[RECIPE] TW's Redwall Kitchens

[TW]

Hello and welcome to my little corner of the Kitchens of Redwall Abbey. I decided to post this here because cooking is as much an art as drawing or painting. Here, I will detail my experiences when cooking with The Redwall Cookbook. I haven't seen any other topics with this idea yet so this should be fun.

I don't want to come across as a cooking expert. Other than this, the only practice I've had is an 8th grade home ec class. I'm not so much a great cook as I am a mad scientist who has just gotten an idea. I am studying chemistry, though, and my professor has said several times that you can't be a good chemist without being a good cook.

My plan is to cook some of the recipes from the cookbook. I'll post a write-up of each recipe as well as notes on how it might be improved and pictures of the process. Hopefully, this will entice others to pick up the book try making (and eating )some of the recipes. Because of the limited number of recipes in The Redwall Cookbook, I'll also use recipes from other cookbooks that would fit into the world of Redwall.

I want it to be known that I am not trying to make the physical book obsolete. I want to tell people what the food is like, clarify parts where the book is unclear, and give notes on how to improve the recipes. I'll type the write-ups in Microsoft Word and then copy them into separate posts in this topic. The recipes I've done will be listed below with the dates that they're posted. The first recipes will be Guosim Shrew Shortbread (shortbread is my specialty) and Autumn Oat Favorites. If you have any questions feel free to ask

Recipes

• Guosim Shrew Shortbread posted 1/2/14

Books

• Jacques, Brian. The Redwall Cookbook. London, England: Philomel Books, 2005. Print.

[rachel25]

Awesome idea! 

[MeadowR]

Fun idea! I'd particularly be interested in seeing the outcomes in photos!

[Tam and Martin]

This is awesome! Can't wait to see how some turn out!

[TW]

Guosim Shrew Shortbread

   Well this is my first recipe write up for this topic. I'm not entirely sure how to begin so I'll start off with a picture of the ingredients for the first recipe, Guosim Shrew Shortbread. This is probably one of the more simple recipes in The Redwall Cookbook. The recipe calls mostly for flour and butter, as well as some sugar and a pinch of salt. I know these are ingredients commonly found in other recipes, so you'll probably have everything of the, already. My mom used to make shortbread fairly often and I've made it quite a bit recently for the holidays. I can certainly say that shortbread is my specialty and that's why I chose to use it for my first write-up. The recipe I used before this one also used farina and baking powder. That shortbread tastes the same, but has a grainier texture which makes it crunchier. That specific recipe also suggested adding things such as caraway seeds or currants in. I've never added anything like that, but I do throw a bit of vanilla in from time to time. Now, on to the recipe. Below, I've taken a picture of the first step in which I've put the flour into a silver mixing bowl and added the salt and butter.

   Rather than tossing whole sticks of butter in, I always cut the butter up before throwing it in. The recipe says to rub the butter into the flour and salt until it resembles coarse crumbs. The best comparison I can make as to what that looks like is mozzarella cheese that is grated to be put on spaghetti. I forgot to take a picture of it, so if anyone wants me to I can take one next time I make it. Getting back to the butter, the reason I suggest cubing it beforehand is that it makes rubbing it and the flour together easier. The smaller you make the butter, the easier this step is.

   Here's a picture of the mixture with the sugar having just been added. You can throw the sugar in before the butter, but I have found that it's easier to just rub the flour and butter together. The other recipe I mentioned earlier has you doing this and the Redwall recipe is much faster. When mixing in the sugar, you basically want to do the same thing as the previous step. There isn't much more to add about this picture.

   Here's my biggest deviation from the recipe. The recipe tells you to put the mixture in two circular 8 inch diameter pans. I've always done it in a rectangular 14 by 7 pan. This shape makes it easier to cut into pieces. The circular pans have you making wedges of shortbread. Trust me, it's easier when you cut it into squares and it also lasts much longer. Before you pour the mixture into the pan, grease the pan or put down wax paper. As you can see, I do the latter. Having poured the mixture, you're going to want to sift it around so that it settles evenly and then pat it down. Once it's ready, put it in the oven at the required heat. Keep an eye on it. You don't want it to darken too much. As you'll see in the final product picture, the it shouldn't be that dark when you pull it out.

   After pulling it out of the oven, cut it up into squares. I didn't realize it when I took the picture, but the lighting wasn't great so the shortbread looks darker than it actually is. Leave the shortbread to cool on a rack after you've cut it and then take it apart. Shortbread is one of the few things you'll ever bake that tastes better after it's cooled. Chocolate chip cookies are best straight out of the oven, but shortbread tastes best about an hour later. You're really just waiting for the sugar to cool and the shortbread to harden. I even refrigerated it once when it was in my lunch and it was really sweet when I ate it. Place the squares in a nice container and enjoy.

   I hope you enjoyed my first recipe write-up and are interested in trying Guosim Shrew Shortbread. After this I made Autumn Oat Favorites and that will be the next one. Hopefully it will be up in a couple days.

[Blaggut]

Yummy! Why is this In fan artwork 

[Kitsune]

Yummy! Why is this In fan artwork 

He explained in his first post that cooking is an art, which I totally agree with! I love to cook.

I also have the Redwall cook book and it is filled with awesome recipes!

[Blaggut]

I have one to! But even though it is, it probably shouldn't go here.. Maybe not on the child boards

[MeadowR]

Niice! It is so good to see those process photos.

[Tam and Martin]

Wow!!! That is cool!

[Gonff the Mousethief]

I made shrew beer! I bet it would go reat with that1

[TW]

I'm sorry that I began this and only posted one recipe. School had started up again this just slipped my mind. Another problem that came from posting these was that they came directly from The Redwall Cookbook. My intention wasn't to post the recipes so that people could make them without buying the book, but to help people that had bought the book by showing them what the recipes should look like at various stages. The problem is that, for the pictures to be of any use, I have to describe what is going on in the recipe. That just got to be too close to actually posting the recipe for my taste.

So I'll put it up to everyone else. If anyone is still interested in having me do this and thinks that it doesn't violate any rules, post that I should continue. If enough people are interested, I'll try my best to start it back up. I'll do a recipe anytime that I'm home and have enough free time.