18^th century

Bacon & Eggs

Just like the hen’s nest, I have taken my inspiration from Elizabeth Raffald’s eighteenth century book, The Experienced English Housekeeper. This flummery dish is just too much fun not to include. It is a gimmick, but it sure makes your dinner guests laugh. It is also a dish that celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has embraced and made his own.

Raffald instructs the cook to make part of the white flummery into a pretty pink colour; however, I have chosen to use a raspberry jelly instead. You can instead add raspberry sauce or natural beetroot colouring powder to flummery if you have some.

Serves 2

50 g (1¾ oz) raspberries

50 g (1¾ oz) raw sugar

5 gelatine leaves

½ quantity almond flummery

butter, for greasing

2 apricot halves, from a tin

Make raspberry jelly by putting 400 ml (14 fl oz) water with the raspberries and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Taste; if you find it too tart, add more sugar, one teaspoon at a time. Strain the liquid so you have no raspberry seeds and the juice is clear. Soak the gelatine in water until softened, gently squeeze out the water and add the gelatine to the warm raspberry juice, stirring until dissolved. Allow to cool slightly but not set.

Make the flummery according to the instructions and allow to cool slightly but not set.

Lightly grease an 8.5 x 18.5 cm (3³/₈ x 7¼ inch) cake tin with butter and line it with plastic wrap. The butter is there to keep the plastic from sticking to the tin. When the jelly and flummery are cooled, start layering. Pour in the jelly for the first layer to a depth of about 1 cm (³/₈ inch). Transfer to the fridge and allow to set.

Meanwhile, wet a piece of baking paper, lay it on a tray or plate and spread a blob of flummery onto the paper. Flatten out with a spoon so it looks like an egg white and put it in the fridge to set. Make two of these.

When the first layer of jelly for the bacon is set, add a layer of flummery of about the same thickness as the first layer and put it in the fridge to set. Proceed in the same manner with more layers until you think you have a nice realistic bacon piece.

To assemble the dish, wet your serving plate or plates. Remove the ‘bacon’ from the cake tin and have a sharp knife ready and a bowl of water. Cut slices of bacon with a wet knife blade, and place on serving plates.

Carefully lift the ‘egg white’ off the baking paper and transfer it to the plate, using a wet knife or spatula. Cut the round cheek from an apricot half and place it on the egg white to make the yolk.