Sunday, July 7, 2019

Eating Scotland and Sticky Toffee Date Pudding @LucyBurdette #recipe

"And still the warm round peach pie and the cool yellow cream we ate together that August night live in our hearts' palates, succulent, secret, delicious." M.F.K. Fisher, The Gastronomical Me


LUCY BURDETTE: For me, one of the best parts of traveling is sampling the local food, which becomes a taste memory. Smoked pimento takes me to southern France, tempura to a restaurant in Kyoto, salted caramel to Australia, pimento cheese and vinegar barbecue to North Carolina.

Today I'll take you on a whirlwind tour of some of the taste sensations-soon to be taste memories-from our recent trip, and end with a recipe for sticky toffee date pudding, which frequently found a place on our group's table. (Fortunately, the tour involved a lot of walking so we managed to work off some of the extra calories.)

We started in Dublin with a traditional Irish breakfast. I'm going to dream about this for years to come...



These were the specialty cocktails at Mulberry Garden in Dublin. The one with the flower was a passion fruit rum punch, and the green was simply spectacular--including cucumber liqueur, Hendrick's gin, and black pepper:



This we ate in the village of Moffat in Scotland, it's called coronation chicken (curry) served here on a baked potato:



A common dish was fish and chips, served with mushy peas:




Many, many scones were eaten; one particular stand-out was a banana-date version but the cheese were wonderful too...often paired with a creamy vegetable soup:





In the van hurtling between destinations, we were introduced to a Scottish candy called "tablet" which is basically butter, cream and sugar. We ate it until we were sick:



And I became obsessed with the cheese plates offered as a dessert alternative (ditto, ate until sick...):



This was the closest I personally got to haggis--it's a statue at Robert Burns' birthplace and it's called "haggis." We dubbed the photo "three men and a haggis."




And here are two traditional Scottish desserts, the taller one is called Cranachan (whipped cream, honey, toasted oats, and whiskey), and the other was the group favorite--sticky toffee date pudding:





Are you feeling a little peckish? Here's my pared-down, elegant and luscious version of the sticky toffee date pudding. Don't skip the caramel sauce!

Ingredients

3/4 cups pitted, quartered dates
3/4 cups water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

 

For Sticky Toffee Sauce:
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, place the dates, water and vanilla and bring to a boil. Simmer until soft (might take 5 minutes.) Remove from the heat, add the baking soda, mix well. Let the mixture cool. Meanwhile...
 
Cream butter with sugars. Beat in the eggs. Add the dry ingredients, and finally the cooled date mixture. (Do not worry about leaving little chunks of dates--they will provide some nice texture.) Pour the batter into a well-buttered cake pan. (I also added a layer of parchment paper and buttered that for good measure.) Bake at 350 about 40-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn the cake out onto a platter. 

For the sauce, mix brown sugar, cream, butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer until thick, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and add a splash of vanilla. 






Poke holes in the cake and pour the sauce overall. 










Serve warm if possible, with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.


Do you have a food memory from a trip you've loved? 

And just for fun, look at this photo I found buried in my files...circa 1969, Lucy performing with fellow Highlander dancers from Governor Livingston Regional High School:




I guess the Scottish Highland is in my blood...












44 comments:

  1. Right now I want that breakfast... and then some sticky toffee cake please. Chased with some Italian gelato. Sounds like a fantastic trip, Lucy!

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  2. Yum! It sounds like you had a wonderful trip . . . thanks for the recipe; this sounds like an amazing dessert!

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  3. It all sounds fabulous! Question: what's the dark round object on the breakfast plate? I love your Scottish dance outfit, too.

    I remember Japanese breakfast in a ryokan, the traditional inn. A flat grilled fish, crusty rice, miso soup, and really good coffee. Also the little sweets made of a soft rice flour shell over sweet bean paste. In West Africa, I remember Thiéboudienne [CHE boo jen], basically their version of paella. SO good. And little rose-fleshed papayas. In Brazil, the little coconut-egg yolk sweets called quindim [keen JEAN], southern Brazilian churrasco, and pudim de laranja (orange flan). OMG.

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    1. That is blood sausage or pudding. I skipped that one, like the haggis. Your food memories sound wonderful Edith!

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    2. It’s called black pudding, and is indeed made with blood, fat and oats (or barley). I personally love it, but I also love haggis.

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  4. Food is always a great part of any trip! Thanks for sharing the recipe--and the throwback photo--there's a little of the Scottish highlands in all of us Scots-Irish immigrants!

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    1. I think there must be a little bit of the highlands all over the US

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  5. I would also skip the haggis. :)

    New Orleans. A shrimp po' boy, real blackened fish, my first mint julep (not as good as I hoped) and creme brulee at the Court of the Two Sisters under that magnolia tree.

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    1. Oh yes, New Orleans! I still remember fried oyster po' boys and beignets from visits many years ago.

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  6. I loved Irish hotel breakfasts: cheese platters, pastries, eggs and sausage, fresh yoghurt, whole honeycombs. We fueled up for a busy day without lunch. Lots of salmon for dinner, and boxty, a potato pancake encasing meat and gravy.

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    1. I've never heard of boxty, but it sounds good! and I forgot to rave about the butter and honey...

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  7. I've had so many memorable dinners in a number of places, but the one I remember most fondly was right here in Rochester a couple of years ago. We have a French bistro, Cure, that makes their own everything, even their butter, all locally sourced as much as possible, and plunked down in the middle of our public market. It was a whole roasted plaice, head, hide and all, on a bed of greens. It looked as if it swam right out of the kitchen to our table, and it was fabulous.

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    1. That restaurant sounds amazing Ann, aren't you lucky to have it nearby!

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  8. I love to sample food and drink of the places I visit.
    I tried haggis but it was a little quantity stuffed in a chicken breast, not so bad.
    Your sticky toffee date puddings recipe looks like a lot at my Queen Elizabeth cake recipe. Just reading it made me salivate.

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    1. We could all use a second cup of coffee about now, and a piece of that cake:)

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  9. Those desserts look so good. And tablet is a new one for me. I can see why you couldn't stop eating it!

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  10. Fab trip Lucy, thanks for the memories. Blood pudding is a bit like Pennsylvanian scrapple which I love.

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    1. no no no scrapple for me either Celia! Hallie has at times been ready to take my foodie badge away, like the time I didn't want to try her fabulous skate:)

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    2. Love skate and adore scrapple.

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    3. I have only had skate once, at a friend's private club dining room in London, and it did NOT go on my favorites list... Never had scrapple. Blood pudding can either be horrible or delicious, depending on the restaurant and the chef.

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  11. Lucy, I love the photos. I was laughing at the photo with two eggs because it looks like a face with two big yellow eyes. LOL

    Yes, I have a few food memories. I remember the fish and chips in Scotland. Unfortunately, at the time I visited, they allowed smoking in restaurants so mostly for me, it was takeaway food. Although once my mom and I lucked out with a tearoom on the Royal Mile - no smoking while we were having tea with yummy tea sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam. The last time I was there I had tandoori, Indian food.

    When I was in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, I had crepe like pancakes. They are my favorite kind of pancakes and mind you, I never like pancakes in the USA except for pumpkin pancakes. Now that I discovered my allergy to wheat and diary, I am going to have to modify my recipes.

    When I was in Austria, I had potato leek soup. In Switzerland, we had fondue. We also had rosti (hash browns).

    In France, we had big bowls of coffee! In Italy, they had flatbread pizzas everywhere. And gelato!

    Diana

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    1. You're making my mouth water! there was no smoking in any of these restaurants this time

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    2. Lucy, that's wonderful news about no smoking in any of these restaurants this time :-)

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  12. You have truly found your roots and calling! So fascinating that this is happening… Xxxxx and can you come over, please? And make these things? Xxxxx

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  13. I guess? No thank you, she said politely. When I was a kid, we used to have tongue. And it was so delicious! And then one day I said to my mom… Tongue? Like a tongue? And she said yes, what did you think?. That was the end of the tongue.

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    1. Oh My gosh, we had tongue also! I swear I remember seeing the whole tongue on a platter in the middle of the table

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    2. We also had tongue. And I loved it. Still do but rarely get it. Cold tongue sandwiches are the best.

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    3. We used to get sliced tongue from the German deli and I loved it! Hmm, maybe time for a trip to Kuby's in Dallas...

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    4. Exactly exactly. Can you even believe it? HOW did we deal with that???

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  14. Yum, favorite food memory, fish and chips wrapped in newspaper when I was in Britain in the 1970s, wonderful.

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  15. Lucy I have enjoyed everyone of your Scottish posts. My favorite vacation of all time was my trip to Scotland and you've brought it all back.
    As to food...I'm a "cautious" eater. No foodie badge for me, I'm afraid. However, when we visited my mother-in-law in Scotland, she made the most amazing meat pies! My favorite was her version of the Cornish pastie. She had a very deft hand with pastry and I've never been able to duplicate it. The memory of the seasonings and the gravy still linger.

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    1. Oh that sounds ideal! And so much fun to have a relative to visit in the country. I bet that Rhys could make us one of those meat pies…

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  16. Opps! "every one". More coffee please.

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  17. What fun! Thanks for sharing . . . since I didn't manage to sneak into your luggage. ;-)

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  18. I love date nut bread, but I have never had sticky toffee date pudding. I will definitely have to try this recipe. Thank you for sharing!

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  19. Thanks for sharing these great pics with us, Lucy. It's always interesting to try new foods in areas where they are common everyday fare. I agree with you on passing on the haggis though, and those mushy peas are wholly unappetizing to me. I really want to go to Scotland and England, but I can't say that I'm excited about the food, and I'm usually excited about the food when I travel. I think I could be most satisfied with a tea menu of crust-less sandwiches and cakes though. And, hasn't Debs said something about grilled cheese sandwiches around Portobello Rd., or was that someone else? I do think the sticky toffee date pudding looks delicious.

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    1. Kathy, the British reputation probably goes back to boarding schools and post war rationing. These days you can get really good food all over Britain. Even mushy peas can be good if done well. If you make it to England, I promise I'll give you recommendations!

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    2. Debs, I will count on your recommendations! I know you have done your research.

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  20. We had fabulous food in Scotland. My husband always had oat cakes and cheese in his day pack. And a little whiskey. My favorite soup/stew was Cullen skink. Delicious. He ordered an appetizer of a fried haggis ball. I had a bite and it was good! I think it was a modern recipe though, without all the icky stuff. We've also enjoyed the foods of Ireland and Spain and could return for those alone!

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  21. Okay, this is more difficult than I thought. My best childhood friend is first generation Dutch American so I ate crepes, Droste chocolate, rusk bread with butter and Droste sprinkles as a young child. I used to crave Dutch licorice, which is really salty.
    I went to Mexico City in the 70s and fell in love with Enchiladas Suize, which I'm sure I'm spelling wrong. I'm always looking for restaurants in the area with a good fish menu for my sister. Last winter we went to the Gravenstein Grill and I had a fabulous clam chowder. But I do need to be cautious when eating out, no matter where..... I've ruined my share of road trips because of my stupid soy protein allergy.
    My Mom and stepfather used to stop at The Benbow Inn. She fell for the Cheddar and Beer soup. The restaurant shared the recipe - but I think it was for a crowd.

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    1. Oh my gosh, Mexico City Enchiladas Suize! That's a memory for me, too. Funnily, one of the things that stands out most for me is the late-night cappuchinos in Mexico City coffee shops. At eighteen, those seemed the height of sophistication.

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  22. I didn't think the haggis in Scotland was that bad. I also love tongue and tongue sandwiches. When I was working and some lunches were getting stolen, I told people that I ate tongue. Nobody took mine! I liked steak and kidney pie, also, but I couldn't try the kippers for breakfast. I'm not as adventurous in the early morning.

    I had so many wonderful meals on my trips. It's nice that a lot of those foods are available at home now.

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    1. Brilliant! After a rash of food-swiping, someone put a label on milk in our office fridge: "Special milk for hypo glycemics." NO ONE touched ti!

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  23. What a fun post, Lucy. (Sorry to be late to the party--have out of town guest and had granddaughter this morning as well!) My daughter and I LOVE sticky toffee pudding. that is always our restaurant dessert splurge in the UK, but I've never tried making it. Now I have a recipe!

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