Tips for great food finding
If you read OurGranniesRecipes you probably value food and you might just be a bit of a foodie. If you are and you live in or around Dublin then you would be well advised to read the summer edition of The Dubliner.
The magazine is full of fresh ideas for food and eating but like all issues of The Dubliner offers a great window on things to do in Dublin for just about any budget from free (walking the South Wall) to top Euro (like any of us can REALLY afford Guilbaud’s). I’m generally a fan if that’s not quite clear yet.
So, if you are looking for a place to brunch, munch or just graze, check out the Summer issue of The Dubliner and you’ll definitely find somewhere for barely everyones’ taste.
Classic Irish Cooking
In October this year, Mercier is publishing an edited volume of Recipes from Full & Plenty, a classic of Irish cooking written back in the late 1950s by Maura Laverty. I still have a copy of the original on loan on my shelf and I’m sure lots of other Irish families have at least one copy of the original or the later Anvil Press editions somewhere in their kitchens. Our book will be called Full & Plenty: Classic Irish Cooking.
The reason we are bringing the book out in a new edition is why I am posting. Firstly we considered doing a single volume hardback, but the cost of such an edition at about €35-€40 retail in the current market made it a non runner. So we went back to the drawing board. The success of Our Grannies’ Recipes gave us an idea. We could create a smaller stand alone hardback that featured a selection of the best recipes and sell it at the same price point and format as Grannies! Retailers seem to have approved and I’m confident the book will be a success.
Never an easy solution
Of course with over 300 recipes to choose from the task had to be assigned to somebody to go through and select a group that would make sense and appeal across the board. I jumped at the chance as you might imagine. It has been a long process but I’m nearing the end now and I wanted to share some of the process.
Good things and bad things
When Anvil published their paperback editions in the late 1970s they had chosen to break the book into separate sections so they published Full & Plenty, Book One: Breads & Cakes and Full & Plenty, Book Two: Fish & Meat. We wanted the book to be a stand alone version that offered recipes from each chapter and enabled the modern audience to cook everything from bread to steaks.
That meant we had to re-engineer the whole book taking out recipes on the way and leaving only the most relevant or most appropriate. I think we have done a good job with that, but it sure took a lot of effort and I hope the new readers will enjoy it. One of the nicest features of the this wonderful work though were the great snippets of advice and the stories. We left the stories and most of the snippets, but some like the one below have had to be chopped.
All told, it has been the most exciting piece of work this year and I cannot wait to show you all the cover and maybe some internals when they are ready for print. Eoin
Three good reasons for serving stew frequently:
(1) It tastes good. The savoury combination of tender meat and vegetables cooked in their own juices and pepped up with clever seasoning makes stew the all-time favourite meal.
(2) Stew is easy. Once the meat is browned and the liquid added, stew will cook without attention. And this one-dish meal saves washing up.
(3) It’s economical. Less expensive cuts may be used, long slow simmering will make them tender.
Books Ireland Review
So Books Ireland carried a wonderful review, written by Hugh Oram, of Our Grannies’ Recipes in the most recent edition:
Nostalgia and food are perfect companions and Eoin Purcell has latched on to the fact that for many people childhood meals long ago at their grandparents’ table are at the very heart of wistful Proust-like remembrance. In reality, the good old days were nothing like that, but Purcell has come up with a brilliant idea that combines his love of book publishing and food. It must have been a good idea, because others are now copying his formula.
Now really the credit goes to the contributors and their memories so I’ll not take all the credit. I think we’ll include a quote from this review on jacket of the reprint!
A great story from the Wall Street Journal about State Inspectors closing down homemade cake sales. Id they did that here, no church or school could ever have a fair again! Line of the piece:
The disappearance of Mary Pratte’s coconut-cream pie, Louise Humbert’s raisin pie and Marge Murtha’s “farm apple” pie from the fish-fry fund-raisers sparked an uproar that spread far beyond the small parish.
Also in the Wall Street Journal (oddly enough) a really fascinating piece about a move towards improvisation in cooking by chefs. This could really generate debate, I know people in both camps and strongly against exactness and laxness! Here
Hot Cross Buns
Given the day what’s in it, I thought I would do a round up on Hot Cross Buns. First and foremost I should register my belief that the best in Dublin City are surely those baked fresh and in store in Peggy’s Bakery in Glasthule (Mapped, as they have no website).
I’ve pulled a great recipe from Full & Plenty by Maura Laverty.
Ingredients
1 lb Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Mixed Spice
4 ozs Margarine
6 ozs Currants or Mixed fruit (I’d use raisin, fuller richer flavour)
3 ozs Sugar
2 ozs Candied Peel (I think you could easily leave this out or replace with Raisins)
3/4 ozs Yeast
1 Teaspoon Castor Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 Pint Lukewarm Milk
Pre-heat the oven to 475˚F or about 250˚C
Method
1) Dissolve 1 oz of sugar with 1 tablespoon milk and set aside for the glaze
2) Cream castor sugar with yeast
3) Add milk, beaten egg and melted margarine to this mix
4) Sift flour with salt and spice
5) Add sugar fruit and peel
6) Make a hollow in the centre and pour in liquid
7) mix well, cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes
8 ) Form into 16 buns, place on a greased warm tin and leave to rise for 20 minutes
9) When they have risen, mark deeply with a cross and brush with the glaze
10) Bake for 15 minutes
FabulousFoods also has a decent recipe with instructions and images here.
Last but not least I found this wonderful poem online as well, its worth reading! Eoin
Updates
So I’ve pushed some tiny changes on the site to get it ready for some upcoming news, nothing too crazy, just some interesting developments to do with Mercier’s list and our publishing schedule for 2009.
While I’ve got those on the boil I thought I’d take the time to update on Our Grannies’ Recipes. Feedback seems to be that we go ahead with a reprint as is and all things considered we plan to do that before the summer is out.
Hopefully before then we will meet with Age Action to hand over the cheque for their contribution. I’m looking forward to sharing that moment with everyone who contributed a recipe as it’s down to you that we can make this happen!
So looking forward to news, changes and a great charity benefiting from everyone’s effort, enjoy the Easter break (if you are lucky enough to get one!)
Don’t forget to us know if you like the new look! Eoin
Site Editor
Returns
March is generally when we get a handle on how many units of a Christmas book we are getting back. They’ll have trickled into the warehouse in small batches through late-January and February and March is when the heavy returns generally happen. I’m happy to say that the returns for Our Grannies’ Recipes are pretty darn good.
Having shipped our complete print run of 4000 copies in 2008, returns are in the very low hundreds. That means that we should be able to make a very healthy contribution to Age Action Ireland.
Where to now?
Our concern now is whether or not we will be reprinting in 2009. There are a couple of options:
1) We do a straight reprint* which is I suppose the easiest solution. It’ still selling a good few copies each week and readers seem to be saying that the format is part of the appeal.
2) We issue a paperback version at a reduced price. This has some complications but might reach a new audience.
3) We let it go out of print. I think this might be a mistake but I’m open to the option.
What do you think we should do?**
Thinking of the way forward, Eoin
* With two additional recipes that I forgot to include in the original!
** I welcome your feedback but on a point that will commit the firm to spending money, our decisions will be final!
Whoohoo! Catherine Fulvio (from the Ballyknocken Cookery School) on Ireland Am gave Our Grannies Recipes a wonderful review. I’m bust trying to figure out how to embed the video bt for now I’ll give you the link. Here
That’s Right, we are at No. 8!
After five weeks in the chart, Our Grannies Recipes is sitting nicely at No. 200 in the top 1000 books and at No. 8 in the Food & Drink category.
It’s very exciting to see how well it is going and I want to thank everyone who submitted recipes and who has gone out and bought copies. It would be excellent if we could tip into the top five so push your friends and families to pop out and buy copies for their friends this Christmas!
Remember that €1 of every copy sold goes to age action!
What we have been waiting for!
So, finally, the book is on the shelves. I’m delighted with the way ot looks and hopefully readers and book buyers will be too!
Don’t forget that €1 will be winging its way to Age Action Ireland for every copy sold and in these times of budgetary crisis, that’s no bad thing.
€1 to Age Action Ireland
I’ll keep the site updated with any more information as it comes in! Eoin
Decisions, Decisions
The voters have it. With some tiny changes to allow for spot lamination and other such wonders, we chose the most popular jacket for Our Grannies’ Recipes. You can see a nice image of the cover below.
photo credit: Kieran Lynam
