For those of us who have been cooking and baking for perhaps 50+ years in some cases, we often tend to make things by instinct, in what we put in, in the way of ingredients are measured – or not measured – how much time it may take to cook and at what temperature. This can make it challenging when we are asked for these details.
I think all of us have probably made something out of whatever we have in the cupboard, be it a meal or a baked item and received rave reviews. “You’ll have to make this again!” might be uttered with a hopeful look on their faces. How to break it to them, that we grabbed a bit of this, a bunch of that, a teaspoon of something else and perhaps a tablespoon of something you can’t remember. When it comes to the time to try to recreate that splendid dish, you put it on the table proudly thinking you have replicated it, only to be told “What did you do differently, it’s not quite as nice this time?!” A blow, perhaps when we thought we had done so well.
I remember years ago, my son rang me from Wellington to ask me for my apple crumble recipe, a dessert he had always loved. He had friends coming over for dinner and wanted to serve it to them. My heart skipped a beat. How to quantify something I had never quantified to myself I wondered? So, I said to him, “I usually make it and just know by how it looks and smells if I have got the mix right, but I will give it a try. So this is sort of what I said to him.
I use the following (give or take)
A large can of sliced apples – I’m all for saving a bit of time from peeling, chopping etc. Then add a few flavours as below.
Mix in some allspice, cinnamon and maybe a dash of cloves – to taste – into the apple. Note, no quantifying but maybe a teaspoon of allspice and cinnamon and a pinch of cloves. If you don’t know how much a pinch is, we have a problem…
Flour. Important this bit. I think I initially said about 1 x cup of flour. I sometimes add maybe half a cup of wheatgerm if you have it too!
Sugar. I prefer to use brown. Maybe 1/2 cup of brown sugar.
Butter. Now it gets tricky. Try 3-4 tablespoons of butter. Rub it in till it resembles moist breadcrumbs. If you have one of these (see below) it saves getting your hands all buttery and it works really well. If the mix seems too floury and dry, just keep adding butter and mixing with the magic doohickey below and eventually it will come right.
Put in a greased, reasonably deep dish and spread out the apple filling. Then add the crumbly topping – or soon to be (hopefully) crumbly topping. Press down with a soup spoon and flatten and try to get reasonably even. There will be complaints of uneven proportionment if it’s a success and anyone feels they have missed out on the crumble bit of the apple crumble.
Into oven at 180 degrees. How long? For me, till it looks cooked and smells cooked. See my dilemma? I don’t cook many things according to time. I can usually just tell when it looks and smells right it’s ready to take out. But I would go for say 20 minutes initially. However, a word of caution. When I say 20 minutes, I mean I am guessing at a time and I will actually usually check at half of what I say – so 10 minutes in this case – and I will usually be able to figure if it needs the other 10, or less and check again in 5 minutes and maybe that will do. Very much figuring it out as you go along.
That’s about it.
Oh, and I would probably serve with custard. No, I am not giving you that recipe as well. I make that up as I go along too! 🙂
So, it’s great to share recipes with those we love, but when you’re a ‘winging it’ kind of cook who cooks by instinct and experience, it’s hard to replicate that on paper. So, here’s my advice. If you have a Mum, a Nanna, an Auntie someone who has always made the most delicious “……….(insert name here)….” Before it’s too late, get alongside them and get that recipe, but don’t just get the recipe, go for the full experience and ask if you can do it together. That’s the absolute best way of getting it “just like Mama (or Nan) used to make” not to mention that those of us providing the tutoring will be absolutely stoked that you get to make it together.
I have made a clear file with “Baking and Cooking with Nanna” on the front and have made my grandchildren promise that – should they have children – that they share my recipes and think of happy days in the kitchen with me when they do.
I know when I think of my Nanna, amongst my special memories are her wonderful baking that we all enjoyed. Unfortunately, I never got to bake with her, but I do have some of her recipes.
Last but not least.
Don’t forget “the magic ingredient” that makes all Nanna’s baking the best!
My grandchildren know the answer when I ask “What is the magic ingredient”
Their answer?
“Love”
P.S. Enjoy the crumble!
My journey with Parkinsons 