Old and Traditional Recipes of Lancashire, England

 Butter Pie ( eaten mainly in North Lancashire )

 Pastry

225g/8oz Plain flour

50g/2oz Butter,

50g/2oz Lard,( Shortening )

Ice cold water

filling

3 Large potatoes 

1 Large onion

50g/2oz Butter

Method

1. Make the pastry blending the ingredients together, add the water and chill the pastry I the ridge for 20 minutes before using

2.  Peel the potatoes and onion, cut the potato into thick slices, Boil the potatoes for 8-10 minutes. Cook the onions,, in the butter until soft, .

3. Line a pie dish with pastry and put in the potatoes, onions and butter flakes, season with salt and white pepper and top off with the rolled remains of the pastry

 4. Bake at 180 degrees for about half an until golden, and serve immediately.

Lancashire Rag Pudding  (so called because it was eaten by raggedy people  in East Lancashire )

Ingredients

1lb mince beef

1 onion finely chopped

Beef stock

Dessert spoon cornflour

Seasoning to taste

Pastry

8 ozs self raising flour

4ozs  beef suet

Cold water

Leave to rest in the fridge for 1/2 hour

Method

1. Put the onion and  mince in a pan and  fry for a few minutes, add stock and seasoning . Cook for 1 hour slowly add the cornflour mixed with water then add to the meat to thicken slightly cook another 10 minutes.

2. Place the flour, suet and salt in a bowl bind it with enough water to form a dough, rest for half hour in the fridge.

Pan Hagertys are from across the mountains in Northumberland but this is a Lancashire version .

• Minced beef - suitable quantity for number of people you are feeding
• Onions
• Beef stock -
• herbs of choice
• Salt and pepper
• White potatoes - peeled and finely sliced
• crumbled Lancashire cheese

Heat he oven to 180C

Fry off the mince and onions in a pan, add the stock and simmer for 10 minutes

Slice the potatoes finely and layer on the bottom of an ovenproof dish , layer the beef mixture on top and finish with a layer of potatoes.

Crumble the cheese over the top

cover with foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

These little dried fruit pastries are traditionally eaten with a piece of Lancashire cheese to accompany them.

Chorley Cakes

This is an 18th Century Lancashire recipe. Shrimps have been fished off the Lancashire coast for centuries.

Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimps

1 lb shelled shrimps

6 ozs butter

salt and pepper  to taste

Oven Gas 3 or Elec 325 F

Cut the shrimps in half

Melt the butter in a pan with seasoning

Put the shrimps in an ovenproof dish dish and cover with the butter mixture. Put a lid over the dish. Cook for 15 minutes.

Put the shrimps in warmed jars and pour butter over them.

Melt another 2 ozs of butter and pour over the shrimps to seal them.

Put a lid on and refrigerate.

Serve these with fingers of toast.  

These are pastries which were popular with the field workers and miners. They are filled with savouries and were taken to work and eaten cold. They are always eaten in twos and are never called " Lancashire Feet " it is always Lancashire Foots.

Lancashire Foots

1lb shortcrust pastry

6 ozs Lancashire cheese

6 ozs cooked ham or bacon

1 onion finely chopped

seasoning of choice

egg/milk glaze

Pre heat the oven to 375F or Gas 5

Roll out the pastry and cut in to two equal pieces but leave one end of each piece unrolled out to be the heel of the foot

Mix the bacon, cheese and onion and divide equally between the two foots.

Turn the sides  of the pastry up and gather at the top.

Brush with egg or milk and bake for 25 mins until Foots are golden

Eat hot or cold.

Today I had a day out and saw this old Lancashire recipe for Wet Nelly. It is a moist tea bread and as with everything in old Lancashire was borne out of poverty and not wasting anything at all. Wet Nelly hails from Liverpool, the land of The Beatles. Wet Nelly is a moist, poor-man's version of Nelson Cake hence it is called Wet Nelly. It is made from leftover bread and pastry and soaked overnight to make it moist.

Wet Nelly

1 loaf of old bread cut into chunks

3 ozs of butter

5 ozs brown sugar

1.5 pints of milk

1lb dried fruit

3 eggs

cinnamon to taste

Soak the bread and fruit in warmed milk for at least 4 hours or overnight.

When soaked add the other ingredients and mix together.

Pour into a greased deep sided tin.

Bake Gas Mark 3 Elec 160C for 75 minutes until cooked.

Here is a treat for welcoming the deceased souls, remembered at this time of year. Halloween. This was traditionally a ginger cake eaten on Hallowe'en. It is like a Parkin.

Harcake  ( Soul-mas cake )

2 ozs soft butter

1lb fine oatmeal

12 ozs golden syrup

1 oz ground ginger

1 large egg beaten

a little milk to bind

Bake on Elec 350F or Gas 4

Grease a tin 10 by 8 inches

Rub butter into oatmeal and add syrup and ginger. Mix well

Add the egg and then add just enough milk to make a smooth mixture and put it all in the tin .

Cover the top with paper and bake for 90 mins.

Store for 5 days before eating to allow time to mature.

Lob Scouse

Lob Scouse came to Liverpool through Scandinavian sailors and the dish is known elsewhere in Old Europe as Lapskaus in Norway, Labskaus in North Germany, and Labskojs in Sweden.

Whilst there are national variations all use carrot, onion and potato, just like  Liverpudlian scouse Blind scouse has  no meat, but is still  scouse. It also has elements of the Irish Stew traditional and Liverpool is full of Irish people from over the water of course.

The word Scouse became used to refer to anyone from Liverpool. Scousers as they are called .

This is a traditional dish borne out of poverty and full of cheap, filling ingredients and what the poor of Liverpool had.  It can be made with diced lamb or diced beef and is a favourite in our household.    

Lob Scouse

Ingredients   

• 2 onions large
• 5 large potatoes cut into varying sizes large to medium
• 1lb of  lamb or beef diced
• water to cover
• salt
• 2 carrots cut into varying sizes large to medium

Method

Put the meat, salt  and onions in a large pan and cover with water . Cook for 1 and a 1/2 hours on low.

Add the potatoes and carrots and simmer for another one and half hours .

Enjoy.

Leftovers ; Scouse Butties

Leftover scouse was put between two slices of bread and eaten as a  SCOUSE BUTTY.

This dish was traditional amongst Lancashire witches

MALKIN PIE ( an extra dish )

This is an addition that I recently found since writing the above. It is believed to be the traditional dish of the Lancashire witches and eaten at the Malkin feasts although my own feelings are that they would have been too poor to afford this.

It is a layered pie with a shortcrust base infused with thyme .

Then layer 1 cooked ground mince lamb
layer 2 braised leek carrots and celery
layer 3 cooked diced beef and onions
layer 4 cooked diced bacon

Put a suet pastry crust on top. Bake on high for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

There are several versions of Everton toffee but this seems to be the one I preferred when sifting through recipes.

Everton football club in Liverpool was nicknamed " The Toffees " after this delight. A cook named Molly Bushell invented it and it was usually eaten around UK Bonfire Night on November 5th.

It is important to use a cooking thermometer for toffee making

Everton Toffee

1lb brown demerara sugar

1/2 pint of water

8 ozs unsalted butter

5 tbsps. golden syrup

• Oil a square baking tine 8 inches by 10
• Put sugar and water in to a pan on a low heat and dissolve
• Stir in butter and sugar and cook until the mix is a golden brown colour
• Check temp on a cooking thermometer
• When it reaches 270 - 280 degrees F  pour it into a tin and leave to cool ,
• During cooling mark it in to squares
• Cut when cold or break into pieces

Cracknells were known as far back as the 15th Century and are a thin flat biscuit which was eaten with cheese.

This is an easy recipe and could have several herb additions for flavour.

Blackburn is a town in North Lancashire.

Blackburn Cracknells  ( serve with cheeses )

1/2 lb plain all purpose flour

2 oz butter or lard ( shortening )

1/2 tsps. of cooking bicarb of soda powder

1/4 pint of warm milk

pinch of salt.

• Rub the fat into the flour and bicarb powder.
• Add salt and mix it all in.
• Add the warm milk and stir it all together.
• Roll the dough out thinly and cut into rounds.
• bake Elec 325F or gas 3 for about 30 minutes

Last evening, a Lancashire friend asked me if I remembered these as a child. AND I DID.

These were known throughout Lancashire and were usually given to children to fill them up. They are poverty food and show how nothing could be wasted in the cold and poor areas of the North of England.

Pobs and Pobbies

When bread was about a day old and not stale but not as fresh as it was, it would be broken into chunks and put in a cup with warmed milk and sugar poured over it. My friend recalls having this for breakfast. This would be pobs or pobbies.

Lobs and lobbies

Similarly, if there were any meat juices off any meat that was eaten, chunks of bread would be placed in a cup and the meat juices were poured over. This would be lobs or lobbies.

I wouldn't expect anyone to want to eat these now, but this is basic Lancashire food and shows Lancashire's ingenuity in feeding its children.

If bread soaked in meat juices are eaten as a sandwich and not in a cup they are known as Dip Butties.  

This is a version of its cousin the Bakewell pudding from nearby Derbyshire in England I am making this for Easter Sunday

Lancaster Tart

Shortcrust pastry to line your dish 

1 jar of lemon curd
2 eggs
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz butter
4 oz ground almonds
 juice and zest of one lemon

Line a  pie dish with  pastry  and spread the lemon curd over the bottom.

Beat the butter and sugar together and stir in ground almonds . Beat  the eggs and pour the mixture over the lemon curd.

Bake 30 minutes or so at 180C, 350F or until cooked .Serve warm or cold.

This recipe is from the Fylde coast in Lancashire and is considered to be linked to St Oswald. The Fylde area of Lancashire  in the not too distant past celebrated the Tosset Feast where they had a local fair and people ate Tosset cakes. This happened around August 5th each year.

Tosset Cakes

1lb plain/ all purpose flour

1lb of soft butter

6 ozs fine/ castor sugar

2 tsp crushed caraway seeds

1tsp crushed coriander seeds

• Sieve the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter
• Add the crushed seeds and mix well to form a dough
• Leave the dough to cool then roll out and cut out rounds about 2 in across
• Sprinkle with sugar and place on a greased baking sheet
• Bake for 15 mins or until cooked on Gas 4  Elec 180C  350F 

By request from my Big Bro. xx

Amblet of Cockles dates from at least 1764 and was in Elizabeth Moxon's cookbook.

Amblet of Cockles

Take 4 egg whites and 2 egg yolks,

a pint of cream,

2 ozs flour

grated nutmeg

4 ozs cockles

MIx them all together and brown them in a pan. Serve as a side dish.

This " cake " is more of a pasty . It dates pre 1907 so ingredient quantities are not always listed..

Balderstone cakes

1lb sieved flour

8 ozs butter

4 ozs fine sugar

1 egg

milk to bind

Dried fruits pre soaked and mixed together.

Make the pastry with flour, butter, sugar and egg and roll out.

Cut into largish circles and place the dried fruit mix on half of the circle of pastry.

Fold the other half over the top and seal the edges together.

Bake in a hot oven until brown.

Heat warm or cold.

This was always one of my favourite puddings at school dinners .

There are several variations. I have chosen one. It is so easy and a huge favourite in Lancashire.

Manchester Tart 

ingredients 

One lined pastry case ( shortcrust pastry ) 

Jam of choice 

1/2 pint of thick custard / crème patisserie 

Optional bananas

Optional desiccated coconut 

Method 

• Bake the pastry base blind ( Put greaseproof paper over the pastry base. Place some baking beans on it and bake for about 20 mins ) 
• When cool, spread some jam of choice over the base. 
• Optional : slice bananas over  the jam pour the thick custard / crem pat over the jam/ bananas and sprinkle with coconut.
• Leave to set and eat cold. 

Despite being only 30 miles away, today I found a recipe for a Lancashire food that I have never heard of. A pea wet !  Even in North West England, I have never heard of it. So, what exactly is a Pea Wet ? 

A  Smack Barm Pea Wet 

A SMACK is a deep-fried potato slice 

A BARM is a large, soft bread roll which uses the beer froth as yeast. 

A PEA WET is the liquid left over after cooking mushy peas or lightly pureed peas. 

So, a smack barm pea wet is, .... 

a bread roll with a filling of a deep-fried potato slice covered with the green gooey liquid left over from cooking mushy peas.

..........................

I think I will give this one a miss. 

This is very, very localised to one small town, Wigan, in Lancashire. Nothing is wasted up here in the North West.