A common complaint of book readers, when the movie version comes out is, “Hollywood’s butchered the book!”. Being a huge fan of British detective/mystery novels, I can say, for certain, that their movie studios do the same blasphemy. Take, for example, Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, in which he directed “his vision” of the novels. After watching each one, I reread the original novel and simply had to wonder, “What was he on when he adapted the novel into a movie, as it barely resembles each other, and the story and characters are whacked out!?”
Investing in a Fire TV Stick has enabled me to mainline channels devoted to Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Tommy and Tuppence), G.K. Chesterton (Father Brown), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), Margery Allingham (Albert Campion), and a slew of prolific writers of the British mystery novel. This, of course, also offers me the opportunity to learn about authors I have not read before, and get the novels downloaded onto my Kindle, purchase soft/hard cover copies, or even borrow from the local library. While the solution to one mystery might be at the end, there is a new beginning upon opening a new cover.
Which brings me to, “What do most of British novels have in common?”; well, tea time of course! That daily ritual of civility in which freshly brewed pots of fragrant teas are served amidst a seriously delectable selection of sandwiches, cakes and pastries. For the British, tea is the socially accepted norm, and any self-respecting household would serve tea, no matter the situation. How often we have read or seen a Detective Inspector and his constable enter a home, to question or investigate, and immediately the kettle is put on to boil for a cuppa?
Tea was not introduced to the British Isles until the 1650s, by Dutch traders who had returned, from China, with ships laden with the most mysterious of foreign goods. While its initial use was medicinal, it was in the 18th century that tea houses began to crop up. By then, the Brits were obsessed with tea drinking, and tea houses became a lucrative business, especially as folks traveled, and required food to be served along with their tea. The favorite of the Brits is black tea with English Breakfast and Earl Grey being the most popular.
Ah yes, the tisane that Hercule Poirot drinks incessantly? A tisane (pronounced tee-zahn) is a caffeine-free herbal infusion made by steeping herbs, flowers, spices, roots, or fruits in hot water. Unlike traditional teas (black, green, white, oolong), which come from the Camellia sinensis plant, tisanes use other plants, often for their aromatic, soothing, or medicinal properties.
Poor Miss Marple, visiting At Bertram’s Hotel after so many years gone by, and finding that the amazing hotel of her childhood was, well, not changed at all for the better. Dining with Lady Selina Hazy was an experience of nonstop gossip, and complaints on the quality of cakes offered during tea. “Is it real seed cake?”, she asks the waiter, who assures her it is, but she is highly doubtful nevertheless.
Seed cake, you ask? First appearing in cookbooks in the 17th century, it is a type of loaf dessert, what we nowadays call a quick bread. The main seed used is caraway, a dash of brandy to give it “class”, and while loaded with sugar and butter, it stills tends to be dry, and stick to the roof of the mouth. It is mentioned in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, “Miss Lavinia and Miss Clarissa partook, in their way, of my joy. It was the pleasantest tea-table in the world. Miss Clarissa presided. I cut and handed the sweet seed-cake – the little sisters had a bird-like fondness for picking up seeds and pecking at sugar.”
Traditional British Seed Cake
(https://britishfoodhistory.com/2021/05/23/to-make-a-seed-cake/)
Ingredients:
175g butter, softened (3/4 cup)
175g caster sugar (1 cup minus 2 Tbsp.)
3 large eggs, beaten
3 tsp. caraway seeds
225g of plain flour, sifted (1 and 1/2 cups plus 1 Tbsp.)
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
1 Tbsp. ground almonds
1 Tbsp. milk
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter and line a 2-pound loaf tin with baking paper. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
Sift together the flour and baking powder. Stir this in along with the salt, almonds, seeds and milk. Mix well to combine evenly. Scrape into the prepared baking tin.
Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until well risen, golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely in the tin. Store in an airtight container. Cut into slices to serve.
Makes one loaf.
Now, why hubby and I happen to enjoy watching the Father Brown series, surprise, surprise, Mrs. McCarthy’s “award winning strawberry scones” are no where to be found in G. K. Chesterton’s written novels. Do not be put off by the lack of recipe information though; and try this recipe from Our Sunday Visitor. While typically a strawberry scone, in Britain, is a plain triangular scone, topped with strawberry jam and clotted cream; the television series showed a more “American” version. The “scone” is more the typical southern style biscuit with whipped cream and fresh, sliced strawberries. Oh, but please try them with jam and clotted cream and you will not be disappointed in the least.
Mrs. McCarthy’s Award-Winning Strawberry Scones
(https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/tea-with-chesterton-the-mystery-of-father-browns-strawberry-scones/)
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup milk (or 1/3 cup milk and 1/3 cup cream), plus 2 Tbsp. for brushing
1 large egg, fork-whisked
English clotted cream and strawberry jam (to serve)
1/2 pound of fresh strawberries, washed and sliced
Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 425F, line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, sugar and salt, and whisk to combine.
Cut the butter into soft chunks and add to the dry ingredients, pinching in with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
Add the strawberries and stir slightly.
Make a well in the center of the dough, add the egg, milk and cream (or just milk) and fork-whisk to combine.
Gently stir the wet ingredients through the dry, and then lightly crunch with your hands to bring everything together. The dough should be soft but not too sticky.
Lightly flour a workspace and roll the dough out to a 1-inch thickness.
Cut with a 3-inch round or fluted biscuit cutter.
Brush the tops with milk, and bake 13-15 minutes until fluffy and turning golden on top.
Serve with clotted cream and strawberry jam (adding more freshly sliced strawberries doesn’t hurt).
Makes 8.
So, as Hercule Poirot would say, “Mon Ami, the screens you stare at, that stop all movement of the eyes, no..no..no. Pick up the book, allow the eyes to move as they read the words, and feed the little grey cells.”
Mary Cokenour
