SEPTEMBER 2002
The whole country seems to be going psychotic; we are entering a new age which has all the hallmarks of the witch-hunting times. After the tragic murders of the little girls in Soham we now hear that the policemen leading the investigation have been arrested on child pornography charges. Teachers are being checked before being allowed to teach, and there are now questions being asked about who is checking the checkers. Anyone reading the newspapers would conclude that at least a quarter of the adult population in the UK are paedophiles. Anyone seen talking to a child is immediately suspect; parents trying to process holiday snaps of their kids in swimwear find the police knocking on their door asking questions. The authorities are encouraging people to call in denouncing their neighbours, children their parents. Anyone are regarded as guilty, unless they can prove their innocence beyond doubt, and even then you have to be careful in case someone pour petrol in through your mailslot at night. What is going on here?
New statistics are out showing that 54 per cent of teenagers carry weapons other than guns in order to protect themselves against assaults. (Nothing is mentioned about how many do carry guns, probably the remaining 46 per cent) Most young people find that they can not rely on the police or the school for protection. I wonder how many older people have reached the same conclusion.
The local elections next year are shaping up to be pretty bruising. The East
Riding of Yorkshire Council has been riling a lot of people, me included, and
the other day a county-wide meeting was called down at the local pub to discuss
what could be done. It was decided to put up independent candidates in all wards
in order to get the politicians out. The way feelings are running at the moment
we might just be able to pull it off.
Anyone been reading Orwell's 1984 recently? Tony Blair evidently has. The way he is selling the coming war with Iraq sounds distinctly familar. Then of course Orwell's real name was Blair; maybe he had a good idea regarding the thought processes of the family?
Why does Britain treat its children like adults and its adults like children?
Has Blair kept his promise and cracked street crime? The latest figures seem to show a remarkable drop in the last few weeks. One must of course ignore the bleatings of cynics that will have us believe that the government's impartial spin doctors have somehow massaged the figures to make Blair look good; surely they would never do such a thing, now would they?
On the other hand there is a quite astonishing increase in house break-ins.
Burglaries have shot up by 34 per cent here in Yorkshire.
So the best the Government can say is that they have successfully driven the
criminals off the streets and into our homes.
Thanks, guys.
The Government's new proposals on mental health has a rather worrying little detail buried inside a lot of verbiage. They are trying to make it an offense punishable by a prison term for parents to refuse giving their children Ritalin if it is judged neccessary by the authorities. The Brave New World of the Peoples Party seems to be just around the corner.
We hear from Namibia that a German tourist's holiday down there came to an end when he was mistaken for a baboon and shot by a local farmer. If this poor fellow looked enough like a baboon to be mistaken for one, he may be better off dead.
Jeff Cooper
Last year we had foot-and-mouth, before that there was Mad Cow Disease, now dead seals are being washed up on the beaches in their hundreds each week, victims of the distemper virus. Nature is seriously out of whack.
So we marched again. More than 400,000 country people descended on London on 22nd September in one last, desperate call for the Government to listen before the whole countryside goes down the drain. And all probably a waste of effort. The only language this Government understands is backhanders and brute force. The fire next time?
YULE RECIPES
It's a little early to be thinking about Yule, perhaps, but on the other hand
some people might like to plan early.
Apart from Scandinavia, traditional, sacred meals for the Yule celebration seems to have gone out of fashion, it¹s place taken by the Christmas turkey, at least in English-speaking countries. To any-one who might be interested I have here tried to translate from Norwegian my mother¹s and grandmother¹s recipees for Yule food. As I have never cooked and some of the measurements are diffucult to understand (not to mention the hand-writing) some of this might be slightly confusing, but I¹ll give it a try anyway.
The first thing that was usually done was to bake the Yule cookies, traditionally either 7 or 9 different kinds. Each family had their special favourites; my mother made some of the following ones.
KRUMKAKER (I believe these are called brandysnaps in England)
(Around 50)
You need: 3 eggs, 150 grammes sugar, 150 grammes wheat flour, 150 grammes melted
butter, 3 tablespoons of water.
Whisk eggs and sugar together, then add wheat flour and butter; leave to swell
for a while; just before frying add the water in order to thin the batter; use
middling to weak heat in a special iron (though a standard skillet can be used)
Put around one child¹s spoon of batter in the iron and fry on both sides;
the colour should be light. Roll them into a tight cone at once and put on a
rist to cool. Keep in an air-tight box.
STOR FRUKTKAKE (Fruitcake)
Long form, about 45x50 centimetres (or several smaller ones) - all together
about 7 litres.
You need: 4 eggs, 1¹2 kilo of sugar, 400 grammes melted butter, 1 kilo
wheat flour, 5 teaspoons of baking powder, 3 decilitre milk, 1 and 1/2 kilo
dried fruit.
First make fruit ready and mix with a little of the flour. Butter the form well.
If using a long form put baking paper (or aluminium foil). Whisk egg and sugar
together. Mix in butter and the mixed flour and baking powder plus the milk.
Lastly mix in the fruit and distribute well. Put the batter in the form(s),
but only 2/3 full. Put in oven at 150C for around 2 hours. Cool off in the form.
After 2 days cut up into managable pieces, pack in foil and store in in a cool,
dark place for up to 3 months.
SANDNOTTER (Sandnuts)
(About 75)
You need: 125 grammes butter, 125 grammes sugar, 1 egg, 1-2 tablespoons milk,
210 grammes potato flour, 60 grammes wheat flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar,
1 teaspoon baking powder.
Whisk sugar and butter lightly together. Whisk the egg and put in milk; then
mix this with the mixture of vanilla sugar, flour and bakingpowder. Cool off
the batter for a while; then roll it out into a sausage and cut into bits. Form
the bits into balls and put on a battered baking plate. Put plate in oven at
190C for 10-12 minutes or until light goldbrown. Cool on a rist and store in
airtight box (but not until completely cooled)
HAVREKAKER (Oat cookies)
(About 40 cookies)
You need 4 decilitres oatmeal, 2 and 1/2 decilitre flour, 1 decilitre sugar,
200 grammes butter.
Mix flour and oatmeal with sugar and cut in butter. Gather to a dough and chill
for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 180C. Roll cookies out to about the size of a quarter,
put them an inch apart on grased cooking paper, press down lightly with a fork
and cook for about 8 minutes.
MORMORS HJERTER (Grandmother¹s hearts)
(About 50 cookies.)
You need: 200 grammes butter, 1 decilitre sugar, 5 decilitre wheat flour, 1
egg yolk.
Mix flour and sugar and cut in butter. Add egg yolk and cather douch into a
ball. Chill for several hours. Preheat oven to 160C. Roll out dogh on floured
board until 3 millimetre thick. Cut out hearts with a cookie cutter and put
on greased cookie paper. Brush with lightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with
cinnamin. Cook for 10-12 minutes.
BONDEKAKER (Farmer¹s cookies)
(About 60 cookies)
You need: 6 decilitre flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 decilitre sugar, 2
tablespoons syrup, 1 decilitre chopped almonds, 200 grammes butter.
Mix flour with baking powder, sugar and almonds. Cut in butter, add syrup and
gather into a dough. Knead for a few minutes, divide into 3 and roll into rolls
4-5 centimetre in diameter. Chill. Preheat oven to 200C. Slice rolls int cookies
about 6 millimrtre thick. Place on greased cookie paper and cook for about 8
minutes.
VANILJERINGER (Vanilla rings)
(About 50 cookies)
You need: 5 decilitre flour, 3/4 decilitre sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla, 200
grammes butter, 1 egg yolk.
Mix flour and sugar and cut in butter. Add egg yolk and vanilla and gather dough
into a ball. Cool in fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 180C. Force dough
through a pastry bag with a wide, notched tip directly on to a greased sheet
of cookie paper. Cook for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
THE YULE MEAL.
SYLTE (headcheese)
My mother used to make this several months before Yule out of a hog¹s head,
but it is quite complicated. Below is a simpler recipe that will still give
the same taste.
You need: 2 and 1/2 kilo of pork shoulder butt, 1 kilo of veal breast, shoulder
or shank, a large piece of fresh pork rind.
For every litre of water use 1 tablespoon salt, bit of pepper, bit of all-spice,
2 cloves, 1/2 bay leaf, 1/2 carrot, a few slices of onion.
For the mould; cotton cloth or towel, thin slices of fat back, 2 tablespoons
of gelatin, 2 tablespoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of coarsly ground pepper, 1 teaspoon
of coursly ground all-spice, 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cloves.
Cover meat with cold water. Let boil, skim, then add spices, carrot and onion.
Cover and simmer until very tender, about 2 hours. Strain and reserve stock.
Cut meat from bones and cut into thin slices. Wring cloth in hot water and line
a deep bowl. Line cloth with thin strips of fat back. Arrange fat and lean meat
in alternate layers. Sprinkle spices in between and a little bit of gelatin.
Cover with strips of fat back. Pull cloth together tightly and secure with a
string. Place bundle in a pan and cover with stock. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove headcheese to a large plate. Cover with weighted board and cool in cloth
for 24 hours. (My mother had a wooden press that she kept tightening for weeks)
Serve cold in thin slices.
JULESKINKE (Christmas ham)
The ham is cured with sugar and salt, never smoked.
You need: One cure ham, 3-7 kg,.
Glaze: 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of mustard, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 4 tablespoons
of unseasoned bread crumbs.
Garnish: White frosting or 90 grammes of creamed butter.
Preheat oven to 180C. Place ham with skin side up on a rack over a large pan.
Put meat thermometre in the thickest, meatiest part, but take care not to touch
the bone. The ham is done when the temperature is 77C. which takes about 1/2
an hour per 500 gramme of ham. Remove from oven, cool so it can be easily handled
and peel off the skin. Coll completely overnight. Reserve the drippings.
Preheat oven to 250C. Mix egg, sugar and mustard and spread over the ham. Sift
bread crumbs over. Put ham on rack over pan and bake for 8-10 minutes or until
nicely brown.
For the garnish use a pastry bag with a fine tip and make patterns and write
in the middle ³GOD JUL²
MOELJE ( Dip in the pot)
We always had this for lunch on Yule Eve where my mother served every-one in
the whole neighbourhood.
Chill the ham drippings in the fridge overnight and remove some of the fat.
The remaining stock should have a strong taste; probably you can add some water.
Add other stock if there isn¹t enough. Season with salt and finely crushed
sage.
Simmer slowly and leave on the stove or on an electric tray. Guest dip pieces
of bread (we used flatbread, but any bread is OK) and eat it together with slices
of ham and headcheese.
RIBBE (spareribs)
My mother usually made at least 10 kg, but here is a 2 kg recipee.
Break the bones in several places; it makes the ribs flatter and easier to handle.
Cut the skin into diamonds with a sharp knife cutting all the way down to the
meat. Rub in salt and pepper and put it in a form in the fridge with the skin
down for a couple of days.
Preheat the oven to 230C. Put the rib in the form with skin down and pour 5
decilitre of boiling water in the form. Cover the whole form in aluminium foil.
After about 30 minutes remove the foil and reduce heat to 175-200C. Bake for
about 1 and a 1/2 hour for thin ribs and 2 to 2 and a 1/2 hour for middle ribs.
Put on a grill a few minutes in the end.
MEDISTERKAKER (meat cakes)
You need: 1 kilo of minced pork or beef, 3 teaspoons salt, 2 and a 1/2 tablespoons
of potato flour, 1 teaspoon of pepper, 5 decilitre milk, 1/2 teaspoon of muscat,
margarine or butter for frying.
Mix the mince with salt, add the potato flour and the milk. Add spices. Form
into patties and fry in the frying pan on both sides until nicely brown.
JULEPOELSE. (Christmas sausage.)
You need: 1 and a 1/2 kolo of lean pork, 500 grammes of fat back, 1 tablespoon
salt, 1 tablespoon ground pepper, 1 teasppon ground ginger, 1 litre of pork
or beef stock, 250 grammes of boiled, ground potatoes, about 2 metres of casing.
Curing: 4 tablespoons salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 tablespoon salpetre if
you can find it for colour, but not neccesary.
Grind pork and fat back finely. Add spices, potatoes and stock. Cut casing into
40 centimetres pieces. Tie one end securely. Fill loosely using a special attachment
on your meat grinder. Rinse saugage in cold water, dry and rub with curing mixture
and chill over night.
To serve place sausage in cold water and simmer slowly for 30 minutes without
cover.
JULEGROET (Christmas porridge)
You need: 1 and a 1/2 decilitre of porridge rice, 3 decilitre of water, a piece
of cinnamon, 1 tablespoon butter, 8 decilitre milk, dash of salt, 1 tablespoon
sugar.
Boil water and butter. Add rice and cinnamon. Cover and simmer over low heat
until water has evapurated. Add milk, cover and simmer over very low heat until
rice is very tender, about 40 minutes. Stir from time to time. Season with a
dash of salt and some sugar. A single blanched almond is added to the porridge
and whoever gets it will get some chocolate or other snack. Serve porridge warm
with milk, sugar and ground cinnamon.