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]]>UPDATE: you can now watch our talk courtesy of the Living knowledge network here >
The winner of the Platinum Pudding Competition, aired on May 12 on BBC One is Jemma Melvin and her Trifle! I had the huge pleasure and honour to be a judge together with some fab judges including queen of baking dame Mary Berry! I think as someone working in the culinary world that it is incredibly exciting to see 5000 people enter a recipe in the competition, we had several kids sending in as well! That is such a joy all on its own! Plus you never know one of these kids could become a food writer when they grow up. Jemma chose lemon as her theme because the queen had lemon posset and amaretti biscuits at her wedding. You can find the recipe for the trifle to make for your own Jubilee celebrations over on the BBC Good Food website here > You can also find the other four finalist recipes there.
To catch up on the Platinum Jubilee Competition program you can go to the BBC website here > to see when it is repeated or if you are in Britain watch on iPlayer.
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]]>The Platinum pudding chosen as a winner in the competition will become part of this historic moment and will be talked about for decades, maybe centuries to come.
Traditional British puddings – photo from my book ‘Pride and Pudding, the history of Britsh puddings savoury and sweet’ (Murdoch Books)
In collaboration with The Big Jubilee Lunch, Fortnum & Mason is launching a nationwide competition to find a pudding to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen in her Platinum Jubilee year.
All UK residents over the age of 8 have a chance for their pudding to become the next commemorative royal dish. This follows the Jubilee chicken created for the silver jubilee of George V in 1935, Coronation Chicken or Poulet Reine Elizabeth (French always sounds more fancy, right?) created by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume from London’s Le Cordon Bleu to mark The Queen’s Coronation in 1953 and the Jubilee Chicken created for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
As a judge and British pudding expert because of my books Pride and Pudding (Murdoch Books £20), my ‘National Trust Book of Puddings’ and my book on British baking Oats in the North, Wheat from the South (Murdoch Books £25) my advice is to look into the Queen’s long and exciting life and work and take inspiration from it.
The pudding has to be fit for a Queen so we would love bakers to tell that story with their creation. We want something original, nothing as mind-blowing as a Heston Blumenthal creation but something that has the flair to become a modern classic. This was also the idea behind Coronation chicken. Don’t overcomplicate, let simplicity shine. Think of flavours, the time of the year the pudding will be baked by the nation.
There is a long history of recipes being created for royalty. Queen Victoria’s chef (for a brief time) Charles Elmé Francatelly created several recipes including puddings in honour of queen Victoria and Prins Albert. Simply called Albert pudding and Victoria pudding. This them pictured below.
Victoria and Albert pudding from royal chef Francatelli
Sticky Toffee Pudding
Entries will close on the 4th February 2022. Applications are welcomed from UK residents aged 8 and over, and more information can be found on the Platinum Pudding website www.fortnumandmason.com/platinum-pudding
Some advise on sending in your recipe:
Remember to create a nice photograph of your dish, place the plate by a window do your light is the best and coming from the left or right, make sure it isn’t backlit. When you start your text document, first tell us why you chose this dish and how you created it. We want to read a story, convince us. Imagine you are explaining it to a friend! Have fun and good luck! I hope your pudding will be on our judging table in March!
For more clues about what we are after as judges:
Here is a piece I wrote for the iPaper
Here I am live on ITV
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]]>The post Regula Culinaria – podcast episode two appeared first on Miss Foodwise.
]]>(For my foreign readers, I am planning episodes in English, watch this space)
In deze tweede aflevering van mijn podcast heb ik het over de gebruiken rond Pasen in Groot Brittannië.
Ik spreek over Hot Cross Buns, Saffron buns en Simnel cake. Hieronder vind je het recept voor Hot Cross Buns uit mijn ‘Brits Bakboek’ (Oats in the North, Wheat from the South). De recepten voor de Saffron Buns en de Simnel cake vind je eveneens in mijn boek. Vergeet je niet in te schrijven voor mijn nieuwsbrief in de rechter kolom. De podcast is te vinden op alle gebruikelijke platformen, inclusief Spotify. Hier is ook een handige link >
Hot Cross Buns
What you will need
15 g (½ oz) dried yeast
300 ml (10½ fl oz) lukewarm full-fat milk
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) strong white bread flour
60 g (2¼ oz) raw (demerara) sugar or white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground mace
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground coriander
70 g (2½ oz) butter, at room temperature, cubed
1 egg
5 g (1/8 oz) fine sea salt
150 g (5½ oz) currants
50 g (1¾ oz) candied citrus peel
2 egg yolks + 2 tbsp milk, for egg wash
For the crosses
140-160 ml (5¼ fl oz) water (if your flour is old it needs more water, if fresh 140 will be enough)
75 g (2½ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
For a 39 x 27 cm (15½ x 10¾ inch) baking tin (if you don’t want the buns to attach to one another while baking, use a larger tray or bake in two batches)
For the shiny glaze:
Melt 60 g plain white sugar in 5 tbsp water
Method:
Add the yeast to the lukewarm milk and stir briefly and gently to activate it. The yeast will start to foam up in clusters, which means it is ready for use. Combine the flour, sugar and spices in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and put the butter on top. Pour half of the yeast mixture over the butter and start kneading. When the milk and butter are completely absorbed, add the rest of the yeast mixture, along with the egg. Knead for 5 minutes, then let the dough stand for a few minutes (at this point it will be very wet). Add the salt and then the currants and candied peel and knead for 10 minutes, scraping the dough off the dough hook and side of the bowl if needed, until the dough has come together in a smooth and elastic dough that is not too dry but also not terribly wet.
Cover the dough and set aside for 1 hour until it has doubled in quantity.
Meanwhile, line the baking tin with baking paper. Mix the water and flour into a thick batter for the crosses and scoop it into a piping bag with a small nozzle and cover until needed.
Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Take a piece of dough and lightly flatten it on your work surface, then pull the outer parts in like a purse and gently squeeze together like a dumpling so that the dough can no longer split open while rising.
Turn the dough over so the squeezed ends are on the bottom. It should be nice and smooth on top – if not, flatten it and start again. Place in the baking tin and continue shaping the other buns, adding them to the tin to form neat rows.
Cover the tray of buns with a light cotton cloth and wrap it in a large plastic bag (I keep one especially for this purpose). Rest the dough for 1 hour or until the buns have doubled in size. Towards the end of the resting time, preheat the oven to 210°C (410°F).
Brush the buns generously with the egg wash, then carefully pipe a cross onto each bun. Transfer to the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes until golden brown. (if you don’t want to egg wash, just brush on the sugar syrup as mentioned in the recipe, or do both!)
The buns are best eaten on the day they’re made. The next day they can be revived in a hot oven for a few minutes. You can also freeze the baked buns, thaw and then pop them in a hot oven for a few minutes.
These buns are excellent halved, then toasted and spread with copious amounts of farmhouse butter.
The Widow’s Son pub waar Hot Cross Buns boven de toog hangen.
Regula met haar Simnel Cake – Recept in Brits Bakboek
Een Simnnel in een stug deeg omhulsel- Chambers The Book of Days
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