Tag: pudding

Grand Dessert

31 July 2025

It’s not every day that we visit a museum to explore the world of food, let alone the world of desserts. End of last year the Kunstmuseum in The Hague (the Netherlands) opened the exhibition Grand Dessert about the history and joy of European desserts. According to guest curator Janny Van der Heijde (author of cookbooks and member of the jury of the Dutch version of the Great British Bake Off), “A dessert is more than just the ultimate ending to a meal. It reflects changes in culture, society and tastes down the centuries. You can tell a lot of stories using desserts. Stories about wealth and poverty, about temptation and deception, dominance and oppression, but first and foremost about love of all things sweet.”[1]

On Display

The exhibition shows a variety of pastries (glass and ceramic, made by Shayna Leib), moulds, recipe books, baking tins and fun objects such as dessert-bags (made by Rommydebommy), dessert-clothing and knitted desserts (Kate Jenkins). It shows how ice-cream was made, what desserts would be served during royal banquets and how sugar was used to create centrepieces, for instance Sugar Flower pieces (Natasja Sadi). Also on display a large, pink, moving jelly, created in 2024 by Chinese artist Rong Bao.

Moulds

We were especially intrigued by the vast collection of moulds, in all kinds of shapes, classic ones, fish, lobster, pineapple, shells, elephant, cow, pig and a young child (very odd).
Pudding can be both savoury and sweet, just think of the blancmange as it was made in 1510 with chicken, salt, flour, egg yolks, saffron, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and mace.

Jellies

The moulds made us think of jelly pudding, something we haven’t eaten for many, many years. We noticed a book by Sam Bompas and Harry Par, called Jelly, obviously. The book includes recipes for Campari & Orange jelly, Cherry jelly, Lavender jelly, Sex on the Beach jelly and many more. It discusses the history of jellies and techniques such as marbling. The shapes are incredible, look at their Jelly Parlour! We bought the book and will write about it in a future post. But first we must buy a pudding mould…

Practical

The exhibition Grand Dessert runs until October 26th.
Jelly by Bompas and Par seems to be out of print. We bought our copy for 7 euro.

[1] Quote taken from the website of the Museum

Jellies - Shayna Leib
Stressed is Desserts
Moulds
Pastries - Shayna Leib
Dessert Bag - Rommydebommy
Chocolates - Shayna Leib

Eton Mess

2 February 2023

For some reason we were talking about summer, about typical summer food, about strawberries, green peas, melon, okra, peaches, spinach and new potatoes. Of course, most of these are available all year round, but we like to enjoy the season. Today was different, we really wanted to eat strawberries and we decided to make Eton Mess.
According to Hilaire Walden in her excellent Book of Traditional English Cookery the strawberry dessert is eaten on June 4th in Eton during a picnic for pupils and parents of Eton College, as part of the annual prize giving ceremony. Others say it was first served during the annual cricket match between pupils of Harrow School and Eton College.
One anecdote is that a chef planned to make Pavlova but it collapsed, the other anecdote is that the Pavlova was perfect but a dog sat on it, making a mess, an Eton Mess.

Mascarpone is sometimes added to the cream, but that’s a bit over the top. No need to add sugar to the cream because the meringue is sufficiently sweet. Hilaire Walden suggests soaking the strawberries for two hours or longer in kirsch, an idea we liked. She also suggests using ready-made meringues, which make it even easier to make Eton Mess.

What You Need

  • Strawberries
  • Raspberries (optional)
  • Kirsch (or Brandy)
  • Cream
  • Merengue
  • Lemon Zest

What You Do

Clean the fruit, chop, place in a bowl and sprinkle with kirsch or brandy (one or two small tablespoons per portion). Leave in the refrigerator for at least two hours. Whip the cream. Add some lemon zest, mix. Start assembling the Eton Mess: first a layer of merengue crumbles, then fruit, then whipped cream, then a second layer, same order but make sure you can see some of the red fruit. Serve immediately.

PS

In case you want to make your own (French) meringues: you need 2 egg whites and 100 grams of (finely granulated) sugar. The weight ratio should be 1:2, egg white to sugar. Set your oven to 90 °C or 190 °F. Whip the egg whites until somewhat stiff. Start slowly adding the sugar and continue whipping until the egg white mixture shows stiff peaks. Pipe the mixture on a baking sheet, transfer to the oven for 2 hours. The shape of the meringues is not important because you will need crumble for the Eton Mess

  • Eton Mess ©cadwu
    Eton Mess ©cadwu
  • Book of Traditional English Cookery - Hilaire Walden
    Book of Traditional English Cookery – Hilaire Walden

Season’s Greetings

19 December 2021

Perhaps you’re looking for some extra inspiration menu-wise for the Holiday Season? Let us help you with a few suggestions.

Apéretif

It’s of course great to serve a glass of Champagne, but why not start with a glass of Crémant de Bourgogne or Alsace? Or a Spanish Cava? The fun is that you can buy a slightly more expensive Crémant or Cava and enjoy a refined sparkling wine. Serve with Terrine de Foie Gras on toast or with a small prawn cocktail, served in a peeled tomato.

Starter

Scallops with fluffy cauliflower purée is a wonderful combination of flavours. The practical advantage is that you can prepare the purée a day ahead and grilling the pancetta is also something you can do in advance. Serve with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Dry, some acidity, touch of fruit.

Main Course

Canard à l’Orange, served with steamed Brussels sprouts and potatoes fried in butter: a dish that supports the festive character of your evening: sweetness, a touch of bitterness and crispy, rich potatoes. Enjoy with a beautiful Bordeaux. In general you’re looking for a powerful red wine, with aromas of berries and a touch of oak. The flavour must be round and long with subtle tannins.

Cheese

We tend to go for the classic combination of Stilton and Port. Spend some money and buy a Late Bottled Vintage Port.

Dessert

Continue the British tradition and enjoy a slice of Christmas Pudding with a coffee and a glass of Cognac or Calvados. No need to serve the pudding with brandy butter.

Season’s Greetings 2021 ©cadwu
Season’s Greetings 2021 ©cadwu