Our fifth night together proved to be the most challenging for all participants. A smaller group than what we had previously had, there was a bit more space in the kitchen and plenty of time to contemplate the finer points of the recipes we were following. It was an English night and we had chosen an ambitious menu: A Crabmeat appetizer, Roast beef with Yorkshire Pudding, boiled veggies and a Port and Prune Fool for dessert. We thought it fitting for a typical English meal...but there were to be many surprises in store for us!
RECIPES
OLD ENGLISH CRABMEAT APPETIZERS (VERY EASY)
Ingredients :
OLD ENGLISH CRABMEAT APPETIZERS (VERY EASY)
Ingredients :
1 (5 ounce) jar Kraft Old English cheese spread
1 (6 ounce) can crabmeat, drained
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 dash garlic powder
1 dash salt
1 dash pepper
1 (8 count) package English muffins
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Loosely combine all ingredients except English muffins in bowl.
3. Split muffins & spread mixture onto each English muffin half then arrange face up onto baking sheet.
4. Bake 20 minute until toasted/bubbling. When slightly cooled, cut each muffin into 4 pieces and serve.
Crabmeat Appetizers
Note on the Crabmeat Appetizers:
We could not find Kraft Old English Cheese Spread, so we used Philadelphia Cream Cheese Spread instead. The appetizers were fairly bland, so it would be advisable to add more spice (whatever strikes you) to make it more appetizing. None of us would remake this recipe, however.
ROAST BEEF and YORKSHIRE PUDDING
Ingredients (Roast Beef):
1 (6 ounce) can crabmeat, drained
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 dash garlic powder
1 dash salt
1 dash pepper
1 (8 count) package English muffins
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Loosely combine all ingredients except English muffins in bowl.
3. Split muffins & spread mixture onto each English muffin half then arrange face up onto baking sheet.
4. Bake 20 minute until toasted/bubbling. When slightly cooled, cut each muffin into 4 pieces and serve.
Crabmeat AppetizersNote on the Crabmeat Appetizers:
We could not find Kraft Old English Cheese Spread, so we used Philadelphia Cream Cheese Spread instead. The appetizers were fairly bland, so it would be advisable to add more spice (whatever strikes you) to make it more appetizing. None of us would remake this recipe, however.
ROAST BEEF and YORKSHIRE PUDDING
Ingredients (Roast Beef):
1.4kg / 3lbs joint of sirloin of beef
50g / 2oz beef dripping
50g / 2oz beef dripping
YORKSHIRE PUDDING:
However you serve Yorkshire Pudding there are two essentials to remember when cooking them:
- A HOT oven
- VERY hot fat covering the floor of the cake tin / tray where they are cooked.
Ingredients:
However you serve Yorkshire Pudding there are two essentials to remember when cooking them:
- A HOT oven
- VERY hot fat covering the floor of the cake tin / tray where they are cooked.
Ingredients:
110g / 10oz of plain flour (sifted)
1 large egg
A large pinch of salt
150ml / 5oz water
150ml / 5oz milk
Beef dripping or cooking fat
1 large egg
A large pinch of salt
150ml / 5oz water
150ml / 5oz milk
Beef dripping or cooking fat
Combined method for cooking the Roast Beef and the Yorkshire Pudding:
1. Heat the oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / gas mark 4.
2. Put the joint of beef into a shallow baking tray or tin.
3. Season the meat to taste with a little salt or a sprinkle of rosemary or a little black pepper.
4. Melt half of the beef dripping and pour over the meat and seasoning.
5. Place in the middle of the oven for 70 minutes.
6. After 70 minutes, keep the meet in the oven, but turn up the heat to 220ºC / 425ºF / gas mark 7.
7. Pour the remainder of the beef dripping into a cake baking tray (The type of baking tray used to make small cakes / muffins). Put the tray, with a little bit of dripping in each of the depressions in the tray, into the oven for 3 minutes or until you see the dripping smoke.
8. Remove from the oven and pour 2 tablespoons of the Yorkshire Pudding batter (see below for batter recipe) into each cake depression and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the same oven as the beef.
9. 10 minutes after you have taken out the cooked Yorkshire puddings you can take out the beef. Leave to stand another 10 minutes to allow to cool a little before carving.
1. Heat the oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / gas mark 4.
2. Put the joint of beef into a shallow baking tray or tin.
3. Season the meat to taste with a little salt or a sprinkle of rosemary or a little black pepper.
4. Melt half of the beef dripping and pour over the meat and seasoning.
5. Place in the middle of the oven for 70 minutes.
6. After 70 minutes, keep the meet in the oven, but turn up the heat to 220ºC / 425ºF / gas mark 7.
7. Pour the remainder of the beef dripping into a cake baking tray (The type of baking tray used to make small cakes / muffins). Put the tray, with a little bit of dripping in each of the depressions in the tray, into the oven for 3 minutes or until you see the dripping smoke.
8. Remove from the oven and pour 2 tablespoons of the Yorkshire Pudding batter (see below for batter recipe) into each cake depression and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the same oven as the beef.
9. 10 minutes after you have taken out the cooked Yorkshire puddings you can take out the beef. Leave to stand another 10 minutes to allow to cool a little before carving.
Roast Beef(ish)Note on the Roast Beef:
We totally destroyed the meat and for that, we are truly sad. Severely overcooked, the meat was tough and unappetizing for most of us. Our problem was that we had three cuts of meat, none of them the required Roast Beef for the recipe. We used a Portuguese cut (the large piece) and two smaller French cut pieces. Each piece cooked at a different rate. We were able to somewhat salvage the larger piece, but the smaller pieces (though we ate them) were really "unfun" to eat. No one was able to find Roast Beef (although I did find it in a Provigo a few weeks later). For future reference, use only one cut of meat so that there is less worry with regards to different cooking speeds.
YORKSHIRE PUDDING MIXTURE (BATTER):
(This will make about 6 or so puddings).
1. Sift the flour into a large bowl
2. Break the egg into the centre of the heap of flour.
3. Mix the water and the milk together in a jug. Pour the mixture slowly onto the flour and egg. As you start to pour the water/milk slowly beat the mixture together with a whisk. Add the salt and continue to beat. The puddings will be lighter if the batter includes a little air.
4. Once all the ingredients have been beaten together leave to stand, covered by a cloth, for 40 minutes or so.
5. Now you are at 'step 8' in the main cooking method. Your oven should be very hot and your tray for the puddings very hot.
Yorkshire Pudding
Note on the Yorkshire Pudding:
This was a first for everyone involved. It didn't end up looking like the pictures we had seen on the Internet, but we did our best! The flavor was actually quite flavorless: kind of like an eggy batter...hard to describe (Leita's comments).
SPECIAL GRAVY
Ingredients:
50g or 2oz of beef dripping (or use about ¾ cup of juices from cooked beef).
1 finely chopped onion
2 large rashers of bacon that has had its rind removed
2 tablespoons of dry sherry
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 finely chopped carrot
50g or 2 oz plain flour
1 bouquet garni
1 tablespoon tomato puree
600ml or 1 pint of beef or lamb or pork stock (use stock cubes).
1 teaspoon of coarse ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Chop the bacon into small pieces.
2. Melt the dripping in a saucepan and keep it liquid.
3. Now add the onion pieces, bacon pieces and carrot pieces and fry in the dripping in the saucepan until the onions are light brown. This should take about 10 minutes maximum on a medium heat.
4. Add the sherry and the vinegar and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Carefully blend in the flour, adding a little at a time to prevent lumps forming, and stir until this mixture goes brown. This will take about 10 minutes.
6. Pour in half of the stock, stirring all the time. Keep heating on a medium heat and keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken.
7. Bring the mixture to the boil and add the bouquet garni leaving the pan to simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
8. Stir in the tomato puree, the other half of the stock and the pepper. Add salt to taste.
9. When you are happy with the taste then strain through a gauze or plastic (never a metal) sieve to remove any lumps / the garni / carrot and onion pieces.
10. Let the resulting gravy stand in a dish or gravy boat and pour off any fat or grease from the surface. Keep warm (do not cook) and place in the gravy boat for serving at the table.
Ingredients:
50g or 2oz of beef dripping (or use about ¾ cup of juices from cooked beef).
1 finely chopped onion
2 large rashers of bacon that has had its rind removed
2 tablespoons of dry sherry
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 finely chopped carrot
50g or 2 oz plain flour
1 bouquet garni
1 tablespoon tomato puree
600ml or 1 pint of beef or lamb or pork stock (use stock cubes).
1 teaspoon of coarse ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Chop the bacon into small pieces.
2. Melt the dripping in a saucepan and keep it liquid.
3. Now add the onion pieces, bacon pieces and carrot pieces and fry in the dripping in the saucepan until the onions are light brown. This should take about 10 minutes maximum on a medium heat.
4. Add the sherry and the vinegar and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Carefully blend in the flour, adding a little at a time to prevent lumps forming, and stir until this mixture goes brown. This will take about 10 minutes.
6. Pour in half of the stock, stirring all the time. Keep heating on a medium heat and keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken.
7. Bring the mixture to the boil and add the bouquet garni leaving the pan to simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
8. Stir in the tomato puree, the other half of the stock and the pepper. Add salt to taste.
9. When you are happy with the taste then strain through a gauze or plastic (never a metal) sieve to remove any lumps / the garni / carrot and onion pieces.
10. Let the resulting gravy stand in a dish or gravy boat and pour off any fat or grease from the surface. Keep warm (do not cook) and place in the gravy boat for serving at the table.
GravyNote on the Gravy:
It was impossible to find beef dripping, so we used the only other alternative we could think of: pork lard! Strange but true. In addition to that, we had neither a gauze nor a plastic strainer, so we decided to keep the gravy chunky. The flavor was quite good and as you will have seen from the video, we almost came to blows about the thickness of the gravy. A very interesting debate!
To keep with the theme of the English meal, we boiled up some baby carrots and peas to go along with the meal. We couldn't screw that up!
Veggies
The Final Look: Our complete meal (Looked better than it tasted!)PORT AND PRUNE FOOL
Ingredients:
10 fl oz (284 ml) of double cream
15½ ozs (439 g) sized tin of prunes, without stones
4 tablespoons of Port
2 ozs (50g) soft brown sugar
A pinch of grated nutmeg
Chopped nuts for decoration
Serves 4.
Method:
1. Whip the double cream until it is stiff.
2. Drain any syrup from the prunes then chop them into small pieces.
3. Fold the chopped prunes into the cream, then add the brown sugar and the port.
4. Fold in a pinch of nutmeg to taste.
5. Spoon the mixture into chilled individual serving glasses and sprinkle with chopped nuts - but just before you start your meal.
6. Keep cool until you are ready to serve.
Note on the Port and Prune Fool:
15½ ozs (439 g) sized tin of prunes, without stones
4 tablespoons of Port
2 ozs (50g) soft brown sugar
A pinch of grated nutmeg
Chopped nuts for decoration
Serves 4.
Method:
1. Whip the double cream until it is stiff.
2. Drain any syrup from the prunes then chop them into small pieces.
3. Fold the chopped prunes into the cream, then add the brown sugar and the port.
4. Fold in a pinch of nutmeg to taste.
5. Spoon the mixture into chilled individual serving glasses and sprinkle with chopped nuts - but just before you start your meal.
6. Keep cool until you are ready to serve.
Note on the Port and Prune Fool:
No one found the dessert to be anything special. We added extra port to give it more flavor. The whipped cream made it a bit thick, it might have been nicer as cream, actually. Sorry, no final pictures for this one.
DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS ON THE MOVIE "AN EDUCATION":
- Some felt the movie started a bit too slowly and were waiting for it to get cohesive and though it did, it was not enough to save the movie
- Many thought the movie was too perfect, too clichéd; there was a feeling that we had seen this movie too many times before; it would have been more successful had the ending been more "realistic" or open-ended
- There was an almost unanimous consensus that from the second half on, the movie completely fell apart and for these reasons:
The voice-over was completely unnecessary; it changed the tone of the film for the worse
The montage with her reading and studying was really bad
The ending was too didactic
When she found out the man's dark secret, the movie disintegrated
Some Questions/Thoughts:
- This was set in the 60s: is it realistic that the parents be so okay with their daughter dating such an older man?
- Some were hoping to see what happened to Graham
- What was the point of the engagement?
Some Redeemable Qualities:
- The acting and characterization were good, albeit generic
- Someone felt the father was annoying; he felt he was watching him act at the beginning of the film but liked him in the end; everyone else thought his character was flawlessly played
- The shot and angle when the mother is at the bottom of the stairs is well done
-The dialogue was quite good, and in the first half of the movie several people laughed out loud (witty)
- Good soundtrack
Individual scores:
- 7
- 6.5
- 3
- 6.5
- 5
- 4.5
- 8
- 7
- 6.5
- 3
- 6.5
- 5
- 4.5
- 8
Final Score: 5.79/10
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