Food History

Are scones just US biscuits served with jam and cream? I’ve had different opinions on that one and seen a range of recipes that would prove and would disprove the link. Because I’m a kind and generous person, from time to time my Friday recipes will include clearly sourced scone recipes and biscuit recipes (for all culinary variants of the words ’scone’ and ‘biscuit’) so that you can make your own mind up.

Today’s recipe is Australian and for scones. It comes from the “Aerophos” Recipe Book. Aerophos was a brand of leavening that was so popular that you can locate it in the Women’s Weekly index: http://www.ssn.flinders.edu.au/wmst/WWIndex/search.php?search=subject&subj=Recipes This spiral-bound book is undated, but my guess is no later than the 1950s. I’ve found a bunch of these book on ‘collectables’ sites and the dates range from 1951 1958, the descriptions fit mine (except they give an edition number and mine has none) and the prices range from $6-25. None of them are in outstanding condition - this is the sort of book that sat round in people’s kitchens and got used. Given the number floating round, it must have been fairly common.

I haven’t tested any recipes from it yet. I was given a bag of old cookbooks by a friend when I was in Katoomba in July and this was among them. It’s a classic of its kind; full of standards. It follows the tradition of basic cooking for people who need to know (presumably women who need to know, given it was the 1950s) that was begun by chefs such as Francatelli in the nineteenth century. I might return to it another time, because there’ s more to this little book than that. Today you just need a recipe, and you need scones because scone variants trace wonderfully well across Anglophone cultures.

The book gives a basic scone recipe, then adds about 20 variants. Some I have never even seen (eg beef upside down scones) others were staple part of my family’s food (eg raisin scones). There is no mention of pumpkin scones. They appeared on the national Australian scene with Flo Bjelke-Petersen in the 1970s, from memory. If anyone knows anything more about pumpkin scones, I would love to hear.

(Note: I never give the exact words of a recipe within copyright - what you see here is the list of ingredients then my polite interpretation of what to do with them.)

Basic scone recipe

1 lb self-raising flour
2 oz butter
1 level tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk

Heat an oven to 450 degrees F. Sift the salt and flour together, then rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips. Keep the mixture cool (if your hands get warm, then either rub further way from the bowl or give the whole thing a break). When the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, make a well in the centre and add all the milk. Stir everything together lightly and quickly. Don’t overmix. Turn the soft dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead just enough to make things smooth. Don’t overknead. Roll to 1/2 inch thick and cut into rounds. Place on a floured tray and glaze the top of each with milk or with egg beaten with milk. Bake for 10-15 mins.

Scones do *not* improve with keeping.