They are deliciously sticky and will give you plenty of energy for the journey. If, however, you are able to take your time, Mrs. Beaver recommends serving them warm with hot brandy sauce because it’s important to have a taste of Christmas whenever you can—especially when you’ve lived through years of it being always winter and never Christmas.
230 g (1 cup) plain flour
5 g (1 tsp.) baking powder
Pinch of salt
30 g (2 tbs.) butter
55 g (1/4 cup) caster or fine sugar
Approximately 140 ml (1/2 cup) milk
Marmalade
Preheat the oven to 450°F/230°C/Gas Mark 8. Put the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the sugar, mix, then add a little milk at a time, combining until you have a stiff dough. Press the dough out into a rectangle. Spread the marmalade over it. Roll up along the longer edge. Using a very sharp knife, cut into slices about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Place each roll on its side in a greased muffin tin (this helps hold it together). Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
Photograph by Gill Bland
Breakfast is a word that means “to start eating again after a time spent not eating anything”—to break one’s fast. Different countries have different breakfast traditions. In France breakfast is usually a cup of coffee with a pastry and perhaps a piece of fruit. In Australia and America, steak and eggs are not uncommon for breakfast. In Ireland or England, as well as in Narnia, a wide variety of foods are preferred for breakfast. Porridge, for example, is a common breakfast food. Grilled kippers, fried bacon, eggs, sausages, black and white puddings, kidneys, and mushrooms have been popular down through the ages. Of course, we have to remember that in Narnia there are many different kinds of animals and creatures, and they all have their own tastes and preferences. While Dwarfs would prepare a typical fried breakfast, Pattertwig the squirrel would serve a selection of the lighter nuts. The breakfasts we have in this book are those Narnian breakfasts that are suitable for Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve.
Porridge originates in Scotland, where the climate is such that oats grow well. The first porridge was probably made of oats, winnowed to remove most of the husks, and then bashed with a rock and boiled in water. In Britain you can still get old-fashioned stone-ground porridge, just as in the old days when grains were ground between big flat stones in wind- or water-powered mills. To this day, in parts of Scotland and Narnia, porridge is eaten with salt, as a savory food. Many of the people of northern Ireland originally came from Scotland, and Jack sometimes liked his porridge with salt and sometimes sweet. In Narnia quite a few of the creatures like porridge—Giants, Dwarfs, Fauns, Centaurs, and others—and because sugar is imported from Calormen, and there is honey in Narnia and salt from the sea, they eat their porridge either way.
“And here’s porridge—and here’s a jug of cream—and here’s a spoon.”
—THE HORSE AND HIS BOY
4 SERVINGS
2 cups milk
1½ cups water
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats, 5-minute style
1. In a medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, and salt to a boil.
2. Stir in the oats and return to the boil.
3. Lower heat and cook slowly for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4 SERVINGS
4 cups water
¼ teaspoon salt
1 scant cup steel-cut oats
1. In a medium saucepan, bring the water and salt to a boil.
2. Stir in the oats and return to the boil, continuing to stir for a minute or so.
3. Lower heat and simmer until the oats are tender and the water is absorbed, adding more water if necessary, about 20–30 minutes.
Either version of porridge should be served hot with milk or cream and honey and, if you like, a sprinkle of salt. For a delicious change in flavor try a spoonful of brown sugar or cane syrup.
One of the most delicious smells in the entire world is the smell of smoked bacon frying in a pan on a frosty morning. You can get hungry just thinking about it. Put in some fresh free-range eggs and it gets even better. Add some English button mushrooms, and you have a feast almost too good to eat only at breakfast time. Bacon, eggs, and mushrooms with fresh bread and butter and a glass of fresh milk is one of my very favorite meals. Jack liked mushrooms probably more than anything else, and he loved this particular recipe. In Narnia the Dwarfs are wonderful cooks, and this meal is one their most favorite dishes.
“It was, in fact, the smell of bacon and eggs and mushrooms all frying in a pan.”
—THE HORSE AND HIS BOY
PER PERSON:
2 pieces thick sliced bacon
2 white button mushrooms, cleaned, stems trimmed even with base of cap
2 large eggs
2 slices bread, toasted, lightly buttered, and halved diagonally
1. In a nonstick frying pan over medium heat, cook the bacon, turning now and then, until firm but not crispy. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are wilted. Push the bacon and mushrooms to one side of the pan, and tilt
