The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
THE
U
NOFFICIAL
H
ARRY
P
OTTER
C
OOKBOOK
From Cauldron Cakes to Knickerbocker Glory — More Than
150 Magical Recipes for Wizards and Non-Wizards Alike
DINAH BUCHOLZ
This book is unofficial and unauthorized. It is not authorized, approved, licensed, or
endorsed by J. K. Rowling, her publishers, or Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Copyright © 2010 by Dinah Bucholz
Foreword copyright © 2010 by George Beahm
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.
Published byAdams Media,
a division of F+W Media, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com
ISBN 10: 1-4405-0325-7
ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-0325-2
eISBN 10: 1-4405-0852-6
eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-0852-3
Printed in the United States of America.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bucholz, Dinah.
The unofficial Harry Potter cookbook / Dinah
Bucholz.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4405-0325-2
1. Cookery, English. 2. Potter, Harry (Fictitious character) 3. Rowling, J. K. — Characters — Harry Potter. 4. Potter, Harry I. Title. II. Title: Harry Potter cookbook.
TX717.B87 2010
641.5942 — dc22
2010019544
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
— From a
Declaration of Principles
jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their product are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Adams Media was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters.
This book is unofficial and unauthorized. It is not authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by J. K. Rowling, her publishers, or Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
The following recipes were created for this book by Chef Chris Koch. Chef Chris, a classically French — trained chef, is the culinary director of a Philadelphia cooking school, kitchen director for a number of TV shows, and author of
Learning the Basics: A Home Cook's Guide to the Kitchen
. You can visit his website at
www.chef-chris.com
.
English Fried Eggs and a Gammon of Bacon
Tender Roast Loin of Pork with Variations
French Onion Soup
Melton Mowbray Pork Pies
English Farmhouse Scrambled Eggs and Bacon
Breaded Pork Chops
Queen Victoria's Soup
Chicken and Ham Pie
Bouillabaisse
Stewed Tripe and Onions
Also thanks to Abe Polatsek for contributing the recipe for The Roast Beef of Old England.
This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases. For information, please call 1-800-289-0963.
For Heshy
First I thank God, who is the source of all blessing. Second, I thank my husband, Heshy, who insisted I put him next to God in my acknowledgments, for more reasons than this book has space for.
George Beahm, author of
Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter's World
and
Muggles and Magic
, generously gave of his time to advise me on how to sell my book to an agent.
Mary Sue Seymour is probably the fastest, most efficient, and most professional agent out there. I am fortunate and blessed that she offered to represent this book.
Thanks to my editor at Adams Media, Andrea Norville, who saw the potential for this book and whose enthusiasm turned it from an idea into a reality.
Thanks to Kate Petrella for her thorough copyediting of the manuscript.
Thanks to Chef Chris Koch for his contribution to this book. Chef Chris developed those recipes that I could not due to my kosher diet.
Thanks to Chevi Schainbaum, Cheryl Albert, Yaffa Yermish, Ayala Tarshish, Israel Tarshish, Abe Polatsek, Naomi Polatsek, Batsheva Polatsek, Atara Eiss, and Goldy Joseph. And my friends, neighbors, and the engineers at L-3 for taste-testing (they were more than happy to oblige). So many people offered help and advice that it's inevitable I should leave someone out. If you are that someone, please forgive me.
I thank my mother, Esther (Amsel) Polatsek, who taught me how to cook, and my father, Alex Polatsek, who taught me that in a moral dilemma, the harder choice is often the right choice.
Thanks to my parents-in-law, Frimmy and Meyer Bucholz, for their love and support.
Finally, but no less dearly, thanks to my kids, Elisheva, Sarah, Eliyahu, and Toby, for their honest opinions on the food.
Foreword: A Feast of Food and Words
Chapter One:
Good Food with Bad Relatives
Chapter Two:
Delights Down the Alley
Chapter Three:
Treats from the Train
Chapter Four:
Recipes from a Giant and an Elf
Chapter Five:
The Favorite Cook's Dishes
Chapter Six:
Breakfast Before Class
Chapter Seven:
Lunch and Dinner in the Dining Hall
Chapter Eight:
Desserts and Snacks at School
Harry Potter's first taste of Hogwarts, as it were, is an eye-opener. While the Dursleys did not completely neglect to feed Harry, they never allowed him to eat as much as he wanted. So at his first Hogwarts feast, for the first time in his short life, he is allowed to eat as much as he likes (see
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
, Chapter 7).
Each school year at Hogwarts begins with a celebratory meal in its cavernous Great Hall. No doubt those magnificent meals left an indelible impression on a young Harry, who hungered for more when living with his Muggle relatives: a feeling of kinship and of family that he clearly lacked; a desire to know his clouded past, which had been carefully and deliberately hidden from him at all costs by his duplicitous uncle and aunt, the detestable Dursleys; and most of all, a desire to realize who he truly is, living in two diametrically opposed worlds, the unimaginative Muggle world and the enchanting world of wizards, his true home.
Though we Muggles will never get to taste life in the wizarding world, we must console ourselves with sampling the food Rowling writes about so lovingly.
In her seven novels, food — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks — plays an important part, an essential ingredient that helps complete our picture of life at Hogwarts. That's especially true for American readers who are largely more familiar with Big Macs and fries at McDonald's than with traditional British cuisine: Black Pudding, Crumpets, Spotted Dick, Kippers, Steak and Kidney Pie, trifles, and other dishes.
Fortunately, we Americans do share a commonality with some of the foods mentioned in Rowling's novels and this delightful cookbook. First on that list is ice cream, which of course is universally loved and needs no explanation to Americans. (We each consume 23.3 quarts annually, according to
www.makeicecream.com
.)
Candy, too, is a universal favorite, though wizards get to enjoy confections not available to Muggles: Jelly Slugs, Fizzing Whizbees, and Fudge Flies, to name a few (see
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
, Chapter 10).
Rowling's mouth-watering dishes, desserts, and candies are left to our imaginations, hungry for more information about their appearance and taste. The Muggle-created versions, to be sold at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Orlando Resort, are the closest we'll get to actually enjoying them. But for those of us not lucky enough to travel to Florida, what's left to savor?
Traditional British cuisine, which is the subject of this marvelous book by Dinah Bucholz, who serves up an enticing selection of recipes for Muggles who hunger for a taste of England.
Dishing out recipes that all Muggle readers ought to try at least once in their lives, this cookbook deserves a place in every Muggle kitchen. A brave new world of gustatory delights awaits, if only we Americans have the stomach to try something other than our favorite dishes of pizza, burgers, and sandwiches.
I raise my foaming mug of butterbeer — the most frequently mentioned beverage in the Harry Potter novels — in salute to Dinah, who serves up more than 150 recipes that will satisfy the appetites of hungry Muggles everywhere. Anyone for Toad in the Hole, Cock-a-Leekie, Haggis, or Goulash? Step right this way. Hey, where do you think
you're
going? Come back! Just try one bite!
For the gastronomically conservative reader who is willing to venture forth and broaden his palate with traditional British dishes,
The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
will satisfy the appetite, no matter how persnickety.
Bon appétit!
— George Beahm, author of
Muggles and Magic
and
Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter's World
This book grants its reader great powers. It's true that a Muggle may twirl sticks and mutter incantations and the only thing that will happen is his or her mother will yell, “If you're not careful with that wand, you'll poke your brother's eye out.” But despair not, dear Muggle. A branch of magic is still open to you — Curye, later known as Cookery, which combines elements of potions with transfiguration, and a bit of herbology and divination. According to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration (see
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
, Chapter 15), good food cannot be created from nothing, but it can be created using this book. Within these pages you shall find directions for delightful dishes, exquisite elixirs, fabulous fare, tasty treats, and the ability to transform mundane ingredients into marvelous masterpieces.
If you're not from the British Isles you may not recognize the foods mentioned in the Harry Potter series. This book is your guide. Here you'll find more than just directions and recipes; you'll discover their long and fascinating history. Learn about the foods that are an integral part of British and Irish culture. Thrill to the stories of their discoveries and inventions. And then eat those foods. You'll never look at a crumpet the same way again.
Though you may be as clever as Hermione, blindly following recipes from a book will not guarantee success. Sometimes you don't have the best recipe; sometimes it's the technique that's wrong. Don't you wish you had a Half-Blood Prince looking over your shoulder, telling you, “I have a better way to concoct this potion?” Well, the recipes gathered here are a result of combining the best recipes out there, testing and retesting and retesting some more, until at last, the tastiest and easiest recipe that dish can have was created.
Helpful Hints
Always start with a clean work surface.
Read through the recipe carefully and make sure you have all the ingredients and equipment — and skills — to make that recipe. If you lack the necessary skills, you can give it a go anyway; just be sure to arm yourself with patience and humor and don't give up if it comes out wrong.
A word of caution: Some of the recipes in this book are dangerous. Any recipe involving boiling sugar (such as fudge or toffee) or deep-frying (such as doughnuts) should be attempted only by adults or children at least in their teens under very close adult supervision.
Substitutions: Some of the recipes in this book call for currants. If you can't find currants, dried cranberries can be used as a substitute. Where vegetable oil is specified, canola oil can be used instead. Also, in recipes calling for cocoa powder use Dutch cocoa powder if you can find it, as it's far superior to natural cocoa powder.
The ice cream and custard recipes call for tempering egg yolks. This is a process by which the yolks are brought up to a higher temperature slowly to prevent curdling.
When making cakes and cookies, make sure the butter, eggs, and milk are at room temperature (68°F to 72°F). The butter needs to be soft to be properly creamed, and cold eggs or milk added to a properly creamed mixture will curdle it. If you've done everything right and the mixture appears curdled anyway, don't worry. The addition of liquid can cause that appearance, which will smooth out when you add the flour.
To grease and flour a pan, you can use a flour-and-oil baking spray. It's much faster and yields better results than the old-fashioned method of buttering the pan and dusting the flour over it, then shaking out the excess flour. Make sure you also line your cake pans with parchment paper so that the layers come out in one piece.
It's important to measure ingredients precisely. You will need one liquid measuring cup and a set of dry measuring cups as well as a set of measuring spoons. To measure flour or sugar, dip the measuring cup into the container and level it with a straight edge, such as the flat side of a knife. Do not pack down the flour or shake the cup to even the top. To measure packed brown sugar, use your fingers, your fist, your knuckles, or a spoon to pack down the sugar as you fill the cup.
If you do not own a food processor, you can make pie or tart dough by hand. Rub the fat into the flour using your fingertips or cut it into the flour using two forks until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal. Make sure to incorporate all the white powdery bits. Proceed as directed in the recipe.
Pie dough is easy to make once you master the technique. Make sure you use very cold ingredients and be careful to work the dough as little as possible. Mixing too much makes the crust hard to roll out (it will keep springing back) and yields a tough texture. When adding water, it's better to add too much than too little. You can always add extra flour when rolling out the dough to prevent sticking, but a dry dough will keep cracking and tearing when you roll it out, and you won't be able to save it.
Many recipes call for toasting nuts. To do this properly, spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in a 350°F oven for 7 to 10 minutes until brown and fragrant.
Some recipes specify treacle or golden syrup. These sweeteners are produced during the sugar refining process and are similar to molasses. You can find treacle or golden syrup in a well-stocked supermarket or specialty food store, but if you can't find them, use the following substitutions: For black treacle, use dark molasses or blackstrap molasses. For golden syrup, use light or dark corn syrup, light molasses, or pure maple syrup. Maple syrup will impart a unique flavor to the finished product, so use it with discretion.
Turbinado sugar, also called demerara sugar, is raw cane sugar, which looks like large, pale brown, translucent crystals, and is great for sprinkling on cookies or muffins because it looks pretty and is a lot crunchier than granulated sugar. It's easy to find in the baking aisle of your super-market. A common supermarket brand is Sugar in the Raw.
If you use glass pans such as Pyrex or dark metal pans to bake cakes, subtract 25 degrees from the temperature specified in the recipe, as these pans get hotter and retain heat for longer. Baking at the higher temperature will cause the cakes to overbake.
The food processor used for testing the recipes in this book was an old model. The number of pulses specified is simply a guideline; use the visual cues provided in the recipe to know when to stop pulsing. This is especially important in pie and tart doughs, as overprocessing can yield a tough rather than tender crust.
