English Food

Is had been many year I had crumpet, I think probably about six years ago was last time to had crumpets. Few days ago I was tidying my books and I found a recipe of crumpet dated back to 1900. Obviously I didn’t follow this recipe to cook the crumpet because it doesn’t specified the amount of flour, as I remembered it is ratio of 2:1 of milk to flour; salt is usually a pinch will do it. Basically is my instinct for this recipe, and it is for a large amount of crumpets with 1 quart of milk that converted to nearly 1 litre of milk. Somehow I got it right, now I’m really starting historical cooking. It is very amazing when you using the recipe like this, is not only makes you think how our ancestor doing in the kitchen; that obviously make me appreciated more of their cooking, with jotting down every detail that will definitely helps the future generation to understand how their grandparent’s food look like.

I had make a little extra by using our convenience of supermarket, so I came up with this a bit modern version of crumpet away from 1900.

200g strong white flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
100 ml milk
2 tsp dried yeast
pinch of bicarbonate of soda

Sift the flour, salt, sugar into a large bowl. Place the milk in a saucepan, add 125 ml water and warm gently. The mixture should be just hand-hot.
Pour the mixture into a small bowl, sprinkle the dried yeast on top and leave for 10-15 minutes or until frothy.
Add the yeast liquid to the flour and beat to smooth batter. Cover the bowl with a large lightly oiled polythene bag and leave in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until the batter had doubled in bulk.
Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in 1 tablespoon warm water, beat into the batter. Cover and leave to rise again for 20 minutes.
Heat a griddle or heavy-bottomed frying pan or non-stick frying pan over medium heat, then grease it when hot. Grease metal crumpet rings, poaching rings or large plain biscuit cutter about 7.5cm in diameter. Place the rings on the hot griddle, pour a spoonful of batter into each to cover the base thinly and cook until the top is set and the bubbles have burst.
Remove the rings and turn the crumpets over. Cook the other side for 2 to 3 minutes only, until firm but barely coloured. Cool the crumpet on wire rack. Serve toasted, with butter.I loved the sponginess of the crumpets and the melted butter, ooze in the holes, oh my god, it is so enjoyable. Yes! Butter makes everything better, this is so true. This recipe original recipe has been pass on for many generation, therefore I’m here to do the same pass the goodness to my family and friends. Start to collate your family recipes and pass-it-on.