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Vintage Recipe Experiment: Blackberry Pancakes

19/10/2013

5 Comments

 
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For my most recent vintage cooking experiment I wanted to share with you a new (old!) recipe book in my collection. The Encyclopedia of World Cookery is a 1950s gem by Elizabeth Campbell with over a thousand recipes from around the world. According to the sleeve 'You do not need to be an expert or a genius to succeed with these wonderful dishes, for they were created by housewives for family meals and everything is clearly and simply explained' Well I think we will see if that is really the case! 

For my first ever attempt at making soomething from the book, I decided to try my hand at something simple sounding, and perfect for this time of year - Blackberry Pancakes from the Australia and New Zealand section. 
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And here's the recipe! Simple right. Well I thought so, but of course when you read it there is no mention of the milk, which is in the ingredients list, so I had to guess when to add it. I went for at the end as thats what I usually do when making pancakes. 
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I used freshly picked blackberries foraged from our local hedgerows. I've frozen loads to for use later in the year. 
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The author extols the virtues of the Tala measuring cone, instead of scale so I was pleased to have an excuse to get mine out. 
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My super retro flour sifter also came in handy.
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Now it said to put the blackberries in before folding in the butter and egg. This was not very successful in my view. And resulted in a rather unpleasant grey looking gruel! Much better to add them in after the batter is mixed for a prettier result I think. 
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The cooking instructions as ever are brief, but I cooked spoonfuls of the mix in a pan with a little butter on a medium heat, and turned them when bubbles formed on the top. 
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Now these little pancakes certainly wouldn't win any praise from Paul and Mary, with the Bake Off's obsession for everything to be uniform, but I rather like these random splodges! The could definitely do with out the off putting grey colour though. Blackberries in at the end is the way to go. 
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They may not look like much, but I can tell you they were completely delicious. Light and crispy and bursting with berries. I could happily wolf down a plate of them for breakfast! A perfect recipe for Sunday brunch. 

So with a few modifications I think this Blackberry Pancake recipe is a winner. I'm looking forward to trying out a few more from this book, French Onion Soup, Jamaican Dump-And-Stir cake and Polish Babas all sound good, though I think I might give the Mexican tortillas involving slaked lime a miss! 
5 Comments
Joanna Yeoman link
20/10/2013 01:32:07 am

These sound gorgeous! I haven't had pancakes in a while and love the idea of adding scrummy fruit - I'm thinking blueberries would be good too :-)

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Retrovert link
21/10/2013 05:44:22 am

Ooh yes, they would be fab with blueberries too. Enjoy! Sophie x

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Cynthia
18/2/2014 12:20:06 pm

I found your blog--which I'll *certainly* return to--whilst looking for information on Campbell (for author bio on Library Thing site). My copy of this book hasn't a dust jacket; as yours does, I wonder is there anything on it about the author? I'd like to get her birth/death dates at least, but I need something specific to this Elizabeth Campbell as opposed to the hundreds of others before I try googling for them. Cheers.

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Retrovert link
18/2/2014 02:03:07 pm

Hi Cynthia,

Thanks for dropping by the blog! Sounds like you are doing some interesting research. I've had a look in the dust jacket for you - unfortunately there isn't any information about her. The only time she is mentioned is 'There are well over a thousand recipes, with an introduction by the editor Elizabeth Campbell to whet your appetite' Sorry this is not more helpful.

Good luck. Sophie

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Kym van der Kaag
15/4/2014 08:14:29 pm

I just bought this book in very ratty and well used condition from a thrift shop in Brisbane. I was intrigued by the recipes and am amazed to find so many references to it on my search engine. I will definitely be giving some of it recipes a go considering what you have done, shown and said in your blog.

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