IT has to be one of the most terrifying moments in children's literature, a scene more suited to the extremes of Grand - Guignol than the cosy warmth of a bed-time story. When naughty Tom Kitten, in Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, gets lost up the chimney, he falls into a small, 'stuffy, fusty' room, where he's bound up with string, to be turned into a 'kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding' by Mr and Mrs Samuel Whiskers, two vast rats. The greedy rodents argue as to the best recipe (Mr W insists breadcrumbs are essential), before stealing the ingredients from the kitchen, together with a rolling pin, smearing the terrified kitten in butter, then encasing him in dough.
The accompanying illustration, of a terrified Tom-just his head and tail peeping out as the rats get to work-haunted my childhood. His bacon is saved by John Joiner the terrier and the pudding doesn't go to waste either it's boiled in a cloth, 'with currants in it to hide the smuts-but never has a much-loved dish seemed quite as sinister. And it put me off roly-poly for life. Which is a shame, because roly-poly is one of the stars of the British pudding constellation, itself a rare culinary art for which we are renowned the world over. 'Blessed be he that invented pudding, cried M. Misson, a jovial Frenchman, towards the end of the 17th century, 'for it is a manna that hits the palates of all sorts of people; a manna, better than that of the wilderness, because the people are never weary of it!' The food writer and polemicist P. Morton Shand was equally enamoured. 'As a nation we are rightly proud of our puddings,' he thundered, and are inclined to sneer at the French for the dearth of their achievements and the poverty of their invention in this sphere. For once, perhaps, our exultation and self-satisfaction are justified.'
Denne historien er fra February 15, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra February 15, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
