h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

All done

glad you enjoyed your parkin

I'm not the greatest cook in Britain (or even in Essex ) so this may be my ignorance...the last sentence of the Entry Cal...

>"Bake in a greased tin in a slow oven."

What's a slow oven?

Is there a way you could mention 'Yorkshire Pudding' - A192683 ?

Maybe the first time you mention Yorkshire Parkin, you could say - not to be confused with Yorkshire Pudding. No worries if you're not keen on that idea, just thought it'd be nice to include it.

Also you might like to link to '1 August - Yorkshire Day' - A1150390

One more thing Looking at it again, the layout may be improved a little if you have the method in numbers rather than bullets

Emmily

A slow oven is an oven that can't run very fast It's a oven on a coolish heat.

I'd rather not mention yorkshire pudding if it's all the same to you and I can't see where I would link in Yorkshire day any suggestions?

I don't want to be picky but how the heck can anyone mistake Yorkshire Pudding with Parkin

Lovely recipe BTW Cal, is it a family secret or just a general one?

strike first I'll correct my error from previous post, before anyone else does.

>"method in numbers rather than bullets "

Should have been

'method in numbers rather than bullets ' D'oh

No probs about Yorkshire Pudding Cal, I just thought it would be nice to promote another popular Yorkshire recipe, and saying 'not to be confused with'...was the easiest way I could think of to sneak it in.

If it was me, I'd link Yorkshire Day on this Yorkshire

>"In some parts of Yorkshire,"

because Parkin Day is in the same sentence.

Emmily

What size tin to bake these in? (appx how thick should Parkin be? asks the clueless native Californian)

There's already a recipe for parkin in the Oats entry. Does this one really need to be here-how is it different?

What is kiel butter?

I know I have seen mixed spice in some other UK recipes and asked for the definition of it in the PR threads there, but I didn't save that definition, and once again I can't find a consistent description of what it might be on Google. Does anyone know?

Should 'a teacup of milk' (ie in addition to the ingredients listed) be 'the teacup of milk' (the one that is already in the recipe, but which one must imagine is not part of the ingredients in the previous step in the method)?

There's no such thing called treacle in the US, so one fakes it with molasses and corn syrup when making things like Anzac biscuits. How is Scotch treacle different from, say, Treacle (more molasseslike than corn syrupy) or Golden Syrup (more corn syrupy than molassesish)?

Trecle tends to be darker and thicker than Golden Syrup, after all golden syrup is excatly what it says it is, Golden syrup and not treacle.

Mixed spices ( how do you make Christmas cake without mixed spices or don't you have christmas cake over there either?) Mixed spices are quite likely to include , cinnamon, clove, coriander, ginger and nutmeg.

Kiel Butter is from Germany

sorry just realised I hadn't explained Kiel butter

Its a very soft butter so is eaiser to use in baking most people now would use marg but butter tastes better

oh and the entry isn't about the recipe the entry is about parkin itself the recipe is there because I thought people would ask for that to be added, plus there are many different parkin recepies anyway depening on which part of the west riding you are from

Treacle has a slightly burnt caramel flavour that is a bit stronger than that of medium molasses. As the name would suggest, it is black (to all intents and purposes). It is most often used in confectionery such as toffee and baked goods such as breads, cakes and biscuits where it lends colour and flavour, but can also be used in savoury recipes such as glazes, sauces and stews or casseroles. It can be used as a substitute in most recipes calling for dark molasses.


right have to dash w*rk calls

Hi Cal

At last, someone else who knows what parkin is - I'm fed up of explaining it to Southerners down here . I've just baked two lots to show people what it is!

I don't remember noticing it in your article, but it's worth mentioning that there are many variations in recipes for parkin (like you say above). I think a lot of them are handed down through families - certainly my mum's recipe was - but I wouldn't take that as a definite fact.

My mum's recipe is slightly different to yours in some of the quantities used, for example, and should be baked in a 8" square tin. The oven temperature is the same, although I have to modify it slightly as my oven is a bit hot .

Overall though, a good article

with regards to the size of the tin

That all depends on how much parkin you want to pig out on personally I'd make it in the biggest tin I could fine

That reminds me, my second batch should have matured enough now, as it's been left for over a week . Generally its recommended that you leave it at least a week to moisten. It was intended for a Bonfire Night party, but the party got cancelled.

I'd offer you all a slice, but I can't fit it down the internet connection .

On my second read through, I noticed a few minor errors:

"...visit each mans house..." - should be "...visit each man's house ..."

"...also silmar joinings..." - should be "...also similar joinings..."

thanks

Let me respond to some of the above posts.

"What size tin to bake these in?"
Very good question - a good recipe will always say what size of tin to bake a cake in because it can be detrimental if you use one that's too big (the cake comes out too thin and overcooks in the middle), or too small (the cake is undercooked in the middle or overflows as it rises). Besides, some cakes are traditionally made in square tins, some in round tins, and some in loaf tins.

"There's already a recipe for parkin in the Oats entry. Does this one really need to be here-how is it different?"
If it's not exactly the same recipe it's fine here - there are always variations on recipes like this.

"Trecle tends to be darker and thicker than Golden Syrup, after all golden syrup is excatly what it says it is, Golden syrup and not treacle"
Cal, you're posting this recipe on a website that's read by people all over the world. Just as you might have never heard of or be able to buy ingredients from where they live, neither can they buy or know of things like golden syrup. As it happens you can buy golden syrup in some supermarkets and speciality food shops in bigger American cities, but I think it's almost unheard of in most of the country. Explaining that corn syrup (glucose syrup) can be used instead is a courtesy to those who have no idea what golden syrup might be but who really want to have a crack at this recipe. Likewise treacle/molasses.

"Mixed spices (how do you make Christmas cake without mixed spices or don't you have christmas cake over there either?) Mixed spices are quite likely to include , cinnamon, clove, coriander, ginger and nutmeg."
There is no such product in America as ground mixed spice - I have to combine my own whenever I want to make, for instance, bread pudding. Neither do they have Christmas cake here - why should you be at all surprised they might not? It's not part of their history or culture. A footnote stating what mixed spice is and how to make your own would be a good idea.

"oh and the entry isn't about the recipe the entry is about parkin itself"
Nevertheless, the recipe is there and it should be done right. People are going to get frustrated and annoyed if they want to make this and find that the author tossed it off as an aside without any care as to whether or not it's accurate and cookable. If you don't want to ensure that the recipe is accurate, it should be removed and replaced with a comment that there's a parkin recipe in the oats entry.

And one more thing from the entry (before I too respond to the call of w*rk).

"Parkin itself is normally made in the West Riding"
Parkin is normally made all over the north of England. There was hardly a bakery in Lancashire (that I knew) of which didn't make parkin during the two year or three years that I lived there. I think the statement about West Riding is misleading.

BH I said oh and the entry isn't about the recipe the entry is about parkin itself"
To explain why the recipie is there, not because I didn't want to explain things.

I am trying to figure out how best to fit the explainations into the recipe in fact, I work too and you need to give me time to do this. And there is also the fact that I'm waiting to call my dad and ask him how big his parkin tin is

And I'm linking a website into the entry which explains how to make your own mixed spice.


As I say just give me chance to get it all sorted out, little changes I do straight away, but these points need a little planning behind them hence the reason why they haven't been done yet. Plus I also posted most of my comments with regards to treacle, tin size and spices before I went to work this morning I repeat give a guy a chance.

Hmmm. I do have to agree with BH's last comment. I've just done a quick Google search for a number of different combinations:

Yorkshire Parkin = 400,000
Lancashire Parkin = 180,000
Parkin = 2 million +

So do you think that there might be a case to be argued that the entry *might* be better without any geographic distinction? Just a question - definitely not a suggestion!

Paully

*waves a white rose at you*


I don't mind taking out the Yorkshire out of the title paully thats no problem, I did offer to do that at the start

I even found parkin sold at bakeries in Liverpool, and Scousers are not known for being like the rest of Lancashire. Or the north of England. Or anywhere really, eh Paully?

Trust me on that one, I'm half Scouse