From Ninnau Readers

Fast approaching my two-year stint as Food Editor of Ninnau, I would like to thank all those readers who have written to me. All have been very positive and most encouraging! Here is a selection of some letters/emails received! The readers' recipes are located at the end of the letters.

Mona Mason of Cherry Creek, NY emailed inquiring about Welsh Roast Beef that she had had on a trip to Wales. She would like to reproduce the recipe here. Presently, we are resolving some of the details. However, we do know Mona loves to make Welsh Pan Cakes and emailed a super recipe. Mona is also a big fan of portage (pottage) or oatmeal for breakfast – she uses her Welsh grandmother’s recipe. Both recipes are posted on my website.

Ginny Jones of Pasadena, California emailed after reading the article on Caerphilly Scones, "My husband is Welsh and has had a yearning for Caerphilly Cheese for a long time. Could you please tell me where to purchase it? I am in N.E. Penna at present, so a location in Pasadena or N.E. Penna would be appropriate." Readers, do you have some reliable retail store locations to recommend?

Shirley Williams of New Hartford, NY earlier this year penned, "My uncle ran a bakery in Caernarfon and when my parents visited there some years ago they brought back Eccles Cakes, which I loved. Have you heard of them?"

Yes! The cakes originated in Eccles, Lancashire and were made in North Wales to satisfy the taste buds of the large numbers of English families who spent summer vacations in North Wales. Many UK cookbooks have recipes for these little cinnamon orange-flavored currant filled puff pastry pies. They would be similar to a Welsh Cake but made from puff pastry with a currant filled center – a natural for a Welsh baker! We look forward to hearing from Shirley once she has baked and satiated her yearning for Eccles Cakes.

Daniel Whitaker of Sequim, Washington State wrote in inquiring about recipes for the items on the St David’s Day Dinner last year. The recipes are now available in booklet form with colored pictures of the plated dishes – please visit WelshFoodie website!

Daniel told me his favorite Welsh food treat is Bara Brith. Daniel sent in a Bara Brith recipe he uses most often while commenting it came from a postcard mailed to him by a friend touring Wales. Curiously, I found exactly the same postcard; it had been a bookmark in one of my used Welsh cookbook purchases that was published in 1959.

David Williams of Chardon, Ohio also has a good recipe for Bara Brith. David’s wife, Janet told me he has done a lot of very serious research (and eating!) while seeking the Holy Grail of the perfect Bara Brith. I can say for sure that David’s Bara Brith is an annual big hit at each St David’s Dinner in Niles, Ohio. Both Daniel’s and David’s recipes are posted on my website as are several other interesting Bara Brith recipes.

Also, I did hear from a gentleman in Kansas asking if I had a good but easy recipe for making Bara Brith in a bread machine. I do not. I once tried adding the raisins after the second raising in a food mixer when disastrous results. I like to plump my raisins in rum/tea mixture overnight; well-plumped raisins and the mixer experiment ended up as a mush. Readers! Any recipes for a bread machine Bara Brith?

Lesley Gover of Greenwich, Connecticut, born in Llanelli and in the States a relatively short time, asks, "Does everyone know of a Welsh restaurant or any place that serves Welsh food in NYC or the greater New York area?"

Lastly, I am frequently asked about Welsh Cookbooks. I do have several Welsh and UK Cookbooks available - they are listed on our Cookbooks Page!

BARA BRITH - SPECKLED BREAD

DAVID WILLIAMS’ BARA BRITH

Ingredients:

3 cups flour, unbleached all-purpose

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp yeast

3/4 cup currants

2/3 cup sultanas, golden (golden raisins)

2/3 cup raisins

1/2 cup candied peel

4 oz (1 stick) margarine

1 egg

1 cup milk

Method:

Heat oven to 325ºF. Mix the flour, sugar, and yeast together. Put the fruits in a separate bowl and add a little of the dry ingredient mixture to break apart and coat the fruit so it won't stick together. Melt the butter over very low heat. Add the melted butter (near body temperature) and the egg to the dry ingredients and mix. The dough will be very stiff. Add the milk a little at a time to soften. Add the fruit. Mix well. Put into a Pam coated bread pan and bake for about an hour

Daniel L. Whitaker’s Bara Brith

This recipe came to me as a post card from a friend touring Wales in the 70's. It is probably the one I use the most.

Ingredients:

2 cups              whole wheat flour
1 tsp                 yeast
1/2 cup             molasses (Brown) sugar
1/4 cup             butter melted in 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup             raisins, golden
1/2 cup             currants
1/4 tsp              ginger, ground

1/4 tsp              sugar
1/4 tsp              lemon peel
1 tsp                 salt
1/4 tsp              cinnamon
1/4 tsp              allspice
1/4 tsp              mace
1/4 tsp              clove

Method:

Cream the yeast with some of the milk and add it to the flour and salt. Add the rest of the milk to the flour and work it into a dough. Let the dough rise for one hour covered.

Put the sugars (brown and gingered), raisins, currants, lemon peel, cinnamon, allspice, mace and clove together in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add to the dough and mix thoroughly. Place in a buttered loaf tin and let rise. (45 minutes)

Bake at 425 degrees for 20-35 minutes. Glaze with sugar syrup when cool.

Best eaten in thin slices with butter and cold milk.

Bara Brith – Cake Recipe

Jill Evans Davies – Former Home Sciences Teacher, Rhydhir School, Neath, Wales.

Jill says, "The original recipe called for yeast - this one works just as well for me!"

Ingredients:

16 oz flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

4oz margarine/butter

6oz sugar - pref. brown

1 lemon, juice of

1 tsp caraway seed

1 large tbsp black treacle

1/4 tsp mixed spice

4 oz currants

milk to mix

Method:

Heat oven to 350ºF. Sieve flour, salt and baking powder

Rub in fat.

Add rest of dry ingredients, including grated lemon rind.

Mix thoroughly.

Add lemon juice and treacle.

Add sufficient milk to make a soft dough consistency.

Put mixture into a well greased bread tin. Place in oven and bake approx. 1 3/4 hours.

Can be served as cake or sliced and buttered as a tea bread (as I like it )

Note: Not everyone likes the caraway seeds.

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Ken Thorne can be contacted at WelshFoodie@aol.com. His address is 8814 Norwood Drive, Mentor, OH 44060. Phone – 440 255-2214. Website: www.WelshFoodie.com