I Make Impossible Hertfordshire Cakes - 18th Century Cooking
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- Опубликовано: 16 июл 2024
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"Ok I'm gonna teach you how to do Hertfordshire cakes"
"Wait you forgot to tell me the amounts"
"I told you an egg or two, what more do you want? My job here is done"
Next on 5 hour crafts!
it's only for the servants, it's not like it _matters_ that much lol
Now be sure to make them just right!
people back then had a brain and didn’t need to be told what to do all day every day
@@MikehMike01 Except for the enslaved
These are basically beignets the way we make them down in New Orleans! Making that dough right is an art form.
That's what I was thinking right away. I never had them but I know what they are.
I used to work on a shrimping boat down in southern Louisiana and I immediately thought..HE IS MAKING BEIGNETS!!!! Lol a touch of POWDERED sugar on top and he would have a nice batch on hand!
Down here beignets are with apple
Agreed! Or sopapillas from my part of the country, New Mexico.
I agree!
I love how he says, “But I didn’t put nutmeg on them!” with his out to reassure us he doesn’t have an addiction to nutmeg. 😆
He can give it up anytime he wants to...
He rules nutmeg, nutmeg doesn’t rule him.
Nutmeg is addicting though.
... he just doesn't want to!
But that's exactly what a nutmeg addict _would_ say...
The author was obviously in the pocket of the hog farmer's guild. "No, really, you NEED to use lard for this! Some other people use drippings, but it's not as good, trust us."
Drippings were used to add flavour.
Big Hog strikes again
@@BADASSMANDO Big hog is a good name for a Porcoration
doubtful
lard makes a big difference even in modern recipes
this is 100% spot-on how my mom gives me a "recipe" for one of my childhood favorite dishes.
Same
“Just do what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years. You’ve been paying attention, right?”
Hard to go wrong with sweet dough fried in lard.
This is the truth
I've failed at funnel cake, though.
@@MetricJester Oh yeah, funnel cake is a BATTER. batter is less forgiving than dough, and when you're trying to pour it juuust right.. oh jeez and you have to have the oil temp just right too or it'll automatically cook into a pile of little nuggets
@@KairuHakubi Anything made of of dough is much more forgiving than anything made out of batter.
Reminds me of my grandmother's biscuit recipe: flour, baking soda, salt, lard, and buttermilk. Roll to a thumb thick. Bake in a hot oven.
my grandma too have a recipe like that, this must be something very old, cause we are brazilians with german and portuguese ascendency.
if you deep fry canned biscuit dough it makes great donuts. The holes are always my favorite. My mom used to do that when i was a kid for my birthday. :)
I think sometimes you get so used to making something that its just intuition. You don't think about someone else making it, so don't take any detailed notes.
@@osrr6422 That’s why there are soups my dad made that I can’t replicate. His gumbo, chili and clam chowder are gone forever. Sigh.
Sounds really yummy!
One year, when I was much younger, I was helping during 'sugaring time' for an elderly couple. The wife on the farm would treat us with various 'lard fried' goods on every hard won day.
When I'm tasting something I've made for the first time, I just imagine the Townsend Eats music is playing
the "It doesn't taste like sh*t!" theme
Does it stop with a record skip when the recipe fails you?
"If they are made as they should be, the men will like them." means the correct way to make them is how ever you like them.
Ummm, no
@@mjay6567Bro.. the mans just made a semi funny joke, over a year ago, what are you even doing replying with this?
@@papabear9481 says the moron to the loser 😂
I think the way to make them is with as much lard as possible lol
@@cleanerben9636with enough lard and sugar you can achieve nirvana
Mr. Townsend, I love your videos. You show us we don't have to be trained chefs to make these recipes, and that is very much appreciated. Thank you, kind sir, for making us feel comfortable in our own kitchens.
When it feels right.
Oh Jon. As a Hertfordshire native born and bred, this was fascinating. Pronounced: "heart-ford-sheer" for your future reference. I'm going to try making these myself!
Where abouts in Hertfordshire ?
I was going to comment the same. Weird pronunciation for places!
@@georgetaylor5183 Rickmansworth.
Was going to say this. Thanks for saving me sounding like an ass. Again.
@@stellarconcealment Croxley green
Hi Jon! I'm from Bedfordshire, bordering Hertfordshire, and its pronounced "Heart-Ford-Shire"! Thank you for your content and the brilliant history
FASCINATING. Post-WWII, Good Housekeeping's newly-weds cookbook had a recipe that called for heating milk and pork lard and a bit of salt and sugar together as the basis for building up a standard white wheat flour yeast-risen bread. Our Mom taught my brother and me to make it. It was our standard family home loaf...until Wonderbread invaded the market and was cheaper to buy than to make bread at home. The same starting technique of milk, melted lard, and so on was a basis for New England's famous Parker House Rolls. The idea apparently has DEEP Colonial roots.
I am giving it a go with these!! These would probably be glorious with a hot coffee, chocolate or tea!
Would love to hear how they turn out!!!
You should totally make a video and post to your channel ♥️
Can guarantee that’s how they had it.
Or hot apple cider.
We demand to know what happened!!!
Do you remember in the movie 'Wizard of Oz" when Auntie Em was handing out fresh made crullers to the farmhands? Looks like this was a long time tradition, huh? 👍
I've always liked recipes where the process is more important than the ingredient amounts. For example, if you take a standard biscuit recipe, and know what to do you can extrapolate that into everything from pancakes to muffins and many other things.
It was a form of gatekeeping though.
Like magic. The first/easiest explanation for how a trick is done, is normally how it was actually done. If they revealed “their secrets” the show is over for every magician world wide. For bakers, if regular joe could make basic pastry in their own home? My baker goes broke
@@dylanzrim3635 Illusions, Michael! (Please tell me there are other Arrested Development fans here)
@@dylanzrim3635 not really though. People still buy crappy sandwiches that have sat in plastic for days from supermarkets because it's faster and easier than making their own. Despite it only taking a few minutes. Pastry takes time and only those who want to will make that time however universal the technical knowledge is.
And most magicians' tricks are out there, people don't bother learning and many who do still like watching just to admire the skill and try to spot the trick.
As with all things it comes down to the fact that people with experience will figure things out and be able to adapt in ways others cant.
@@dylanzrim3635 the only people who complain about gate keeping are those the gate was meant to keep out.
@@MartinTheReader well said. Though I'd contend that people don't want ingredients/proccesses known not to keep everyone from using it but to decrease competitors. That's why most inventions, recipes, tricks, etc. that people and companies use are proprietary.
Some days this is how I make dinner. No recipe, just ‘what do I have and how much of it do I want?’ Most of the time it works out ok but in baking you can get some unexpected results until you get a sense of proportion. I imagine the women who cooked these spent a lot of time baking and had some intuition on a lot of it.
To me, when they say like pie dough or “paste like” I imagine a dough that doesn’t hold together as much as yours did.
Pie dough has a certain type of give though, it's much dryer than bread or choux, and can be rolled out and keep it's shape.
@@MetricJester I agree but its still not quite what they had going there.
“I have no idea how it’s going to turn out of how I’m even going to do it.”
-me when writing an essay
me getting up in the morning
Can’t wait for Friday’s at the Nutmeg Tavern! Always like to kick off my weekend at the Tavern!
Pronunciation tip- it's a weird quirk of English English, but Hertfordshire is pronounced HARTfordshure. I don't know why, probably something to do with old English, we've got loads of places that aren't pronounced how you'd think they are.
Yes, but closer to Hartfudshə, I would say. Though some say Hartfudshear.
I'm glad someone wrote about pronunciation. You saved me doing it !.
He should watch "My Fair Lady".
How do you pronounce Hartford? I would love it if it was pronounced Hertford.
A forgivable mispronunciation. I am often amused, in a kindly way, by Americans trying to pronounce Worcestershire Sauce, which is pronounced woostersheer.
"We have the lard here, so let's do it."
I like the cut of your jib. We could all learn to use lard more often!
Living in New Orleans, they remind me of cafe du monde beignets. Powdered sugar is what we put on them here.
I was thinking beignets as well!
As soon as he took them out of the pan I thought, "Beignets!"
YES! I knew if I scoured the comments i would find this 😅
Come on, John…you know it’s going to be awesome, YOU always make it awesome!
except for that stewed fish. that was yucky
@@psalm91rdwlkfpgrl There have been a few others that Jon "didn't particularly care for" as my dad used to say. That was his polite way of saying, "That stuff is terrible and I won't eat it on a bet."
Love it! This reminds me of my Peace Corps days when I was trying to cook a variety of comfort foods with no recipes, a few very basic ingredients, a tabletop gas stove, and candlelight. I was already a practiced cook so I could muddle my way through with educated guesses about ingredients and amounts, and they usually ended up at least passable if not immensely satisfactory (but maybe that was just the comfort food deprivation talking).
I've made your dough "nuts" a few times over the last couple years, and they are really good. Makes me wanna make them again.
Oh, do shate the link! :)
These kinda remind me of fry-bread, right done to the vagueness of how much of the ingredients. Pretty much the same key ingredients; fat, flour, yeast and water with something to sweeten it up just a little.
The major difference being you don’t want to knead the doe too much. With fry-bread, you knead until it is no longer sticky.
They're like mini fried scones! Take out the spice, butter instead of lard, baking powder for yeast and you have my great grandmother's recipe for fried scones.
that sounds delicious!
Basically German "Schmalzkuchen", but with added allspice. Though nowadays they are mostly made with oil instead of lard ("Schmalz" in German)
Cultures are meant to be shared.
Reminded me of a beignet
My thoughts, those are Schmalzkuchen. 😆 Yeast, Milk, Egg, Lard - only the allspice is not what we use today, but it does sound like an 1750-1800 version. It’s always fun to see how many cultures have a similar or even just the same recipe, like Schmalzkuchen, Beignets and Hertfordshire Cakes. 😄 Man, now I crave Schmalzkuchen. 🤤
These look very close to the little fried cakes I make, family recipe... I make mine savory not sweet, and no egg in the dough Otherwise, pretty much the same. Sprinkle with coarse salt at the end. Been making them for decades. They never last long, I barely have time to clean up the kitchen before they're gone. :) I usually let them puff up quite a bit - for that I rest the dough after I add the yeast, not fry them right away.
I was thinking with the yeast you could let it set to give the dough time tto rise.
If you rest your dough, even for an hour, it will relax and let you roll it more easily. I’m a chef and make pie dough for a living, I like to let my dough rest for a day or so, if I can. This is my favorite part of RUclips. Especially as I renovate my 1755 New England home.
I feel so warm and cozy watching this... especially since fall is coming ... sending you much love, and thank you!!!
This man’s optimism in his videos is comforting, even in uncertain recipe times lol I think love you townsends!!
Love that you mix it all up with the two best tools in the kitchen, your hands! Great video! Thanks. 👍🏻
I’m a high school social studies teacher and I love your channel. I use your videos a lot to give my students a good idea what life during the 17th and 18th centuries looked like.
It’s really hard to find good quality videos on this subject.
If I may make a suggestion for a future video, there are no good quality 10-15min videos overviewing the life of colonial Americans. At least that I can find.
I know your entire channel covers this well but having a single overview video would be incredibly useful in a high school US History classroom.
They turned out pretty good! It was fun seeing you attempt (and succeed) doing a recipe like this.
Could you please do some quail and bear cooking?
I'd rather do some ale and beer drinking.
I hope that your request can be granted one day.
Townsends is my go to for interesting, informative, and fun recipes. More importantly the videos just make me happy! Thank you for that.
Your cooking episodes like this one are my favorites. Your commentary really brings them to life.
Thank you for making these videos. I always love watching them. Keep up the great work. I would like to try that with "Apple Pie Spice".
Reminds me on the following traditional German recipe: 500 g flour, 20 g fresh yeast, 1 egg, about 50 - 75 g sugar and more for sprinkling, about 200 - 250 ml milk, 50 g Butter, pinch of salt, as for spices whatever you got, cinnamon or cloves. Heap flour, make a well, into goes lukewarm milk, sugar, crumbled yeast, stir the yeast milk mix a bit, wait until it foams, add egg and salt, start kneading, add little milk or flour if needed, add soft butter in small batches, knead until the dough is smooth but not sticky wet. Form into a ball, let rest under a dampened towel until doubled in size. Roll out into a finger thick large rectangle ( 1-2 cm thickness). Cut diagonally into small rhombuses or rectangles, deep fry for 2 minutes, only a few at one time, traditionally in lard (or oil), stir with a slotted spoon to flip them over - until golden brown, remove and toss with sugar and spice of you choice, lots of cinnamon, less powdered cloves. You can add spice or leave it out or add spice to the dough. They only taste good eaten at the same day.
Fall is in the air! I love the Townsends channel so much! Amazing history packed into every upload. Can't wait for the next Nutmeg Tavern livestream.
Really enjoy your videos. This one especially.
This channel is so enjoyable. Keep up the good work.
Been watching this channel so long that, when he reads from the old timey books, I don't skip a beat. Good stuff. Edit: Looks a lot like Newfoundland toutins.
Definitely will try this! Thanks!!!
so a pre-doughnut doughnut hole. I'd like to try it while letting the yeast work a little longer.
I always love old doughnut recipes because they’re closer to the name. Originally they were all just equivalent to the doughnut holes. That’s why they’re doughnuts. They’re fried dough in the shape and size of a nut
Yay. Living for these videos from Townsends!
These look so good! I love your channel 🍎
Thanks for the video ! Love the idea for this one
Great video as ever John.
I love how you make old recipes. I have a cook book of ancient Roman cooking. It's called The Roman Cooking of Apicius.
You should check out tasting history with max miller
@@LillibitOfHere I was just about to say so myself
Sohla El Walley (formerly of Bon Appetit) has a web series on History Channel’s YT where she tries the earliest written recipes of foods we have today. That’s also worth checking out if you like Townsends and Tasting History.
Ooo exciting! I'm from Hertfordshire
Looks good. Funny to see you sprinkle suger on them at the end and pretty much none of that suger sticked lol just fell to the bottom of the plate lol great video like always 👍🏻👍🏻
Turned out to be one of my favourites. You seemed just as lost as we were and trying the dough was definitely the right thing to do.
Perfect deliciousness for fall.
There is something so satisfying about getting your hands into the dough and working with it. I always find breadmaking relaxing.
I might need to make these. They look great.
They look great...thanks
They look like a nice little treat.
I love the cooking you do, I wish I could smell them as you make them. Living in a cabin like yours making the food you make is a dream come true for me
I think that kitchen was a chicken shed. Just repurposed for the videos.
The pin cashing ones you could put whipped cream, custard, or jam inside of really easily.
This channel's cooking videos are amazing! This video inspired me to make Korean ramen with thin cuts of beef and clean up after myself while drunk! While my roommate earlier today made ready-made Pillsbury cookies and left a giant mess of dirty pans and utensils and wrappers. The rush of inspiration is fantastic! Keep on doing what you're doing Townsends!
Love this show!!!!
I enjoy this nice man in his nice hat making nice treats.
So proud of this channel! Still cranking out content after all these years!
Man, I love this channel
I want to try this one! I like the allspice and sugar combination idea.
Reminds me of something that I was privy to eat as a child. We always called them fried sweet cakes or fried spice cakes. The one thing I do remember is that there was a significant rising time to let the yeast do it's job for both the fermented flavor and the extra added "puffiness" of the end product.
I loved that portabel soup recipe and wish more good for to take whit when you go out. I love to learn more about that food and i guess they hade LOT of it. And even how i store food long time. I really love this chanel and i really think this is best Chanel on hole youtube. And you are allways so in it please dont ever stop this. You make my day.
I love these recipe videos.
Haha love the shrugs when you were adding the ingredients. Glad they turned out well! Definitely remind me of doughnuts.
They look amazing! You could probably fill those pincushions with some custard too. Mmmmm...
This reminds me of a very primitive version of a Crullers recipe I have from a local museum cookbook. Baking soda was in use by that time, and Nutmeg was used instead of Allspice, but otherwise, very similar. Another great video guys!
They look so much like a modern Kenyan breakfast item called mahamris
They really do look delicious!! Too tempting not to try!!
I love your videos. This recipe would be great to try filling them with a precooked meat mixture or even a raisin/currant filling. 🙂
This is an awesome exercise in experimental cooking! Seems like the perfect base for just about any bite sized pastry.
Love this video, had me laughing often, thanks
Thank you for the videos
Directions and guidance from a very experienced cook/baker for other very experienced cooks/bakers.
Never stop doing what you do John.
Seems like a yeasty kind of sweet bannock!
Beignets is what they remind me of. The Louisiana doughnuts. Even though I'm from Alberta, I've seen similar recipes to this.
This guy is the Bob Ross of ancient cooking
Looks very good. This is a rather old dessert, still very popular in our alpine region, "Schmoizboachas", i.e. lard-baken, yeast dough pieces, cooked swimming in hot lard. The shape varies locally, some are called "Nussn", nuts, some " Nudeln", noodles, not meaning pasta. They usually were served to the farmservants on certain religious occasions as Thanksgiving for example. They were the dessert after a "eat as much you can" dinner. Today these Cakes are served in many little alm inns for hikers. But I never found a precise recipe, it`s all left to the skill of the cook, and I think, you did very well!
For some reason, this episode got me thinking you should try doing a video with Ruth Goodman. As a historian of all things domestic, she'd have a blast with these vague recipes.
She would know, for sure!!
These look so easy and worth trying. The only question I have is about the lack of salt. You didn't seem to miss it but I think I would add a good pinch of salt to richen up the overall flavor.
Thanks for sharing with us Jon, looks like a great dessert for anyone. Thanks for sharing with us. Fred. 🙏🏻🙏🏻👍🏻👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻✋🏻✋🏻
Nice video. In Denmark we have these and they are called "Klejner" same principle. Dough fried in lard. Klejner or in old german Kleiner means "small" or small in stature. Served at christmas.
Looks good!
13:10 that spot in the middle of the ones that puffed up is where italian bigne' gets stuffed with custard
Its crazy to me i bought clothes from you via paper form in the mail in the 90s and here i am watching you cook on the internet. Nuts!
Classic 18th century cooking! Great episode.
I got a recipe for pie crust from a friend and it is very much like the one you are using...fantastic pie crust...perfect and flaky everytime
It never ceases to amaze me how poorly written old recipes tend to be. I'm not insulting their writers' prose, I'm talking about the utter lack of specifics such as amounts.
I'm 65 & when I was publishing a cookbook in 1990 using 4 generations plus of family recipes, every single recipe from my Grammie and before that my Mum copied over in the 1940s said "flour to thicken" no matter if it was wallpaper paste, cookies, cake, or pastry hahaha. We were supposed to know how thick the batter needed to be before it was cooked haha
We learn by watching. I try to make my son watch me so he will understand. I learned by making mistakes. Mom didnt teach me much variety so I HAVE to watch cooking videos.
Hertfordshire gang represent
Letchworth gang
Never heard of these cakes though - you?
@@zoewilkins2896 nope
This seems to be just a hot water pastry but with milk instead of water, which is why the recipe said "just like a pie crust" hot water pie crusts are still used for pies in the UK.
In Denmark er have a special Christmas cake, called " klejner" witch is kinda similary cooked in pig fat... It's sweet and look a little alike, though it's turned inside itself and out
Similar to a benigets recipe my mom was given by a friend from New Orleans who’s family had lived there for 6 or 7 generations. She proofed the dough for an hour in a prewarmed oven to make it rise. My mom believed the recipe was around 180 years old and actually called for light brown sugar or aged honey (turning to sugar) white sugar wasn’t available until much later.