Mrs. Bridges' ~ Upstairs, Downstairs Cookery Book

 

I suspect most know about the BBC series, Upstairs, Downstairs, and the goings on at the Bellamy home with head cook, Mrs. Bridges and the servants quarters. So when this cookbook was given to me I was delighted not only because of its slight vintage... retro-ness; but because it brought back fond memories of time spent with my mum watching this show. After receiving this book I had placed it in my pile, yes I have a cookbook pile, and sadly within a week after placing it there, Jean Marsh, the actress who played parlourmaid, Rose Buck, passed away. 

This commerative cookbook is mostly made up of Victorian and Edwardian recipes with eight categories of menus. Since there is no real life Mrs. Bridges, this book is written as if there were, very straightforward in the character's straight faced kind of way. The book does stray from the kitchen and food preparations and goes into personal matters about the fictional members of the Bellamy household, and that is part of it's charm, keeping things in character, connecting the book and television series together. There are a handful of black and white photographs and over 70 illustrations or drawings to help guide with serving, carving and using the right utensils for whatever the culinary, kitchen task may be. 

With plenty of classic recipes such as: Kedgeree, Lancaster Hot Pot, Cottage Pie, Parsnip Fritters, Apple Charlotte and Seed Cake, I decided to share the Boston Brownie recipe, as it is written from the book. 

Boston Brownies

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4 oz flour

4 oz butter

8 oz sugar

2 eggs

4 oz chopped walnuts

2 oz plain chocolate 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

vanilla essence or sugar

Melt chocolate in a pan with a dessertspoon of water, stirring constantly, but do not allow to boil. Cream the butter and sugar, beat the eggs and add them by degrees to the butter mixture, then add the chocolate. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together, and blend well with the chocolate mixture. Stir in the essence and the nuts. Pour into a greased, square cake tin and bake at 350º for about 30 minutes. When cold, cut into squares. 

150 Year Old Biscuit Recipe

 

I stumbled upon this recipe while researching ingredients, I know, the wonders of the internet, straight down a rabbit hole. This vintage biscuit recipe supposedly has not had one tweak in its century and a half existence... well until I made them however I am sure I am not the only one to make slight modifications. I used dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar. I also made only 15 cookies because I chose to roll the dough into walnut sized balls. I set the oven temperature to 325ºF (170ºC) to bake them. Sprinkled cinnamon sugar on them while still warm from the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes on the baking tray before removing them to a wire rack. I quite like that I got fewer cookies that were of a fair size and the sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on top added a delicate touch, giving them a Snickerdoodle flavour to enhance their crunchy buttery butterscotch toffee texture. These are exceptional biscuits to make and can easily be whipped up in minutes and will be devoured just as quickly! 

150 Year Old Biscuit Recipe ( 3 Ingredient Recipe) 

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125 grams (approx. 1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

100 grams ( approx. 1/2 cup) brown caster sugar (light brown sugar)

150 grams (approx. 1 cup) self-raising flour

Add the butter, brown sugar and self-raising flour to a large bowl. Mix and knead everything by hand until well mixed and you can form a ball of dough.

Let the dough chill for 20 minutes in the refrigerator or a cold place.

Preheat the oven to 305ºF (150ºC). Make 25 small round balls and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Gently press the pattern into the dough with a fork. Bake for 20 minutes. 

Notes: the biscuits do spread so place them on the baking tray with enough space in-between to accommodate for this. I did weigh ingredients with a kitchen scale and placed those amounts into a measuring cup to get cup measurements however it's best to measure by weight for the most accurate amounts.