Nettle & Quince in November
A month for cooking adventures and well burnished favourites and Thanksgiving, of course
Deep breath, November.
The light is low, the ground sodden. It is still unnaturally mild but the curling in of winter can already be felt.
This year I’m attacking the month differently. The end of October was a school holiday here, and half inadvertently (because it is always the best time for travel) and half intentionally (because it felt so soon since the last, long break of summer), we stayed home. I thought this would allow a pause ahead of the coming season — it starts with Hallowe’en and hurtles through to the New Year with multiple birthdays wedged amid the slew of celebrations our wandering family has accumulated, surging with Thanksgiving next week.
In the end the holiday week was much busier than expected and all I managed to make was a batch of quince jelly that didn’t set (the irony! Fault not the method but my impatience) and quince paste. Still, things are more composed and, as the earth sops and the world folds in on itself, I am finding time, amid the reassuring tempo of well burnished favourites, for some cooking adventures.
TO MAKE AND COOK
New things
I’ve never made gnocchi. This is very tempting. [Guardian]
Last year I attempted to make medlar jam. (Everything about medlars in this fun article from last year.) I was rushed and not paying attention and did everything backwards and things didn’t quite work out. I shall try again, but being in the mood for jelly, suddenly, I first intend to make medlar jelly. [Guardian]
Perhaps, too, this medlar sticky toffee pudding. Mmmm. [Marc Diacono]
Some more preserving beckons, with crab apple jelly — what was I saying — from acclaimed preserve master ‘Pam the Jam’ Corbin.
And more than anything I am excited to have finally prepared the long gingerbread dough from Luisa Weiss’s Classic German Baking. It will sit for two months (!!) before being ready for baking at Christmas. I received the precious gift of Hirschhornsalz — ammonium bicarbonate — from my sister-in-law this summer; it is a slow acting raising agent that is essential for this recipe. While it’s quite commonplace in Germany, it’s difficult to find here in England. The gingerbread recipe is in Luisa’s book on pp. 218-219 and, as she mentions in the book, can be found in German here (heralded as ‘Grandma’s Lebkuchen, a very old recipe’ !).
Tried and true
The allure of low and slow is a bit cliché at this time of year but it is so right. Time once again to make the best short ribs, this favourite pork belly, or a very easy, path of least resistance lamb shoulder. [N&Q]
Lots and lots of soup [Nettle & Quince]
And for dessert, a quintessential French apple cake respiring heavily of rum, a more virtuous and no less delicious honey spiced pear and almond cake, or simple, everyday apple sauce [N&Q]
Thanksgiving
I have often written about Thanksgiving, over the years. There are so many memories. Most periods of my life — as a student in Paris; student in Berlin; intimidated recent transplant to New York; then later, glimpses of a more rooted life there, with friends, and so many children … — can be conjured through the prism of a Thanksgiving celebration. Thanksgiving has anchored the moment. It may be why I love the holiday so much. Can Thanksgiving in London hold the same significance, wedged as a midweek dinner, with tomorrow’s fuzzy early start and hungover work day looming? One of the magical things of a State-side Thanksgiving is how everything stops. There is literally nothing else to do but eat. And then digest. For three days. How does a London Thanksgiving sparkle? I’m not sure I have the answer, entirely. Certainly, as everything, we can start with the food. And certainly we will continue celebrating.
I look forward to cooking with trepidation and a sliver of dread. This year I promise I will make gravy (!), given a small nudge thanks to this fool-proof (I am the fool) make-ahead method. No excuses.
Our Thanksgiving at a glance
Heritage turkey with apple chestnut stuffing (deliciously and accidentally gluten-free)
Roasted carrots
Celeriac mash with parsley
Sautéed hen of the woods and king trumpet mushrooms
Cranberry sauce
Best ‘award-winning’ pumpkin pie
Cranberry curd pie
… And more things beside, though I don’t yet quite know what.
THINGS TO READ AND LISTEN TO
The BBC Food Programme has had some particularly interesting episodes recently. From pioneering producers and food innovators to the true social impact of our global obsession with avocado toast.
The Cleaver Quarterly, with the goal to ‘juxtapose Chinese regional cuisines with the diasporic offshoots — to show them as kissing cousins in a sprawling, boisterous family,’ features long-form essays, photo commentary, and interviews, a panel discussion on questions of food of authenticity and hybridity, or a photo compendium of dumplings organised by type (pan-fried, boiled, steamed, deep-fried).
A thorough and cleverly illustrated essay on Remaking the L.A. River. Pretty fascinating.
And so the season begins. Happy November!
Nettle & Quince in November
The idea of making gnocchi tickles me; it's a delicate dance between flour and potato, an alchemy I hardly dare disturb. And this medlar jelly that's just around the corner, an ambitious project that reminds me of the balance between sweet and tart, a challenge I take up with a mixture of eagerness and apprehension. For cooking enthusiasts like me, this site https://www.astucesdefilles.com/36-entrees-faciles-a-preparer-pour-le-reveillon-du-nouvel-an/ is sure to win you over.
Great post and thank you for mentioning the medlar sticky toffee pudding