UK users: Amazon.co.uk has these too

Every now and then we come across a piece of (food) writing so delightful that it deserves front-page attention here even though it's not strictly European in nature.

Follow the link for a common-sense dissertation on the delicate art of using the rice cooker for nearly everything, from a man plainly more interested in watching and critiquing movies than in spending a second more than necessary in the kitchen.

One commenter to the original post remarks:

A lot of people are nervous about a possible connection between aluminum / aluminium and Alzheimer's disease. While nothing about the connection has been conclusively proven as yet, there seems to be no harm in eliminating aluminum from places where it doesn't really need to be... like baking. (Except maybe in the baking pan or tin on the outside: and again, that should be your call.)

Many commercial double-acting baking powders in the US contain small amounts of aluminum. (The "double action" comes from the addition of sodium aluminum sulfate, which causes the powder to react more slowly to heat, as in the oven.) With this in mind, why not try making your own baking powder at home, from scratch? This home-made single-acting baking powder won't behave much differently in your baking than the double-acting type does.

Additionally, homemade baking powder gets around one of the main problems with the storebought stuff: it stops working over time. When you make your own from scratch, in small batches, you know it's going to work right every time.

The method is simple. To make the one teaspoon of commercial baking powder, mix together:

• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch (cornflour, for UK bakers)

That's all there is to it. To make larger quantities, just increase the amounts in proportion.

Please note that there are also aluminum-free commercial baking powders on the market: one of them (in North America) is Rumford. Check the labels of your local brands to see what secondary raising agents they add.

(By the way, here's a way to test whether your baking powder is still good: Boil half a cup of water and add half a teaspoon of the baking powder to it. If it fizzes and froths up energetically, it's fine. If it doesn't react, or reacts weakly, get rid of it: it's no good and your baking will come out flat.)

Clotted cream topped with jam
on freshly baked scones

To most people in Britain, the phrase "clotted cream" instantly summons up an image of teatime. Not just any teatime, either, but a slightly special tea, the famous Cream Tea, maybe experienced in a small country hotel or pub somewhere -- someplace cozy and homey -- with a spread of scones and sweet cakes, and little individual tubs (never big enough!) of rich, lovely clotted cream to spread on them.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be as clear an understanding of the clotted cream concept elsewhere in the world. Part of the problem may be the name itself, as the word "clotted" no longer sounds terribly appetizing to many English-speakers -- and Heaven only knows how the phrase translates into other languages. Sometimes even the way it looks, right out of the container, may put people off. EuroCuisineLady remembers one teatime on a transatlantic British Airways flight some years ago, when across the aisle an Asian gentleman opened up the little single-serving container of clotted cream that had come with the scone on his snack tray, took one look at the contents -- slightly crusted with golden butterfat on top -- and put it hurriedly aside as some bizarre Western dairy product that had gone terribly wrong.

Well, appearances can be deceiving, as clotted cream is one of the most delicious things imaginable to spread on a scone or other sweet biscuit -- faintly sweet, beautifully thick, rich and buttery, with a slight nutty aroma and flavor that comes from the ever-so-gentle cooking of the cream. Besides just spreading it on baked goods and spooning it over fresh berries or other fruit, clotted cream is great to use in baking and confectionery, if you've got enough of it. Clotted cream fudge is a favorite with the tourists in Cornwall and Devon, and clotted cream also can be used as an ingredient in ice cream as well as a wickedly rich and yummy topping for pies, cakes and other desserts. It even works well in hot drinks: hot chocolate or cocoa with a dollop of clotted cream melting gently in it becomes truly (as chocolate's botanical name Theobroma implies) a drink for the gods.

Fresh clotted cream

Possibly the ambiguity or potential unattractiveness of the phrase "clotted cream" is why some producers prefer to label this luscious stuff as "Devon cream" or "Devonshire cream", as a nod toward Devon and Cornwall, from which the best clotted cream still comes and where the high art of the Cream Tea is celebrated in tiny country tea shops and hostelries everywhere. In that westernmost of English regions, there is a long tradition of making extra money from home dairying by selling clotted cream as what would now be called a "value added product". In earlier times, making clotted cream at home was usually too much trouble for anyone who didn't already have a dairy of their own: city people were entirely delighted to buy it ready made on site (or by mail). It was also a great way for the home dairy owner to deal with all the extra cream that can pile up around the place when you'd already made all the butter you needed.

If you've never had clotted cream, you may first want to try some to see whether it's a delicacy you'd like to make at home. US readers can find it at online sources like The English Tea Store, British Delights and Britshoppe. (See also this Google search for more online sales sources.) UK and European users have a different range of sources: in the UK many supermarket chains and specialty food stores carry clotted cream, and you can also order online from the famous Rodda's of Cornwall. Irish readers, please note that the artisanal dairy Glenilen Farm of West Cork is now making and marketing its own clotted cream in the Republic.

If you're ready to try your hand at making your own clotted / Devonshire cream, it's not at all difficult. Click on "read more" for a complete description of traditional techniques and the easy modern method.

There's a widespread tradition in European baking of holiday cakes that involve a contest or a prize. Normally these cakes have something special baked inside them -- a charm, a bean, whatever -- which marks out the lucky person who gets it as the King or Queen of the day.

In Scotland, the cake used for this has traditionally been Black Bun. The name is somewhat deceptive. It's not a bun, but a densely textured fruitcake inside a pastry case: and the insides aren't so much black as a really dark brown. In any case, Black Bun is always baked well ahead of the holiday so it has time to mature.

The basic Black Bun recipe has remained the same for hundreds of years. Interestingly, though, its original holiday has slipped out from under it and realigned itself. For centuries the Scots (like the Irish and other agrarian European societies) celebrated New Year's Day in the spring -- the idea being that the new year properly began when the first new growth did. But the calendar reforms of the mid-16th century started to change this way of thinking, and in 1599, King James VI of Scotland and his council officially changed the celebration date of New Year's to January 1st. As a result, Black Bun now starts turning up in Scottish stores around the same time the Christmas cakes do, and is present on many Scottish tables for the Hogmanay holiday. (The bean or charm formerly baked inside when Black Bun was made for the celebrations at Twelfth Night / January 6th is now often omitted, especially in commercially baked versions of the cake, for "health and safety" reasons.)

Scottish and UK users are fortunate in that they can find the cake at online sources like this one at ScottishGourmetFood.co.uk. The rest of us just have to make our Black Bun ourselves. Fortunately the recipe's not complicated. And a useful side effect of the baking is that Black Bun keeps for months if kept cool and dry in a tightly sealed cake tin.

Click on "read more" for the Black Bun recipe and method.