Olden delicious

ANN Johnson knows her onions. And now, thanks to the generous nature of Yorkshire folk, she knows a lot about apple dumplings, pikelets and rabbit patties too. After months of research and weeks of taste-testing, Ann, of Moor Monkton, near York, has produced a book of old Yorkshire recipes, which she has cunningly called Old Recipes of Yorkshire.

The book, published to raise money for Age Concern Knaresborough, is more than just a recipe book though. It is a fascinating slice of local history.

As well as recipes for all manner of mouth-watering traditional dishes, it also includes slogans, old sayings, household hints, medicinal remedies and homeopathic recipes donated by more then 50 people, who had them jotted down in old family recipe books or tucked neatly away in their memories.

"The book gave me a wonderful opportunity to talk with older people and to mine their memories," says Ann. "I just wish more younger people would do the same - they really don't know what they are missing. Older people are so knowledgeable."

All the recipes have been kicthen tested by the author, her friends and members of the local WI. Ann's particular favourite is a 1915 recipe for elderflower champagne. She describes her first batch as "quite light with a lovely aroma that was gently soporific", but admits her second attempt was a disaster.

"It won't stop me trying it again though," she says. "These old recipes are supposed to be a bit of an adventure."

Ann, a qualified garden designer and Extend Exercise instructor for people over 60, not only compiles charity recipe books in her spare time, she also keeps bees (providing the local community with honey), is a keen member of the WI, a ceramic artist and a founder member of York and District Society of Amateur Artists.

As if all that were not enough, she also has a bit of a rhubarb fetish.

"I grow my own, eat it at every opportunity and even make ceramic rhubarb dishes Wakefield Tourist Information has just bought 20," she explains. "I have even converted my husband to the delights of rhubarb. He now has it on his cornflakes.

"I think my next project will be a book about rhubarb and its traditional links with Yorkshire."

Now if only there was someone out there writing the history of custard...

Staithes Ling Pie

from a recipe by Mr D King c.1890

Ingredients:

2lb ling

quarter pint fish stock

pounded mace

2oz butter

quarter pint cream

4 hard boiled eggs

pepper

puff pastry

Method:

Wash and soak the ling in water for two hours. Put it in a fish kettle, cover with water and boil slowly for half an hour.

When cooked, remove the skin and place the fish in a pie dish in layers with the sliced eggs, knobs of butter, pepper and mace. Pour the stock over and place the pastry on top, making a hole in the centre before brushing with milk.

Bake in a hot oven for 25 minutes. When cooked, pour the warmed cream in the top through a funnel. Serve hot.

Ann says: "The ling pie, famous in Whitby and Scarborough, was also a favourite in Staithes.

"The local people have been catching fish for many centuries and in the early 20th century the local fishing industry employed some 300 men in more than 100 boats.

"The type of boat used by the fishermen - known as a cobble - was, and remains to this day, unique to this part of the coast. With an almost flat bottom, the boat was designed so that it could be pulled up the steep beach or staithe."

Belting Winter Warmer

from Steve Sowerby of Knaresborough

Get one good sized lump of brisket, the leaner, the better.

Marinate it for two to four hours in a large cooking pot in two tablespoons of black treacle, black peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves, a third of a pint of wine vinegar and three onions, roughly chopped. Turn it when you remember.

After marinating, add three pints of beer (to the cooking pot rather than the cook). Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of hours. Before serving taste the liquid (it can be a little bitter - this is not a beer joke) and add a little brown sugar if necessary.

Remove the meat and slice thickly. Serve with some good winter veg and mash, adding a little liquid from the meat.

Steve says: "This is a belting winter warmer and cheap too, especially if you brew your own beer.

"I have tried different types of beer in the dish but the result seems the same regardless. I would therefore assume that if you don't brew your own you could use that awful cheap stuff that inevitably gets bought by relations around Christmas. After all, it's better that actually drinking it."

Courting Cake

from Enid Fisher of Whixley

Ingredients:

1lb self raising flour

6oz sugar

salt

8oz butter

2 eggs

raspberry jam

Method:

Rub the butter into the flour, then mix in the sugar. Make into a stiff dough with the beaten egg and milk.

Cut the dough in half, roll half into a round and place on a well-greased baking tray. Spread with raspberry jam and cover with the second half of dough also rolled into a round. Bake in a hot oven.

Enid says: "The two halves of the cake represent the courting couple. The jam joins them together forever."

Old Recipes Of Yorkshire by Ann C Johnson is available from most high street bookshops (ISBN 0-9452696-0-8), at £5.99. It can also be obtained by post from Age Concern Knaresborough at 1 The Cottage, Green Dragon Yard, Castlegate, Knaresbor-ough HG5 8AU, priced £6.95 (inc. p&p).

If you have any old recipes, remedies or rhubarb concoctions to share, please send them to Jo Haywood at The Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York YO1 9YN.

Updated: 10:17 Tuesday, November 12, 2002