Traditional Recipes
Guernsey Gâche (Pronounced Gosh)
One of Guernsey’s definitive delicacies is Guernsey Gâche. Tune in your taste buds before you visit, with this genuine recipe. And there’s good news for the growing global army of Gâche aficionados – it’s now available by mail order and in handy flight size loaves, from the Guernsey airport shop and other outlets.
Guernsey Gâche
Ingredients
I.5 lbs wholemeal or plain flour
1.5 lbs Guernsey butter
Two free range eggs
4 oz candied orange peel
1 lb sultanas (currants may be used, if preferred)
Quarter pint of Guernsey milk
2 oz yeast
Pinch of salt
2 oz dark brown sugar
Preparation
Wash and dry the fruit. Cream the butter with sugar, add the eggs and then mix in the flour. Warm the milk, add the yeast and a pinch of salt. Make a depression in the dough and pour in the milk with the added yeast and mix well, adding the fruit and kneading like bread.
Leave to rise for two hours in a warm room. Knock back and then knead again. Grease a loaf tin and put in the prepared gâche.
Cooking
Cook for one hour in a moderate oven, until golden brown. Best served with cider from the jug, whilst hay making.
A Brief History of Guernsey Bean Jar by Steven Torode
“ First of all it must be remembered that Bean Jar was never a delicacy but a cheap wholesome winter meal, that mostly town people would make, living close to the bakers ovens!
Traditionally the dish would be started on the Friday night with the soaking of dried beans. Next day Saturday cheap cuts of meat would be bought (normally pigs trotters). Beans and meat would briefly be boiled and transferred to a pottery jar “the Bean Jar” this would be covered with thick brown paper tied with string and marked with the family name. This would be taken to the nearest bakery and the jars put into the cooling oven as no bread was baked on the Sunday.
In the morning the cooked Bean Jar was collected and the baker was paid per jar. The Bean Jar was then stored and eaten on Monday, washing Day, as the women were too busy washing clothes to cook and normally reheated the jar on Tuesday because this was ironing day. Many people believe Bean Jar always tastes best once it has been reheated on the second day!
Everybody’s Granny has a recipe for bean jar, all slightly different due to the ingredients available but normally the simpler the better.”
Bean Jar Recipe
(Guernsey French: enne Jarraie d'Haricaots)
Ingredients
1 lb Haricot Beans
1 lb Butter Beans
1 lb Belly Pork
1 lb Onions
Stock
Seasoning
Preparation
Soak beans over night in cold water.
Discard the water.
Put beans in fresh water and boil for at least 30 minuets.
Add pork, chopped onions and stock cube and boil for a further 20 minutes.
Cooking
Place in a low to medium oven for three to four hours (minimum) or slow cooker.
Beans should be soft and meat should fall off the bone.
Enjoy with a thick slice of farmhouse bread and Guernsey butter!
With thanks to Rachel Torode for supplying this recipe.
Gâche Mélée (pronounced Gosh Mel - are)
Gâche Mélée is a traditional Guernsey apple dessert and is a favourite with locals. Gâche Mélée is particularly good in the autumn when the nights are becoming colder and darker and the apples are freshly picked. It’s great eaten hot or cold and with a dollop of Guernsey cream or custard.
Ingredients
½ lb plain flour
¼ lb suet or Guernsey Butter
1½ lb apples (peeled, cored and chopped)
½ lb demarara sugar
¼ tsp of nutmeg
¼ tsp of cinnamon
¼ tsp of mixed spice
½ teacup of water
1 tsp salt
1 free range egg
Preparation
Rub the butter or suet into the flour until like breadcrumbs. Add all other dry ingredients, apple and mix well. Add egg and water and again mix well. Place in a 7 inch (18cm) square tin.
Tip: Prior to making this dessert all dry ingredients and apple can be mixed together and stood in the fridge to improve the flavour. Also, why not keep back some sugar to sprinkle on top prior to cooking – this makes a crunchier top.
Cooking
Cook in a low oven for 2 hours until golden brown.
Ormer Casserole
The Ormer is an abalone found on Guernsey shores. For more information on the Ormer see our From the Sea page.
Ingredients
As many ormers as possible
A strip or two of belly pork
2-3 carrots
2-3 shallots
Guernsey butter
Bay Leaf
Salt and Pepper
Preparation
Once having found some Ormers, soak in fresh water for an hour, prize it from its shell, scrub, trim and beat with a steak hammer. The traditional way to cook Ormers is in a casserole
Cooking
Flour the Ormers and brown in a frying pan with the Guernsey butter. Place the Ormers in a casserole dish with the cubes of belly pork, sliced carrots, bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Place in pre-heated oven at 160/170 °c for two hours. Turn down the oven and allow the casserole to simmer until cooked. Enjoy with a Guernesey Biscuit.
Guernsey Biscuits
A Guernsey Biscuit is a savoury roll with a frim crust and fluffy soft centre.
1lb Plain white flour
1oz Fresh yeast
½ oz of salt
4oz Guernsey butter*
8 fl. oz warm Guernsey milk (or combination of water & milk)
½ oz of sugar
* Traditionally Guernsey butter and/or lard would have been used.
Sieve and mix the salt and flour. Cream the butter, yeast & sugar and add the warm milk. Leave for ten minutes.
Mix the creamed butter, milk etc with the flour and knead it well. Cover the bowl and leave to stand in a warm place for 1 ½ hours to rise.
Kneading the dough again lightly on a floured board and form into round shapes.
Flatten the balls or roll them into biscuit shapes. Place on a greased baking sheet and leave in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Bake in a preheated moderately hot oven 200°C (400°F) Gas mark 6 for 20 minutes.