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Autumn 2024
National Trust Magazine digital edition launch
To celebrate the launch of the first digital National Trust Magazine, here’s a sneak preview of one of the articles featured within the magazine. If you’d like to find out more about switching to digital or becoming a member, please see the details at the bottom of the page.
Historic recipes
Traditional with a twist
Regional recipes are often passed down through generations of cooks. This delicious selection of five has historic links to Trust places and is drawn from all over the UK. Try making them at home – and look out for them in ‘their’ Trust cafés
Compiled by Sophie Kershaw. Photography by Steve Sayers
This season's recipes
Lady Arundel’s manchet
Petworth, West Sussex
A manchet is a flavoursome yeast-leavened bun enriched with butter, eggs and milk. Historically manchets were enjoyed only by the wealthy, gracing the tables of Henry VIII’s court – and of Petworth House, where they were served to the 9th Earl of Northumberland for breakfast.
One renowned manchet recipe comes from the 1653 anthology A True Gentlewomans Delight, which was compiled by Elizabeth Grey, the Countess of Kent. It was attributed to Elizabeth’s sister Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel, and included a huge quantity of butter and eggs, plus the addition of ‘barm’ – brewer’s yeast skimmed from a cask of fermenting ale. Our recipe is somewhat simpler and is especially tasty when served with butter and jam.
Ingredients
Makes 12
900g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
14g (two sachets) of fast-acting yeast
5g caster sugar
560ml milk, warmed to body temperature
50g cold butter, cut into cubes
20g salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
Method
1
First, make a pre-ferment for the dough. Place 100g of the flour into a bowl, add the dried yeast, caster sugar and 160ml of the warmed milk. Stir well, cover with a clean tea towel, and leave in a warm place for about an hour. When the mixture is ready, it should be bubbling and doubled in size.
2
Place the remaining flour in a large bowl and add the cubes of cold butter. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until well dispersed, then stir through the salt.
3
When the pre-ferment is ready, add the beaten egg and mix well.
4
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/ gas mark 6.
5
Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the pre-ferment, plus 300ml of warmed milk. Bring together into a rough dough and then tip onto a well-floured worktop. Start to knead the mix by folding it with your hands. Add the remaining warmed milk and continue to knead until the dough comes together into a smooth ball.
6
If the dough feels too sticky, dust with a little additional flour, before cutting into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and then flatten with the palm of your hand. Transfer the manchets to a lined baking tray and score a diamond pattern into the top using a sharp knife. You will need to cut nearly all the way through the dough.
7
Cover the tray with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for around 30–40 minutes, or until the manchets have doubled in size.
8
Transfer to the oven and bake for 15–17 minutes, or until the manchets are golden.
Top tip
This manchet recipe can be used as a base for your own flavour combinations. For sweet rolls, try folding through dried fruit, chocolate or citrus zest. Or for savoury, add chopped herbs or grated cheese.
Yorkshire parkin
Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire
A deliciously sticky and spicy teatime treat, Yorkshire parkin is often enjoyed as part of Bonfire Night celebrations. Dating back to the 18th century, parkin was made during the first week in November to coincide with the oat harvest. Its traditional links with Guy Fawkes Night are murkier, but in Yorkshire, 5 November is sometimes referred to as ‘Parkin Day’. This recipe is taken from the café at Fountains Abbey.
Ingredients
Serves 8-10
110g butter
110g soft dark brown sugar
55g black treacle
200g golden syrup
225g oats
110g self-raising flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp mixed ground spice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
20ml milk
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/gas mark 3 and line a 2lb (900g) loaf tin with baking parchment.
2
Place a saucepan over a medium heat and gently melt together the butter, sugar, black treacle and golden syrup. Leave to one side to cool.
3
Combine the oats, flour, ginger and mixed spice in a large bowl. Stir in the cooled syrup mixture, followed by the beaten eggs and milk.
4
Pour the mixture into the lined loaf tin and bake for 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Top tip
Parkin gets stickier and more flavoursome with time. Once baked, leave it in an airtight container for a day or two before enjoying it spread with salted butter or warmed with custard.
Lamb cawl
Stackpole, Pembrokeshire
This wholesome stew is as important to Wales as haggis is to Scotland. Dating back to the 14th century, cawl is made by gently simmering meat and vegetables until meltingly sweet and tender. It’s thought that the name ‘cawl’ comes from the Latin word caulis, meaning the stalk of a cabbage – which might historically have been a key component of this peasant dish. Though cawl was traditionally made with beef or salted bacon, the recipe sometimes served at the Stackpole tea-room champions Welsh lamb and leeks.
Ingredients
Serves 4
A glug of olive oil
500g diced lamb – ideally neck or shoulder
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
½ a swede, peeled and chopped into cubes
3 medium leeks, washed and sliced
1 litre of vegetable stock
2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
1 small bunch parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to season
Method
1
Place a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium/high heat and add the oil. Once hot, add the diced lamb in small batches and fry until sealed on all sides. Remove and put to one side. Repeat until all the lamb is browned.
2
Add the onions to the pan with a pinch of salt and sauté gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3
Add the sliced carrots, chopped swede and leeks. Stir well and leave to sauté for a further 10 minutes.
4
Add the browned lamb, plus any juices, back into the pan and stir.
5
Add enough warm stock to the pan to cover the meat and vegetables; you may not need it all. Increase the heat to bring the mixture to the boil.
6
Reduce the cawl to a gentle simmer and cover with a close-fitting lid. Simmer for 1 to 1½ hours.
7
Add the potatoes and simmer the cawl for a further 20 minutes – or until the potatoes are cooked and the lamb is meltingly tender.
8
Season to taste and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley and a slice of crusty bread.
Top tip
For a vegetarian or vegan take on cawl, you can substitute the lamb for hearty butterbeans or chickpeas.
Norfolk shortcake
Horsey Windpump, Norfolk
It’s said that every grandmother in Norfolk has her own recipe for this East Anglian classic, which originated as a way to use up leftover pastry by re-rolling it with lard, sugar and dried fruit. This modern imagining is more akin to a flaky biscuit. It’s filled with plump sultanas and is perfect enjoyed with a cup of tea in the café at Horsey Windpump.
Ingredients
Makes 5
110g cold butter
225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
3–4 tbsp cold water
75g sultanas
30g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6.
2
Cut the cold butter into cubes and rub into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the cold water, a tbsp at a time, and bring the mixture together into a dough using a cutlery knife. Form the dough into a ball, wrap and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
3
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 30x15cm rectangle, 6mm thick, using a rolling pin.
4
Scatter the sultanas lengthways along the bottom half of the dough, ensuring to cover the edges and corners, and sprinkle over the caster sugar, reserving a little for the topping.
5
Brush the plain half of the dough with a little beaten egg, and fold over the half of the dough covered with fruit. Press gently using a rolling pin.
6
Trim the edges of the dough with a sharp knife, and then cut into five slices. Brush each with more beaten egg and sprinkle over the reserved sugar.
7
Transfer shortcakes to a lined baking tray and bake for 15–20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Top tip
For a hit of flavour and crunch, try seasoning the dough with orange or lemon zest, and sprinkling a little demerara sugar over before baking.
Fidgety pie
Calke Abbey, Derbyshire
Recipes for fidget or fidgety pie vary throughout the Midlands, but there’s always one common theme – the celebration of autumnal ingredients. Made using layers of potato, apple, onion and smoked bacon wrapped in shortcrust pastry, fidgety pie was intended for harvest workers with hearty appetites. While some believe the name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word fitched, meaning five-sided, others think it may be a variant of fitchet, the old dialect name for a polecat – which may reference the pie’s golden-brown colour. This dish is occasionally served at the Calke Abbey café.
Ingredients
Serves 4
500g block of pre-made shortcrust pastry
4 medium potatoes (around 700g), peeled and sliced
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced
1 medium eating apple, peeled, cored and sliced
1 small bunch chopped sage
Salt and pepper, to season
500ml vegetable stock, left to cool
5–6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
30g sultanas
1 egg, beaten
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6.
2
Roll out half of the shortcrust pastry to the thickness of a pound coin and line the base of a 28cm rectangular pie dish, leaving an overhang.
3
Place half of the sliced potatoes in a layer in the bottom of the dish, then add all the onion as another layer, followed by the apple. Sprinkle over the chopped sage, and season with salt
and pepper.
4
Pour over enough of the cooled vegetable stock to half-fill the pie dish. You may not need it all.
5
Layer the pieces of streaky bacon on top and sprinkle over the sultanas, before covering with a final layer of sliced potatoes.
6
Roll out the remaining shortcrust pastry to the same thickness as the base and lay over the top of the pie. Trim the edges using a sharp knife and decoratively crimp or press down using the tines of a fork.
7
Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg, make a small hole for the steam to escape, and bake in a moderate oven for 1½ hours or until the pastry is golden and the potatoes are soft. If the pastry is getting too dark, you can cover it with a sheet of kitchen foil for the remainder of the cooking time.
8
Serve with steamed winter greens and gravy, if you like.
Top tip
Make use of any leftover stock or chopped onions by making a flavoursome onion gravy to serve with your pie.
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Autumn 2024
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