1,BRITISH MARMALADE (Keeps well).

900 g/2lb Seville Oranges 1 large lemon. 2.25 l/4 pints of water 1.8kg/4lb granulated sugar 15g/1/2 oz butter

1.Scrub fruit & remove stalks.

2.Cut each orange in two.Squeeze out all pips & put the in a bag with a long string.

3.Cut lemon in two & squeeze out juice.

4.Put water in a dep pan.Add lemon juice & bag of pips tied to the pan handle.

5.Put orange sheels through a mincer or food processor & then into the pan.

6.Leave overnight.

7.Next day,simmer this mixture in pan with the lid on for 15 mins.Remove lid & simmer for about an hour to reduce liquid. by about a half.

Meanwhile put sugar in warm oven 225 degF or 110 deg C,prepare clean jars & put them to warm in the oven too.

8.Test marmalade for pectin strength.

9.Add warm sugar.Stir well.Do not let boil before the sugar has dissolved.Turn up the heat & bring to a fast rolling boil with lid off.

10.After 15 to 20 mins test for set.

11.when setting point has been reached,remove the bag & remove pan from heat.

12.Add butter to disperse the scum.

13.Let marmalade stand to cool a little.

14.Stir & pour into warm jars.Fill to the brim.

15.Put on waxed paper & seal immediately.Store in cool dark place.

2.TRADITIONAL BRITISH CHRISTMAS PUDDING Keeps in a cool dark place for up to 9 months & is best left for at least two months before eating.Serve with custard/clotted cream or brandy sauce after the Christmas Turkey. Serves 10 or makes 2x1 pint basins full.

175g/6oz plain flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon mixed spice 1/2 teaspoon powdered cinnamon 1/4 grated nutmeg 125g/4oz fresh white breadcrumbs 125g/4 oz of suet 75g/3 oz demerara sugar 125g/40z raisins 225g/8 oz currents 50g/2oz chopped peel (Nobody in our family likes this so I leave it.) I medium size apple grated. i medium size carrot grated Juice & grated rind of 1 lemon & 1 orange. I level tablespoon of dark treacle (important ) 2 beaten eggs 200 ml/1/3 pint of Guiness (the remainder is the Cook's!)

1.Wash fruit.

2.Sieve into a large bowl the flour salt & spices.

3.Add breadcrumb,suet,sugar,fruit & mix well.

4.Add grated apple,carrot,rind,lemon & orange juice,treacle,egg & alcohol.Stir well.(Each member of the family should take a turn at stirring & make a wish.)

5.Leave overnight.

6.Stir & place in greased basins,leaving an inch at the top. Cover securely with two layers of greaseproof paper & foil.Tie cover with string.

7.Stand in a trivet in a saucepan of boiling water as follows: 2 pint basin 8 hours 1 pint basin 6 hours 1/2 pint basin 4 hours.

Keep water on the boil & replenish as necessary. or pressure cook according to pressure cook handbook.

NB>Make sure when you store the puddings that the covers are on tightly otherwise you could be visited by furry friends.(mould)

When required steam further for about 2 hours.

I shall be making ours in late September.One,we shall eat on Christmas Day & the other at Easter next year...either to celebrate or to cheer ourselves up !

3.UNCOOKED RAISIN FUDGE.(one for the kids to make)

75g/3oz butter

125g/4oz plain cooking chocolate

1 egg

450g/1lb icing sugar

75g/3 oz chopped walnuts

50g/2 oz raiins

2.5 tablespoons condensed milk

A few drops of vanilla essence

(It is useful to line the tin)

1.Oil or line an 18cm/7 inch tin.

2.Melt butter & chocolate (in the sun or over a pan of simmering water) 3.Beat the egg.

4.Add melted butter & chocolate to beaten egg & all the other ingredients.Beat well.

5.Smooth mixture into tin & leave to set.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), June 09, 1999

Answers

Chris, US measures are different. Anyone wishing to try these recipes, please jot this down.

British pint = 20 oz, US = 16 oz (or 2 cups)

British spoons are about 1/3 larger than US spoons

Sevilel oranges - use regular oranges; plain flour = all-purpose flour; clotted cream = use heavy whipping cream, whipped; suet = use frozen butter or margarine, grated or chopped into bits, frozen again, used at last minute; demara sugar = brown sugar; dark treacle = molasses; icing sugar = confectioner's sugar; vanilla essence = vanilla extract.

I think I caught them all!

This conversion info should help:

http://www.cei.net/%7Eterry/auntedna/convert.html

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), June 09, 1999.

Wow Chris, thanks a million, thats a keeper. How many pints of marmalade does this make.

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), June 09, 1999.

Actually, seville oranges are quite different than ordinary and make a strong, slightly bitter and delicious marmalade. What great recipes and good ideas. Thank you.

-- citygirl (citygirl@idirect.com), June 09, 1999.

Thanks for catching the cultural differences,Old Git. Demerara sugar is a light brown sugar but that's not important.Icing sugar can be made at home by grinding up granulated sugar if necessary. Marmalade recipe should make about 7lbs.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), June 10, 1999.

Talking of British Recipes, heres one you should find useful for Y2K.

Recipe for "Traditional British Resilience (in the face of adversity)"

Makes up to 4 servings (for nuclear families)

RECIPE.

Take 4 cups of Mild Arrogance (or slight feeling of superiority)

add 2 cups of Unwillingness to Bow down under pressure 1 large tsp of Courage 1 tsp Common sense 3 tbsp of Bluster, Pomp or Ceremony 1 good old fashioned Leader (for rallying round)

mix well with

1 sentimental patriotic song 2 shouts of "We'll get by" 1 healthy degree of cynicism 1 sense that we've seen it all before 1 pinch of salt

Place all ingredients into a small island with a long history of stand-alone resistance to the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune", and allow to simmer for 2000 years (or more). To activate when needed (or when danger threatens), add a large pot of tea and a photograph of the queen (to taste).

If prepared correctly, the finished product will keep until the end of the world (and thats not Y2K folks).

NOTE - Under no circumstances allow the ingredients to come into contact with any late 20th century international cricket, football or rugby scores, or the entire recipe may fail and you will need to add a vast quantity of strong warm beer in order for it to work.

Enjoy

-- We'll meet again. (dont@know.where.dont.know.when), June 10, 1999.

LOL LOL LOL

yeah but 1966 was a keeper,

never underestimate a brit :)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), June 10, 1999.

The day may dawn when fair play, love for one's fellow men, respect for justice and freedom, will enable tormented generations to march forth serene and triumphant from the hideous epoch in which we have had to dwell.

Meanwhile, never flinch, never weary, never despair.

Winston Churchill, 1941

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), June 10, 1999.

Uncle Win.......

"Danger - if you meet it promptly and without flinching - you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!"

Got it Flint, pooleCrETin and co. ?

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), June 10, 1999.

Actually, its worth noting the text of that part of that speech in full. . .

"But we must learn to be equally good at what is short and sharp and what is long and tough. It is generally said that the British are often better at the last. They do not expect to move from crisis to crisis; they do not always expect that each day will bring up some noble chance of war; but when they very slowly make up their minds that the thing has to be done and the job put through and finished, then, even if it takes months - if it takes years - they do it.

Another lesson I think we may take, just throwing our minds back to our meeting here ten months ago and now, is that appearances are often very deceptive, and as Kipling well says, we must

"meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same."

You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination. But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period - I am addressing myself to the School - surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never- in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated.

Very different is the mood today. Britain, other nations thought, had drawn a sponge across her slate. But instead our country stood in the gap. There was no flinching and no thought of giving in; and by what seemed almost a miracle to those outside these Islands, though we ourselves never doubted it, we now find ourselves in a position where I say that we can be sure that we have only to persevere to conquer."

I fint this part strangely pertinent . . .

"You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination"

-- W0lv3r1n3 (W0lv3r1n3@yahoo.com), June 10, 1999.

And all this from a recipe for marmalade & Christmas Pudding.

I suspect fighting a war in a sense is psychologically easier as there is a clear focal point for peoples's feelings.

Coping with a widespread breakdown due to computers malfunctioning & attacking the fabric of normal life simultaneously at many levels & directions is going to be far more challenging for the populace.

This time we shall all be involved not just the Armed Forces.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), June 10, 1999.

Let's not forget Churchill's horrendous treatment of Mahatma Gandhi & the Indian people. History should remember the man as a racist as well as a leader of (white) men.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), June 10, 1999.