Food History

This is the report I promised you. We have tested lots of recipes for the Regency Gothic Banquet over the last couple of weeks and I have the tasting notes. I’m already starting to think of combination flavours - for instance that rice cake sounds as if it might taste rather good with the raspberry cream. I can’t get too far ahead of my testers, though - there are still quite a few to report in.

First, my two recipes. I made potatoe balls (I think I like that spelling of potato - I may adopt it and annoy editors) and ginger drops. The potatoe balls would have gone down very well with gravy and would give much pleasure to lovers of plain food. They’re a bit richer than mashed potato and a bit more elegant, with a thin brown crust. I found them OK, but bland - whether they get used will depend on what else is on the table with them. If we need something simple or something that will match a rich sauce, they will be just perfect.

The ginger drops are just perfect by themselves. I adore ginger and recognised that I wasn’t a fair test subject, so I took them to a stall last Sunday and fed them to stray passers-by. They went down very nicely indeed. Let your taste buds dream of little baby ginger sweets (candies), a little soft, a little crunchy, and with a depth of flavour that most ginger sweets lack. That depth of flavour was achieved really, really simply, by adding a bit of candied peel to the mix. Ginger, sugar and mixed peel turns out to be a combination made in heaven ginger-lovers’ heaven.

Emma tested a bunch of recipes (and more to come!). This fortnight she reported on lemon cake, ginger cake, gingerbread, two types of jumbles, apple charlotte, roast lamb and stuffing for duck.

The lemon cake turned out a bit undercooked the first time and OK the second time, but Emma didn’t exclaim in joy over it. She said “The flavour is quite nice” but the orange flower flavour could be overpowering. I think this cake must go on the emergency list. It sounds like one of those things that are trickier than they look without having the total magic that makes trickiness worthwhile.

The ginger cakes were a bit like modern gingerbread, but dry if cooked well and doughy if cooked a bit less. They looked unappealing and tasted very mild. Sounds like another one that won’t go on the menu.

The gingerbread was “treacle flavoured sand.” I think I’m giving up on gingerbread for the banquet. Every single recipe has failed so far. I still have hopes that the no-bake one will work, but that’s the only one still unreported and all the baked versions have developed strange textures. This is something I will investigate, but maybe not for the banquet. I might look at The Old Foodie’s amazing collection of gingerbread recipes over time and work my way though it one day, trying to work out how gingerbread recipes have developed and in what direction. I won’t be able to do this till next year, however, so if anyone else is doing the same thing, I would love to hear from you.

The jumbles were a success. Orange flower water is nicer than rose flower water, but both recipes were so nice that the test batch was finished in no time at all.

Apple charlotte was OK, but not something that Emma would make for herself. This was quite different to the roast lamb, which turned out very nicely, as did the stuffing. We’re nearing the minimum number of delicious meat dishes to get us good menu results!

Jane tested lamb cutlets with spinach. Healthy, she says, but boring. Lamb steaks ragout were much less dull. Her tasters loved it so much they mopped all the gravy up. “Very rich but tasty,” Jane says, and I suspect that it might go well with that potato dish. And she made the Windsor syllabub again, because everyone wanted it again. I like it when recipes take on a life of their own and get made more than once. She says that it’s still “very yum. very addictive.” It gets closer and closer to being on the final menu.

Kathleen made almond jumbles, rice cake, roast, mustard and potted cheese.

Her jumbles were even more of a success than Emma’s. The rice cake was good but a bit dry. Given it will be suitable for coeliacs, I’m going to take it to the next round but (as I sad above) pair it with the raspberry cream. Her roast beef was wonderful (which gives us the possibility of the Roast Beef of Old England!). Alas, the potted cheese was ordinary and the mustard far too hot.

My biggest problem right now is a lack of preserves and side dishes. Not vegetables, but things like mustards and conserves. If that’s still a problem by the end of the month I might have to research more recipes or resort to commercial items. An early nineteenth century dinner without the regular items that fill in the corners is unthinkable.

And that’s all my report-ins. I can’t wait for more!