Listen to Gilly Smith interviewing me on Cooking the Books Podcast.
My book I taught them to cook is a blistering expose of teaching teenagers in 1970s London how to cook fatty pastries and cakes.
But it was fun.
Tag: Food history
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You tube video part 1 Planning book
This YouTube video is Part 1 of planning to write Cream Horns and Vol au Vents
There’s a diary for 1973 to get the dates right.
A list of rude cooking words
Planning the characters and changing names
Planing 1974 with three day week and blackouts.
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Picking wheat
When the wheat, oats and barley were ready for harvesting in Northamptonshire fields, I’d pick some for my classes to taste as part of their food lessons.
Read about these stories in my latest book Cream Horns…
‘Before I return to London, I drive into the countryside and climb over gates into the fields ready for harvesting, carrying a pair of scissors.
Large bundles of wheat, barley and oats make excellent visual aids for my lessons, displayed on a nature table in my classroom.
London children often have no idea how some of our food is grown, and may never have tasted the seeds from the ears of wheat.’
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Delia stopped 300 mincepies
Delia’s How to cheat at cooking helped stop me making mincepies for the school Carol Service 1973
Read about it on this link
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Cream horns and vol au vents – new cover
Cover created by David Smith, a great artist who has illustrated so many of my books.
Amazon has Kindle, paperback and hardback on this link
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Corned beef story
Anyone ever lost one of these?
Boys were especially good at breaking the keys on their tins.
You can read the story on this link.
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Instant starch
For their out of date 1970s Housecraft exam they must starch and iron a tray cloth
We used starch powder for this pointless task.
Read all about it here
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Cooking with stork
Have you noticed Stork is not called margarine?
My story of teaching with Stork is on this link.
It was the start of the famous All in one method, which exam boards didn’t like – not skillful enough!
It’s one of the stories in my next book
Cream Horns and Vol au Vents – ready November 2025
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Peas please
Teaching Peas and making Pea risotto.
Remember the Bird’s Eye advert?
Sweet as the moment when the pods went pop.
Read the full story on this link
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Cream Horns
In the 1970s we made the rough puff pastry but it is so much easier just to buy it ready rolled in a packet! Find cream horn tins on ebay, in antique shops or Nisbets
Ingredients
320G Pack Ready Rolled Puff Pastry
Jam
Whipped Cream
Sugar To Sprinkle On Pastry
Oil To Grease Cream Horn TinsMethod
Preheat the oven to 200C, Gas 7.
Roll out the pastry from the packed and cut into strips 2x20cm long.
Dampen the pastry with water and wind round the tins starting at the pointed end and overlapping the strips.
Place on a baking sheet with joins underneath and brush with sugar and water for the glaze.
Bake for 10 minutes, glaze again then bake a further 7-10 minutes until crispy and golden brown.
Leave to cool and carefully remove the pastry from the tins.
Spoon some jam into the the horn and fill with whipped cream.History note
The Stork cookery book suggests a Mock cream instead of real cream which was very expensive at the time.
Ingredients – level tbs cornflour, 1/4 pint milk, 2 oz Stork margarine, 2 heaped tbs caster sugar, drop of vanilla essence.
Blend the cornflour and milk and boil, stirring all the time. Pour into a basin and leave to cool.
Cream the Stork and caster sugar, slowly add the cornflour mixture a little at a time whilst beating. Add vanilla essence – if liked!
Jenny Ridgwell 