The Butterfly Book of Essex Recipes

The Butterfly Book of Essex Recipes ISBN 978-0-9566656-1-4 is available from www.amazon.co.uk or you can contact us directly.

With its long coastline and extensive farmlands, Essex boasts a choice of traditional dishes from land, sea and river, from the rich farmlands in the north to the flat estuary wetlands in the south. This suits the thrifty Essex housewife who fills her pies and puddings with mushrooms, oysters, blackberries or ham as they come into season.

The recipes in this book reflect the heritage of the county, and are provided both as a historical reference and as a starting point for home cooks who want to introduce a taste of Essex into their existing repertoire.

Recipes include Barley Cream Soup, Weavers Beef, Epping Sausages, Paglesham Pie, Baked Quince, Marigold Buns, Rose Hip Jelly and Blackberry Cordial.

The book is fully illustrated with line drawings by Colin McGowan.

The book is available via www.locusarts.co.uk or from your local bookshop.

Here is a sample of some of the recipes in the book.

Cockle Soup

Tthere are about 450,000 acres of cockle beds off the Essex coast and fishermen dredge up 19,000 tonnes a year,  although this figure can double or even quadruple in a good year.

Cook your cockles simply with cream and chopped chives and serve with pasta, or roll the cockles in a flour/oatmeal blend and fry them with bacon. Alternativley,  try this recipe for cockle soup.

 1 pint cockles, cooked

1 onion and 1 stick celery, chopped and cooked

3 medium potatoes cooked and cubed

½  pint milk

 ½ pint white wine

1tbsp parsley chopped

1tbsp thyme chopped

2tbsp double cream

The secret to this recipe is cooking the individual elements separately first. When you are ready to eat, simmer the cockles in the wine for three minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients and heat through.

Season to taste and serve sprinkled with crispy bacon bits.

Salt Beef with Dumplings

The OED describes ‘brewls’ as pieces of bread soaked in gravy. In Essex it refers to the crusty top of a cottage loaf boiled with salt beef for half an hour to absorb the flavour of the salty liquor.

2lb piece of salt silverside or brisket

1 large onion, studded with 8 cloves

10 small onions, peeled and chopped

10 small carrots, peeled and chopped

4 sticks of celery, chopped

Bunch of fresh parsley

Dumplings:

4 oz self-raising flour

2 oz suet

2 slices fresh bread, crumbled

Put the beef in a large saucepan together with the large onion and parsley. Pour over enough cold water to just cover the meat and simmer it for an hour. Make up the dumplings with cold water.

Add the remaining ingredients and the dumplings and simmer for another hour. Lift out the beef and dumplings, and use the liquor to make gravy.

Nelson Slices

This economical cake was bought by the residents of Shoeburyness from their local bakery. Read about it in Judith Williams' book 'Shoebury Voices'.

8 oz white bread (stale or fresh)
½  pint milk
6 oz dried fruit
2 oz suet
2 oz Demerara sugar
2  teaspoons mixed spice
1 egg, beaten
1lb shortcrust pastry

Soak the bread in the milk for about half an hour and beat until smooth. Add the other ingredients and beat again.

Line a rectangular baking tray with just over half the pastry, pour in the filling and cover with the remaining pastry. Prick before baking at Gas Mark 4/350ºF/180ºC for an hour.

The Butterfly Book of Essex Recipes by Susan Hibberd