Jenny Ridgwell

Tag: Recipes

  • White or brown eggs

    White or brown eggs

    This is my story of a Chocolate Mousse lesson in school 1973.

    We bought the ingredients for the class – eggs and cooking chocolate, BUT white eggs from the 1950s to 1960s were being replaced with brown eggs. And students thought brown eggs were healthier and best.                                                                                                   

    ‘Class. We’re making chocolate mousse. Bring a plate and collect an egg and a piece of chocolate.

    This should be easy but there’s a kerfuffle. Jimmy bangs his fist on my table.

    ‘Miss, they’ve taken all them brown eggs and I’m not using them white ones. Me mum only buys brown eggs now. They’re healthier and fresher.’

    The remaining queue mutters agreement.

    ‘Class, come and sit round my table. Jimmy – all eggs are the same. You don’t eat the shell.’

    ‘Miss, brown eggs are natural, I want one of them.’

    ‘Look, Jimmy we’ll sort something out.  We need to know how fresh they are. There’s no information on the box so you must each come up and do the freshness test.’

    There’s a large jug of salted water on my table. 

    ‘Put your egg gently in the water. If it sinks it’s fresh, if it floats it’s too old and we’ll throw it away.’

    One by one the eggs get tested, dark brown, light brown, the cream and white shelled ones. One by one they sink.

    ‘See they’re all fresh and the inside’s the same. Trust me Jimmy this time. ’

    Back in their places, I see Jill swap her brown egg with Jimmy’s white one. That’s so kind.

    ‘Class. Let your chocolate melt in a small bowl over a saucepan of water. Then the tricky bit. Separate the egg white and yolk into two bowls. Cool the chocolate, stir in the yolk, then whisk the egg white until it’s stiff.’

    ‘Fold the egg white into the chocolate a spoonful at a time. Don’t lose the air. Spoon into a glass dish and chill.’

    It all sounds so simple. We watch as fluffy and runny dishes of chocolate mousse get stacked in the fridge. Or on the windowsill when we run out of room. Soon they set and we’ll plop on a glacé cherry and an angelica diamond. 

    Cynthia hands round teaspoons and they tuck in.

    ‘Hey class? Why don’t eggs tell jokes?’

    I wait a few seconds.

    ‘Because they’d crack each other up.’

    They laugh and for now it doesn’t matter if eggshells are white or brown.

  • Marguerite Patten

    Marguerite Patten

    Marguerite Patten’s Cookery in Colour was my first cookery book and I used it for all my cooking exams in the 1960’s. In 2009 I visited her at her home and got my well used book signed. Marguerite was as busy as ever, and at 93 years old, she regularly contributed to BBC discussion programmess on current food issues. We talked about the challenges of cooking in war time, and all the changes in equipment and ingredients that came during the following years.

    Marguerite Patten signing my copy of Cookery in Colour

    Marguerite gave me a copy of A Century of British Cooking, as I was writing a memoir of teaching in London schools in the 1970s. She has written an astonishing 170 books, which makes my 70 titles seem like a starter. Marguerite worked on the launch of the new pressure cookers which saved fuel in the 1950s – interesting how many things are becoming topical today. She demonstrated the Kenwood Chef when it was invented, and promoted many of the food initiatives in the 50s and 60s – using more wholemeal flour and the soft margarines for cake making.

    We talked of offal – Awful Offal my students called it- and remembered stuffed hearts, liver and bacon, and grilled kidneys. Marguerite was involved with many food initiatives, and believed that food should be well cooked and delicious. We sat down to a tea of smoked salmon sandwiches and asparagus rolled in brown bread with cream cheese, followed by homemade fruit cake.

    Marguerite was an inspiration to anyone wanting to learn to cook, or write about food. So optimistic, generous and hard working, with a database of stories and memories. I value sharing her memories and sensible opinions on the food we eat.

    Marguerite died in 2015 at the age of 99. Jenny Ridgwell

    Photo by Jenny Ridgwell