Food History

This is a big report-back post because so many people have been furiously cooking this last week. There are only about eight tests outstanding from Melbourne and a dozen others.

The big news from this batch of tests is not the wonderful recipes we now have to play with but that one of those recipes is negus. I get to make jokes about Grand Negus again!! (and I have, already - people are going to be so sick of that joke by October!)

I’ve snipped bits from the reports, because you don’t really want to read a 1000 word blogpost. Or do you?

First up is Jenny, from Melbourne. Jenny managed to get Spanish puffs to work. This is a big thing, as all the other puff recipes were complete washouts. She found that the standard ‘puff’ description was tangled by modern standards and she sorted out what the instructions actually meant by some very clever googling. Even her rather fussy daughter ate the results.

The recipe her tasters fell in love with was moonshine pudding. It’s a very rich and very delectable bread-and-butter pudding and Jenny’s decription of it made my mouth water.

Marilla and Neil entirely enjoyed their cooking stint. This is just as well, because they took most of my remaining lemon recipes. Marilla did the report-back and Neil did most of the cooking.

Green Peas Soup
“We had this cold as it was a stinkin’ot day. It was very refreshing but would also be good hot. Good flavour.”

Onion Ragoo
“Strange texture to the sauce. A bit grainy – maybe also in the cooking - it reads as if it should be smooth.”

Savoury Vegetables
“This was a winner. The mashed potato basket was impressive to look at and tasted good.”

Lemon Custards
“I liked it but not everyone would as they don’t like marmalade. It also had a funny, curdley texture …”

Lemon Puffs
“There was definitely something wrong with the proportions of this recipe. … Very nice chewy lemon toffee with the odd crispy bit. … It does say to beat for an hour but our kitchen maid has run away with the boot boy. Neil added a pint of lemon juice to provide a little liquid but they definitely did not puff. Good flavour for a lolly though!”

Lemon Sauce
“Hmmmmm. It’s very lemony - and you really need to remove the skin of the lemon segments or pretty much blend it. My lemons may be very strong in flavour and possibly large. The overall impression of the sauce on its own is mouth uckering. I added another chicken liver but it didn’t make much difference. Might be toned down enough when poured over roast chicken but I’m not holding my breath. Does have potential - with a milder lemon.” They ate it with roast chicken later on and it was much better that way.

Jane made some more recipes:

To fricassee Chickens
“Sauce wasn’t quite tangy enough. Needed extra lemon. A
bit too rich. … Four men liked it: 8/10.”

Chicken pulled
“THIS ONE IS BANQUET WORTHY!!!!! Best of the four mains
I tried. Very easy. Very nice. Looks good on the table, too.
They rated it 10/10 or 12/10.”

And finally a whole dinner-party worth of testing from Nicole:

At a sumptuous (yet totally unauthentic) gathering, four Canberrans took the plunge and tried seven Regency recipes. The first course consisted of a meat dish, two vegetable recipes and some bread rolls, desert was Spanish Cream and icecream and the meal was finished with a negus.

The rolls weren’t bad, a little overcooked because the recipe didn’t stipulate how long, but still okay. I was surprised that they were so easy to make.

The meat dish, beef in epigram, was stunning. Who would have thought that roast beef, gravy and pickles would work together? But they did. In fact, people went back for seconds, the plate was all but cleared and I commemorated the end of the night by putting some of the sauce on a bread roll after everyone had ended. YUM!!!

The French beans were nice, although an education. I put in the ingredients in the order mentioned, although one of the guests pointed out it was probably meant to be made in the order of béchamel sauce. Still, not bad.

Endive Ragoo was a terribly interesting dish. The taste was very strong, people commented particularly on the layer of asparagus and celery beneath the endive. The sauce was beautiful. I think it would be a great dish, with less endive than we used.

Onto the desserts, and the Spanish Cream was only half touched by everyone. It had very little taste (perhaps because I didn’t have orange flower water or rose water so tried orange juice) and the texture wasn’t all that attractive.

The icecream, on the other hand, was terrific. …

The negus was superb. The recipe made a huge batch, so I had some more on Sunday, and Monday (while watching the Oscars, a very nice accompaniment).

And that’s all for now, folks!