Blue Calico (my favourite!) set worth over £250 consisting of:
A Blue Calico Teapot
A small milk jug
A sugar bowl
A large cake plate
2 dessert plates
2 teacups and saucers

All you need to do to be in the running to win is follow @burleighpottery and me @missfoodwise on Instagram and comment telling us why you’d love to win this incredible set of British pottery! You will have extra bonus entries if you share the competition page from @burleighpottery in an Instagram story, or if you bake my Treacle pumpkin tart recipe on the Burleigh website and share a picture of it on Instagram tagging us both (so we can see it and share!). Competition ends 31 oktober!

Burleigh ware is made by hand at the iconic Middleport Pottery in Stoke On Trent, it is the last working Victorian pottery in England. Burgess & Leigh was established in 1851. “Burleigh” is a combination of the two names William Leigh and Frederick Rathbone Burgess who were the founders. In my book Oats in the North, Wheat from the South’ which tells the history of British bakes and how the diverse climate of the British Isles influenced the growth of cereal crops and the development of a rich regional baking identity, you’ll read the story of the staple food of the pottery workers in the North of England and how these bakes are a fantastic relevant and healthy breakfast or lunch option today….

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War & Peace Pudding with Mock Apricot Jam – for the 75th anniversary of ‘Victory in Europe Day’ A Recipe from Pride and Pudding

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Today 8 may I’ll be showing two war-time recipes over at London’s Borough Market for the 75th anniversary of ‘Victory in Europe Day’ or the end of WWII.
While world wars and lockdown are very different, both have led to difficulties obtaining certain ingredients. We’ll be looking at two war-time recipes that were actually promoted by the Ministry of Food because there was an overload of carrots and potatoes. Recipe booklets were made to help cooks to whip up a variety of recipes with carrots and potatoes and other austere but often very delicious creative recipes…

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Mini Chelsea Bun Crowns

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I’ve been sharing videos and easy baking ideas on my Instagram @Missfoodwise during these strange times, some will be handy to make things easier for you for when you want to get some thing beautiful and delicious on the table quick. I’ve posted a few recipes from my new book Oats in the North Wheat from the South – which came out in full lockdown and saw all my events in the UK cancelled. Luckily I was able to do my BBC Womans’ hour interview over the phone as I would have been sad to miss is.

I also posted some ideas for overnight doughs so you can prep before bed and bake in the morning for breakfast or lunch. This is one of those bakes (there is also overnight bread buns and quick pan pizza for same day baking) that looks great on your table, looks great to give as gifts – I’ve gifted one of the crowns to my neighbours who are doctors and can use some unexpected cheer and sweetness right now….

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Brighton Rock Cakes – from Oats in the North, my new book

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Recipe and extract from Oats in the North, Wheat from the South, published with Murdoch Books and available here >

Usually these buns appear as ‘Rock cakes’ or ‘Rock buns’ in old cookery books, but in 1854 two recipes for Brighton rock cakes appeared in George Read’s The Complete Biscuit and Gingerbread Baker’s Assistant. Read gives a recipe for Brighton rock cakes and another for Brighton pavillions. The latter are made the same way as Brighton rock cakes, but are finished with a topping of currants and coarse sugar that, he says, should be ‘as large as a pea’.

You can still buy Brighton rock cakes in the seaside town of Brighton at the Pavilion Gardens Café. The open-air kiosk at Brighton Pavilion has been selling Brighton rock cakes since 1940, and possibly even longer if we look at Read’s recipe from 1854. Rock cakes are popular throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and often appear in literature. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Hagrid serves them to Harry and Ron, and Agatha Christie also mentions them in more than one novel.

I wanted to share this recipe in publication week of my new book Oats in the North, Wheat from the South because currently I am missing the sunny Brighton beach, the buzzing pier, and the busy Brighton lanes with its independent shop walhalla. I miss the days without worry when we drove over to the UK for a weekend, antiquing, walking, eating… When the Corona crisis is over I’m planning a trip, but I wonder how we will feel post Corona, will we be free of worry or will the way we live change?

But for now, we can bake, do join my #bakecorona on social media.

This recipe only uses one egg, in a time when eggs are dear this recipe might be a solution, other recipes from the book which can be handy during shortages are the Soda bread – to save yeast, the Parkin – to save sugar, the Cornish Heavy cake NO eggs at all, Yorkshire parkin – just oat flour needed, the fat rascalls – just 1 egg needed, Swiss roll – no baking powder but lots of eggs, Flapjack – uses just oats or leftover muesli. And to save an egg, I use an egg less in my pound cake! Happy baking…

This recipe for Brighton rock cakes contains candied cedro, but most rock cakes only contain currants, so you can easily leave it out.

Recipe from Oats in the North, Wheat from the South, published with Murdoch Books and available here >

For 6 rock cakes

  • 225 g plain (all-purpose) flour
  • 100 g raw cane (demerara) sugar or white sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tbsp mixed spice
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 75 g chilled butter, diced
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tbsp full-fat milk
  • 50 g currants
  • 30 g  candied cedro (optional)
  • 3 glacé cherries, halved, to garnish (optional)
  • nibbed sugar, to garnish (optional)

Method

Preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, mixed spice and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour mixture until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs.

Stir in the egg, then add enough milk to bring the dough together without making it too wet. If the dough is too dry to press together, add a teaspoon of milk. Fold the currants and candied cedro through the dough. Form six rock cakes using two forks – this will help achieve a rugged, rocky look. Place on the baking tray and decorate with the cherries and sugar, if using. Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes until the rock cakes have a golden blush.

Oats in the North, Wheat from the South – Introducing my new baking book

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In my new book ’Oats in the North, Wheat from the South’ I’m showing the reader how the diverse climate of the British Isles influenced the growth of cereal crops and the development of a rich regional baking identity with it. Imports of spices, sugar, treacle, fortified wines
and citrus added flavour, colour and warmth to a baking culture much adored and replicated all over the world.

With the help of historical cookbooks, diaries and newspaper archives, I have given the most traditional recipe of a bake – which means, how it usually appears in old cookbooks – but often also a more recent version of that recipe to show how recipes evolve through a change of taste, economy and fashion.

With a foreword by food historian Dr. Annie Gray.

The book was nominated for the André Simon Award and included in ‘The best cookbooks of 2020’ list by BBC Radio 4’s The Food Program and The New Yorker magazine.

Erratum

There are two errors in Oats in the North: When halving the recipe for Flapjacks the butter wasn’t halved, use 100g instead of 200g. For the Bannocks the same thing happened; use 225 ml of buttermilk instead of 450 ml. Mea culpa!

Praise for Oats in the North, Wheat from the South:

”An excellent and diligently written book celebrating some super-tasty British treats”
—  JAMIE OLIVER

A feast for the eyes, as well as the stomach, meticulously researched and beautifully photographed, this is a true love letter to the food Britain does best. One to savour, and treasure, but most of all, one to bake from!’
—  FELICITY CLOAKE, THE GUARDIAN

”While this is a book that you just long to bake from instantly, it is also one to be read, and savoured, as it brings alive the link between culture, climate and cuisine.”
—  NIGELLA LAWSON

“It’s a love letter to British baking and all that that implies. It brings together buns and bakes that you’ll find in every local shop, and cakes and breads that have long since disappeared. Here you’ll find recipes both old and new, resurrected for the future, together with the stories that make them such a window onto both the past and the present. The joy of Regula’s writing is that through it all, we realise that it takes an outsider looking in to show us who we truly are.This is a beautiful book. It is a lyrical book. It is a book full of good things, modern and old, with a multitude of real heritage and imagined tradition behind them. Enjoy.
 — Dr Annie Gray, food historian

‘Regula – who is Belgian – has an obsession with Britain, not just its food but its literature, landscape and architecture, and we’re lucky to have such an enthusiast looking in from the outside. As well as recipes, she writes about the connections between bakes and ingredients – it’s often difficult to unravel the threads that link foods – and tells stories. A book to read as well as to cook from and an absolute gift for the curious baker.’
— Diana Henry

Virtual Book Tour!

As the Covid19 Pandemic hit right in the week of my book launch we had to cancel all events in the UK and the US and do as much virtually as we could. Here is a great selection of podcasts and interviews!

BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour – Last guest that episode, find it here >

Olive Magazine Podcast – find it here >

Tea & Tattle Podcast – find it here >

Cooking with an Italian Accent podcast – find it here >

Borough Market‘s Borough talks – find it here >

Sunday Post interview – find it here >

At the Sauce Podcast – Find it here >

Good Food Hour – KSRO Radio Sonoma County US – Find it here >

Milk Street podcast – Boston – Find it here >

Further listening:

Gastro Podcast, The Great Pudding Off (2019) – Find it here >

 

 

Book reviews that could be helpful:

Nigella Lawson’s Cookbook Corner >

Shiny New Book’s Review >

Desperate Reader’s Review >

My Custard Pie’s Review >

Extract on the Telegraph >

Article on Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) >

Try a few recipes

Belgian Buns over on the Telegraph >

Carrot cake with cashew topping on the Telegraph >

Chelsea Buns over on The Sunday Times >

3 recipes on the Otago Daily Times NZ >

COVID19 measures: Large outlets will send even outside the UK, for local delivery the independent book stores mentioned below have stock and are happy to send to you.

For sale at

Amazon UK and Waterstones UK

And Indie bookstores with in particular the following stores:

In the UK

Cookbookbake in Brighton (also shipping to you)

Warwick Books in Warwick (also shipping to you)

Toppings & Company in Edinburgh, Ely and Bath (also shipping to you)

Browsers Bookshop in Woodbury (delivers locally)

In Australia

Dymocks (@dymocksbooks:https://bit.ly/2REYCok
Readings (@readingsbooks) :https://bit.ly/34EU6LL
Booktopia (@booktopiabooks) :https://bit.ly/2K9rZuH

In United States

’Oats in the North, Wheat from the South’ Published with Murdoch books in Britain, Australia and New Zealand in April and the US later this year (with a different title: ‘The British Baking Book” and cover) with Weldon Owen.

San Fransisco: Omnivore Books @OmnivoreBooks

Los Angeles: Now Serving @nowservingla

Barnes & Noble

Lebanon

Papercup bookstore, Beirut

Selling the Dutch edition in Belgium

Luddites, Antwerpen (selling both EN and NL)

Boekhandel Novelle, Kortrijk

Paard Van Troje, Gent

Standaard Boekhandel

Fnac

 

Jaune Mange

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Jaune Mange jelly is the yellow sister to the ancient delicacy called Blanc Mange which means ‘white food’. It is one of the most international early dishes of European cuisine. From the Middle Ages onwards the name of this dish in its various forms – blanc mange, blanc manger, blamange, manjar branco, biancomangiare – can be found in most European cookery books.

It is believed by many food historians that the earliest recipe for blancmange dates back to the twelfth century. Two recipes for blancmange also feature in the earliest English cookery text, The Forme of Cury from C1390. By 1395, two recipes for blancmange can be found in the Viandier manuscripts, the first French cookbook: one is a dish for the sick, the other is a multicoloured dish, which is at odds with the name’s literal meaning.

This recipe uses seville orange juice, while others recommend lemon and lemon peel for flavour and colour. Later recipes by J.H. Walsh in The British Cookery Book (1864) instruct the cook to use sherry or ‘raisin-wine’. Because the eggs give this jaune mange a set already, you don’t need to use as much gelatine as you would for a blancmange.`…

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Figgy Pudding for my ‘National Trust Book of Puddings’

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Today is Stir-up sunday and the most important day on the pudding calendar. Today is the day to prepare the Christmas pudding, or plum pudding. Why this should be done a month before Christmas is something I’ve written about in a previous posting here and in my book Pride and Pudding. But this year I wanted to give you an alternative to the traditional plum pud.

A figgy pudding is just another name for a plum pudding – and both of them generally refer to puddings made with raisins or currants and no figs at all. However there have been recipes for figgy pudding in the late 19th century, but those recipes did refer to puddings made with figs and didn’t give a recipe for plum pudding. Using dried figs, this results in a dark and luxurious winter pudding. Why not have this as your pudding on Christmas day for a change this year?

This is a recipe from my little book the ‘National Trust Book Of Puddings‘ which was published in april (2019)….

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