Regional and local recipes

[Binky Profile]

I thought that stand pies were common all over England (they appeared on Mrs Bridges kitchen table in 'Upstairs Downstairs').


This is a stand pie (a large version of an individual pork pie) meant to be placed on the sideboard at Xmas for people to help themselves)

http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/standpie.htm

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I think the point of mashed spud, and mashed swede, with a roast is to maximise the amount of veg that will soak up gravy and grease and so make you feel you've had more of the actual roast than you have. English peasant economy. Like Yorkshire pud

Sue, the polony we had was spreadable, it wasn't at all like a sausage

I think that must have been a genuine local speciality, the stuff we had was quite soft, but sliced, as described in Wiki

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I think polony, garlic sausage, and liver sausage both the slicing English kind and the spreadable "continental" variety were about it for deli,

Don't forget Jellied veal, and 'smoked pork breakfast sausage'


Eels both jellied and stewed, various boiled molluscs, pie & mash with liquor are not to everybody's taste but are all good when well done.

[Amyw Profile]

What a nice website , Binky. No I'd just call that a big pork pie

[Alexandria Profile]

Cherry Tree,

Unfortunately, Gingerbread houses and Gingerbread " children " are relatively unknown in Spain.

Lovely post.

[Pampy Profile]

Never tried a pasty because although I eat fish and poultry, I don't eat anything that's had 4 legs. Rather like with Binky's Uncle Jack, I was told how a cow got into a can (we were discussing beefburgers at the time) by a family friend when I was very young - haven't touched it since. I'm quite sure that if I'd been told how poultry was slaughtered instead, I would have stopped eating chicken and carried on with meat. It seems totally irrational now but I was a very young teenager and very impressionable.

[cherrytree Profile]

No, these are not the gingerbread you mention. It’s confusing I know. I have made gingerbread which is essentially the British version of the French Pain d’epice. It is solid sort of cake which has dark treacle, golden syrup and Muscovado sugar. Also spices. Nothing like gingerbread men at all.
To confuse things even further ,in my adopted county we also have Grasmere gingerbread which is from the Lake District and is made to a secret recipe and is more of a biscuit.
As I said in my original post Cumbria in the far north west of England had a port, Whitehaven which imported spices and rum from the West Indies. Rum butter, which is quite delicious was traditionally dabbed on the inside of a new baby’s cheek to bring good luck.

[jeral Profile]

...[clip]... Rum butter, which is quite delicious was traditionally dabbed on the inside of a new baby’s cheek to bring good luck.

That'd fool a DNA swab test Fascinating though. Like topping out new buildings I suppose (pouring champers on the roof).

The ginger one I make is more like a simnel cake in texture. Not often, as two people with a spoon each = see, here, gone.

Uschi used to post with her accomplished intricately iced ginger/cinnamon biscuits (some with a delightfully cheeky hint) but haven't heard from her recently so hope all is well.

[Renee Profile]

Uschi is fine jeral, but hasn't got much spare time these days.

Yes, a large pork pie. They have them in Sainsbury's with a fluted edge from which they cut portions for customers. I walk past quickly without looking!

[cherrytree Profile]

Is it Hobson’s Choice where they have a stand pie?

[Binky Profile]

cherrytree, what you describe sounds like Parkin to me. We always had some on Bonfire Night, either home-made or from the bakers across the road.

A schoolgirl came from Cumberland to our school, and she talked about rum butter. We'd not heard of it before, and until you mentioned it, I hadn't realised that it was a Cumbrian speciality.

[scullion Profile]

the cornish have another ginger biscuit variant - the fairing.
well, obviously there's the pasty but there's also hevva (heavy) cake, star-gazey pie - and of course the usual argument, 'clotted cream (never jam) on top' - there are probably loads more if thought longer.
i like the above (other than stargazey pie) but i d'like all (ok, a lot of) that there foreign muck, too!
never heard of a stand pie.
i'm not impressed with a bedfordshire clanger, either the new, baked iteration or the one i remember from my childhood that was a boiled suet pastry thing filled with meat etc.

[Binky Profile]

and let's not forget the Dorset Knob

[scullion Profile]

yeah, i've had one of those...

[Binky Profile]

wash your mouth out!

[cherrytree Profile]

cherrytree, what you describe sounds like Parkin to me. We always had some on Bonfire Night, either home-made or from the bakers across the road.

A schoolgirl came from Cumberland to our school, and she talked about rum butter. We'd not heard of it before, and until you mentioned it, I hadn't realised that it was a Cumbrian speciality.

Surely Parkin has oatmeal in it? I just make the sort of gingerbread everyone in our area does. In fact I used a Mary Berry recipe but mercifully it came out just like the ones the true Cumbrians make at home. There is always a rum butter class in all the agricultural shows at home by the way.Unlike any recipes I read though, the butter is always melted first.

[Binky Profile]

yes, it has oatmeal. It isn't Parkin without.

I was commenting more on the cake v. biscuit aspect.

[cherrytree Profile]

When I’ve bought Grasmere gingerbread, it’s much paler in colour than gingerbread. I’ve only had Parkin once and cannot remember what it looks like.

[Amyw Profile]

the cornish have another ginger biscuit variant - the fairing.
well, obviously there's the pasty but there's also hevva (heavy) cake, star-gazey pie - and of course the usual argument, 'clotted cream (never jam) on top' - there are probably loads more if thought longer.
i like the above (other than stargazey pie) but i d'like all (ok, a lot of) that there foreign muck, too!
never heard of a stand pie.
i'm not impressed with a bedfordshire clanger, either the new, baked iteration or the one i remember from my childhood that was a boiled suet pastry thing filled with meat etc.

Sacrilege says the girl from Devon,always cream first

[Binky Profile]

but how do you spread the jam on the cream?

Jam first, then cream seems the logical way...