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COLIN'S COOKERY COLUMN

Rushmore's

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Recipe Number Eighteen July 2004
SHOO FLY PIE

For details on
my book
"Tales of a
Norfolk Chef"
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May is a month that I always look forward to. The weather starts to warm up and of course its the month of the trout anglers delight and the little beastie called the May fly. It’s the one fly that trout snap up with out any thought of danger as there are so many landing on the water at one time.

Many years ago Mrs R. must have had a brainstorm and bought me one of the best Christmas presents I could have wished for. The present in question was in the shape of a nice wooden box containing a fly tying kit. Apart from a selection of coloured silks, bits of moleskin and old hares ears and fragments of undesirable material, there was also a little contraption that you clamped to a table. That in turn held the hook to which you made your attempt to reproduce the May fly. With the aid of the little instruction book, that was provided in the box, explaining the fine art of tying your own flies; you were supposed to be able to make them so realistic that even an old and weary trout, that's seen it all in it’s time, would mistake your hand-made imitation of the May fly for a tasty morsel.

So with that in my mind I set about tying my first May fly. After about ten minutes or so I released my attempt to create a May fly from the vice that held it and compared it with the one in the book. Would it look like a May fly to a wise old hungry trout? On closer inspection of my masterpiece I thought that it would confuse the trout a tad or two as it appeared to be more like a daddy long legs. Never mind, practice makes perfect so they say.

I remember a story of a young lad that joined a very snooty trout syndicate. There were so many rules and regulations it was a wonder that any one was able to put a fly on the water. One of the rules was that any dry fly that was tied by hand, before it was used on the club’s waters, had to be inspected by one of the members. This young lad had in effect produced what he thought was a perfect May fly and with his face beaming with delight he offered the fly to them for their comments. The old major spoke up. “Dear oh dear lad! What the devil do you think you are going to catch on that?  But have a go with if you must.” (The young lad’s attempt may well have turned out like mine: a crossbreed.)

It was lunch time when the young lad returned to the club house and walking into the bar he was confronted by most of the old members. The young lad’s face once again was beaming. He spoke so all could hear. “By the way, I have just had the most wonderful complement paid to my hand tied May fly.” An old retired doctor, who was sipping his gin and tonic, shouted “you never caught a trout on that fly of yours did you?” “No, no,” said the young lad “it was like this. I cast my fly on the water, just a few yards from where the major was fishing.  Then, I would have never believed it if the major had not witnessed it with his own eyes, the biggest May fly that we have ever seen came down and landed on top of it.”

The month of May offers those that attempt to fish with home made tied flies a let out and this is in the form of what they call two weeks in May as “duffers fortnight”.  I have never really found out the exact two weeks that this relates to. But I believe it’s down to the weather, when the flies in their thousands ascend into the air to mate then drop back onto the stream. In turn the trout gorge themselves on the flies even the ones that looks like a crossbred daddy longlegs.

I have never had a problem with creepy crawlies, unlike Mrs R. She will go to great lengths to prevent any thing that moves around on six legs from taking up residence. Once the first sightings have been confirmed of any thing that resembles an ant then it’s red alert at Rushmore Towers. An arsenal of insecticides, concoctions of high strength white powders and ant traps in all shapes and sizes are moved up to the front line ready to do battle Its like a major war campaign. First of all you must detect the headquarters of the enemy, next thing is to fire a warning shot, this may be in the form of a few good puffs of the white powder directly into their under ground bunkers. This is a message from Mrs R. so as to offer them a chance to move out. I have found that this light-hearted approach has never worked over the years and it always resorts to the heavy guns coming out. So it was no surprise that on arriving home a few days ago I found that there had been a major confrontation. In fact the whole building was surrounded by white powder and it was plain to see that the war was over, at least till next year.

Another beastie on her hit list is the fly. Woe betide any fly that gets through the first line of the defences, namely the hanging beads. As the warm weather approaches these beads are hung just inside the back door and according to the instruction book will, if correctly hung, stop flying insects from entering. More to the point they don't say any thing in the instructions about stopping six foot men with two hands full of shopping from entering and for this purpose they are very effective as they rap themselves around your neck. The next port of call will be to bring in the big guns; namely the fly sprays and hand fly-swatters made out of plastic. These will be brought into the war against any thing that flies in the restricted air space of Rushmore Towers. Only the daftest of flies will make a break for the light of a closed window only to find out what the full impact of a rolled up Radio Times feels like.

Spiders seem to be the one thing that can, if they keep out of sight, have a long a peaceful life. It seems that they have over the years adopted a habit of keeping well out of sight. Maybe this is an inbred thing to help them survive where others have failed, but as in any population you have the foolhardy. He or she is the one that in a moment of madness decides to take a stroll across the living room carpet, and it always seems to be the biggest spider that's strutting its stuff. But once spotted, it makes an all mighty dash to hide under the sofa. At least it was fun to watch Mrs R.’s vain attempts to apply a hefty blow with a slipper. Well that's one that's got away. Well I never, this article in the newspaper may be of interest to you. They say that if there is a nuclear war then one of the only things that will survive will be ants. Interesting that, don't you think?

Shoo Fly Pie

This is one of my favourite pies and very easy to make. First of all you make yourself some sweet pastry so you can line a 9inch tart tin. Pop this into the fridge to keep cool. Next find a mixing bowl and in this dissolve half a teaspoon of baking powder with a quarter cup of hot water then beat in half a cup of molasses. Once this is well mixed add one egg yolk that's been well beaten. Remove the pastry case from the fridge and gently pour the contents from the bowl into the pastry case. In another bowl combine together the following ingredients: half a teaspoon of cinnamon, half a cup of brown sugar, three quarters of a cup of flour, a pinch of mace, ginger, and powdered cloves, and last of all a little bit of butter that has been lightly melted. Bring all these ingredients together to form crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs over the pie. Next job is to slowly bake the pie in a medium hot oven, after ten minutes turn the oven down and bake until the pastry case is cooked and the top is firm.

A word of warning, this pie recipe comes from a warmer climate than England. Once removed from the oven it will start to cool, the scent of the molasses encrusted with a topping of brown sugar mace, cinnamon, and cloves will, if you don't watch out, attract flies from miles around. So make sure that you cover the pie with a clean cloth..

PS Next months cookery column recipe will be Ground Elder and Tatty Pie
Colin Rushmore

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