TRADITIONAL RECIPES — WALES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 125, 14 November 1941, Page 45

TRADITIONAL RECIPES — WALES

N my visit to England in _1938 I collected as many of the traditional recipes characteristic of the different parts of Great Britain as I could. You will be interested, I am sure, if I give some of them on our Page; and if any Links in the Daisy Chain can supply any others, we shall be delighted to have them. Although the counties have, of course, moved with the times in every way, yet some of the old customs still remain. I was told that one difference between the meals of 50 years ago and the present day-in Montgomery and Radnorshireis that then broth used to be drunk for breakfast and supper, while now it is tea! Often on a large farm, where everything is entirely up-to-date, with all the latest appliances for milking and so on, the bread, however, may be baked in a great old brick oven-and cakes and pies, too. Let us begin with some Welsh recipes. Raisin and Lemon Pie (Montgomery) Eight ounces of castor sugar, 2 cupsful of sultanas, juice and rind of 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon flour, ¥/ pint water. Put in a saucepan and cook together until creamy. Cool. Line a plate with pastry, spread the cooled mixture thickly over it, and finally cover with pastry, Bake for about half an hour. Radnor Mutton

Radnor is supposed to have the most | delicious "small" mutton in the Kingdom -perhaps in the whole world. They make lots of tasty dishes with it, and they bake their little legs of mutton in a "jacket" of suet crust, half an inch thick, basting it well while baking. It is very good indeed, and is served with jelly made with mountain ash-berries and apple. We could certainly try this — using just apple-jelly. Onion Sauce Onion sauce is very popular in Wales. It is served with roast duck, as well as with boiled mutton, and sometimes with pork, and with boiled fowl. Little baked shoulders of Welsh mutton are generally accompanied by onion sauce. Spiced Herring Rolls Eight herrings, 2 large onions, 1 teacupful of vinegar, 1 teacupful of water, 4 bay leaves, 4 cloves, pepper and salt. Clean, wash and wipe the herrings. Divide each fish into two fillets. Roll tightly, and put in a pie-dish. Add the bay leaves, cloves, pepper and salt, and cover with the vinegar and the water. Add the onions, which have been parboiled. Cover it all with greaseproof _ paper-or, I suppose, a lid-and bake for

about an hour. They may be served hot or cold. Birthday Gingerbread One pound of flour, 44Ib. raisins, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 small teaspoon baking soda, lb. castor sugar, ¥2 cupful sour cream, 1 teaspoon ground ginger,

14lb. butter, 1 tablespoon boiling water, 3 eggs, 4% teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 cupful syrup, % cupful candied peelmixed, and 1 teaspoon of ground cloves. Grease a shallow baking tin. Cream the butter and sugar, add the syrup, which has been slightly heated. Beat this syrup well in. Now add the well-beaten egg

yolks and the cream. Stir in the soda, dissolved in a tablespoon of boiling water. Mix it very well, and add the chopped raisins and peel and the flour, sifted with the spices and baking-powder. Finally, fold in the stiffy beaten egg whites. Bake in a slow oven for about 2 hours, cool on a cake rack. , Baked Rabbits Rabbits are plentiful in Radnorshire, and this is one of their ways of serving the tender young ones. For three young rabbits you will need 3 breakfast cups of milk, 1lb, of onions, 4 rashers of bacon, and 2 tablespoons of flour. Cut the prepared rabbits into joints, and lay in the baking dish with the onions, and small pieces of bacon. Pour on the milk, and bake them for about 114 hours. Mix the flour with cold milk, add pepper and salt and thicken the liquid round the rabbits. Chop up the onions, too, and put them back in the dish, and cook all ‘for another ten minutes. Actually, the rabbits, when sent to the table, are covered with a thick onion sauce. Rabbit and Beef Pudding One rabbit, 121b. lean beef, 3 onions, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 2 potatoes, ¥{b. flour, 4oz. suet, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, also 3 tablespoons of flour, seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Joint the rabbit and soak it in salted water for 20 minutes. Cut up the beef into pieces about an inch long. Roll each piece in the seasoned flour. Peel and slice the vegetables. Make a crust with the half pound (Continued from previous page) ---.

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of flour, suet, baking powder, salt and a little water. Roll this pastry out thin, and line a greased pudding basin, leaving enough pastry for the lid. Dry the rabbit, roll each joint in the seasoned flour, pack in the basin with the vegetables and the beef and pour in a cupful of water. Cover with the pastry top, tie over greaseproof paper, dnd steam for three hours, or more. Serve with onion sauce, Carmarthen Rarebit Melt 2oz, of butter in a saucepan, add 4oz. of grated cheese, and a teacup of

milk. Stir over gentle heat until the cheese is dissolved. Add a pinch of salt, @ teaspoon of made mustard, and 1 beaten egg. Cook for one minute. Pour over some hot buttered toast, and if convenient, put under the griller just to brown, Dry Trout This method of cooking is supposed to give the fish a wonderful flavour, ‘The trout, freshly caught in the Welsh streams is cleaned and wiped dry, then put to fry in a slightly greased pan. Turn after a few minutes, and cook on the other side.

Brecon Biscuits Five ounces of butter, 141b. of flour, 6oz. of sugar, 2 eggs, and one teaspoonful of lemon juice, Rub the butter into the flour, add the sugar, the strained lemon juice, and the well-beaten eggs. Mix into a paste. Dust the board over with flour and fine sugar mixed, and roll the paste out thinly on this. Cut into rounds, and crescents. Bake in a moderate oven about 20 minutes. These biscuits are : sometimes varied with the addition of lightly grated lemonrind, or caraway seeds pressed in when rolling out the paste, ‘ Welsh Cawl (Glamorganshire) Three pounds of neck of mutton. 6

leeks, 6 carrots, 12 potatoes, salt and 5 breakfast cups of water. See that the mutton is well jointed, place in a pan with tepid water, to which salt has been added, Bring to the boil, remove the scum, and simmer for 1 hour. Prepare the vegetables, divide each carrot into four lengthwise, and cut the leeks into pieces about 3 inches long. Put into the pan and boil for half an hour, then put in the peeled potatoes, and boil for another half hour. Serve on a very hot dish with the meat piled in the centre. Welsh Shortbread (Flintshire) This is a good one. Half a pound of butter, 441b. castor sugar, 120z. wholemeal flour, %4Ib. rice flour. Cream the butter in a basin, sift in the wholemeal flour, then add the castor sugar and the rice flour. Knead the paste with the hands until it is smooth, divide into four portions, form into flat round cakes, pinch the edges with the thumb and finger, and prick all over with a fork. Place on paper on a flat baking tin, and bake in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes, or until the shortbread is well done and a good brown. As we cannot get rice flour, I suppose ground rice would do, Welsh Cheese Cakes In Welsh, these are called "Tarts Sioned." Make a short crust with 6oz. flour, 30z. lard, a little salt, and cold water. Line patty tins with it, and put on each a little raspberry jam, before the following mixture. One egg, and its weight in butter, sugar and flour, a pinch of baking powder, and the grated rind of half a lemon. Beat the butter ‘and Sugar to a cream, add the flour and egg alternately, beating well between each — addition, then the lemon rind and lastly, the baking powder. Put in the shells with the raspberry jam, and bake immediately in a fairly quick oven till nicely browned. Cool on a sieve. Sift over with icing sugar. You may prefer to make your own favourite pastry and just use the Welsh filling.