Hot cross bun, an opinion

 

Hot cross buns, not cross buns

 

Traditionally, and only ever at Netherton HQ*, eaten on Good Friday the hot cross bun has a long history.

In her book Oats in the North, Wheat from the South Regula Ysewijn MBE https://regulaysewijn.com/about-me/ informs us that the first registered reference to hot cross buns was in Poor Robin’s Almanack in the 17th century.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Robin from whence we hear for the first time the familiar refrain - “Good Friday comes this Month. The old woman runs. With one or two a penny hot cross buns.” But spiced buns have long been associated with both pagan and religious ceremonies and have oft been banned by more puritanically inclined authorities of church and state.

 

 

 

A hot cross bun is a spiced bun, usually containing small pieces of raisins and marked with a cross on the top.  The cross was once incised in the bun, but is now more likely to be a simple flour and water paste.

According to Wikipedia , “It is hypothesised that the contemporary hot cross bun of Christianity derives at some distance from a bun developed in St Albans.  There in 1361, Brother Thomas Rodcliffe, a Christian monk at St Alban’s Abbey, developed a similar recipe called an "Alban Bun" and distributed the bun to the poor on Good Friday.   

 

So, in the midst of Holy Week, can someone please explain to me why Marks and Spencer declared open season on hot cross buns on 19th January, yes you read that right, less than 2 weeks after 12th night……………….

 

 

………………. and why they have thought it remotely acceptable to pass these off as hot cross buns?

 

 

 

 

 

To be fair to M&S, it has to be pointed out that supermarkets and bakeries across the country have been bombarding us with hot cross buns, in ever madder combinations of flavour combinations for quite some time.    A simple Google search threw up ( I use the phrase advisedly and ironically) salted caramel and chocolate; strawberries and clotted cream; triple chocolate; rhubarb and custard; chocolate orange; triple berry and lemon and white chocolate.

 

And whilst we are the last people to preach religious piety and are certainly not averse to innovation, can we just make it clear that these are Not Cross Buns, rather than Hot Cross Buns.  So we will be baking and eating traditional hot cross buns today, following the recipe in Regula’s aforementioned book and she has kindly given us permission to reproduce the recipe here for you.

 

 

You can buy the book, with so many more traditional and delicious baking recipes, such as Bath buns, Bara brith, Yum-yums and Devonshire splits  here https://www.waterstones.com/book/oats-in-the-north-wheat-from-the-south/regula-ysewijn/9781911632641

 

 And find our baking tray here https://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/baking-tins/baking-sheet

 

*Please note that we will be eating uncrossed buns and teacakes throughout the year, always buttered, sometimes toasted.

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

18th April 2025©

Forever chemicals or a forever pan

 A forever pan

When we first started making our black iron cookware here at Netherton Foundry, we made the decision not to use chemicals or plastics, but to use natural, renewable or recyclable materials. These include the iron pan bodies and handles, the oak handles and knob and our organic flax oil for the seasoning

The wax oil on our local oak handles and knobs is a clear, food safe finishing oil made from a blend of natural vegetable oils and waxes. This means that your pan should last at least one, if not several lifetimes, which is the kind of forever we prefer. A Netherton pan can be re-seasoned time and again, using natural oil, can be repaired and as a last resort can readily be recycled.

On the other hand, we find impact of alternative coatings, the evolution of the modern approach to convenience and supposed ease of use. PTFE, PFOA and now PFAS – the acronyms drop like confetti, although the impact is considerably less pretty and a lot longer lasting than coloured tissue paper in the churchyard. Chemical coatings have many names and like food additives are not only best avoided, but are also unpronounceable and thus reduced to more innocent sounding and obscure abbreviations.

The following quote is from a Guardian article by Leana Hosea and Rachel Salvidge earlier this month. “The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found.

PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), commonly referred to as “forever chemicals” are a family of more than 10,000 human-made substances. Manufactured by a handful of companies, they are widely used in consumer products and industrial processes.

They can be found in nonstick pans, pizza boxes, cosmetics, waterproof clothing, firefighting foam and pharmaceuticals, among other places. The properties that make them so useful – heatproof, greaseproof and waterproof – also have fateful downsides. Almost indestructible without human intervention and persistent in living organisms, PFAS have been linked to infertility, cancers, immune and hormone disruption, and other illnesses.”

Increasing understanding and awareness of this makes scary and alarming reading, and reiterates things we have known for a long time. It also strengthens and confirms our resolve to carry on doing things our way.

Here are two of our stories highlighting our concerns and brought to public notice in the Wall Street Journal and in the cinema.

Bee Wilson agrees https://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/Bee-Wilson WSJMay 12th 2023

https://www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/Dark-Waters-PFOA 12.03.2020 Available on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81192027

This is the Guardian article in full.

https://www.theguardian.com/.../cost-clean-up-toxic-pfas...

Leana and Rachel are founders of Watershed Investigations , where you will find a lot more of their environmental reporting

Spice up your Sunday lunch

Who doesn't love a Sunday roast?  And this delicately spiced chicken will liven up the dinner table, whilst sitting happily along side traditional accompaniments such as roast potatoes. Alternatively, bread to mop up the spicy butter and a green salad would be fine additions.

2kg chicken
80g butter
Seeds from 6 cardamom pods
1 tsp cumin seeds
1tsp fenugreek
1 tsp kalonji
½ tsp Kashmiri chilli
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp salt
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
6 tomatoes, halved
 
Heat the oven to 200ºC
Mash all of the spices and salt into the butter.  Spread this liberally over the breast of the chicken.
Sit the buttered chicken into the roasting tray and put it in the oven.
After the chicken has been roasting for 40 minutes, take it out of the oven and baste it lavishly with the melted butter and chicken juices.
Add the potatoes and tomatoes to the tray and return it to the oven for another 60 minutes.
Carry the tray to the table, carve the chicken and serve the vegetables. 

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2022 ☺

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Cherry tray bake

 A new recipe or a brand new product in the prospector range.

So many of you asked us for a rectangular roasting tray and it took us a while to figure out how to make it. But we got there in the end.

And once it was made, of course we had to test it out. Our spiced roasting chicken recipe will be up here shortly, but to demonstrate its versatility, we have been using the new tray for baking too.

First of all we made a rosemary studded foccacia, which we ate with the chicken and then we turned our thoughts to something sweet and made a delicious cherry tray bake.

This will make 18 portions

Set the oven to 170ºC

250g butter

250g sugar

160g natural yogurt ( I used Greek)

4 eggs

Seeds from 12 cardamom pods, ground.

250g self raising flour

250g good cherry jam

30g shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

Beat the butter, sugar and yogurt until very pale in colour and well blended.

Add the eggs and vigorously mix again.

Gently fold in the flour and cardamom.

Lightly grease your tray and pour the mixture in and spread it evenly.

Dollop the jam at random and then swirl it into the mix with a knife.

Sprinkle the pistachios over the top.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until it passes the skewer test.

Serve warm or cold, on its own, with cream, ice cream or custard.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2022 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Spiced green beans

 A recipe for spiced green beans with paneer. I hesitate to call it curry, as there is no Indian authenticity here, nor do I claim a detailed knowledge of the cookery of that area of the world. But we love the flavour spectrum that comes with the spices popular in so many curries, so here we go.

For 4

Oil or ghee, I used 1 tblsp of Happy Butter Ghee

2 onions, sliced

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1” ginger, peeled and grated

1 tsp mustard seed

1 tsp fenugreek seed

1 tsp kalonji (nigella)

1 tsp turmeric

5 cardamom pods, lightly bashed

2 heaped tsp tamarind paste

1 block of paneer

250g green beans

200ml coconut milk

200ml water

Salt

Melt the ghee or heat the oil over a medium heat.

Add the onions and cook slowly until soft and translucent. Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute.

Throw in the spices and mix thoroughly. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the paneer and beans.

Coat the beans and paneer in the spice mix and then pour in the coconut milk and water. Add salt to taste

Simmer for 30 minutes and serve with rice.

This was cooked in a 12" prospector pan and you can find the full range here

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2022 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

The Frank Zappa cake

 I am sure you have all been there - find a recipe that perfectly suits a principal ingredient that you need to use up, only to discover you are missing some of the key ingredients.

And at 4pm on a Bank Holiday Monday, there is not a lot you can do about it.

Thus was born the Frank Zappa cake - Frank's work " is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation" his band was called the Mothers of Invention and with the necessity for a spot of improvisation, it seemed only fitting to name this cake after him.

A large tub of blueberries, plus a large dollop of inspiration from Honey and Co's The Baking Book resulted in this blueberry, Feta and almond cake.

Heat the oven to 170º while you prepare the cake mix.

140g feta cheese
110g yogurt
120g butter

100g sugar

1tsp dried thyme

Zest and juice of one lime

3 eggs

150g ground almonds

20g plain flour

150 g blueberries (raspberries would work just as well)

30g flaked almonds

25g demerara sugar.

In a food processor, whip together the feta and yogurt until smooth.

Add the butter, sugar and eggs and beat until thoroughly mixed.

Briefly mix in the thyme, zest and juice, plus the almonds and flour.  Do not over mix.

Pour into a greased 8½" cake tin and scatter first the blueberries and then the flaked almonds evenly over the top.

Sprinkle with the demerara sugar and place in the oven for 50 minutes.

Serve at room temperature.

8 generous slices

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2022 ☺

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

An inauthentic Asian style dinner

Cultural appropriation is quite the hot potato these days and we are making no claims whatsover about this recipe, but we will thank all the writers and compilers of Asian recipes for their inspiration.

This is not claiming to be anything other than a jumble of some of our favourite flavours.

Serves 2

Marinade

15ml soy sauce

15ml sesame oil

3 tsp brown sugar

15ml rice wine (or dry sherry)

2 fat cloves of garlic, crushed

2cm ginger, grated

150g tofu

125g pak choi

40g spring onions

50g mushrooms - Shiitake for preference

200g ramen noodles

Mix together all the marinade ingredients, ensure the sugar dissolves.

Cut the tofu into 2cm cubes and add to the marinade.  Stir to coat each cube.

Leave aside for a couple of hours to let the tofu soak up those flavours.  In warm weather pop the dish in the fridge.

Warm a wok on a medium heat.  I used one of our prospector woks, so I could serve straight to the table and save on washing up!

Then add 2 tablespoons rapeseed or sunflower oil.

When the oil is hot, add the tofu and marinade andd cook for 5 minutes.

Throw  in the vegetable and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Stir in the noodles nad cook just long enough to heat them thoroughly.

Take the wok to the table and tuck in.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2022 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Carrot and feta fritters

 Not much to say about these other than they are easy, quick and delicious.

First make a batter:

1tsp nigella seeds (kalonji)
20g Hodemedods pea flour

80g gram (chickpea flour)

If you haven't got pea flour, just use 100g chickpea flour

1tsp salt

150ml cocnut milk

50ml water

1tsp paprika 

Whisk all of these together and leave to stand for 30 minutes.

Then add 

90g coarsely grated carrot

100g crumbled feta (use tofu if you want a vegan version)

70g sweetcorn

Mix thoroughly.

Heat 2 tblsp of rapeseed oil over a medium heat in a frying pan - I used my biggest, but you can do this in batches, keeping the cooked ones warm as you finish of the rest.

Drop tablespoons of the batter into the hot oil and cook for 2 - 3 minutes on each side until crisp and golden.

We ate these with potatoes and peas in a spicy tomato sauce, with yogurt, flecked with chopped parsley and spiky with lemon zest.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2022 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Fit for a Queen

We were inspired to make this by the Fortnum and Mason Platinum Pudding competition, in recognition of Queen Elizabeth's 70 year reign and the Jubilee celebrations planned throughout 2022.

Taking the quintessentially English Queen of Puddings, and, in recognition of Her Majesty's German roots, marrying it with the classic flavours of a Black Forest gateau, we have created what we think is a pudding fit for a Queen.

60g butter

50g sugar

100ml double (heavy) cream

400ml full fat milk

50g dark chocolate

125g fresh breadcrumbs

2 eggs, separated

50g sugar

3 tblsp good cherry jam.

Heat the oven to 180ºC

Place the cream, milk and chocolate in a saucepan. As befits a recipe for a queen, I used a pan fit for a palace kitchen 

Heat gently, stirring regularly until the chocolate has melted.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until well blended and then stir in the breadcrumbs. It is well worth saving up bags of breadcrumbs in the freezer, rather than sacrificing a fresh loaf.

Stir in the chocolate milk and then beat in the egg yolks.

Pour the mixture into a greased 1lb loaf tin.

And yes, I used our "Sunday best" tin, but our standard iron tin would work just as well.

Leave to stand while the oven heats up to 180ºC

Then slip the tin into the oven and cook for 40 minutes, until the custardy filling is just set.

Remove the tin from the oven and set aside to cool.  Turn the oven down to 120ºC

While the custard cools, add 1 tablespoon of the remaining sugar to the egg whites and whisk until they form stiff peaks, then add the remainder of the sugar and contiune beating until they take on the lustre of a princess's pearl necklace.

Once the chocoalte custard base is cool, spread the top carefully with the jam and then top with the meringue.

  

Put the tin back in the oven for around 25 minutes, until a light golden brown.

Serve warm, rather than piping hot!

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2022 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

A surfeit of dates

 It's that time of year, isn't it? When we buy dates, nuts, satsumas and Quality Street, regardless of whether anyone in the house likes them or not.

At least one person in the Netherton household will eat and enjoy at least one of the above, so none of it goes to waste.

That being said, we find ourselves with a surfeit of dates (don't ask!).

Inevitably there has been a sticky toffee pudding, with a generous studding of dates, there have been dates stuffed with marzipan to enjoy with coffee, dates stuffed with ricotta, orange zest and thyme, aubergine with saffron, black cardamom and date butter from Diana Henry's From The Oven To The Table

But then I was reading about treacle tarts - if you slip down that rabbit hole on Google you could be lost for days - and an idea took shape.

Treacle tart with dates and nuts.

Start with a basic shortcrust pastry using 110g plain flour to 55g fat (I used butter) with the zest of an orange and water to bind.

Roll out the pastry and line a greased 8½" cake tin (pictured) for a deep pie or a 10" pie dish

Chill the pie case while you make the filling.

100g dates, chopped and soaked for an hour in the juice of the orange you zested for the pastry (waste not, want not)

50g chopped nuts

45g black treacle

120g golden syrup

40g butter

50g double (heavy) cream

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Set the oven to 170ºC 

Place the treacle, syrup and butter in a saucepan - I am lucky, I get to use one of our copper milkpans and warm over a gentle heat until the butter melts.

Stir in all the other ingredients.

Blind bake the pastry case for 15 minutes, then pour in the treacle mixture nad return the tart to the oven.

bake for a further 30 minutes.

Allow to cool before serving with clotted cream or custard.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2021 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Spicy, sticky pork

Cooked long and slow over a charcoal fire, this pork is absolutely delicious served with a crunchy slaw and a cold cider.

This was cooked in our outdoor hob slow cooker, which combines a charcoal barbeque; ideal for those places where an open fire is not permitted and way, way better than a disposable barbeque, for reasons many and varied, with one of our deep casseroles, so that you can stew, roast and bake on the barbie too. And of course, the casserole is handy indoors too, for those of us who are fair weather barbeque fans.

We have been sent some fabulous BBQ rubs by our friends at Cut to the Smoke and a sunny day seemed like the ideal opportunity to try them out.

1.5 - 2kg pork shoulder

1 heaped dessertspoon espresso and ancho chilli rub

100g marmalade - for sweetness and stickiness

150 ml orange juice

2 large potatoes, cubed (optional)

Mix the marmalade, spice rub and orange juice and rub liberally into the pork.

Leave to marinade for at least an hour.

Place the potatoes, if using in the base of the casserole bowl and sit the pork on top.

Pour over the marinade and put the lid on.

Cook over the outdoor hob for 4 - 5 hours.  

I guess this would work in a Big Green Egg too, but I am no expert, so cannot tell you how long!

Alternatively cook in the oven at 170ºC for about 2 hours.

We accompanied this with a slaw of red and white cabbage, fresh oranges, salted peanuts and red pepper, with an orange and mustard dressing.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2021 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

HERB, by Mark Diacono

 A book review

Whilst I have never been a smoker, I can understand instinctively the reference to the importance of a cigarette paper on page 64, describing the hair's breadth separation between oregano and marjoram.  Reminscences about rollups in bus shelters rarely figure in food writing.  

This is a book, not about bad habits and memories, dried leaves and paper, but about herbs, vibrant, verdant, fresh and yes, dried. It is about their place in the garden, the window box, the back step or the window sill and their role in the kitchen; but it is so much more.  Mark's writing is sublime, this book ranks as a good read whether or not you are a gardener or a cook.  Anything we write about it will pale in comparison, but try we must!

I wrote this review, sitting on a hotel terrace, surrounded by four strategically placed bay trees.  It was earlier this summer in Scotland, so although there was sun, the heat was far from Mediterranean, unlike now, but the waft of lavender and the persistent buzz of the bees echo the opening lines of HERB; "I'm sitting within an incomplete ring of pots, each full of herbs, their flowers alive with pollinators, the sun flashing bright as I scribe".

As a gardener and cook, as well as a writer, Mark is well qualified to take you from plot, or pot, to plate and whilst it may amount to less than a single page, to my mind one of the most useful entries in the book is the section on "Choosing what to grow".  With an ever increasing range of fresh and dried herbs available in the supermarket and farm shop, even in rural Shropshire, the frankly mind numbing selection of plants on specialist websites* and limited growing space at home, advice and guidance on the best options to maximise herbal gratification and minimise horticultural disaaster are more than welcome.

"if you were expecting to see lemon balm: NO"

Once these fundamental decisions have been made, Mark guides the reader through two distinct sets of herb skills; firstly describing garden skills, such as sowing from seed and propagation, through to picking the end result.

And then, logically enough, into the kitchen; there are more ways to chop and store your herbs than you have hitherto considered, I'll wager.

Moving on, the excitement grows - sorry about the pun, with a comprehensive directory of herbs to grow and eat.  More than a simple list, each description paints a picture, effervesces with enthusiasm and quite frankly, is less than helpful in restricting your choice - I want them all.

"Anise hyssop (ours is just coming into flower) looks like the offspring of a one night stand mint had with a nettle". Sadly there is no back story about how mint and nettle got it on, but it was an intriguing enough introduction to make me read on.

By now, you should have your herb patch planned out and you can step into the recipe section. 

Disclaimer: this review is in no way coloured by the appearance of Mark's Netherton pan in some of these recipes, page 155 for example😊

Green is now my favourite colour, leaping out of every shot, as refreshing as a cold beer on a hot summer evening.

Among our favourites, and it is very hard to choose, is the dill, lemon and green bean pilaf.  The description of it being "crazily moreish", is if anything, an understatement.  The only way I can justify my greedy approach to this dish is to convince myself that is is good for me!.

There is so much to love about this book, but the love does not reside solely between the covers.

Mark is "offering HERB at four prices. We want to ensure that those who might benefit most from the book are able to get their hands on it, so you can pay whichever suits you." 

If you have wanted more from your herbs than a parsley garnish, then anything you spend on this book, will be a true investment.

* is "herbporn" a thing?

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2021 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

The Tramshed Project

 There were, still are, many down sides to the pandemic; from the serious to the trivial.

But as with all clouds there have been silver linings.  The upsides may not have outweighed, or come even close to the down sides, but it would be wrong not to celebrate them.

 Deliveroo has just announced an increase in sales of 99%+ over the last year, highlighting the rise in takeaways and eating in necessitated by the closure of pubs, cafes and restaurants during lockdown.

But the whole notion of takeaways got a makeover last year, as innovative and embattled chefs and restaurateurs looked at ways of surviving the crisis.

Sure, Deliveroo kept delivering kebabs, pizza fried chicken, but the new kids on the block were gastro pubs and high end restaurants, offering a range of Dine at Home options to fill the space of eating out in style.

For those of us who live beyond the M25 this has been an even bigger benefit, as we can now get to try “London food” without a bank account emptying train trip.  And by London food, we are not being entirely capital centric, we are talking about a range of top flight restaurants suddenly becoming more accessible.

These offers are never going to replace the restaurant experience, with waiter service, posh glasses, fancy cutlery and most importantly of all, someone else to do the washing up, but they are a welcome addition to the choice of dining experiences and as rural dwellers, we hope they remain a viable option.

At least some of you, I am sure, will have seen our interview with Andrew Clarke, latterly of St Leonards and now working with the team at the Tramshed in London.

If so you will have heard how he is a great pan of his Netherton pans - you can see him proudly photographing his collectionn.

And you might also have noticed us mention the treat that he sent to us.  I hope that the following description tempts you give the Tramshed Project at Home a try too.  This may have been a gift, but we have been back since and paid our way.

Starter

Burrata with blood orange and salsa macha

Burrata is, to my mind, a challenge.  Silky, rich, indulgent, yes, but it can be a bit of a dairy mugging.  The blood arange tamed it considerably, reining in its excess and highlighting its indulgent creaminess.  Salsa macha was a first for us - to be honest, I had to look it up!.  This will not be the last time, however.  A definite winner.

Main

Butternut schnitzel, heritage carrots and cauliflower cream, pink fir potatoes.

The squash has been lightly steamed and then coated in breadcrumbs, oats and seeds to create a vegan take on a classic Schnitzel.  All we had to do was brush it oil and bake in the oven.

It may not sound much, in and of itself, but add in the seasonal greens with butter, (the schnitzel may have been vegan, but we are not), pumpkin miso sauce and a grnish of blood orange, redcurrants, pickeld shallots and capers and woohoo, the whole thing is elevated to a new level.  In our expereince the butternut has newer been bettered!

A side order of heritage carrots was served with cauliflower cream and sprinkled liberally with dukkah and pistachio, with a carb hit of Pink Fir potatoes to complete the meal.

To say that this was generous was an understatement - there was enough for 4 of us, not 2.

Dessert

Salted caramel tart

There may well have been enough of our mains to share, but there was no way this was going anywhere other than down my throat - absolute bliss.

Restaurants have had a hard time of it over the last 15 months and opening up is still presenting them with challenges nad struggles that we mainly do not see.

Please do what you can to support them, so that when all of this is over, they will still be there to feed us.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2021 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk