The Cookin' Woman

Sharry, (Kirsty's mother), has a book about a woman (Florence Irwin), who, from 1905-13, was employed as an Itinerant Cookery Instructress by the Department of Agriculture in Ireland. She was hired to go around to the Irish countryside and spend 6-8 weeks in each place teaching the women there "cookery, laundry-work and dressmaking." She carried with her an American "Mistress" stove, the likes of which no one had seen before. "The Cookin' Woman" was published in 1936 with some recipes of her own and those she found in her travels. She continued to publish recipes in her weekly column in "The Northern Whig" for 41 years.

A few lines from the introduction to the book by St. John Ervine:
"The human palate, in the last thirty years, and especially since the outbreak of the Second World War, has been so  grossly violated by incompetent cooks, manufacturers of synthetic foods, and officials who have been in the civil service so long that they have ceased not only to understand but to feel any human emotion, that it can scarcely be called a palate at all. . .
Had the chief baker put such bread on the Pharoah's table as is commonly put on a Briton's today, he would have been disembowled before he was hanged."

Lastly, he writes:
In my boyhood, Belfast was renowned for its cakes, but today, I am told you may buy the same cakes there that may be bought in London or Manchester. . . sawdusty things that are plastered with glucose and gelatin and are called French pastries. Synthetic flour, synthetic juices and synthetic bread must one day result in synthetic people. It is to avoid the calamity that this book is published, and I hope heartily that it may fulfill its holy purpose."

And I thought crappy food was all America's fault :)

Now, because those of you who know me well know that I am addicted to scones, I offer a proper recipe (and instructions) for making a scone (rhymes with lawn in this part of the world).

Chapter 10

CAKES, SCONES, ETC.

Some people make much better scones than others, each using the same recipe. The secret lies in the handling of the flour. Flour contains gluten which is of a sticky elastic nature which enables the flour to rise and retain its height when cooked. If this gluten is over-worked it becomes drawn out and so loses its elasticity-therefore all handling of flour must be "light," the fat must be rubbed in lightly, kneading must be light, and all unnecessary kneading avoided.
Lastly scones must be baked quickly. I don't mean an oven at cremation point, but certainly not less than 350 degrees, preferably 400 degrees.

SYRUP SCONES

8 ozs. flour, 1/2 teaspoonful baking soda, 1/2 teaspoonful cream of tartar, good pinch of salt, 2 ozs. margarine, 1 tablespoon golden syrup, buttermilk.
Method: Sieve dry ingredients, rub in fat, make to a dough with syrup and buttermilk. Knead as little as possible. Roll out 1/2 inch thick. Cut with a small cutter. Glaze by brushing with milk. Bake in an oven 400 degrees, or on the griddle.

There you go. Easy as pie. Of course I would add raisins to it because that's just the way it should be.
Happy scone making to you all my friends!