Taking a hike

The next to last Sunday in November, the 18th of November to be exact, saw me attend a very enjoyable dedication ceremony for two good friends' baby son followed by a superb slap up carvery at a pub that I had last been to when Right Said Fred were topping the charts and Phil Collins had just made his last blockbuster studio album with Genesis.

As my assault on the pub's carvery lasted for the majority of the afternoon I had limited time for cooking and decided to make something that was quick to prepare but substantial all the same. The recipe I chose was Hiker's Parkin a perfect dish to fortify oneself against the crisp frost that had started the day and was set to continue throughout the week.

The album of choice for the cooking was Queen's 1978 effort Jazz; a record that was described by the NME on its release as being fascist. Fascist it is not but eclectic it certainly is as the album mixes heavy rock, catchy pop, stadium rock, a haunting acoustic ballad and disco- influenced funk. It was also an appropriate choice to listen to as I had it on heavy rotation at the time when the couple whose baby was dedicated earlier in the day had got married.

I first took a 10 centimetre deep and 25 centimetre wide baking tray and lined it with kitchen foil that was thoroughly greased with Margarine. I then poured five ounces of rolled porridge oats, two teaspoons of powdered ginger, two ounces of soft brown sugar and two ounces of mixed peel into my plastic mixing bowl. I stirred them together thoroughly with a wooden spoon until the sticky mixed peel was turned dry by being coated in the other ingredients.

In the meantime I melted three ounces of margarine in a small milk pan and then added the melted margarine to the mixing bowl together with six ounces of golden syrup, one beaten egg and two tablespoons of milk.

After all the ingredients were mixed together they formed a pleasantly fragrant paste that was golden brown in colour. I then poured the mixture into the greased baking tray and spread it evenly throughout the tray using a butter knife. The mixture was then cooked in the oven at 150 degrees (160 if you haven't a fanned oven) for forty five minutes. As always with dishes of this type I knew it was ready when I put a meat skewer through the middle of it and the skewer came out clean.

After the Parkin had been left to cool on a wire rack I cut it into bite size squares before I served it.

The taste was superb as the oats gave plenty of substance to the dish while the strong taste of the ginger was offset against the sweetness of the golden syrup, my workmates certainly seemed to agree when I took some of the Parkin to work the next day as it boosted their morale as well as meeting with the approval of their taste buds.

Straight out of the oven and left to cool on a wire rack prior to cutting up. 

Cut into squares and ready to take to work