The chronicles of British cuisine in a meal

As we ordered our starters and main dishes we were advised that one of the desserts takes a long time to prepare The Tipsy Cake (c.1810) requires 3 “visits” to the oven and takes about 40 minutes to make/bake obviously we ordered one (to be on the safe side) that was a great mistake cause even 2 orders would have been devoured by our small group, a real gem to which we will return in details later…

OUR DESSERTS
We ordered The Taffety Tart (c.1660) just to compare with the exquisite one we had at The Fat Duck, both of course from the: 1610 A New Booke of Cookerie by John Murrell. The recipes for Taffety Tarts, which usually contained apples is a spectacularly fragrant version – the apple pulp scented and flavoured with orange, quince, rose-water, and violets, This recipe was first published in print in ” The Cook’s and Confectioner’s Dictionary” 1724 goes like this: “Mix a quarter of a Pack of Fine Flour, with a quarter of a Pint of Yeast, and as much hot Liquor as will make it into a stiff Paste, with two Pound of butter, the Yolks of twelve Eggs, and half a Pound of fine Sugar; make it up into small Balls, and then roll it out into thick Plates; wash round their Brims with Milk: Boil Pippins soft, peel them and scrape the Pulp from the Cores, mingle the Pulp with fine Sugar, a little Marmalade of Quinces, the Scrapings of candied Orange-peel, and Rose-water: Make up your Tarts, dry them in a warm Place, bake them, scrape Sugar, and sprinkle Essence of Violets or Roses over them, and serve them up”. I’ve read thousands of recipes and cooked from them, but the above C.1724 instructions, will amount to nothing that looks or tastes like a tart.

  

The HB FAT DUCK version saves the day very elegantly as you see on the Fat Duck version(on the left) , but less so, or in fact as… just another tart in the Dinner version (on the right).

Brown Bread Ice Cream (c. 1830) Salted better caramel, pear & malted yeast syrup, from the 1830 A New System of Domestic Cookery by Maria Aliza Rundell.
For the Brown Bread Ice as written in the above book (on page 201): “Grate as fine as possible, stale brown bread, soak a small proportion in cream for 2-3 Hours, sweeten and ice it”. Short and simple innit? Well It makes Iced cream but not Ice Cream as we know it, so the idea of powdered “stale brown bread” is incorporated in a classic creamy ice cream decorated with salted butter caramel which is also a “filling” for the base pastry also in the “brown bread” realm including cubes of “bread” soaked in caramel syrup than toasted to achieve crunchiness, intermittently with cubes of poached pears. The barley malt extract syrup, provides a combination of enzymatic activity, sweetness and appealing crust color to baked good, used extensively in brown bread making
I must say that Maria Rundell’s Ice cream recipes such as the one quoted here do not come even near the ice creams of another author appearing on the menu, for a dessert we did not have The Boemian Cake (c.1890) by “THE QUEEN OF ICE”, Mrs. Agnes Bertha Marshall (1855 – 1905). This lady was a celebrity cook of Victorian time, she always adopted new technology and technique. Apart from having her very own ice cream maker the Marshall’s Patent Freezer, she is also credited with the invention of the ice cream edible cone, mentioned in her 1888 book of cookery. Agnes B. Marshall wrote four books: The Book of Ices 1885, Mrs. A.B. Marshall’s Book of Cookery 1888, Mrs. A.B. Marshall’s Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes 1891 & Fancy Ices 1894. These are considered to be some of the finest books of their type ever written, especially those on ices, of which Mrs. Marshall was crowned Queen. Her recipes are clear, accurate, and well illustrated.

        
We could not resist our waiter’s recommendation: Quaking Pudding (c.1660) Pear, perry, caramel & lime, from: The Accomplished Cooke by Robert May, 1660, or in its full name THE Accompliſht Cook, or “THE ART & MYSTERY OF COOKERY. Wherein the whole ART is revealed in a more easie and perfect Method, than hath been publiſht in any language, who am I to dispute that…?
The recipe on Robert May’s Accomplished Cook 1660, is a classic 17th century English recipe. This one by Robert May is a basic cream custard with bread steamed in a mould and which should shake or quake when served, which it does right before our eyes.
Making a Quaking Pudding: Slice the crumbs of a penny manchet*, and infuse it three or four hours in a pint of scalding hot cream, covering it close, then break the bread with a spoon very small, and put to it eight eggs, and put only four whites, beat them together very well, and season it with sugar, rose-water, and grated nutmeg: if you think it too stiff, put in some cold cream and beat them well together; then wet the bag or napkin and flour it, put in the pudding, tie it hard, and boil it half an hour, then dish it and put to it butter, rose-water, and sugar, and serve it up to the table. (Copyright © celtnet) For the full recipe link to:

http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/stuart/fetch-recipe.php?rid=stu-may-make-quaking-pudding

*Penny Manchet, is a wheaten yeast bread of very good quality, or a small flat circular loaf of same. It was a bread that was small enough to be held in the hand. Perry is an alcoholic drink made from fermented pears. Perry has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and in parts of south Wales.
This is really an exquisite dessert. Dinner’s version containing Vanilla as well as the “obligatory” freshly grated nutmeg with the light Jus of pears, perry, lime and caramel, from the poached pears not only quaking all the way to our table and on it (aided by all concerned) but smoothly lining our palates and down our throats… delicious.
Back to the Tipsy Cake (c.1810) from: The English Cookery book by J H Walsh which can be read on: http://archive.org/stream/englishcookeryb00bookgoog#page/n0/mode/2up

The tipsy cake is a soft succulent brioche is served in a mini cast iron Staub pot, soaked in a sweet alcoholic sauce – “a drunken cake” here it is accompanied by a small strip of roast pineapple, slowly sweating on a spit roasted (to perfection) on the large Rotisier.
Brioche is a pastry or a highly enriched bread of French origin, with high egg and butter content that give it a rich and tender crumb. It is “light and slightly puffy, more or less substantial, according to the proportion of butter and eggs. It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust. Brioche is considered a Viennoiserie- baked product made from a yeast-leavened dough in the same way as bread, but has the richer aspect of a pastry due to the extra addition of eggs, lots of butter, liquid (milk, water, cream, and, sometimes, brandy or sweet wine) and sugar.

           
The combination of butter and caramelizing sugar at the base of the cast iron dish creates a runny delicious liquid toffee which is “sucked in” by the baking fluffy brioche making it addictive beyond imagination, in fact I crave for more as I am writing right now, the combination with the roasted pineapple is perfect adding tropical touch and flavour to the dish.
I must add that my fruity and fresh 1987 Château D’ Yquem, that was “not welcomed” at Dinner, but consumed with joy on my “official” Birthday Dinner at Catit Restaurant Tel Aviv, would have been PERFECT with all our deserts especially the Tipsy cake and spit roast pineapple which is an Yquem on a plate.
Dinner is a restaurant that presents with pride a chronological history of best of British food throughout recorded history (in print) from the 14th century to date.
HB: “around about two hundred years ago Britain had gastronomy as good as anywhere else in Europe, we only take our inspiration from periods and time it’s not replicating it not at all, it’s an inspiration by association at times just a spice mix or a way the dish is served, we are updating and upgrading the ingredients nowadays you would not be able to eat like all round rancid milk or oxidized & sour wine available in the 17th-18th centuries”.
At Dinner they are using refined oils rather than Pigs lard for cooking, other contemporary products and techniques to achieve reminiscences of a glorious culinary past, in contemporary dishes. If you do not search for the origins of each dish (not only a mention of their sources of origin as they are meticulously entered on the menu), the idea gets lost somehow, very much like looking at relics from the past in an archaeological dig which without any deeper explanation of what you are looking at look like just another bunch of “broken stones”. I guess most people including me loose the essence of the “exercise” and just have yet “another meal”, rather than appreciate the amount of thought and effort that is entered into each and every dish, and that’s a bit of a shame, that might not be easily rectified after all people come to Dine here and dine we did, in style and meticulous perfection in dishes execution, that with the right company, what else could I wish for on my 60th Birthday (month). Yes celebrations went on (and on) some of which you will be part of in the coming posts.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
66 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7LA
Phone: 0207 2013833

YOUR WINEGUIDE