Champagne: The Truth Behind The Bubbles

by Josh Brown

When those fantastic examination results are confirmed, you and your family may celebrate with a bottle (or more) of champagne. Why is a rather mediocre sparkling wine the icon of rejoicing? Admittedly the bubbles are frivolous and fun but why specifically the sparkling wine from one region of France rather than the many others from across Europe and around the world? And why is champagne so commercially valued? A glass of the 'house' brand in the Savoy is £16 and the wine list runs to a bottle at well over £3000! Is it really worth it?

What do we  'know' about "champers"? It was invented in the Epernay region of northern France. It was perfected by a Benedictine monk, Dom Perignon, who spent his life working on it. Famously, he once called his brother monks "Come quick, I have angels dancing on my tongue!". Counted among its many ardent fans was the brilliant Irish writer Oscar Wilde who was drunk on champagne when arrested in 1895. The 'proper' way to open a bottle is to hold the cork with a cloth and twist  the bottle. So accepted are these 'facts' that you will find them repeated every reputable wine guide including one in the PGS staff common room recently. Yet the truth is that these are all pure myth!

The true inventor of champagne

Sparkling wine was not invented by the French but by a seventeenth century English physicist, Christopher Merret, several decades before French vintners started to copy his recipe. Their master-stroke was to secure the worlds first 'denomination' order, a legal ban stopping any other region from calling its wine "Champagne". Two centuries later, this restriction became an EU law that stops other sparkling wine makers from even using the term "method champenois" (champagne method).

Dom Perignon did spend sixty years of his life working to perfect wine production. His achievement was to improve the quality of the local grapes which means he actually invented Pinot Noir still wine because his other preoccupation was a lifelong mission to get rid of the bubbles! So where did that call to his brothers come from? In the late nineteenth century, the champagne house named after him hired a leading art nouveau  painter to design an advertising poster. The result was a picture of a monk holding a glass. Below this was the infamous call. What is presented as French history is nothing more than an advertising slogan. Until recently, you could find this poster on any internet search engine set to images but now reversed SEO has made it extremely difficult to locate, presumably to protect the myth.  

So just how did champagne reach its elevated position as the world's choice for celebration? In the late nineteenth century, champagne sales went into free fall. Several bad summers damaged the harvest while sales were falling due to the popularity of "hock and seltzer - white wine with soda water, which we now call a "spritzer". It was hock and seltzer, not champagne, that was Wilde’s favourite tipple (he was drinking it when the police came to arrest him). As houses started to go out of business, the champagne industry knew it needed to take urgent action in the form of what we now call "sales promotion".

ulterior motive . . .

At the time, most sparkling wine was sold in restaurants, so the realisation was that sales would best be protected  through wine waiters. The solution was to place a small coin under the metal cap on top of the cork so that any sale meant a generous commission to the waiter. The only problem for wine waiters was to find a reason to push sparkling wine. As sparkling wine is different and fun; the obvious rationale was to present it as the drink for a special occasion. Waiters honed in on customer conversation and, if there was anything special happening (a birthday, anniversary, engagement, etc), they had a reason to recommend a different tipple. So it was that bubbly became linked tocelebration.

The practice of holding the cork with a cloth and turning the bottle has nothing to do with serving the wine. It was designed to ensure the coin was not lost and the customer could not discover that the wine had been recommended for the commission. To this day, custom holds that a champagne cork is lucky and people save the cork from the bottle  at important celebrations like weddings. The tradition of inserting a coin into the cork for good fortune mimics the practice adopted by wine waiters to ensure all tips were shared. The cork truly was  lucky for London waiters who, in late nineteenth century London, were the highest-earning manual workers in the country.

The promotion, obviously, worked! Champagne is held as the ultimate wine and fetches prices well in excess of other wines and sparkling wine from other regions. Invention has become reality and all down to successful marketing.

One final interesting fact. The best selling Champagne house, Moet and Chandon earns almost as much from manufacturing Ginger Beer as it does from sparkling wine. Moet sell it in their distinctive bottles to theatre, film and television companies for actors to use in scenes where they drink Champagne. The National Theatre has two cellars, one with produce for the theatre bars and the other (the “Stage Cellar”) for use on stage stocked with tea bottled as beer and whiskey, water as gin and vodka, and hundreds of  Moet bottles full of ginger beer. 

Cheers!!

Read More

A Nice Cup Of Tea- George Orwell's 110th Birthday

by Daniel Rollins

Today, 25^th June 2013, is the 110^thbirthday of Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name, George Orwell. Unfortunately he is unable to celebrate this great occasion with us since he died of Tuberculosis in 1950.

Well known as a novelist George Orwell wrote some of the 20^thcentury’s most thought provoking books. From his great dystopian novel Nineteen Eight-Four and his sharp political allegory Animal Farm to his gritty non-fiction works such as Down and Out in Paris and London (documenting his experience of poverty in those two cities) and Homage to Catalonia(recording his experience as a mercenary in the Spanish civil war).

Although he is among my favourite authors I believe his greatest gift to the world is not his literary work but an article he wrote for the Evening Standard, published on 12^thJanuary 1946. This article titled “A Nice Cup of Tea” set forth his 11 “golden” rules of tea making (see it reproduced below). In it he makes many of his most controversial statements such as, “one should pour tea into the cup first” and “tea… should be drunk without sugar.”

Considering the polemic nature of these statements one may ask what qualifications this mere journalist has to justify these divisive remarks. In fact he may be one of the best qualified people to give judgment on the correct way to make tea to ever live as he was certainly one of the 20^thcentury’s most dedicated tea drinkers. The best example of his enthusiasm for good tea was while he was fighting on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. During this time he had Fortnum and Mason’s tea brought all the way from London to Catalonia so he could experience the “stimulation” of a good strong cup of tea while recovering from injury.  

Therefore to celebrate his birthday I endeavored to make a cup of tea which obeyed as many of his rules as possible so I got out a teapot, found some loose tea and made a "Nice Cup of Tea"!

See some pictures of my attempt to produce the perfect cup of tea bellow along with his 1946 article. Although it uses quite a lot of tea and time it is well worth trying to emulate his recipe as it produces a fine cup of tea.

If you look up 'tea' in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.

This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilisation in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

• First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea. 

• Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities — that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn
  
  is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad. 

• Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water. 

• Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realised on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes — a fact which is recognised in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners. 

• Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly. 

• Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.

• Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle. 

• Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it. 

• Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste. 

• Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round. 

• Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water. Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.

These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilised the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.

Read More

Tapas Day 2013

by Laura Verrecchia and Alfie Perry-Ward

 

 

Laura: The highlight of the year in Spanish for me has definitely been our Tapas-making afternoon. Three pupils were selected from each Spanish class to take part in the event. We cooked a variety of different traditional Spanish foods such as polvornes (shortbread like biscuits), mini tomato and cheese pastries and a pear and prosciutto salad. They were all delicious and were thoroughly enjoyed by the senior management team who came to try them, and also by the teachers and pupils involved. It was such a great experience, talking to the Headmaster in Spanish was certainly a challenge but great fun. The afternoon also really helped my Spanish skills and I learned lots of new vocabulary which I hope to put into practise when I visit Spain! Thankyou to Mrs Whitaker, Mrs Langtry and Mr Stone for organising such a fun event! 

 

Alfie:  Tuesday, 12th March was an incredibly exciting day for a handful of Year 9 students. Spanish teachers had the difficult task of selecting a few privileged young linguists, myself included, to experience a truly wonderful day of quality Spanish food. Well, we had to make it first.

 

We entered the food and nutrition workplace greeted by the un-mistakable voice of Mrs Whitaker; beside her lay a table of enticing ingredients, a collage of colour and beauty. Ingredients such as chorizo, sundried tomatoes, salad and olives caught the eye of all of us. But our firm desire was tamed by Mrs Whitaker’s insistence of the proper precautions necessary when it comes to health and safety, and rightly so!

We set to work following instructions of typical Spanish Tapas. Joe and I were doing the classic Polenta Gratinada, as others tackled dishes like Empanada and Ensalada con aceitunas. We had an hour or so of preparation before the Senior Management Team and The Spanish Department showed up like wardens to a prison, ready to inspect us like the mean critics they were. We were faced with questions like: ¿Es muy típica en España? and ¿Cómo se llama este plato?

As the satisfied customers left pocketing an extra polenta or two, the Headmaster arrived with a delighted smile ready to dig in himself. As he did, so did we (after much convincing from Señora Langtry). It was the perfect end to a great day of Spanish food and culture.

Read More

Recipe: Delicious Allergen-free, Vegan-friendly Banana Cake

 by Gregory Walton-Green

The number of food allergies, as well as people with other dietary requirements or food choices, such as vegetarianism, seems to be ever on the rise. For this reason, I thought it might be nice to offer a recipe that (almost) everyone can enjoy! This cake is made without eggs or dairy products since the mashed bananas and vegetable/sunflower oil provide all the moisture necessary, and, depending on personal choice, can be entirely gluten and nut free.

Of course, if you don’t suffer from gluten or nut allergies, feel free to replace the gluten free flour with plain or self-raising flour, and to add ground almonds or chopped walnuts, for example, if you enjoy nuttier cakes. I love to experiment with different mixes of ingredients in recipes, such as using different kinds of dried fruits, sugars or replacing some of the ordinary flour with oats or brown rice flour. This recipe is very versatile and adaptable, so don’t worry about messing around with the ingredients and proportions. Even if you don’t have any special dietary requirements, this cake is useful when there are no eggs or butter in the house, and the cake tin need not be greased and lined!

 Ingredients:

·        4 ripe bananas

·        6 tablespoons of vegetable or sunflower oil

·        150 grams/ 5 ounces of brown sugar (e.g. muscovado)

·        225 grams / 8 ounces flour (for gluten free add ½ a teaspoon of xantham gum)

·        2 teaspoons of baking powder (only use one if using self-raising flour)

·        1 teaspoon of cinnamon

·        1 teaspoon of salt

·        85 grams / 3 ounces of dried fruit/nuts (optional)

 Instructions:

1.      Mash the (peeled!) bananas and the sugar together in a bowl with the oil

2.      Sift in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt, and mix well

3.      Stir in the dried fruit/nuts

4.      Spoon the mixture into a 20cm/8in expandable cake tin or similar sized loaf tin

5.      Bake in the oven at 180°C  (Gas Mark 4 / Fan oven 160°C) for 40 minutes (the surface should be golden brown and there should be a gap between the cake and the tin)

6.      Leave to cool before removing tin

7.      Enjoy!

Photographs taken by Gregory Walton-Green

Read More

Recipe: Sweet Potato Breakfast

by Melissa Smith

Recently I have been a little obsessed with breakfast. Combined with my next best thing, sweet potato, this recipe is all I want on a Sunday morning. After a fair amount of trial and error, I have come up with a recipe that never fails to please (well me, at least). Hopefully it will have the same effect on others! It’s a great one to try out on a leisurely half term morning.

Recipe:

(Serves 1 person)

Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato, chopped into cubes

2 handfuls of spinach

1/2 a red onion, diced

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp oregano

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp oil (any kind)

Pinch of sea salt

Steps:

1) Preheat the grill to a medium temperature.

2) Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the sweet potato and simmer for 4 minutes (until not quite tender). When finished, drain.

3) In a small frying pan, heat the oil then add the red onion and drained sweet potato. Heat for around 4 minutes over a medium heat, until the onions have begun to slightly caramelise and the potato is tender. 

4) Add the thyme, oregano, cinnamon and maple syrup. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine.

5) Add the garlic and spinach, heating until the spinach wilts. 

6) Remove the pan from the heat and crack an egg on top of the scramble. Place pan under the grill for a couple of minutes, until the egg whites are set, but the yolk is slightly runny. (Alternatively fry the egg separately and place on top once served).

7) Gentle slide the contents of the pan onto a plate and sprinkle with the sea salt to serve.

Optional: I haven't tried this, but I get the feeling that bacon would make an excellent addition to this dish. Chop up one rasher and add to the pan at the same time as the onion and sweet potato. Don't take my word for it though, I've yet to test it out!

Read More

Recipe: Chocolate Fondant Cupcakes

by Maisie Riddle

These cupcakes are so chocolaty and rich, you never know when the chocolate starts or ends. They are so indulgent and extremely addictive (and rather messy, I might add!).

I experimented with this recipe and the cupcakes turned out to be a success! I shared them with my school friends and they went down a treat, which is why I have decided to share this recipe; the cupcakes are so delicious and home-made is always best! I also added a little icing sugar and more cream to the filling and icing to make the cupcake less rich.

Ingredients

For the sponge:

· 80g unsalted butter

· 280g caster sugar

· 200g plain flour

· 40g cocoa powder

· 1/4 tsp salt

· 1 tbsp baking powder

· 2 large eggs

· 240ml whole milk

For the filling and icing:

· 400g dark chocolate, finely chopped, plus 50g extra to decorate (optional)

· 400ml double cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 190C and line a 12-hole cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

1. Using a hand-held electric whisk, mix together the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Mix until sandy in consistency and no large lumps of butter remain.

2. Mix the eggs and milk together in a jug by hand. Pour three quarters of the egg mixture into the dry ingredients. When all the liquid is incorporated, scrape any dry ingredients from the side of the bowl and add the remaining milk. Mix on a medium speed until you have a smooth and even batter.

3. Spoon into the cupcake cases until they are two thirds full, then bake for 18-20 minutes until well risen and springy. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

 

4. For the filling, place the finely chopped chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream until nearly boiling, then pour over the chocolate and stir until melted. Stir until smooth, then cover with cling film and set aside to cool.

5. Place the cooled cupcakes on a board and hollow out the centre with a sharp knife, cutting out a piece about 2cm in diameter and 3cm long. Set aside the cut out pieces and, using a teaspoon or piping bag, fill the hollow of each cupcake half full with the chocolate cream filling. Place the cut out pieces of sponge on top, so they fit like a lid, then swirl the chocolate cream icing over that. And there you have it: chocolate fondant cupcakes.

Read More

Recipe: Fifteens

 by Patrick McGuiggan

The definitive Northern Ireland traybake is the ‘Fifteen’. They are so delicious I assumed that they would be fairly common throughout the mainland too; however, I have recently become aware that this is not the case. They are very sweet, more-ish, and require absolutely no skill whatsoever to make.

So, without further ado, I present to you the one and only recipe I know:

You will need:

• the ability to count to 15
• a large bowl
• cling film/kitchen foil
• a bashing implement
• to get your hands dirty

Ingredients:

• 15 large marshmallows (halved, if you can be bothered)
• 15 digestive biscuits (crushed)
• 15 glace cherries (halved, or alternatively use 15 maltesers if, like myself, cherries lessen your enjoyment of scones & other traybakes)
• 250-300 ml of condensed milk (a little extra doesn’t hurt)
• dessicated coconut (for rolling)

  Method

 

 

1. Crush the 15 digestives using a rolling pin, baseball bat or whatever feels comfortable. Do this in a sandwich/freezer bag or an alternative plastic film which is capable of withstanding long term bashing, whilst also maintaining structural integrity. 

Like another Irish staple, mashed potato, there should be no lumps whatsoever…we hate lumps.

(You could use a food processor for this, but that would rob you of a truly wonderful anger management experience)

2. Mix together the marshmallows, crushed digestives and glace cherries (or malteasers) in a large bowl. Pour in the condensed milk to make soft, moist dough. If it looks too dry add some more condensed milk, dry fifteens are awful, however if you add too condensed milk then the mixture won’t set. See below

3. This is the messy bit; roll the dough into a large sausage shape. Spread a layer of desiccated coconut over a clean surface and roll the sausage over the coconut to until the outside is completely covered in coconutty goodness.

4. Wrap it tightly in cling film or kitchen foil and leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours to set.

5. Then finally slice in to, you guessed it, 15 slices.  I normally use bun cases as they can be quite sticky.

6. Enjoy.

If you would like your efforts assessed by an expert, please deliver a few of your finished fifteens to room 2010.

I will be more than happy to grade your efforts.

Read More

Photography: Sunshine at PGS

Emma Bell detects intimations of Spring in last week's weather.

 

See also PGS in the Snow and More PGS in the Snow

Read More

The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten

by Freya Derby

It’s Saturday night and we’re all going to a specialist Italian restaurant, ‘La Carnivora’. The waiter shows us to our seats, next to another family with two young children. There are printed check tablecloths, olives, breadsticks and flowers on the table. The waiter asks us if we want to see the dish of the day. A cart is wheeled over to our table and lying on it is a large pig.

 ‘Good Evening’ says the pig , cheerfully.

Ah... The trouble here is that I like to eat meat and, although I occasionally feel guilty about it, it's not enough to make me a vegetarian. And anyway, pigs would end up dead even if we didn’t eat them, so is it really that wrong to bring about the inevitable just a little earlier? The waiter sighs as I deliberate.

And if I can happily eat normal meat, why do I even hesitate when presented with a pig who clearly states that he wants to be eaten? Is it an inexplicable distaste for foods I can socialise with? Is it that I’d rather have the beef? Or are we only happy to eat animals that don’t know we’re eating them?

I think that this seems likely. After all, I wouldn’t feel comfortable spending an evening with someone who I knew knew that I had plans to rob their house later that night, even if I had no guilt otherwise and knew that they wouldn’t take any preventative action. However, this implies that I think killing animals for food is wrong which, as I have already established, I don’t.  So could it still be that the pig is aware I’m going to eat it? I look at the pig who is tapping his hoof impatiently. If there was another conscious animal and I snuck up on it, and then ate it when it wasn’t looking, would it be okay?

And supposing it is okay to eat the pig, does that mean it’s fine to eat a human? Supposing an otherwise sane family member wanted to be eaten, could that be justified? Jonathan Swift suggested satirically in ‘A Modest Proposal’ that the population problem in Ireland could be solved by feeding the children of the poor to the rich. Whilst this seems an unorthodox approach to population control, one can’t deny that it has its advantages, an idea I ponder as I survey the table next to us, which contains the irritating but plump children…

…Still I personally would draw the line before eating a child. No matter how plump…

So should I only eat animals that are unaware I’m going to eat them? Although it’s confusing and I can’t decide… I am pretty hungry…

Thank you to Douglas Adams for ruining my meal.

See, also, Should We Stick to Fruit and Veg? by Lucy Cole

Read More

Should We Stick to Fruit and Veg?

by Lucy Cole

(source: Daily Telegraph)

For the majority of those out there, the idea of swapping a lump of steak for some carrots is not one that strikes as particularly appealing. As one who has been vegetarian since the tender age of four, I am unable to comprehend the almost infatuation- like relationship that my family and friends have with a piece of cooked dead animal. I have been questioned many times by awe-filled friends as to how I have managed to resist the smell of bacon, or the look of a juicy steak, and listened to their angry protestations when I suggest that they themselves should try giving up meat for a week or two.

However, with the recent horsemeat scandal causing us to wonder ‘what really is in that burger..?’, the faith of meat eaters across Europe has been greatly shaken (although perhaps less so for the French) with sales of frozen burgers dropping almost 50%.  For most we are not affected by the idea of eating horse, but rather by the concept of not knowing what is being put in our food; our trust in package labelling has been destroyed. If manufacturers are putting horsemeat in our burgers, who’s to say the variety of unknown additions isn’t even more colourful…

(source: Wikicommons)

But, in reality, how bothered should we be? Many of us willingly eat Frankfurters knowing that they contain the ‘meat’ left over when every scrap of the pig that can be passed off as quality meat has been removed. Not only that, but they often contain bits of mashed up bone, grizzle, and occasionally even sawdust. Eating meat sounding less appealing yet? Let’s take a look at chicken nuggets, a children’s favourite at MacDonald’s; as demonstrated by Jamie Oliver, a whole chicken (yes that includes bones, eyes, brain etc.) is put through a machine, pulverised into a paste, combined with water, chemicals and preservatives and then covered in bread crumbs. I may be crazy, but I certainly would not choose to be eating those anytime soon.

So, if you are a hard core meat lover, and are totally unaffected by the idea of eating bones, eyes and horsemeat, I wholeheartedly encourage that you finish your steak, or go out and buy yourself a burger. However, if you are now looking doubtfully at your chicken nuggets, unsure whether chicken brain is really for you, I suggest you try the veggie way of life. Whatever your decision, personally I think I’ll stick to carrots. At least when the label says carrot, I know that it’s pure carrot, and not a tomato.

Read More

A Storm in a Teacup

by Patrick McGuiggan

Sugar lumps – they drive the Irish crazy.

My recent move to England, after living in Northern Ireland for so long, has been a reasonably smooth transition.  However, there is one cultural difference that doesn’t sit well with me – sugar lumps. I can’t remember ever sitting in a cafe in Belfast and being presented with lumps of sugar.

I apologise if you are a fan, but a lump is simply not a quantifiable amount of sugar. When faced with these lumps, I often end up scanning the sugar bowl, frantically trying to assess which lump is equivalent to my usual one teaspoon of sugar – a skill set I have seemingly yet to develop.

Perhaps this is where the sugar cube comes in. At least that way the decision is made for you, but is there some sort of independent governing body which standardises the dimensions of these cubes? Are they all equivalent to one teaspoon of sugar? I would guess not. It all seems like a one big game of sugary Russian roulette and the odds are not in my beverage’s favour.

Right, so let’s say that somehow I could accurately and efficiently select a lump or cube of the correct size every single time. Problem solved. Well actually...no, because that leads me on to my next point. Sugar, along with every other solute, dissolves faster when it has a larger surface area. Essentially what you end up with is two distinct choices: stir like your life depended on it or enjoy the sugar all at once, in one sickly final gulp.

Bring back the humble teaspoon and granules, England, or I’m switching to green tea.

Read More

Christmas Recipe: Gingerbread Biscuits

by Maisie Riddle

I chose this recipe to share with you because when I first made these biscuits they were delicious and I have never made any other gingerbread since. They are not too overpowering and are very tasty, especially for a Christmas morning!

Ingredients

75 g softened butter

50g caster sugar

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

50g golden syrup

2 egg yolks

250g plain flour

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

Method

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/Gas 4.

Beat together the softened butter with the caster sugar until light and creamy.

Stir in bicarbonate of soda, golden syrup and the egg yolks until fully incorporated.

Sift in the plain flour, ground cinnamon and ground ginger then bring together with a wooden spoon.

Shape into two balls, knead until the dough comes together, then chill for 30 mins.

Roll out one ball at a time, to about 2 x £1 coin thickness. Stamp out shapes of biscuits that you decide, then re-roll the trimmings and do the same as above.

Lift dough onto greased baking sheets and bake for 10-12 mins until slightly risen and golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

They will keep in an airtight container up to a week.

Read More