Love for Udon.

I know i've been heavily weighted upon the sweet for the past few posts, I apologise all you savourites. So I bring to you today a little slice of Eastern heaven. Anyone who's been to Wagamama's, will know of their ramen, probably one of the more popular noodle dishes outside of China, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.
Now, I've been to Wagamama's quite a few times, and even though I like to try different things, I find myself always back to the start thinking...but, what if I don't get to come here for a while, and i've missed out on ramen noodles? Overall, i'm relatively fussy about my eateries, but for a chain, Wagamama does some pretty awesome food. They have achieved some sort of harmony of appeal between being in a very Western country and enlightening said Westerners with different tastes. I sound like an advert. But anyway!

I hope they don't mind me using this, it is to show love after all.

I'm by no means an expert, i'm barely even an amateur when it comes to noodles, but I like a challenge, and to get the balance of spices, and sauces and ingredients is not an easy feat. Along with a disasterous salsa concoction I made last year - it still haunts my dreams - Eastern food has been somewhat of a culinary foe. I say it with the utmost love of course, because along with great skill comes great reward, and if you get it just right, these types of dishes can be the most amazing experiences.

First a little basic noodle knowledge before we start. There is so much more than 'thick' and 'thin' noodles, and like pasta, it is often relegated to the food of students (me not included in this, naturally). I dread to think of the noodles that pot and packet noodles contain, you know, the ones that are 7p from some forsaken hell hole in the canned vegetable isle. Anyone who has lived with me will know that I am a complete pot noodle snob, and i'm quite happy to say it. I hate them, with a passion equivalent to that of a thousand burning suns. I don't care how poverty stricken you students are, there is no excuse!

But on to proper noodles (I don't relish the thought of using that word, but nothing else really seems appropriate). This is just the pure basics of noodles, as there are dozens of different regional varieties for each one, but for the novice, an overview is enough:

1: Egg noodles - This is what the ramen noodle variety sits under, they are relatively heavy and rich noodle, and come in basic 'thick' and 'thin' varieties. These are good for, but not exclusive to, broths. I know the term "egg" noodles, is so very broad, it doesn't really cover shape or length or texture, but there are so many varieties, and the tastes are generally very similar to each other, so it's an okay overview for lesser experienced noodle chef.

2: Wheat noodles - These come basic somen (thin) and udon (thick) varieties. Udon noodles are some of my favourite noodles, they're thick, juicy and white and they are amazing in soups and covered in rich chilli sauce. Both varieties have a smooth silky bite but are still reasonably firm. They are a predominantly Japanese noodle, but there is tonnes of crossover, so you'll only be hung by the purists if you want to mix and match.

3: Buckwheat noodles - These are brown-grey coloured noodles with an amazing nutty flavour, think brown rice compared to white. Japanese call them soba, Koreans call them naengmyon and are often accompanied with sauces for breakfast in Japan. Interestingly, if you are intolerant to gluten and wheat, 100% buckwheat noodles are completely free of both. Hoorah for noodles.

4: Wonton noodles - Well, wonton wraps, or gyozas, are noodle skins that you place around your meat, fish vegetables or sometimes noodles to hold little parcels together. These can be boiled, steamed or fried, and are used for making spring rolls. They really are very thin and very delicate, and if you were going to make any of the noodles from this list by hand, I probably wouldn't recommend this one for beginners. They come in two main varieties, wheat and rice (and thick and thin within those) and can be used for sweet or savoury dishes.

5: Clear noodles - This seems a little out of place compared to the others, but this category covers all sorts of cellophane noodles (long, very thin and clear tagliatelle-like noodles), glass noodles and bean threads. Unlike some of the others on this list, these noodles are best if you want to add big texture to your dish, rather than taste. They honestly don't really taste of much but they are gelatinous and slippery and make for a rather good salad. They are also good in soups and broths, they sit, in their clear glory like little ghostly cheekys at the bottom of the bowl after you've munched all the veg and meat. It's pretty sneaky if you ask me, but a welcome surprise if you're craving a teeny bit more.

6: Rice noodles - This is our final, and probably most prominant category. You usually find them dried and in little nests and are available in most UK supermarkets now, along with egg noodles. This category includes vermicelli, a really thin variety of almost clear noodles. These types of noodles go relatively well with light broths, rather than heavy meat sauces, as they are somewhat more delicate tasting. Along with our friends the buckwheat noodles, they are entirely gluten and wheat free.

Now the basics are covered here, but as I said before, there really are dozens of other regional varieties to try out there, so don't think it's exclusive to just these. They won't be drastically different, probably similar to the relationship between linguine and spaghetti, but it's still worth mentioning. You can even get potato noodles, but they are predominantly from Eastern-Middle Europe rather than far East. But I thought i'd be thorough.

This particular post is purely about noodles for now, because if I got into any other element of Japanese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Chinese or Thai food i'd be here forever. Noodles are amazing, and while I love me a good bowl of pasta, they offer a different kind of service; where pasta has versatility in shape (and sometimes texture, with using different flours and such like), noodles have versatility in taste. There are several varieties, somen, ramen and soba for instance, are the same general shape, long and thin, but offer very different tastes and their own personality to food. So while it's probably implanted in us that many starchy additions taste the same no matter what the shape, what with Italian food being so popular in the UK, it's important to treat noodles with a little more delicacy. 

Something else I love about noodles is that they're incredibly fast, they're faster than their Italian rivals, because they're mostly long and thin and require only a few minutes soaking. What makes them faster still is that you can chop vegetables, make sauces or broth in the time that they are soaking. If push came to shove I bet even the most inexperienced cook could make a pretty amazing vegetable stir fry in less that five minutes.

I am aware that if you have not been brought up on such boisterous flavours, or if you were a war child of sorts, than it may not be your cup of tea. But I pose to you today one of my bridge recipes, something for people who don't want to jump head first into anothers' culinary pool - not a euphemism...actually I suppose it could be.

Bridge Chow Mein

Serves 2-3

1 small red chilli - however hot you like them

3 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons (ish) dark soy

2 tablespoons (ish) olive oil

1 tblsp Chinese 5-spice

1 tsp paprika 

150g of noodles- whichever takes your fancy, Udon noodles and Shi wheat noodles work well

150g (ish) beansprouts

2-3 chicken breasts

Any crunchy vegetables, sprouting broccolli, carrots etc

Sesame oil

Equipment that's useful for this - Pestle and mortar if you have one, skewers.

- First of all, chop the top off the chilli, and chop into thin-ish chunks, and peel the garlic. Put all of it (including the seeds, what's the point in using chillis if you dont make it hot!) into the pestle and mortar and grind down to a chunky paste. Take one tablespoon on the mixture out and set aside.

- For the marinade. Add all of the spices, 2 tablespoons of dark soy for colour and flavour, a dash of sesame oil (and I mean a dash because a little goes a very long way!) and a glug of olive oil to bring it all together. 

- Sandwich the chicken breasts between two layers of cling film and bash the living hell out of it with a rolling pin, it is relatively satisfying and it makes the chicken go further. Then chop into 2cm thick strips.

- Add the chicken to the marinade, make sure all bits are covered in it and cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for half an hour or so. If you want this can be done the night before.

- Skewer the chicken onto the sticks - allow for 2-3 a person and set aside ready to cook.

- Boil the kettle and cover your noodles in the hot water (if they're dried) and put a deep frying pan on the heat with no oil. 

- Put all of the chicken skewers and all of the marinade into the pan, turning occasionally, until they are fully cooked through and set aside on a plate. 

- Add all the vegetables (if you're using them) and the now softened and drained noodles the pan with the juices from the chicken. Add the last tablespoon of dark soy to the pan and add in the beansprouts at the last minute to keep them crunchy. 

- Serve with the chicken skewers and a small drizzle of sesame on top. 

- Slurp away at your yum noodles.

As I said before, this is an incredibly basic recipe, it's essentially Chow Mein (hence the title), from the Mandarin chǎomiàn (and the Taishanese chāu-mèing, from where it is thought to have originated from), meaning 'fried noodles'. Along with Chop Suey it is right up there with popular Eastern dishes, and may not be the most authentic thing you can cook from an Eastern perspective, it is the unity of East and West! It's quite a heavy dish and it's not as balanced as an Eastern chef would like, but it's about bridging the gap. It has Mediterranean flavours, and Eastern flavours, and it's a good place to start if you're not vastly experienced.

Something interesting to remember about balance actually while i'm on the subject, much Eastern cooking is governed by the aspects of Yin and Yang. It is very much about the balance of the mild Yin, to the strong flavoured Yang, for example, something like bean sprouts or cabbage would be a Yin ingredient, and garlic or ginger or meat would be Yang. It is also applied to to cooking methods, so for instance, a Yin cooking method would be steaming, poaching or boiling, and a Yang would be deep-frying, stir-frying or roasting. The divide is very logical if you think about it. It's healthier to eat steamed fish than it is to eat fried, but it's okay to have bits of both, as long as they are balanced
It's not an odd idea, it is more of a means to keep nutrition and body balanced so nothing overpowers the other, as opposed to an abstract concept. It's useful to know in every type of cooking, not just Eastern.

But after that my little culinary deviants I shall leave you to your experimenting, there will always be more to come

Douzo meshiagare!

Selamat menjamu selera!

Peace

JR

Subjective Shortbread

 I must first apologise for my distinct absence (I feel like i've said this at the start of every post), this is as much for me as it is for you, to attempt to get some sort of routine embedded within my scatty brain. Let's hope it works!

Gotta love my little heart cookie cutters.

Today, I made shortbread!

Although I barely have a tartan bone in my body (bar my great grandad), I still have a bit of a weakness for shortbread. And though it is sold in many, many places all around the world, its one recipe that is difficult to get quite right. Not having a particularly large collection of ingredients, butter, sugar and flour, it's not that expensive, and though I have tried numerous recipes, I've never gotten it quite right. So I dedicate this post to the perfect shortbread. Whether you like yours crimped, covered in strawberries, or just in bars there is bound to be a combination here to suit your tastebuds!

I've had a bit of a tingle to learn something new since i've been home, and my mum brought some shortbread back from shopping, so I decided to learn about it, pretty simple really. I've learned a couple of new things about shortbread over the past few days which I had never even considered, which is pretty awesome, because I love learning new facts to bore my friends with. For instance, I had absolutely no idea that traditional shortbread didn't have eggs in it, or that the sugar be put on after cooking, rather than before (sounds like a rookie mistake...it was).

But first, I think a short history on today's subject is necessary. Etymology wise, it's a relatively simple combination of the word 'short', and the word 'bread'; interestingly though,'short' is used not because of the addition of shortening to the mixture (for the North Americans amongst us), but because of the texture of the biscuit, which is to 'crumble' or 'snap'. This term has been used since my home (plus a few hundred square miles around it) was simply called 'Mercia' and Danish took our vowels. 

There is no evidence to suggest that shortbread wasn't around before the 12th Century, but it seems that it was popularised particularly around here. Move forward almost 400 years and Mary Queen of Scots did the rest for modern shortbread. She is often claimed to have refined the recipe; I somehow doubt she did this personally, however, what with her being locked up for most of her life and all, but it's nice to use a figurehead for unity. The 'bread' section however is kind of interesting, when the taxes went up on cakes and biscuits, it did not on bread, and because of the dough-ey nature of this particular specimen, and the fact that is used to be made from the foamy fermented yeast from bread, the clever Scots managed to keep it alive by naming it as a bread instead.

          Shortbread is traditionally eaten on special occasions, Christmas Eve, Hogmanay and special Sunday lunches and such like, so you can get away with the excuse for consuming so much butter. Personally, as beautiful as they are, it would be difficult have one of these with my brew everyday.
          A few tips to consider if you can't quite get it right:

-First of all, if you have trouble rolling out your shortbread, your butter could be too soft, so fridge it for a little bit to solidify again.

-Secondly, is that if you pat your shortbread biscuits into shape as opposed to rolling it, they will stay a slightly lighter texture, if you roll it out heavy handed, it'll make them a little flatter, it won't affect the taste, but it'll affect the texture. The problem is similar to pastry however; if you have hot hands, like me, it's difficult because the dough has to stay cold really. I did the whole 'hands-in-ice-water' and it was rather unpleasant. So just take it easy on the rolling and it shouldn't be too bad.

-There is rightful controversy over whether or not to add vanilla to these sexy little bites, personally I prefer adding a quarter vanilla pod of seeds (or half a teaspoon of really good quality extract), because that's just my preference, but traditionally they go without.

There are many things I love about cooking, and many things I hate (I add using ice water to cool my hands to this list...), but there is one thought that I have a particularly turbulent love-hate relationship with (I say turbulent, it's more of a minor annoyance). The fact that no tastebuds are the same are both a blessing and curse when it comes to cooking. You could make the most amazing stew or baked good to you and another person may hate it, or vice versa. It reaks havoc with people like me, who get a little sad when her cooking doesn't behave. I say this because it is entirely relevant to shortbread. Dependant upon how you were raised, where you've been and who you've been in contact with, you will have entirely different culinary semantic web to everyone else. For example today, when making my batch of shortbread, I was fully away that some loyal Scottish cooks insist that shortbread be browned a little more, but I couldn't bring myself to leave them in the oven for two more minutes because 1. They looked so pretty, and 2. I was impatient.

         I very much dislike cooking snobs, I try to keep the same mindset when i'm cooking as when i'm watching a film remake, as more of an artistic interpretation rather than a lore. It is reasonable to think that very few people will like raw chicken, it isn't reasonable, however, to assume that everyone likes fried chicken, it's all about balance and understanding. If you are really not used to certain flavours, and you're not particularly adventurous food-wise, sometimes the food you are consuming is going to take some getting used to, whether it's beautifully cooked or not. However, even with all of this, it's entirely subjective, sometimes it turns out to be "The Departed", sometimes it's a "Psycho"...i'll let you figure out which one's which.

But back to shortbread (it was relevant I promise). I found something else out that rather intrigued me, it is the different additions with creating textures, for instance, by adding rice flour, and adjusting the ratio of plain flour to rice flour, it makes the end result a little more crumbly ('short' for the more traditional amongst us). Adding cornflour makes the mixture more melt-in-the-mouth type of thing, and Ayrshire shortbread insists upon cream and eggs as well, which seems a little odd to me, but each to their own.

          Also, I know that modern society is all about variety and what have you, but i've always thought that shortbread should be pure, as in without dried fruit and chocolate chips in the dough. Honestly, it doesn't need anymore fats, it's got enough butter in it, and though i'm sure the addition of chocolate may sell it to some, I am unfortunately not convinced.

          Something that I love about shortbread, is although it is a treasure of Scotland, and a few places have truly perfected it, Walkers have a fairly good recipe, for a mass produced item anyway, and Deans of Huntly could be even better. Both are pretty beautiful, and when i've tried other supermarket brands, it doesn't quite live up to my incredibly high standards. But for me, as with most things, it's always going to be about the home-made. Maybe I enjoy making things difficult for myself, where's the fun in cruising on by?
           But anyway, I'm going to be honest, before Tuesday I didn't really know that much about shortbread at all, and i'm still by no means an expert, but seeing as it is a treasure to our neighbours up north, I thought it only fair I give it a research. And i'm so glad I did, because it is a rich and lovely and because it tastes so much better home made, it gave me something to do!

The recipe for today is to my taste really, but so you know, it's very rich, buttery and crumbly. If this sounds to your liking, and you're enjoying the food porn at the bottom of the recipe, try it!

Crumbly Shortbread

Makes about 12 biscuits, depending on what shape you make

130g Plain Flour 

40g Rice Flour 

120g Butter

60g Golden caster sugar, unrefined. (Plus a little extra for dusting)

1/4 Cap of good quality vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

NB - before you start, because this recipe has so few ingredients, it is desperately important that you use good quality stuff, because you can taste the difference. I'm not made of gold, so I used Yeo Valley organic butter (not margerine, because that stuff is horrendous to me), if you can get unrefined flour too, that is a bonus, but I couldn't get it near me so I had to make do with organic. The caster sugar is up to you, I used fairtrade golden because it's kinda more earthy and not so sweet as refined, but it's your call on this last one.

- Leave your butter out overnight, covered up, obviously we don't want flies, to soften up, you need all the help you can get with working this. 

-If you have a mixer (with a blade rather than beaters) I would use it with the next because the dough gets quite tough with this method and without cold hands it's difficult. If you want to try the ice water and use your hands, also feel free to get stuck in.
- Mix the butter with the sugar and make sure it's combined really well.

- Sieve in everything else bar the dusting sugar and mix, but don't overdo it. As I found today, it is nigh-on impossible to mix this with a spoon, so I did the ice trick to cool down my hands. 

- Make into a little ball of dough, cover, and stick it in the fridge for about an hour to cool down again.

- Wait until towards the end of the cooling time stick your oven on to 150C non-fan/130C fan oven/Gas mark 2, nobody wants to be an energy-wasting tit. Whilst your waiting, dot a baking sheet with a tiny amount of butter and put down some greaseproof paper.

- Go forward an hour and you're going to have some pretty stiff looking dough. This is completely normal, and while it is a little crumbly sometimes, it is still very rollable.

- Sandwich your ball of dough between two layers of cling film and roll it out lightly with a rolling pin to about 1cm thick (mine was a little thinner).

- Cut it out into whatever shape takes your fancy, stick it on the lined baking tray, prick a few times with a fork and cook for about 15 minutes. Mine were relatively small size, about half the size of my palm, and took 18 minutes. But at 15 minutes check to see how they're doing, then check them every minute or so (Not joking! They are a pain in the ass for burning). Give them a light touch with your fingertip, they shouldn't be completely soft, but they shouldn't be completely solid, and if they're black you've gone too far.
- Remember, when they cool down they will solidify more, if you like shortbread slightly chewier, roll the dough out thicker and leave it in a little less time. But this recipe is suited for thinner biscuits so you may need to alter the overall thing. 

- But alas, the Scottish spirit is alive within us all, dust with sugar and nom away. I wouldn't eat too many, I ate one and it was plenty decadent, so these will go around.

Hooray for pretty biscuits

I've made it sound like such a faff to make these, it's not as bad as i've made out, I definitely need more practice though.
For now though, I bid you farewell, I shall be more diligent with my blog entries, and I shall reprise before seven days has passed.

Peace
JR

A Little Slice of the Black Country

It was so beautiful this morning when I awoke at the ungodly time of half past 6. Even though it was raining and my curtains were but a crack open, the sun sent shimmers of its warm delight and rainbow flecks onto my wall. And for once I genuinely did not mind getting out of bed. 

I have no doubt in my mind that this had a great deal to do with the fact that I knew I was finishing University today. And regardless of how well I had done in the essays I finished scribbling last night, or the looming dread of the marking of my dissertation it was going to be a good day. And it very much was. I write to you here today as a free woman. With my late night email reminder floating around in my head “Remember how tired you are right now. If you ever have to do essays again do not leave it this late, my eyeballs are exploding”, I quite like leaving myself notes. I’m going to be honest I’ve never been the ‘get-essays-in-before-they’re-due’ type but something about how tired I was made me realise how I am never going to do that again...well, more so the other times. It’s a pity it’s right at the end of my University career.

Okay, well firstly I shall start off with an apology, I’m going to be honest, I’ve written over 20,000 in general academic-related stuff since I last posted. And once you get into that referencing mindset it’s difficult to get back to the creative (Field, 2011). So apologies for the laborious wait those who follow.

To carry on with a past post though, the cheesecake went down very well. I think it did any way (I was a little tipsy at the time) but, I’m very, very glad. I’m not very experienced with cheesecake-making and this was literally the easiest thing. I’d even say it's easier than baking a cake, other than faffing a bit with the lemons, I did make a very big cheesecake though and I had to use 7 lemons. I know, my face just melted with sourness too but it was a perfectly balanced cheesecake. Thank you very much Once Upon a Thyme.

 

So back to the food. The other day I finally made mawa/mava cakes. I say finally because I’ve been meaning to make them for over a month but completely underestimated how much time they would really take up...it turns out alot. I’m gonna be completely honest, I spent the best part of an hour attempting to grind cardamom pods down to powder, it’s a complete pain in the ass. Never do it. If you can help it, buy ground, for your own sake.

Also as awesome as those cakes were they are very time consuming, the mava itself (which is a reduction of evapourated milk and cream) took up over an hour of my afternoon just constantly stirring. If you’re going to make these little beauties, make sure you have an entire afternoon. So with the slap bass of “Take the Power Back” in my ears and the citrusy smell of cardamom stuck to my fingers (after getting angry at their lack of cooperation and attempting to crush them with my bare hands like the hulk), I waited for them to cook their sorry asses into submission. Worried deeply in case they didn’t work. Thankfully they did though, and got hoovered up in no time. Must be a good sign. I also have some bad news as I have lost my phone along with all my photographs many of the exciting culinary expeditions I tried in the last month and a bit are lost too. So I have no visual records for the time being. So here’s a different photo of what mava/mawa cakes look like with a better camera than I have. They do look rather unassuming but they are deceptively beautiful.

I am a giant mava cake.

Right as a little theme I thought it’d be nice to do a bit of a locally themed post because I do love where I come from, warts and all.

I take you back in my tardis to the realm of my dear home of Black Country some yonder years ago. If you are reading from abroad then let me introduce a place you‘ve probably never heard of. It’s a quaint little place in the Midlands of England full of meadows and cascading streams. I kid it used to be one of the most prosperous industrious regions of the UK in the Victorian era and famed for the many steel factories and chain-making. Exciting, I know but all parts of culture is intertwined with culinary patterns. There are bits and bobs of tales saying that the name originated from when Queen Victoria came to visit the area and the air was so black with smoke she refused to leave her carriage and pulled down the blinds. But it was more likely the hefty seams of coal that vein the soil making the ground black. I think I prefer the shunning of Vic if I’m honest but hey ho.

Anyway the wonder that is Boney Pie (or Boony Pie if yow’m from mar neck of the woods). I can honestly say that everyone I have met has never even heard of Boney Pie, so I am undertaking the assumption that it is a Black Country exclusive phenomenon. It is the wonderful art of boiling bones of pig or various other animals and getting all the scraps and bits and bobs off in some sort of stock. Boiled meat I know sounds delish so far. And ultimately sticking it in a thick crust of pastry and filling it with seasoned jelly.

While this is actually a pork pie it looks exactly the same from the outside...it’s a pie.

Now while it sounds like a bit of a glorified pork pie it is so much better than that if you get the seasoning right. It has been cooked on occasion in my household namely by my eldest sister who has quite a hand for a chicken variety and though it’s not a staple it is very much an appreciated part of regional culinary delights. I have to say the stereotype is with Black Country food that is a...debatable at best in comparison to other accepted UK cuisines. I won’t overtly disagree I did come across a recipe from a Black Country cookbook called Groaty Dick, which I was originally not in too great-a hurry to try, but it turns out it is an awesome stew. This is just the tip of Black Country cuisine, there’s so much more, but the few dishes I’ve mentioned are some of my favourites. This just goes to show, there are a few hidden gems here in the Midlands, but more on that later.

Whilst i’ll steer clear of the recipe for Boney Pie for now, as I am aware that boiled meat is not most of you reader’s cup o’tea. I will come back to recipes a bit later with a little adaptation on a vintage recipe. It is no secret that most traditional Black Country cuisine is not exactly easy on the gut, and if you fancied a bit of old-school glamour, it probably won’t do you any favours trying to squeeze into your girdle.

Like most people who enjoy their food give me a choice between a passed-down journal or crumpled recipe book, full of notes, and a thousand page encyclopaedia about food and I will always choose the crumpled pages. You know when you hold that book in your hands that it has been through generations of families and proof-testing and adjustments scribbled in ikea pens, kohl pencils or anything to hand when you’ve discover that accidentally adding an extra tablespoon of sugar or extra egg made that cake perfect. Food should be an heirloom from parent to child just as much as a piece of jewellery or blue eyes. And why not? A person has spent their entire lives cooking for their family and friends, and perfected certain talents along the way, why should that not be given to younger generation? I can say that if I ever have children, they are going to hate me because I’m going to bequeath unto them my monster collection of cookery books and journals.

I digress yet again, I really do apologise I’m a little scattered today, I go ontowards my aforementioned adaptation. Here before you is the vintage recipe of this post, and though I am aware this dish isn’t exclusive to the Black Country, I know it’s quite an important part of many people’s upbringing:

Black Country Fill Belly

AKA Bread pudding

Serves a good 6 people if not more

500g stale bread

200g brown or granulated sugar

250g mixed dried

3 eggs

30g butter

2 teaspoons mixed spice

Milk

OPTIONAL – Pastry

OPTIONAL - Jam

NB - the original recipe calls for 100g of suet, but as many people don’t really eat it anymore or you’re on a diet, leave this out or substitute it for brown bread crumbs, but neither are really necessary.

- Also, I’ve made a few changes to the original, but it’s still a pretty standard recipe.

- Soak the bread in a little milk, squeeze to get rid of moisture and flake with a fork.

- Add all the other ingredients and mix well.

- Here’s where you can choose. Either you can put this mix into a greased baking tray dotted with bits of butter OR (do this) you can layer a nice deepish pastry case with a good layer of jam and fill it up with this mixture and bake it in the oven for both ways, on low for about 2 hours or until brown.

- This pudding does kind of make its own custard, what with the eggs and all, but I’m all about the custard so make some up and go to town.

Bread and butter pudding is just a nice, simple recipe, no fussing, nothing extravagant if you don’t want. It’s just nice.

It is times like this where I reminisce about school (as with a previous post about flapjacks) and remember to my primary school days and this fascinating cake that I have never come across since. Though my memory is hazy, I vaguely remember this lovely little square of cake that tasted what I imagined a ten-fold thick slice of shortbread would taste like, covered in horrific, amazing cheap sugary custard. I have searched, oh how I have searched to try and find something that resembles this fond memory, but alas. It is neither shortcake nor normal shortbread but thickened and I swear I even had a dream about it not long ago. Darn you, you shall evade me for now little cake but I will find you one of these days. For now, I bid you goodnight. But I shall be back very soon, with a hopefully found phone and some more culinary yummies.

Peace

JR