Plot Night and Parkin Pigs

I thought I'd better check out my facts before I embarked on a story from a long time ago. Most people in England have heard of Guy Fawkes and know that he had something to do with Bonfire Night on 5th November. And they'd be right. In Bradford, where I grew up, we didn't know much more than that ...but we did call it 'Plot Night' and indeed, Guy Fawkes was a member of a group of fellow Catholics who planned - plotted - to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes hadn't always been a Catholic but converted to this religion when he was about 16, probably due to the remarriage of his mother to a Catholic.... He had been a soldier in his early life, fighting for the Spanish against the Dutch - and at this time, chose to call himself 'Guido' - not sure why as this isn't a Spanish name.. The main target of the plot was to get rid of the Protestant King, James 1 and the year was 1605. The plot failed and it was Guy Fawkes who was the first of the group to be caught and taken prisoner, before being tortured to provide the names of his accomplices and then, as he was led to the scaffold, he jumped and broke his neck before he could be officially put to death. I always thought 'Guy' was an unusual name but I rather liked it. Until I met one in real life and that put me off the name forever! He was originally from York...

There's another Spanish link too - in 1603, Fawkes went to Spain to seek support for the removal of King James, but the Spanish weren't interested.  I put this down to the fact that Spaniards really don't like to eat anything with ginger in it - and ginger is a key ingredient of Parkin and a must for Plot Night - and also they never set off fireworks on November 5th. They only get to hear about the Plot from their native English language teachers...and most of them never mention the Pigs!

That is my official, historical explanation, with some chronology and my take on cause and effect....

Now onto my memories of Plot Night...

Just before Plot Night itself, the children I went to school with would talk about going 'proggin'' (we're famous up North for not pronouncing the 'ng' at the end of 'ing' words...we stop short at the 'n') which was a sort of scavenger hunt for bits of wood and things that could be burnt on our bonfires. I wasn't allowed to go proggin' but didn't really need to as we always had Plot Night at my grandparents' house and my grandpa would build a pretty good bonfire out in the 'croft' - a piece of shared land at the back of our houses. We would sometimes have a 'Guy' - a comical thing made by my granny from Grandpa's old clothes - and we'd always have a selection of fireworks like Catherine Wheels, Roman Candles, Snow Storm and a few rockets - but I always loved sparklers the best of all. I loved trying to write my name in mid-air before the image faded. And the smell...what a smell it was! Apparently it's sulphur residue though I'd always been told it was cordite...not true. Whatever it was, it hung in the air and made everything seem exciting. I really loved Plot Nights.

We ate pork pies and baked potatoes followed by parkin - an oatmeal-based ginger cake - and my Granny's special Parkin Pigs. Again, it would appear that this particular thing was quite local to Bradford and nearby areas of Yorkshire - unless of course, there is anyone reading who can tell me differently. I don't have any photos of our pigs - my mum now has 'the' cutter and she reckons it must be at least 100 years old as it's passed through generations of her family. The pigs themselves must have a currant eye and are thin, crispy ginger biscuits - the recipe is almost foolproof and I'll share it here...I guess it will be OK to make other gingerbread things out of it if you don't have a pig cutter...I do. And because the recipe is very old, it's in imperial measures...

4oz golden syrup                 }
10oz sugar                          }  - melt together in a large saucepan
4oz butter                           }                


Then add:

16oz self-raising flour
2tspns ginger
1 beaten egg

Stir into a soft mass and roll out as quickly as possible. Cut into shapes and bake at 120 degrees (low heat) for 10 to 15 minutes. It's easiest to work with when the dough is warm and slightly soft - I've found a quick blast in the microwave softens it again to make the shapes in batches - stops the cracking that happens when it's cool.

We're going to make some tomorrow when I've bought some golden syrup...I have a wide range of shape cutters but sadly, no pigs...

I am still none the wiser as to why we used to eat Parkin Pigs on Plot Night but we did and my mum still makes them at this time of year and gives them out to 'Trick or Treaters' in Knutsford...who won't have a clue why they've been given a gingerbread pig biscuit (unless they read this blog).

When we lived in Huddersfield, our Plot Night treat used to be a drive up to Castle Hill which overlooked all of Huddersfield and beyond, where we got a real bird-eye view of all the different bonfires and fireworks parties that were going on. Inevitably, there would be other families and groups there and we would always set off a few rockets from this vantage point - nothing too much but always with a sense of community spirit. Since 2009 though, fireworks have been banned on Castle Hill.

Funny to think how customs come and go - if I ever inherit the pig cutter, I shall most definitely continue the tradition. Whatever that might be!

Missing Chocolate

Until Wednesday, I hadn't even thought about it. When the sun is hot and the skies are blue, I don't think about chocolate - it's the wrong season, it doesn't work, you can't do it, not unless you have an air-conditioned kitchen which I've never had - so I hadn't missed it.  I don't eat much chocolate usually. I like it but it has to be really good stuff to tempt me and I haven't seen any since we were in the Alpujarras.

So no - until Wednesday, I wasn't missing my chocolate.

However, when the temperature outside dropped and the clouds began gathering (to rain on the processions), I began to feel twitchy. Something was wrong, something important was missing. Usually, just before Easter, I am super-busy melting, stirring, tempering, piping, mixing, (tasting), dipping and doing a whole host of other chocolatiering things relating to making chocolates for friends, family and for selling at craft fairs for Easter.

But not this year.

So today, I dug out my supplies, carefully packed and sealed and brought from England to Valladolid then on to Alcala la Real. Probably needing to be used by now. Unfortunately, I hadn't brought any Easter Egg moulds with me - just some little lolly moulds - owls and koalas. So I made some of those; then I dipped some strawberries; then with the rest of the tempered chocolate, I made a big slab with some crunched up cornflakes, raisins and cranberries and decorated it with white chocolate.

And I feel so much better now.

Hope everyone that usually has chocolates from me has found a suitable alternative this year (- but hope you still think mine are the best!)

Cakes!

Been having a bit of a bake recently due to a glut of bananas that I really did need to use up. I used a very simple recipe which is half Spanish-based thus using oil rather than butter. No photo but believe me, this was a lovely yellow colour, with a crunchy outer crust and a light and soft middle.

I tried the same recipe again today only used apples instead of bananas - I cooked the apples first in just a tablespoon full of honey. It is delicious - I wouldn't say better than the banana cake but full of flavour and just a wonderful texture. It's not overly sweet - the flavour of the fruit does come through better that way and also keeps the calories down a bit! The banana cake would be perfect with a little butter or jam or even peanut butter spread on it. The apple cake when warm almost begs for a blob of vanilla ice-cream or just cream.... it begged me but I resisted.

If you fancy trying it - here is my recipe:
Preparation time - about 10 minutes max!
Cooking time - about 1 hour if using one tin; 35 minutes if using two smaller tins.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Prepare a loaf tin or 8"round cake tin. I used two loaf tins for the banana cake this time but it would have all fitted into one - you'll just need to increase the cooking time.

2 ripe bananas or two cooking apples 

( if using the apples, cook them a little first til they're soft)

250g self-raising flour

1tspn baking powder

6 tbspns brown sugar (or substitute all or part with honey)

6 tbspns sunflower oil

6 tbspns semi-skimmed milk

2 eggs

(Add a handful of raisins/sultanas/walnuts as well if you want.)

1. Mash the bananas or cooked apples and add the raisins/walnuts if you're using them. Add any honey you might chose to use at this stage too.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Add the sugar and mix.
3. Mix together the eggs, oil and milk.
4. Add to the flour mixture and combine well.
5. Add the banana or apple mixture and combine well.
6. Pour mixture into cake tin and place in the oven for about 55 minutes.
7. Check cake is cooked by inserting a skewer or knife - should come out fairly clean when cooked. 
8. Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes then turn out.
9. The cake keeps well in an airtight tin, though I have no evidence of exactly how long....

When the sun comes out again, I will be posting FR's 'Pinchos Moruños' recipe, which is marinaded meat, skewered onto kebabs and cooked over a barbecue. It's too wet and cold today to eat them. Such a shame we can't have the smell available online!

All the baking has helped to take my mind off the process of selling our house. We had a couple return today for a second viewing and they brought a parent with them - always a good sign - but I had decided to take Ruy and Romy to the Odeon Kid's Club this morning. It was Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang which I quite enjoyed. There were a few good jokes in there, a sort of moral message about how children should behave and a soppy, happy ending. What I liked was that when the film finished, a few people in the audience actually applauded. I was a more concerned about hiding the embarrassing fact that I had cried a bit at the ending - which was totally predictable and says more about my rather fragile state of mind than any strength of the film. I think mums are supposed to cry at the end, maybe, just a bit...anyway, by the time we got home, the dreaded visit was over and now we just have to wait to see whether an offer is forthcoming or not. Cross everything!!