Geordie recipes

Recipes

  1. Singing Hinnies
  2. Geordie Pan Haggerty
  3. Black Pudding
  4. Pease Pudding
  5. Toad in the Hole
  6. Stotty Bread
  7. Tipsy Kidneys

Singing Hinnies

The singing hinnie was so called as, when the butter and the cream melted during the baking, it sizzled on the hot gridle and was thought to be singing. An old tale is told of how this large tea-time scone first became known as a singing hinnie. A North Country housewife was baking this scone for tea and on repeatedly being asked by her children if it was ready to eat, her final reply was "No, it's just singing, hinnies". (Hinnies a Geordie term of endearment for children and loved ones)

Ingredients

  • Half pound plain flour
  • 2 ounces butter
  • 2 ounces lard
  • 1 ounce currants
  • Half teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • Milk and sour cream

Method

  1. Rub fat into flour, add other dry ingredients
  2. Mix to a soft dough with a little milk and sour cream
  3. Roll out and bake both sides on a hot girdle
  4. In order to turn these without breaking into pieces use something wide

Geordie Pan Haggerty

This would have been a cheap but nourishing standby; great during the lean winter months.

Ingredients

  • 3 large potatoes 
  • A little dripping
  • Seasoning
  • 2 medium onions
  • 4 tablespoons grated cheddar cheese

Method

  1. Peel potatoes and onions, cut in to very thin slices and dry the potatoes in a cloth
  2. Make the dripping hot in a pan, put in a layer of potatoes, then a layer of onions, then cheese and another layer of potatoes
  3. Season each layer with pepper and salt
  4. Fry gently until nearly cooked through, then either turn in the pan or brown the haggerty under the grill

Black Pudding

Ingredients

  • 1 quart pig's blood
  • 1 quart milk
  • Three quarters pound bread crumbs
  • 1 cup cooked barley
  • Half pound of suet
  • 1 cup dry oatmeal
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 ounce powdered mint

Method

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl
  2. Pour into a large pan and bring to the boil
  3. Pour into a wide shallow bowl and season again if necessary
  4. When cold it may be cut into slices and fried

This goes well with a traditional fry up, which would consist of fried eggs, bacon, sausage, fried bread, black pudding, beans or tomatoes and sometimes chips too.

Pease Pudding

Ingredients

  • Pack of bacon
  • Salt and pepper
  • 475g (about a one pound pack) of split peas

Method

  1. Place split peas in a large ovenproof dish
  2. Cover with water - 475g of split peas to every 2 litres of water
  3. Add salt and pepper to season and allow to stand overnight
  4. Add small pieces of chopped bacon (not the fat or rind) into mixture. As to your own requirement, remembering this is a split pea rather than a meat recipe
  5. Place on the middle shelf of oven, Gas Mark 5 150C, and cook until this reaches a nice medium consistency (not too thick or thin as once cool it sets even thicker)
  6. When cooled place in refrigerator
  7. Chill and serve with salad or cold ham sandwiches or even with roast potatoes and beef with gravy.

Many grown up's today will remember waiting as children for this being made, and then eating it hot pasted onto fresh bread and butter.

Toad in the Hole

Ingredients

  • Half pound pork sausage
  • Quarter teaspoon salt
  • 1 ounce dripping
  • 1 egg
  • Quarter pound flour
  • Half pint of milk

Method

  1. Mix the flour and salt and make a well in the centre
  2. Drop in the egg and stir in the flour gradually, adding milk as required
  3. When all the flour is moistened reserve the rest of the milk and beat the batter well to lighten it
  4. Add the remaining milk and allow to stand until required, as it improves on standing
  5. Dip the sausage into boiling water for about three minutes and then skin it and cut into eight lengths
  6. Melt the dripping in a tin and run it over the bottom
  7. Arrange the sausage in it and pour the batter over
  8. Bake in a quick oven for about 45 minutes then serve in a hot dish

If this was made without the sausage then it would be called a Yorkshire Pudding. This is often enjoyed as part of a traditional Sunday lunch with meat, potatoes and vegetables.

Stotty bread

Ingredients

  • 6lbs strong white bread flour
  • 6 teaspoons of salt
  • 1oz lard
  • 2oz fresh yeast
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2½ to 3 pints warm water

Method

  1. Mix flour and salt together then rub in the lard
  2. Cream the fresh yeast and sugar and stir in about half of the warm water until dissolved
  3. Leave the yeast mixture until frothy then add to the flour/salt mix together with the rest of the warm water, sufficient to make a firm but not sticky dough
  4. Knead for ten minutes, place in bowl, cover and leave in a warm place until it has doubled in size
  5. Turn out and knead again

This is where the recipe differs from 'normal' bread. Sufficient is cut after the dough has had its first rising. Roll out to about ½" thick and 6" to 8" diameter. Prick all over with a fork and bake on a floured tray on the bottom of the oven (this is important) for about 25 to 30 minutes on gas mark 8, 450F.

Tipsy kidneys

Ingredients

  • 6 lambs kidneys
  • Quarter pint (150 ml) beer
  • Quarter pint (150 ml) sherry
  • 2 onions, sliced
  • 1 oz (25 gm) fat for frying
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) tomato puree
  • Half pound (225 grm) beef sausages
  • 8 oz (225 gm) mushrooms
  • Seasoning
  • Half ounce oz (12 gm) flour
  • Quarter pint (150 ml) stock

Method

  1. Clean and skin the kidneys, remove the core and slice the kidneys in half
  2. Fry the onions in the fat until soft
  3. Add the kidneys and sausages and fry for 3 minutes turning once then remove and place in 3-pint casserole dish
  4. Stir the flour into the hot fat and mix well with a wooden spoon
  5. Add a little at a time the mixture of stock, beer, sherry and tomato puree
  6. Season to taste and cook over a medium heat for a few minutes stirring constantly
  7. Sprinkle the sliced mushrooms over the kidneys and pour on the sauce
  8. Cover and cook at gas mark 4, 350 F (180 C) for 1 and half hours