Something Old, Something Choux, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

I absolutely love buying cookbooks. You won't be a bit surprised, I'm sure. I utterly love old cookbooks with their fascinating diagrams, captivating descriptions and gripping details. I'm never happier than rummaging in a second hand bookshop, finding an unusual, un-used gem or a well-loved family favourite. I also entirely love new cookbooks, so much so that my bookshelves are groaning. I tend to be restrained (or I try to be), even occasionally have I been known to donate no-longer used books to make room for new ones. Sometimes. OK, not often. I buy more shelves.

Occasionally I buy a new book and inside I find something old. This happened recently when I trotted into my local Waterstones on the way to work (yes, it's a morning priority) hoping to spy the latest book from Justin Gellatly and the team at Bread Ahead - Bread School. There it was. On the shelf. Calling my name. I read it on the walk to work (apologies if I bumped into you). Sneaked a peek at my desk (sorry to my boss if you are reading this). Flicked through at lunchtime (which may have been extended). Lost myself in it on the train home (which for once seemed to fly past). So many wonderful, modern, classic, innovative recipes. Then, there it was. Page 166. 'French Baking', indeed. Swoon. Fanny's favourite, the Choux Swan.

They are so retro. So adorable. So effective. I think I love Choux Swans almost as much as Fanny did. People often associate them with the 1970s, but they've been around longer and feature in Fanny's cookbooks stretching right back. It makes me smile so much to see them in a new, hip, must-have book, I just have to try the recipe and see how they compare to Fanny's. I made Choux Swans over the summer at my Fanny Cradock demo at Foodies Festival with the lovely Restoration Cake. Of course, with Fanny's signature blue cream filling. The crowd seemed to love them, and I loved seeing pictures of the sweet little swans I made for the audience appearing across social media. Who doesn't love a Blue Choux Swan?

People can get a little scared of choux pastry, but you needn't be. Fanny has her rules to follow, as ever, which are a little different to the mainstream. So I mostly follow the Bread Ahead methods and throw in some Fanny for good measure. All choux starts with melting butter in a liquid. Here, it's milk and water. Fanny uses all sorts, including orange juice, for hers, depending on the occasion. The Bread Ahead guys use bread flour, so I do too. A little sugar, some salt. All gently mingling. Then boiling. Then flour added in and mixed. Then eggs beaten in one at a time. Fanny then leaves it cool, until it is stone cold. Other recipes don't. Fanny says it's the only way to ensure there is no 'nasty goo' inside the baked buns. I don't want goo. Stone cold it is.

Fanny loved piping. I love piping. The Bread Ahead Swan bodies are piped with a star nozzle. I rather like the idea. The Swan necks are piped through a small round nozzle. The necks bake for eight minutes, the bodies for twenty-two. Both emerge from the oven looking resplendently golden, but not so pretty. The tops are sliced off the bodies and cut in half to make wings. The cavity is filled with glorious piped custard or cream. Or both. Blue colouring is optional required. Wings are placed. Finally the necks and head are attached, and voilà, a splendid Swan appears from the ugly duckling. Fanny suggests insists that they are displayed on a mirrored surface to resemble a lake. Please You Must join me, Fanny and Bread Ahead, in #BringingRetroBack.

If The Horse-Choux Fits

Fanny is still chatting on about weddings. There doesn't seem to be a wedding any time soon, or even anyone on the verge of an announcement, but more she is just 'putting it out there' that if there were to be such a celebration, she'd be as eager as a beaver to get that buffet bulging. She has so many ideas for the ideal wedding reception buffet, but don't worry if all you are planning is a simple garden party, or indeed any outdoor or indoor warm weather reception, these ideas are still for you. If you've been following Fanny with me for a while, you'll probably be able to guess what her ideal buffet ideas are...

Everything revolves around Choux Paste. It's so versatile that almost all of your wedding/garden party/outdoor/indoor/warm weather party canapés can be made with it. All the others can be vol-au-vents. Perfect. Easy. Tasty. Fanny suggests 'basic' choux made with water, also a 'basic' sweet choux made with milk, a 'basic' orange choux and a 'basic' coffee choux paste. They are all essentially the same 'basic' recipe using different liquids, but are sure to impress your 'basic' guests. And that's even before they are decorated and filled. I've made choux before with Fanny, so my eyes are drawn immediately to her 'basic' savoury option, made basically with Cheese.

Fanny starts by melting butter gently in milk, only allowing it to come up to the boil once the butter has completely dissolved. She quickly tosses in some flour and lets the mixture 'seethe up as usual' around the flour. Remove immediately from the heat, season, add cheese and beat, beat, beat like your life depends upon it. Stretch yourself, Fanny says, over the beating until you are 'practically fed-up' for airy puffy choux. The mixture should be entirely smooth and come clear of the pan. Sally is on hand with a pic-strip guide to show you what it should look like, which of course I have followed and recreated. Fanny then beats in three eggs, one at time. The first one will turn the mixture into globules which will look throughly depressing, but carry on. If you pay no heed and go on beating the mixture will become perfectly smooth again. Once it is, beat in the next egg, and so on. She is right.

Then comes the most important part. Fanny absolutely and without any discussion or debate, insists that this is followed to the letter. Cover the mixture with a plate and leave it at ordinary room temperature until it is absolutely cold. Do NOT pop it into the fridge, you will be sorry. And, if you use it while it is hot, not only are you completely off your rocker, but you will 'descend to the depths of culinary shame', because, when the mixture is baked, no matter what shape you choose, it will have horrible goo in the centre which you will need to scrape out with a teaspoon. Say no to goo, say no to shame and do as Fanny says, ok?

When it is stone cold, piping can begin. In a variety of shapes, naturally. Sally has a glass of cold water to hand to dip a knife into it to 'snip' the end of the piping off neatly. For eclairs, long strips. For buns, pipe vertically and push down before lobbing off the end. For weddings, Fanny says horseshoe shapes. She makes no shoe/choux jokes. This is serious business. Whatever you choose, (I'm fighting the desire to say 'choux-se') a hot oven is required until golden brown. Mine emerge a little dark, but smelling great. And no goo. Yippee! Fanny whips up some blue cheese and piping it on for decoration. Mix it with a little splash of port for easy piping. She insists on using the best possible port which you can 'steal from your husband'. This doesn't seem like the best start to married life to me, but who am I to argue with Fanny? Especially when these are so good. After all, there is no wedding here. No party of any kind - just me a a table full of very quickly disappearing savoury delicious choux.

Coping with the Cradocks at Christmas + Vintage Book Giveaway!

Oh my Fanny Cradock, it's blooming December already - how on earth did that happen? Fanny would be thoroughly ashamed of me as I really haven't had time to prepare for Christmas yet. She always makes a very prompt start in, erm, January, so I can't even decide if I'm late or just a little bit ahead by thinking about it now. Perhaps I've missed a whole year somewhere? Fanny laid out her blueprint for a perfect Christmas first of all in her much-sought-after book Coping with Christmas in 1968 - the book that supposedly 'let's you relax at Christmas', but ironically sent the housewife of the sixties into a severe seasonal spin. Nigella references it in her Christmas book too. I am hoping to inspire some of you to follow in Fanny's rather imposing footsteps by giving away a copy of this essential reading - read on to find out how! It's my Christmas gift to you (wrinkles nose and smiles to camera).

Firstly though, just incase I am not alone and we are all in a flap, we needn't worry too much - Fanny will soon be appearing on a TV near you thanks to the guys at Food Network UK (scheduled to begin on December 7th, set to record NOW) running through all her handy hints for festive fun. I've already had a head start in previous years as I cooked my way through the many 'Treats de Noël' that she shoehorned in to share on the show... Let's take a wee trip and skip back through the joys that are an Essential Cradock Christmas. Fanny was very fond of Choux Paste as we know, and it is her first 'must make' for guests this Christmas.

Best to make plenty of those to keep your tupperware boxes full to keep your guests filled up, they may not be as keen on the Royal Mincemeat creations. In fairness Fanny's mincemeat is delicious, and it is put to good use making Mince Pies, Mincemeat Pancakes and even a Mincemeat Swiss Roll if you really fancy it. If you must. However I defy anyone to make and ENJOY the infamous Mincemeat Omelette. Served wet, of course, with a very thick dusting of icing sugar. It only makes it taste even worse, but you'll definitely want to hide it as best you can.

Quickly grab a bottle of booze and take a swig after tasting that, that's the only advice I can possibly give. While it's in your hand, slosh some into a small pan, heat gently and fling it over your lovingly created Christmas Pudding and waggle it gently as you set fire to it. Keep wiggling as you take it through to wow your guests, and hope that they forget the wuggly omelette.

If anyone still has room, and doesn't fancy another quickly prepared omelette (Poor Sarah is on hand if you've acquired a taste) the Christmas Cake is the perfect crowning glory... You really should've made it well before now of course, Fanny will be cross with you (and me), but perhaps we could make them together now ready for next year and just keep them 'lively' with the odd splash of booze, which by now we all understand, is constantly in hand.

So that's how Fanny copes with Christmas. Easy. Except these are only the very basics you see. Tune in to her jolly Christmas shows to see more, and do enter my giveaway below to win your very own copy of Coping with Christmas, which contains many more ideas and recipes than she even managed to squeeze into the specially made-for-TV Booklet (this book is not that, just to be clear). If you win, we can start together in January and be so very prepared for Christmas 2016, and not shamefully caught out again, like this year. Go on, enter now*, you'll be surprised how much of a perfect Cradock Christmas you've coped without doing before.

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* If you are the lucky winner chosen by Rafflecopter I will send you this lovely book, which is a duplicate from my own collection - it's a used, vintage paperback printed in 1968 but is in really great condition and is a HOOT to read!

A-Choux!

Fanny was super keen on preserving things - before tins and jars of anything and everything were ready available, she'd be busy all year round collecting up whatever was in season and stuffing it away for another time. Whether it was fruit, vegetables, meat or even cream she'd describe ways to halt its decline, seal it securely and stash it safely. I think it was a habit she continued even after the supermarket shelves were packed tighter than one of her Kilner jars. She'd be horrified now that fruits and vegetables are flown in from far lands whatever the season. Do we even know what's 'in season' anymore? Everything is just 'there' when we want it. It was for resourceful Fanny too, but only because she (or more likely her army of assistants) made it so.

Fanny was always careful to stress in her recipes to use fresh when available, and canned, tinned or jarred when not. She assumed you had also been squirrelling away all your goodies. That way her knowledge could be shared all year round, and any time you dipped into one of her many books, if you found something you particularly fancied, you could have it. No need for daily flights full of food. Her very favourites were always things you could whip up at a moments notice to impress. And nothing more impressive than a fruity dessert in winter using last summers very best fruit.

While Fanny reaches to the backs of her larder cupboard for a jar of her very own peach halves to induce dinner party jealousy, I wander to Real Foods and pick up a jar of organic ones from Biona. Only the best will impress you see. Fanny whips up her favourite fruit, preserved in her favourite way with her favourite pastry (or paste) - the Choux. For Fanny, it's the most impressive, most versatile paste and she was on a mission to convert every housewife in Britain to use it.

For this dish, it's not Profiteroles or Eclairs, but mini tarts. Sorry, tartlets. Fanny of course despises the word tart in the kitchen or the bedroom. I've never used choux in this way before but it's whipped up in the usual way - melt some butter in water, fling flour in until it foams, beat and beat until smooth. Then leave to become very cold at room temperature (never a fridge) and beat an egg in. Normally it's piped into shapes, but Fanny uses it here to line well oiled tartlet moulds. She presses it in with two teaspoons, but I found fingers were best. Well scrubbed of course. They are then weighed down with oiled greaseproof paper squares and baking beans and popped into the oven.

When baked and cooled, Fanny fills them with custard. Sorry, I am taking a hopefully not too horrific shortcut here with Ambrosia, well it is all very last minute and is carefully preserved in the tub. She then carefully places on a peach half and covers with redcurrant jelly. I found some lovely looking (and veggie!) quick red jelly from Greens to use this time tough. It reminds me of the jelly you used to get on strawberry tarts when I was young. Tastes like it too. The tartlets are gorgeous, the choux makes them feel quite light (and deceptively chewy) and with a premature taste of summer with the peaches I am happy. After all that work to preserve the fruits so carefully, the finished tartlets really won't last too long with me!

I am entering these summery tartlets into a new blogging challenge from Jen's Food and United Cakedom celebrating all things pastry... Check out the other baked goodies!

One Potato, Choux Potato, Three Potato, more...

Fanny has a potato top tip for me, which seems appropriate as I've been away travelling with work far too much lately. If only I'd read this first. Fanny suggests on 'high days and holidays' you should peel enough potatoes for three days and sling them in a bucket, sprinkle them with sea salt and cover in cold water. The water needs to be changed every day, which would've been tricky for me while away I suppose, but Fanny insists that the potatoes will not go slippery and slimy as they would simply peeled in a bowl of water on the day. She's full of the tips really - don't slice all your potatoes at once for home-made crisps or chips, they'll only discolour. And if you want to save your new potatoes for a Christmas Feast, pop them in a large biscuit tin with sawdust in it, add a layer of potatoes and cover with more sawdust. Continue layering, being very careful that the potatoes don't touch each other. Seal the tin with tape and bury it in the garden, of course. Fannys only request is that you mark where it's buried, as there is nothing worse than digging up the whole garden in search of them come December, when the ground is likely to be frozen. There, she warned you.

No such trouble for me, just a quick trip to the local supermarket. Just as well, I couldn't be bothered with all that digging this weekend. Fanny is keen for me to learn the wonders of Potato Puffs, or Beignets or even Armandines - she can't quite make up her mind what the heck to call them. They sound perfect for this weekend though - a mixture of potato and her beloved choux paste, and then deep fried in balls. 

Fanny gives the recipe for Choux paste twice on the same page, right next to one another - presumably because it SO important to her. So I take it very seriously, melting my butter gently in water then 'shooting' in the flour, mixing and allowing it to 'foam' in the pan a little. Off the heat, I beat and beat it before adding the eggs and beating again. Fanny absolutely insists that the mixture is left to get cold at room temperature with a plate over it before I go any further. Of course, I obey. Fanny says that on no account should I be tempted to refrigerate the mixture as it will ruin. It's fine Fanny, I'll take a seat and have a cup of tea.

Fanny gives three variations for these beignets, but they all start with steamed potatoes which are sieved and dried as before. Once the choux paste is cold, Fanny asks me to combine double the weight of sieved, stiff potato to make a paste. From the paste, walnut sized balls should be rolled. I leave a third of them as they are, roll a third in breadcrumbs (Fanny suggests very fine ones, but as always I feel the need to rebel a little so I use Panko) and the final third are rolled in finely chopped almonds. All that's left to do is fry them gently in some oil until they are golden brown. They all change to slightly different shades of golden, and the end result is fantastic. They are light and puffy, tasty and crisp. The almonds in particular add something really special. I made some French Onion Soup to have  these perfectly puffed potatoes with - not slippery, not slimy, not discoloured and not rescued from deep within the garden...

It's All In The Booklet #2 - Petits Fours

It may seem bizarre for Fanny to dedicate an entire episode of her Cradock Cooks for Christmas series, and so a whole chapter in the booklet, to Petits Fours but what seems even stranger is that she only gives one recipe - for choux paste. I think if she was on TV today she'd have an array of Macarons and cake pops, but as her legacy is preserved in her very favourite aspic, it's choux paste all the way. Fanny reminds us however that she is helping us to dazzle our guests with a treat which is not available outside of France, which is simple to create (if you know how) and above all is so very economical to produce. All we need is some flour, butter, two standard eggs and some ordinary tap water, which by any reasonable person could not be considered extravagant, apparently.

With some help from poor darling Sarah, Fanny demonstrates the technique for melting the butter in the water, and when it reaches boiling point 'shooting' in the flour and beating before adding carefully the eggs. It should be very thick and absolutely smooth, past the globule stage, as Fanny points out 'such nasty little lumps'. Fanny reveals her own special trick to ensure that the finished baked buns don't contain any 'shameful goo' and that is to allow it to cool at room temperature and NEVER in a refrigerator. Fanny is particularly cross on screen about an un-named and shamed women's magazine who gave a perfectly correct recipe, except the stage where goo had to be scraped out. Made properly, there should be no goo. Fanny pushes her finger into her baked buns to prove it.

I am sure Fanny would be most pleased with my piped and baked eclairs, buns and little miniature buns - not a hint of goo anywhere. Baked high in the oven and on a high heat, they are light and crisp when cooled, although I couldn't bear to bake mine as long as Fanny recommends. Fanny reveals hers from the oven proudly, and claims they should be very dark brown, and not prone to the perils of humidity as they are baked solid. Mine are golden. Oh dear, sorry Fanny, I fear I will be in for some of the same treatment as poor Sarah. Once cooled however I push on, fill them with the required mix of confectioners custard and whipped cream, and top with flavoured and coloured glacé icing. Fanny recommends a gentle pink perhaps, chocolate or coffee coloured, but my modern day choux buns are slightly more vibrant than even Fanny herself would make.

The same process is used for eclairs and the larger buns. Fanny, in a moment of faux modesty, reveals that her reputation for producing these wonderful Petits Fours is quite unjustifiable, after all it is so easy.  Her piping technique, which includes cutting the choux paste from the piping bag with a wet knife, does indeed produce wonderfully shaped eclairs. I do need to improve my technique, as from time to time I did forget, pulling up the piping bag and ending up with 'dreadful tails', but as Fanny demonstrates these are easily snipped off and re-shaped without much fuss.

Fanny says you can make these six months ahead of when you want them and they are perfectly fine, if stored correctly in the freezer of course, but they are so very simple and quick it seems unlikely that you'd bother. Fanny stresses throughout the show, and of course in the booklet, how very simple it is, and fun. However she does appear to be a little fuddled on screen, forgetting which buns she's filled and so on, perhaps it's because poor darling Sarah has disappeared? She seems worried about the year ahead, perhaps she knew this might be her last time in the spotlight? Soldiering on, Fanny displays a full table of completed eclairs and buns, even a Croquembouche which she does not explain how to make, at the end. She warns any friends who are watching that she does not appreciate their nerve in asking for a doggy bag to take any home that may be left over from the party, how very dare they. I am guessing the guests were too dazzled by the sight of all those garish buns to eat them on the night.

I've entered these Petits Fours into this months #TreatPetite hosted by @Cakeyboi and @bakingexplorer