SC - Re: beestings?

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

Hauviette wrote:
>Could you share one of the recipes, esp the Irish. I am curious what this
is
>and it's composition.


Sure, here are some of them. The first is an Irish one, from Darina Allen´s
Irish Traditional Cooking - I actually forgot that it is not for a pudding
or tart but for pancakes - she says curd tarts were also made in Ireland,
though. She says the third milking of the cow after it had given birth was
usually considered best for these recipes (if milk from the first and second
milking is used, it should be thinned with regular milk, but the third
milking produced much thinner milk and does not have to be diluted).

Beestings Pancakes

1 1/2 lb white flour
1 level teaspoon breadsoda (bicarbonate of soda)
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
beestings
butter for frying

Sieve the flour, breadsoda and salt into a bowl. Whisk in enough beestings
to make a thin or slightly thicker batter, depending on whether you want
thin or thick pancakes. Drop tablespoonfuls on to a hot greased griddle and
cook for about 5 minutes on each side. Serve hot with butter for tea.

For the rest of the recipes, there is a certain kind of pattern - they seem
to become more simple as you travel farther north. The recipes from Iceland
and the Shetland Islands are by far the simplest and probably many centuries
old - I know the Icelandic one is, at least. I can´t find my Swedish recipe
but I think it was very simple and similar to the Icelandic and Shetlands
recipes - this might well be an old Norse dish. But the first one is from
Devonshire:

Beestings

Take the third milking of the cow, as the others can be too dark and rich.
Set in a large pan and after about 8 hours, skim off 2 pints from the top.
Grease a large pie dish and then mix 1 oz cornflour (that is cornstarch for
you Americans) with a little of the beestings in a small basin, then put the
remainder of the milk into the basin with it. Add about 1 oz sugar (brown is
very pleasant) and 2 oz  of sultanas and transfer to the piedish. Bake in a
moderate oven for about 1 hour, until golden brown and set. A pinch of mixed
spice or nutmeg can be grated over the dish if liked.

The next one is a traditional Yorkshire curd tart - actually food historian
Laura Mason´s family recipe; she supplied me with most of the recipes when I
visited her in January:

Curd Tart

Take 1 pint beestings and 1/4 pint milk. Heat, stirring, until the mixture
has curdled. Cool. Cream together 2 oz butter, 4 oz sugar, and rind of 1
lemon. Beat in 1 egg and stir in the cooled curd. Add currants, raisins,
candied peel, and 1 tablespoon rum. Put in a shortcrust case. Bake in a
moderate oven till firm. Grate nutmeg over.

One from Argyllshire:

Beestings Cheese

Fill a pudding dish with milk from second milking; stir in 2 tablespoonfuls
syrup and mix well. Spread on top the cream from the first milking, put into
a moderate oven, and bake until firm to touch and golden brown. This cheese
cuts into smooth, creamy slices and is short and free in texture. Served
with cream, it is a delicious change from the usual milk pudding.

Two simple recipes from the Shetland Islands:

Beestings

To the milk, diluted with water, add salt, put into pan and stir gently only
until it begins to set, then allow slowly to set into a cheese. If made in a
3-legged pot, when half done put a little fire on lid; this makes a firmer
cheese on top.

Klooks, or Beestings Pudding

Put beestings into piedish with sugar to sweeten, bake in moderate oven
until set, 20-30 minutes. Salt, cinnamon or caraway seeds may also be added
according to taste.

Iceland - my own family recipe, and in fact the only way beestings are used
here:

Ábrystir

Dilute 1 litre beestings with milk (by half if it is the first milking, less
if it is the second or third). Pour into a bowl, add half a teaspoon of salt
and place the bowl in a pan half-filled with hot water. Simmer until set.
Serve hot or cold, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Quite delicious - but I´m going to use the beestings I´ve got in my freezer
to make some of the British recipes.

Nanna