One such food is Goosnargh cakes (not really a cake at all more of a biscuit) which is no longer commercially available reliably and is seldom baked locally, this caraway flavoured crumbly shortbread style biscuit has really fallen out of favour.
Goosnargh is a village just outside Preston and is now probably more famous as the home of fabulous poultry production. I have had a recipe for Goosnargh cakes on the blog for a couple of years and its now pretty popular especially since being featured in "Visit Lancashire" year book, most traditional Lancashire recipe books have a recipe for the cakes but since being contacted by Slow Food I have actively been searching them out.
I have been lucky, a neighbour who knows I love cooking and baking recently lent me his hand-written family recipe book and low and behold another Goosnargh cake recipe was contained within, this one using coriander powder and a little baking powder, I estimate this dates from the early 1900's .
Here's the link to the earlier post on the blog for Goosnargh cakes with the original recipe.
In celebration of all things Goosnargh cake, here's the new recipe and also a selection of new photographs to tempt you to bake this "forgotten food".
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb flour (this will be plain)
- 6 oz butter (or 5 1/2 oz and small tsp of baking powder)
- 2 oz sugar
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder or bun seeds (these will be caraway seeds)
Method
- Rub in and mix to a paste without moisture.
- Roll out to 1/4 inch thick
- Cut with a plain round cutter
- Bake for 15 mins in a moderate oven (top shelf), do not turn them, when cold dust them thickly with castor sugar
I am hoping in some small way that by being involved in the campaign I am doing my bit in ensuring Goosnargh cakes will not be a forgotten food for long. The recipe book is proving a treasure trove of long forgotten delicacies which I will enjoy experimenting with. Slow Food UK have a section on their website called "Cook it or lose it" which is proudly featuring a related post.
You might also want to consider joining Slow Food UK , follow the link if you want to find out more.
