Simpsons Baking Book 1940


County Clare Cake



Green Tomato Pie

2 1/4 cups Self Raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup cold water (about)

Fie Filling:

6-8 full-grown but green tomatoes
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespons flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Sift flour with salt. Cut in half of the shortening until the mixture looks like meal. Add remaining shortening and continue cutting until particles are the size of a small pea. Add water gradually and mix lightly with a fork into dough - use as little water as possible. Divide dough into two parts. Roll to an 1/8 inch thickenss on floured board, rolling dough about 2 1/2 inchs larger than pie plate. Fit dough into pie plate. Mix together the sugar, flour, and nutmet and sprinkle part of this mixture into pastry lined plate. Add layer of thinkly sliced tomatoes, sprinkle with the sugar mixture and continue these layers until plate is full. Dot with the butter and sprinkle with lemon juice. Place the top crust in position. press the edges well together. Bake until the tomatoes are tender and the crust nicely browned, about 30 to 40 minutes in a hot oven (425 degs.). Makes 1 two-crust 9-inch pie. Serve warm with custard made from "Koala" Custard Powder.


I looked up Koala custard and there was an expensive secondhand tin, no picture. Well maybe another time. Apparently there were koalas on a branch.



Here is a mouth watering picture of a green tomato pie and a very interesting blog post from A Veggie Adventure.

Cream Scones

2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspooon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup cream (all milk, or milk and water in equal parts)

Sift flour, sugar and salt two or three times. Place in mixing basin. Work in butter very finely. Add eggs well beaten (reserving a small amount of unbeaten egg white) and cream. Mix into soft dough. Toss on to floured board, and pat or roll to 3/4 -inch thickness. Cut into small squares, brush with reserved egg white, sprinkle with sugar and bake on ungreased tray in hot oven (450 degs.) 15 minutes.


As a farmer's daughter I was miffed as an adult when I heard about cream scones. I didn't know how to make them, and I love making scones. Any modern recipe won't do. This 1940s recipe is just the ticket. I figured that on our farm for example, being able to make scones from flour and the cream off the top of a milk jug in the fridge is fantastic. More frugal than buying the butter to make them. A lady here told me a fail safe recipe that I trust as well, I think it is the CWA recipe. Of course it is good because it is metric, and the above recipe is Imperial.

Here is a wonderful blog post about them (including picture of Aussie flour), and a larger recipe (I haven't compared them) from the ABC site.

Rhubarb Roly Poly

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
1 small bunch red rhubarb, finely chopped
1 sweet apple, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Sift flour, salt, and sugar into basin. Work in the butter. Add milk to make a soft scone dough. Roll to 1/4 inch thickness on floured board. Cover surface with chopped rhubarb and apple. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Brush edges with milk and roll up like a jam roll. Secure ends and place roll in a buttered pie-dish. Pour over the following Lemon Syrup: Boil 3/4 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar for 10 minutes. Add juice 1/2 lemon and 1 tablespoon butter, stir until the butter is melted and pour immediately over the roll. Bake in a moderately-hot oven (400 degs.) about 45 minutes, or until rhubarb is tender. Serve while hot with "Koala" Custard.


My Mum used to make jam roly-poly. She loved rhubarb and used it with tapioca?

Thimble Anchovy Scones

1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon Anchovy Paste
3 drops cochineal
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup milk

Sift flour and salt into mixing basin. Work in the butter finely. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Beat the egg yolk in a cup, add the anchovy paste and blend well. Add milk and cochineal. Add liquid ingredients to the flour mixture, all at once. Stir carefully with a fork until all the flour is dampened, then stir vigorously until a soft dough is formed. Turn on to a floured board and pat out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into circles with a very small cutter. Place on ungreased baking tray. Brush tops with melted butter or milk. Bake in hot oven (450 degs.) about 12 minutes. Serve scones hot, spread with butter lightly flavouried with anchovy paste.


I wonder if they mean something like Pecks paste? I always have that in our cupboard. I love anchovies. I also like anchovy sauce, for cooking. We ran out. I have since bought an Asian one, but in case they are not the same, not sure, I would like an English styled one one day. I found out it is an English tradition. On the internet you learn lots of things.






I found the instructions for the scones above were very good, like a cooking class, and the other recipes too. I use a knife as in knife and fork to mix my scone dough.

Comments

Scrappy quilter said…
Now I'm wanting something to eat. Those pictures look so yummie.
A note about using cream off the top of the jug - aren't you blessed to have access to the real stuff. I've found that a lot of recipes don't perform like they used to with "store" cream.

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