I really enjoyed this cookbook and I am so grateful to have received it as a gift from a friend! I think it would make a perfect gift for any Anglophobe or pudding-lover.
Recipes
- I skipped the Haggis, Hog, Dripping, and Black pudding recipes. I figure we can eat those when we go to Edinburgh and York. I don't need to figure out how to smuggle sheep lung into the USA or ruin my oven with drippings. Other than those ~6 recipes, I made everything else (which is roughly 75 recipes)!
I substituted almonds anytime apricot kernels were called for in a recipe. Even though apricot kernels are legal in the USA, I prefer not to take the risk of cyanide poisoning.
All of the recipes worked and most tasted good. A few of the meat recipes were disgusting: the British's fascination with nutmeg with meat during the Napoleonic war is so foreign to my Southwestern USA tastebud it just tastes bad. Christmas spices only belong in hot drinks or fruit pies. #america. I also messed up a few of the breadcrumb based dishes but that's on me, I used the wrong bread.
Organization
- Very well organized! Did notice a typo on the Syllabub recipe where "lemon" is in the description instead of "sherry" while "sherry" is listed in the ingredient list.
Interestingly, the "basic" recipes are in the back while in other cookbooks, they tend to put puff pastry and sauces in the front. I like this choice! The sections are well organized and the index is great, they even index the photos.
Text
- I really appreciate the detail in sources and description of variations. The details of which century and creation of each recipe adds necessary historical details.
One of the most fascinating things is how cyclical food trends are. Jelly dishes were popular in the early 1400s, 1590s, 1720s, 1860s, and 1950s. Based on this, I expect aspic and jelly creations to become popular again in 2200s!
Photographs
Wonderful photos of finished products and a few "in process" photos.
What I Made
- Rice Pudding (solid rice dish)
- Pease Pudding (mint hummus!)
- Cabbage Pudding (this was gross. ground meat with cabbage steamed is fine in buns sometimes, but it's not my favorite, but here the historic spices is off-putting to my American taste.)
- Hackin Pudding (disgusting. Mine turned out exactly like the photo but Christmas flavorings with meat is just wrong. Very wrong.)
- Beef Pie (I love myself a pot pie in any form)
- Plain Suet Dumplings (great)
- Oxtail Soup (great but I made too much as I normally do with soup)
- Carrot Jam (I thought this worked, roommate was unconvinced. As the author mentions, it goes bad really fast)
- Toad-in-the-hole & Yorkshire Pudding
- Plum Pudding
- White Pudding
- Rice Pudding in Skins
- Sussex Pond Pudding (lovely! Wasn't quite sure if it would work but it's like a cake apple pie empanada cross)
- Quaking Pudding with Sak Sauce and Raspberry Vinegar
- Plum Duff
- Castle Pudding (beautiful. But also the most American like)
- Cabinet Pudding (too boozy which is my fault)
- Spotted Dick (I learned my lesson and this was the perfect booze and spice level)
- Treacle Sponge Pudding
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
- War & Peace Pudding (this was part of my breadcrumb missteps so this was gross but was certainly my fault)
- Jam Roly-poly (like a version of pop tarts and went better than my attempt at a Swiss roll)
- Sambocade (egg whites, elderflower, rosewater, and cheese curds sounds wild but it worked! I would never make this again but it's fascinating combo)
- Daryols (this worked and feels like a proto-ice cream cone, but would never make again as we have ice cream cones now and I don't like custard)
- Prune tart (absolutely lovely!)
- Quince tart (makes me think of christmas)
- Tort de Moy (I made a vegetarian version with butter as a substitute for bone marrow. Scandalous! I know but I ended up buying the wrong bones to get marrow so just decided to go the veggie route. I'm shocked this worked but it was very good).
- Chestnut Tart (this was weird. I've never eaten chestnuts that are baked into something and they're weirdly meaty)
- Bakewell Pudding (I know this is a favorite, but I had such low expectations and it was wonderful!)
- General Satisfaction (the sponge cake seems overkill but I do love meringue pie things)
- Eve's Pudding (this was another one of my breadcrumb mess-ups. I'm sure it's lovely, I just struggled with baking with breadcrumbs)
- Queen of Puddings (this was another one of my breadcrumb mess-up)
- Semolina Pudding
- Black Caps (amazingly delicious)
- Trinity Burnt Cream (aka crème brûlée which was possibly first an English dish!), my vegan version just tastes like burnt pudding. Needs some more work like my vegan custard.
- Kentish Cherry Batter Pudding (aka American Cherry Popovers, which IMO are too eggy for my non-egg person, but they're cute like popovers! My grandmother would have liked this recipe). It's fun to see them puff-up with no raising agent.
- Apple Tansy (made a vegan version which is good, which is a glorified apple pancake, while the non-vegan version is a glorified apple omlette)
- Snake Fritters
- Hasty Fritters (these tasted mostly like vinegar so I probably wouldn't make them again, but I did eat them all!)
- A Quire of Paper (English crepes! very fun, and was good with raspberry vinegar, though maple syrup is definitely better than Sak Sauce)
- Curd Fritters (this worked well with maple syrup and raspberry vinegar but it's still kinda of odd. I'm not sure if I would make these again. I know cheese pancakes are more popular in Europe so may just be my American tastes).
- Jersey Wonders
- Pain Pur-dew (fun! but rosewater is not my favorite, I much prefer orange blossom)
- Poor Knights of Windsor (essentially just egg toast, I like that the non-egg version includes wine as the substitute)
- Devon White-pot (bread pudding if your like custard, not my thing)
- Apple Charlotte (delicious of course!)
- Bread-and-butter pudding (delicious and there's a popular Tik Tok going around right now where this is made with Hawaiian Bread Rolls instead of Hot Cross Buns and it's even better)
- Summer Pudding (Great taste 10/10; essentially just toast and jam in a mold)
- Blancmange (fun to try as it's one of the oldest English recipes but wow am I happy we live in the age of chicken salad and spices)
- Strawberry Blancmange (worse than blancmange because of the rose flavoring)
- Jaune Mange (tastes like mimosa jello shot. In the future I'd make it without the egg yolks)
- Ypocras Jellies (mine didn't set but they were cool, like mulled wine jello)
- Syllabub (way too boozy and I miss vanilla, maybe whipped syllabub with vanilla would be cool)
- First Trifle (again! Way too boozy and I crave vanilla flavoring with my cream as a modern American)
- Retro Trifle (so good!!! Takes a lot of work but it's great)
- Fruit Fools (amazing. it's just whipped cream and fruit 。◕‿◕。)
- Sack Posset / Custard Cream / Almond Cream (I'm not a fan of white Russians and can't eat egg yolks so I don't think I'll be repeating these almond cream drink / wine cream drink / orange cream cinnamon drink. An orange Julius with cinnamon is fun but also not good for you)
- Devonshire Junket (Similar to the Carrot Jam, it's interesting to look at World War recipes but since we're not in rationing, I'm good).
- Custard Creams (not a custard fan)
- Icy Cream (essentially just mace flavored ice cream, was interesting and good!)
- Brown Bread Ice Cream (I was really surprised by this texture! It's fascinating. Not something I'd eat normally but it was a fun novelty)
- Tamarind Ice Cream (this is a wild flavor! It's sweet, sour, tangy, and tart all at once. Like lemon and prunes together.)
- Princess Surprise Bomb (this is like a Baked Alaska but I don't have a blow torch so it didn't really work)
- Raspberry Vinegar (somehow this works but I didn't get it at first)
- Sak Sauce (glorified sherry syrup, but maple syrup is better)
- Ratafia Biscuits (delicious 10/10)
- Lady Fingers (epic fail, need to try these again one day)