Soul Cakes Are the Perfect Halloween Treat for the Black Hat Society

Come October 31^st 150 million children (!!!) will venture into the streets, knock expectantly on doors and yell “TRICK OR TREAT!” Yet few people know the dark and winding road this nighttime festival has trod in order to become the second largest American holiday. 

The first celebrations of Halloween began in ancient pre-Christian Celtic Ireland, Scotland and northern France. During that era October 31th celebrated Samhain, a high holy day marked by the nighttime burning of massive bonfires, the wearing of animal skin costumes to frighten away hostile spirits and the offering of food and prayers to the protective spirits of deceased family members. 

These customs continued into the Middle Ages with the previous activities then becoming known as “Mumming”.  Bizarre cloth and straw costumes now replaced the prior animal skin costumes.  Under the growing influence of Christianity, the food, once offered to supportive ancestral spirits, was replaced by soul cakes. 

The poor of each village would visit the estates of the landed gentry and ask for soul cakes. It was expected that, for each small cake they received, they would say a prayer for the soul of a deceased lord of lady. The following song hauntingly captures the feel of that ancient day:

This humbling practice was known as “Souling”. Over the centuries the poor were replaced by the children of the village who by then accepted money and ale in addition to food. In Scotland the tradition shifted somewhat. There the costumed children offered to exchange a song, joke or dance, instead of a prayer, for their treats. They called this custom "guising, hence the modern word "dis-guising". 

In 1605 Guy Fawkes and his fellow Catholic terrorists were caught and executed for attempting to blow up both the Protestant King James I and the entire British Parliament.  His death (or courage, depending on one’s political point of view) is celebrated each November 5^th with raging bonfires, bonfire-themed cupcakes and the request by English children of “a penny for the Guy”, who had to pay for his own execution under 17^th century law. 

All of these traditions came to the United States thanks to immigration which is a constant stream of diversity that has greatly crafted the shape of American history.  Beginning with the Great Potato Famine in 1845, waves of both Irish and Scottish immigrants came to America and brought their October holiday customs with them. 

By the 1920s and into the 1930s, the popular of tricking and treating reached alarming and destructive proportions in America. Vandalism exploded in major urban areas, often prompted by poverty and anger over the inequality of the American dream. 

The sudden involvement of America in World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor halted this trend as hundreds of thousands of unemployed young men entered the military and food stuffs, including sugar, were greatly rationed. After the War ended in 1945, many returning GIs had seen enough of conflict and battle to last a life time and were now no longer interested in chaos and destruction. 

Available government housing loans, thanks to the GI bill, enabled the explosion of suburban neighborhoods, populated by happy newlyweds and soon thereafter their two ‘perfect’ children. As candy makers evaluated this new social trend, they quickly understood they were looking a vast and untapped market.

Women had endured the severe shortage of sugar during war years.  Their husbands had ‘dined’ for four years on simplistic K rations. And now there were all those children. In short, it was time to relax, settle into the 1950’s life style promoted by the “Mad Men” of Madison Avenue Ad Agencies and enjoy a ‘new’ holiday based on revamped traditions that were over 2,000 years old. 

Trick or Treating is still part of Halloween in America though more modern (and health-conscious) parents moderate their children’s consumption of sugar. Costumes, both commercially themed and homemade, are still worn and not just by children. On an ever increasing basis, adults are joining in the fun and enjoying fright-themed treats and scary cocktails. 

If you wish, however, to return to the simpler roots of Halloween, consider making your very own soul cakes. Eat them before November 2^nd and you're sure to have good luck all year. Then you'll  know why for over 2,000 years mankind has celebrate the darkening days of Fall each year with fire, fun and friendship. Enjoy and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

SOUL CAKES

Makes 12 to 15 2-inch soul cakes (Eat within 2 days of Baking to Insure Good Luck!)

INGREDIENTS

For the Cakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, ground fresh if possible
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, ground fresh if possible
1/2 teaspoon salt
Generous pinch of saffron
1/2 cup milk
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup currants

For the Glaze:
1 egg yolk, beaten

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
• Combine the flour, the nutmeg, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl.
• Mix well with a fork.
• Crumble the saffron threads into a small saucepan and heat over low heat just until they become aromatic, taking care not to burn them.
• Add the milk and heat just until hot to the touch. The milk will have turned a bright yellow. Remove from heat.
• Cream the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon (or use an electric mixer with the paddle attachment).
• Add the egg yolks and blend in thoroughly with the back of the spoon.
• Add the spiced flour and combine as thoroughly as possible; the mixture will be dry and crumbly.
• One tablespoon at a time, begin adding in the warm saffron milk, blending vigorously with the spoon. When you have a soft dough, stop adding milk; you probably won't need the entire half-cup.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and knead gently, with floured hands, until the dough is uniform.
• Roll out gently to a thickness of 1/2 inch.
• Using a floured 2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out as many rounds as you can and set on an ungreased baking sheet. You can gather and re-roll the scraps, gently.
• Decorate the soul cakes with currants.
• Brush cakes  liberally with the beaten egg yolk.
• Bake for 15 minutes, until just golden and shiny.
• Serve warm.

Don't forget to donate to UNICEF this Halloween.

Their great work saves the lives of countless children around the world!

 Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013

Anti Vampire Garlic Wreaths Make the Perfect Culinary Halloween Gift

Soon it will be Halloween and, excluding candy corn and pumpkin flan, that means it’s time for the ingredient that all vampires dread – garlic!

But did you ever wonder how garlic (that fantastic and noble vegetable) ever came to be associated with this fearful demon of the dark?

It all has to do with the lowly mosquito. Garlic, you see, is a natural mosquito repellent. Eat it, wear it and/or handle it and one doesn’t get bit by the pest (at least most of the time).

One or two hundred years ago when the legend of the vampires was first circulating, conservative Christianity was also flourishing in Europe. The social mores of the time required individuals to cover almost every part of the body except their necks.

Without garlic as a repellent, people could easily be bite by mosquitoes in the only available area, i.e. the neck, leaving small ‘bite-like ‘  red marks.

If the mosquitoes carried malaria, the person bit soon became exhausted, feverish, anemic, pale, with swollen red marks – resulting in what appeared to others to be a lingering near-death condition.

Since scientific knowledge was often in short supply in remote rural areas and the symptoms matched so closely with rural legends, well, let’s just say the vampire got the blame, sine garlic. And that is how garlic became the preferred anti-vampire protection system.

So what’s the absolutely perfect Halloween gift for a chef or gourmet enthusiast? Why, a garlic wreath, of course.

It will keep the unwanted away and can later enhance a nearly endless array of winter dishes. And be assured, not a single vampire will bother you during this hauntingly delightful season!  

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012 

The History of Halloween Jack o' Lanterns

Many Americans are surprised when they learn the jack-o'-lanterns are actually a British tradition. And this fact is borne out by the fact that each year London's legendary store, Fortnum & Mason, holds a pumpkin carving contest.

But the story doesn't start there. Back in the mists of pre-Christian days, the Celts of Scotland and Ireland repeatedly told each other the story of Stingy Jack.

Now Stingy Jack was always playing tricks on everyone, including the Devil himself. Once he tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree on the pretense that the Devil should prove he did not fear this controversial fruit of self knowledge from the Garden of Eden.

Jack then hurriedly placed crosses all around the tree and made the Devil promise not to take his soul when he died as the term of releasing him from the hostage tree.

When Jack finally did die, he was, of course, denied entrance into Heaven because of his many mean deeds. He also found, because of his bargain with the Devil, he was not welcome in Hell either.

The Devil, still resenting the trick Jack had played on him, condemned Jack to roam the earth at night without friends or comfort.  But the Devil, who was once an angel, was not without sympathy for the errors of humanity, so he tossed Jack a hot coal from the eternal fires of Hell to light his path on the darkened earth.

Jack’s soul fell back to earth, without form. At first Jack tried to enter homes but he only scared people. Then one lonely night, he remembered that he had once carved turnips and gourds into scary faces and hung them from trees to frighten people in the night.

Jack found an old one he had once made still hanging from a tree and there he put his coal and soul, far from the freighted villagers.

Knowing a good thing when they saw it, for no village wants lost souls wandering about at night, the local folk carved and hung more turnips and gourds 'lanterns' in the other trees - just in case there were any other additional spirits needing a welcoming home.

And these lanterns, came in time to be called “Jack o’ Lanterns” after, you guessed it, Stingy Jack himself.

Scottish and Irish immigrants brought this custom of carving a turnips and gourds to the United States along with many other lovely customs (such as whisky/whiskey). 

But when they saw the gigantic pumpkins offered for sale in America’s rural farmers’ market – well, who wants to carve a little turnip when a huge pumpkin would be so much easier. 

The early American writer Washington Irving combined all the bi-continental story elements, added a touch of Dutch New Amsterdam, and created the unforgettable tale of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – complete with flaming pumpkin heads and lost souls in the night.

Today, Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween in either the U.S. or Britain without pumpkins. So, whether you carve or bake, be kind, be generous or Stingy Jack just might visit you!

Post Note: Oct 20, 2012: It seems a love for pumpkins is now going international because Burger King outlets in Japan are offering the BK Pumpkin Burger and the Pumpkin Bomb Burger from October 26 through November 11 this year.

Both burgers come with beef patties, fried kabocha pumpkin slices, bacon (is the combination of 'bacon and pumpkin' to be our newest food fab?), and, of course, lettuce. They're topped with a nut sauce made from sesame seeds, peanuts, almonds, cashews, and hazelnuts. Oh, yes, they do come with pumpkin fries for those in the true 'spirit' of the season. 

 Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012 

Warner's Food Landscapes Are Perfect for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas Displays

Well, we should correct that title - actually Carl Warner's imaginative landscapes, crafted entirely from edible foods, are absolutely eye-catchers year round. 

And his stunning images created from piles of cheese and pieces of bread more than prove that point. Trained as a photographer, he uses silver fish fillets to create a simmering sea and bacon to reproduce a country waterfall.

Add in a skilled support staff at his London studio and the latest in digital imagery software and results are those that any chef can envy (and want to duplicate).

If you are inspired, check out his recent book, Food Landscape - it is truly amazing and can reminds us all that true creativity is boundless and exciting. 

Why not then create something different this holiday season and truly put your culinary talents 'on display'?

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011