As a follow on from my earlier post about Bakewell tart and Bakewell pudding I have decided to feature some regional UK recipes on this blog; starting of course in Derbyshire (my birth place) and then over time branching out across the whole country.
The aim is also to act as an introduction to the regional British recipe book that I am currently working on, which I hope to release in time for Christmas; but don’t bank on it because it is a massive book that will take me some time to complete. The book will contain over 100 regional UK recipes which I will need to edit and illustrate.
But this is not the only project I am working on.
I am currently working on 6 different projects: a British regional recipe book, an audio to accompany my already published pet bird guide book, video versions of all my articles, another online media tutorial ebook to accompany the one already published, video tutorials to go with both my media ebooks, and (you’ll love this) a UK regional recipe calendar for 2012, plus I am continuously researching for my many projects; as well as trying to maintain 6 different blogs – so as you can understand, I’m a busy man.
Back to the main point of this particular blog post:
Below are two other traditional Derbyshire recipes I have unearthed in my research. The ‘brides pie’ was a little outdated (by about 2 centuries) so I have had my dedicated team (me) working tirelessly on this to come up with a modern day alternative.
ENJOY!
Moorland Tart – Derbyshire
Ingredients:
Pre-made shortcrust pastry
¼ lb / 125 g sugar
¼ lb / 125 g chopped peal
¼ lb / 125 g currants
3 oz / 85 g butter or margarine
2 eggs (hard-boiled and finely chopped)
½ nutmeg (or ground nutmeg alternatively)
Method:
Prepare some pastry cases
Warm butter gently to melt
Add the remaining ingredients and mix well to form a spread
Line the pastry cases with the mixture
Bake in preheated oven 180 ° C / 350 ° F / Gas 4 until set
A Bride’s Pie – Derbyshire
This recipe has been adapted to modernise it, as it is taken from a very old Derbyshire recipe source. Whether this is still made in the region, or anywhere for that matter is unclear but for tradition’s sake here goes.
Ingredients:
Pre-made puff pastry
2 calves feet (I suppose some beef or veal will suffice if necessary)
1 lb / 500 g beef suet
1 lb / 500 g apples
1 lb / 500 g dried currants
¼ lb / 125 g raisins
¼ oz / 7 g cinnamon
¼ oz / 7 g mace
¼ oz / 7 g nutmeg
*2 oz / 60 g candied citron (peel)
*2 oz / 60 g candied lemon, thin cut
(* maybe 4 oz / 120 g mixed peel might be easier to get hold of)
Glass of brandy
Glass of champagne (fizzy wine is cheaper)
Method:
Boil the calves feet, then pick the meat from the bone and chop very finely (or cook the meat and chop it very finely)
Mix all the other ingredients (apart from the pastry of course) together with the meat
Place mix in pie dish and cover with rolled puff pastry
Decorate with more pastry and bake in oven (temperature unknown) so I suggest 180 ° c / 350 ° F / Gas 4 until pastry well risen and starting to brown.
It might be advisable to heat the filling up before using otherwise the crust may cook whilst the filling stays cool. Stick it in the microwave or warm gently in saucepan, stirring frequently.
The original recipe calls for a glass ring to be hidden inside the pie, assumingly for the said bride to find, but I wouldn’t advise this, maybe a metal ring or a coin would be a safer option. If you’d like a word pad file of the original script I had to work with then please emal me at prenterprises2010@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to oblige.
If you would like a free pdf of these and the Bakewell recipes for you to print out please drop me a short email with the words ‘R Derbys’ in the title, and I will email it out to you as soon as I can.
Thanks!
prenterprises2010@gmail.com
