Whisky Truffles

The aftermath - please believe we left more than we drank.

Our belated Burns night celebration was great fun - a mild hangover and a mountain of washing up both bear testament to the festivities and at least one of those factors has been responsible for a fairly lazy Sunday - though I have got through quite a few odd jobs so maybe not so lazy.

 One thing I particularly like about a Burns night supper is how easy it is to cook. Haggis, neaps, and tatties (turnips/swedes and potatoes for the none Scots) don't really require much attention - you simmer them until they're ready, stab one, and mash the others. I believe Cullen Skink is the approved first course but I favour home made bread (because I like baking it) and fish or mushroom pate which feels appropriately rustic and makes for very welcome left overs - also whizzing something up in a blender is less effort than soup and less faffing in the kitchen when you have friends and wine waiting elsewhere. The blonde insists that the pudding is cranachan which is also easily knocked up ahead of time and demands nothing more than enjoyment after that, all of which means there's plenty of time to think what shall I make now...

This stuff is brilliant.

It was going to be fudge but then I thought chocolate whisky truffles would be even better. Mastering chocolate is something of an ambition for me (in any way you choose to interpret it; all to often chocolate masters me). There's a lot of technique involved, it's messy, and calls for a great deal of patience, all of those present challenges - with truffles though I think it might be the mess that bothers me the most.

The truffle recipe I use is from Sara Jayne-Stanes 'Chocolate The Definitive Guide' (published by Grub Street - they're one of those publishers whose mark on the spine is enough to make me pick up the book). It's a while since I've looked through this book but I remembered the truffles being light, delicious, and easy to mix up (the tricky bit comes later) what I hadn't remembered was just how much other stuff was in there - it's good to get re-acquainted with a cook book you haven't picked up for a while - it's maybe even more exciting than buying a new one. 

Basically you take 200g of the best quality dark chocolate you're prepared to use and 290 ml's of double cream. Break the chocolate into little bits and pop it in a reasonably big bowl whilst bringing the cream to a rolling boil - when the cream is ready poor it over the chocolate and mix until it's all thoroughly blended and melted at which point you add any flavouring - in this case 3 tablespoons of whisky and some vanilla powder, and leave it to cool at room temperature for something between one and two hours after which you whisk with an electric mixer until it just starts to thicken. You can then pipe out the truffles - which makes for very messy washing up, or you can let the mix set some more and then roll them by hand. This is also messy but hands are easier to wash than piping bags and mine currently smell amazing. However even dusted with cocoa after 4 truffles I had to stop to wash mu hands because they got to sticky - the chocolate and cream mix just melts, though try and work with it when it's to cold and it disintegrates then melts. 

Eventually I had enough truffles rolled out for last night (I did the rest today which is how I know what happens when they get to cold) and wanted to cover them in white chocolate. White chocolate is inclined to burn and is not my favourite thing to work with - but is an excellent foil for the bitter dark chocolate and the smoky whisky I used. When it was cool enough to give the truffles a good thick coating it was also cool enough to be difficult to apply - though still warm enough to make the truffles want to melt. I didn't manage to cover all my truffles, or all of all the truffles I did get chocolate on, but happily they tasted great. More practice this afternoon with all the leftover mix yielded very slightly better results. This IS something I will crack.  

Oh, and apparently they will keep for a week - but honestly there's no chance of that happening.  

Something to celebrate (again)

I've just finished washing up post Burns night supper - we ate a lot of Haggis, recited a modest amount of poetry, had a few drams, had some fudge, and in my case a spoon to much of cranachan (with rhubarb - I love that stuff, but my god it's rich). Before the Scottish one I was ambivalent about Haggis but he loves it and I've learnt to. I truly love Burns night though, it's such an easy dinner to cook so there's no stress, and it's great to have something to look forward to at the end of January. It's been noticeably lighter the last few evenings, spring is on it's way even if it'll be a while in getting here which is something worth marking with friends and a celebration. Also how good it is it to have a night dedicated to a poet? And with Whisky! We need more of it.  

Something to celebrate

I’ve managed to spend an awful lot of time procrastinating today which from past experience seems to be something I’m powerless to resist however much it frustrates me. I finally threw myself into action at about 9pm and have managed to make fudge (Drambuie scented, which is an improvement on the fish smell coming from the oven, and I wouldn’t even mind that except it’s an age since I’ve baked fish and there have been dozens of things through the oven since – why fish now?) and some brownies. The brownies are without doubt superfluous to need but I had bits that ‘needed’ using and I expect someone will eat them...

Tomorrow (25th January) is becoming one of my favourite days of the year – it’s Burns night which I think is a terrific occasion – it’s taken me a while to come round to the idea of Haggis but I’ve got there, and either way it’s worth eating to hear the Scottish one address it. It’s a chance to cook, dress up a bit, get some people together, drink one whisky to many, wash up for hours, celebrate a poet, and lighten the January gloom. I’m right behind (most of) those things and don’t understand why we have nothing comparable south of the border.

This year the 25th is also the last Tuesday in January which makes it Up Helly Aa (when the axe for what they want), this is a Shetland tradition that goes back about a hundred years in its present incarnation but has much older roots. It’s a weird, wonderful, fire festival which keeps on evolving. Growing up in Shetland it was a massive deal (and I judge still is) everything closed down at lunch time on Tuesday and reopened again on Thursday morning. Shetland only has a population of about 20,000 across the islands so the 800 or so that take part in the procession represent a real crowd, add to this that they are all dressed up (the chief squad as Vikings the rest as all sorts of things, some that you couldn’t imagine – and wouldn’t want to – without seeing them) it’s quite impressive and worth a google. If you’re feeling particularly broad minded then look on you tube for clips of what goes on for the rest of the night.

Over the years Up Hella Aa has expanded into a whole burning season that stretches from late January into March and I would love to do the lot one year (damn having to work for a living) but the important thing is having a celebration that marks the beginning of the end of winter – it’s discernibly lighter at night now, and things in the garden are showing signs of life (of the 50 odd snow drops I all but broke my back over planting 1, yes 1, has decided to do the business).

Up Helly Aa doesn’t really translate to Leicester, but if I’m not Scottish enough to claim Burns as a countryman, I feel as a book lover I can have him as a poet and take the occasion to celebrate the return of the light.

Burns night dilemma (or what goes with Haggis?)

My partner has been asking for a pseudonym for blog mentions - I think he’s asking for trouble in the long run, but for today’s purposes I’m going to refer to him as ‘The Scottish One’ (he is after all from Scotland so it’s a reasonably appropriate title). Burns night is approaching and the Scottish one has a passion for Haggis. Not a passion I entirely share and not one that’s confined to only one day of the year either, but for Burns night itself I’ll make an exception and enter wholeheartedly into the spirit of the thing – helped by a large dram, the Scottish one’s appearance in a kilt, and his poetry reciting skills.

The Haggis part of the occasion has without deviation, embellishment or invention to include a MacSween’s Haggis (the best available south of the Border) neaps and tatties, I would favour bashed neaps and tatties (mashed together no less) but he says no the potato and turnip should not mingle. The suggestion of anything green on the plate met with such a terrible reaction that I never dared mention it again. Either way that part of the meal is easy, but the appearance of the Scottish one’s knees is an occasion worth celebrating with friends and a proper dinner so yet again I am wondering what else to cook for the big night.

I tried this year to think a bit further ahead than normal and so pulled out a huge pile of cook books looking for inspiration – it was a sadly disappointing experiment; I found a few recipe’s for making my own Haggis (I plan to stick with the bought ones – even more so after reading the instructions) but no elegant menu suggestions. I did think that Nigella Lawson’s ‘Feast’, Claire MacDonald (of Macdonald) or even Agnes Jekyll’s ‘Kitchen Essays’ might have had something to say about it, but no.

Given that Burns night suppers were a traditionally male only occasion I suppose it’s not surprising that Jekyll didn’t include it - even in her ‘For Men Only’ section, but I’m slightly surprised to find nothing in more contemporary cookbooks. Now I’m in a position to know I can tell you all that Haggis sales are healthy, even in my part of middle England, it’s a food that seems so in tune with current ideas of thrift, seasonal, and nose to tail eating. Puddings are easy enough to come up with (Rhubarb Cranachan has proved popular in the past and will probably appear again) but what of a starter? The Scottish one is prepared to allow a certain amount of originality, even of novelty, into this stage of proceedings – I want something involving greens, a possible hint of Scotland, and which won’t seem out of place next to such a determinedly peasant vernacular dish. Any and all suggestions gratefully received.

A quick scan of the book shelf has also revealed that I did not in fact buy a book of Burns Poetry last year as I thought, and as the Scottish one has become (and will hopefully remain) a fixture I think the time has come for me to invest rather than relying on the library – if I go now I hope I might get a full rendition of 'Tam O Shanter' before Monday!