Marmalade-Making Tips from the Pros

On youtube.com there are more than 1,000 clips on how to make marmalade, which is a little overwhelming (for me at least). To get you started, here’s a great article by my friend and marmalade-obsessed counterpart, Jo Swinnerton, in London: http://www.fortnumandmason.com/c-536-the-pleasures-of-making-marmalade.aspx 


Jo has the enviable job of writing for Fortnum & Mason, one of London’s oldest and most beloved insitutions (since 1707), and she will soon be joining me in the blogosphere.   

Esther Bolick's Orange Marmalade Cake

American author Jan Karon’s popular Mitford books (about a small North Carolina town and its residents), include a character named Esther Bolick, baker of a famous Orange Marmalade cake that is so sought after that it is the prize in many raffles. Although there are many recipes available on the Internet for this famous cake, I believe this one, directly from Penguin’s website (Karon’s publisher) and Jan Karon’s Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader, is the most authentic (and looks the most delicious.) I invite anyone who has made this cake to post a comment, letting us  know what you thought of it.

Esther Bolick’s Orange Marmalade Layer Cake

(Courtesy, Jan Karon’s Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader)

Yields: 1 cake, 10 to 12 servings

Cake Ingredients:

3 cups cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) softened unsalted butter

2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten lightly

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

Orange Syrup:
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar


Filling:
1 cup orange marmalade


Frosting:
3/4 cup well-chilled heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup well-chilled sour cream

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment or waxed paper, and butter and flour the paper, shaking out the excess.

2. In a bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter until combined, add the sugar, a little at a time, and beat the mixture until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, orange zest, and vanilla. Beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredients alternately with 1/2 of the buttermilk until combined well. Add half the remaining dry ingredients and the remaining buttermilk and beat until combined well. Finally, beat in the remaining dry ingredients until mixture is smooth.

4. Evenly divide the batter between the pans, smooth the surface, rap each pan on the counter to expel any air pockets or bubbles, then transfer to the oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to racks and cool in the pans for 20 minutes.

To Make the Orange Syrup:
5. Meanwhile, make the orange syrup: In a bowl, stir together the orange juice and sugar until sugar is dissolved.

6. With a toothpick or wooden skewer, poke holes at 1/2-inch intervals in the cake layers and spoon the syrup over each layer, allowing the syrup to be completely absorbed before adding the remaining. Let layers cool completely.

To Make the Filling:
7. In a small saucepan set over moderate heat, heat the marmalade until just melted. Let cool 5 minutes.

To Make the Frosting:
8. In a bowl, whisk the heavy cream with the sugar until it forms firm peaks. Add the sour cream, a little at a time, and whisk until of spreading consistency.

To Assemble the Cake:
9. Arrange one of the layers on a cake plate, carefully peel off the waxed paper, then spread 2/3 of the marmalade over the top, smoothing it into an even layer. Invert the remaining layer onto the top of the first layer, peel off the waxed paper and spoon the remaining marmalade onto the center of it, leaving a 1 1/4-inch border around the edge. Frost the sides and top of the border with the frosting, leaving the marmalade on top of the cake exposed. Or if you prefer, frost the entire cake, adding the marmalade as a garnish on top. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Marmalade and Martha Washington

'Tis the season for marmalade: I have two Florida grapefruits bobbing up and down in boiling water on the stove, and much more to say . . . .this post is mostly of historical interest, but I will be talking about making marmalade, too, in future posts.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Martha Washington had her own orange marmalade recipe which she used at Mount Vernon, the home she shared with George (and more than a few children, grandchildren and servants), in Virginia. Actually, she probably used more than one recipe. Thanks to research historian Mary V. Thompson at Mount Vernon, I can now share some of them with you.

One cookbook that belonged to Mrs. Washington was a manuscript cookbook (as opposed to a published one), which she inherited from the family of her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis. The recipes were probably compiled in the 17th century, and at least some of them date back to the 16th century, indicating that the little book was probably thought of as an heirloom and was not used by her, because the recipes would have been considered old fashioned or out of date. It contains not one but 13 recipes for “marmalet”—most of which were made from quinces, as most marmalade then was made with that ancient fruit. But one shows how “To Make Marmalet of Orringes:

Lay yr orringes in water 9 dayes, yn boyle them whole in 3 or 4 waters till ye bitterness be gon. yn pare them & take onely ye pills & beat them in a mortar, yn take halfe a pound of it & halfe a pound of ye pap of scalded pippins. mix ym together & dry them in a dish over a chafing dish of coles a quarter of an houre, & stir ym well. then take a pownd & halfe of sugar & as much rose water as will wet it, then boyle it in a dish on coles till it is allmoste sugar agayne. then mingle ye orringes, ye pippin pap, & sugar alltogether & dry it in ye dish againe over a chafing dish of coles, till it is stiff enough.

(Karen Hess, ed., Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats, 1996, page 246.)

The recipes Martha most likely used came from The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse—the most popular cookbook in America in the 18th century. Published in England, it contains three recipes for marmalade: one for orange, and the other two for quince. This is the orange marmalade Mrs. Washington most likely used:

Take the best Seville Oranges, cut them in Quarters, grate them to take out the Bitterness, put them in Water, which you must shift twice or thrice a Day for three Days; then boil them, shifting the Water till they are tender, then shred them very small, then pick out the Skins and Seeds from the Meat which you pulled out, and put it to the Peel that is shred; and to a Pound of that Pulp take a Pound of double-refined Sugar. Wet your Sugar with Water, and boil it up to a candy Height, (with a very quick Fire) which you may know by the dropping of it; for it hangs like a Hair; then take off the Fire, put in your Pulp, stir it well together, then set it on the Embers, and stir it till it is thick, but let it not boil. If you would have it cut like Marmalade, add some Jelly of Pippins, and allow Sugar for it.

(Glasse, Hannah. Gale ECCO, Print Edition. 2010 reproduction of 1923 edition. The art of cookery, made plain and easy. To which are added, one hundred and fifty new receipts, a copious index, and, a modern bill of fare . . . .)

Making Mincemeat with My Daughter

“Harriet Beecher Stowe recalls the enthusiasm with which she and her siblings helped make mincemeat for Thanksgiving: ‘We were willing helpers in all the preparations—the chopping of meat and apples, and the picking over of currants and raisins for the mincemeat pies.’” (1)

Theoretically, mincemeat should be one of the best recipes to make with children. They can inhale the scent of all the spices; stir the cider and brown sugar into the dark, glistening dried fruit; sample the raisins; (and, if they are a very fresh tween, attempt to sample the brandy).

On Halloween, (because, bizarrely, we had a snow day and trick-or-treating had been postponed), I embarked on a mincemeat marathon with my 9-year-old daughter, who is a very enthusiastic cook, in the hope that I might convert her from a mincemeat doubter to a mincemeat believer.

Things did not start off well: she was in a bad mood because she wouldn’t get to wear her Medusa costume that night.  But I set things up like an episode of “Chopped” (Food Network); we each had our stations—one on each end of the table—and we commenced. . . .

(Interval of 30 minutes passes]

. . . . I am alone at the table, spooning prepared mincemeat into freezer bags. My daughter is in her room, reading a Percy Jackson book with her door closed. You fill in the rest.

In the event you are more successful at convincing one of your children to make mincemeat with you, here are some lovely traditions you can start (2):

 

·        Decorate the top of the pie with a star to represent the Star of Bethlehem.

·        Stir the mincemeat mixture in a clockwise direction; counterclockwise brings bad luck in the coming year.

·        Make a wish on the first mince pie of the season.

·        Make your pies cradle-shaped for the Christ child, as they were originally made.

·        If you bake small pies, eat one mince pie on each of the twelve days of Christmas—it’s considered lucky.

Sources

1                    Hopley, Claire. 2002. “Mincemeat.” Early American Life, December. 56-60.

2                    http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/holiday-baking-mincemeat-pies/detail.aspx

No-suet Mincemeat

I made this yesterday, and it smells and tastes just like the traditional version. My whole house smelled like Christmas—on Halloween!

I tweaked a few things: used maraschino cherries instead of glacé cherries, added some homemade candied orange peel I made the day before, and added rather more than 6 tablespoons of brandy! I filled two gallon-size Zip-loc freezer bags to freeze until Thanksgiving.

(Note: for my American readers, please refer to a recipe converter in order to convert UK measurements to US: http://www.pastrywiz.com/conversion.htm 

Or just buy a good Escali scale so you can weigh things: http://www.escali.com/primo-best-selling-kitchen-scale

Hettie Potter’s suet-free mincemeat
(From Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess)

Makes about 2kg

Ingredients:
250g soft dark sugar
250ml medium dry cider
1 kg cooking apples, peeled, and grated
1 tsp. mixed spice
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
250g currants
250g raisins
250g dried cranberries
75g glacé cherries, roughly chopped
75g blanched almonds, ground
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
½ cup candied orange peel*
6 tbsp brandy

Instructions:
In large saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the cider over a gentle heat. Add all the ingredients, except the brandy, and simmer until everything has a pulpy consistency, about 45 minutes. Take off the heat, and when it has cooled, gently stir in brandy.

*optional

Suet?

[SOO-iht]
Found in beef, sheep, and other animals, suet is the solid, white, fat found around the kidneys and loins. Many British recipes call for it to lend richness to pastries, puddings, and mincemeats.

I love the richness of Christmas pudding and mince pies, and that richness comes from suet, whether you use the beef variety or the vegetarian, (which is nothing more than palm oil and rice flour). According to some people, it adds depth of flavor, or umami, to the mincemeat. Suet also has a very high melting point, so is perfect for pastry making, (same as butter).

But although woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, and bluebirds, among others, are known to favor suet-based bird feeders, I can’t quite justify it for human consumption, unless of course, you are an Arctic explorer or drive sled dogs in Alaska, and you need it for your high daily energy requirement.

I can’t in good conscience use something that is 52% saturated fat. If depth of flavor is what you’re after, let your mince pies sit for a few days in a tin. Trust me: the taste improves, exponentially, over time.

If you disagree with me, and you’ve decided to use suet, however, here is a good source for it:

·        Wellness Meats: www.grasslandbeef.com; (877) 383-0051.

P.S. Whatever you do, please don’t use vegetable shortening or butter. It just doesn’t give good results, according to most articles I’ve read.

Five Great Ways to Use Mincemeat:

1.     In vanilla ice cream. One of my local ice cream places has sold Christmas pudding ice cream for years, and it is one of their most popular flavors. If you are making homemade vanilla ice cream, add the mincemeat just before the ice cream is frozen to your satisfaction—at the same time you would add nuts or broken cookies to the mixture. If you want to be really decadent, make pumpkin ice cream and add the mincemeat, or put a scoop of mincemeat ice cream on top of your apple pie.

(Or, microwave good quality, store-bought vanilla ice cream for 30 seconds to soften the ice cream enough to stir in the mincemeat.)

2.     As chutney or in a sauce. Use mincemeat alongside any meat or game that goes well with apples or dried cranberries/raisins, such as ham, chicken, and duck. My grandmother even serves it alongside her roast beef. You also can add it to your reduction sauce for your roast chicken or duck. Again, at the last minute, stir it in. It really adds depth of flavor.

3.     In Greek yogurt as a snack. Whether it’s vanilla or plain Greek yogurt, this might become your new favorite snack, as it is mine!

4.     In your favorite apple crumble (crisp) recipe. Just add a liberal amount to your apple mixture, thereby eliminating the need for any sugar and spice you might otherwise use. (You can also cut down on the amount of sugar and spice you use for your crumble topping.)

5.     For the ubiquitous, post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches. In America, at least, we are always looking for creative ways to use the turkey leftovers. This November 25 I will be trying my homemade mincemeat on top of the usual turkey breast, stuffing and white bread sandwich (which I like almost as much as the meal from the day before). If your mincemeat has dried cranberries in it like mine does, why wouldn’t it be as good as cranberry sauce or cranberry pepper jelly?

Please write and tell me other ways you use mincemeat!