Comments on: Recipe Corner: Treacle Tart

By: eudoxis

eudoxis — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:16:49 +0000

Pecan pie was made for corn syrup. I’ve tried using golden syrup in a pecan pie and the flavor and structure is all wrong. There are some who have made special pecan pie recipes calling for cane syrup and swear by it, but I think the end result is a different product. The cloying sweetness with brown sugar and the more intense molasses flavoring with fresh pecans is what pecan pie is all about. Old recipes are of brown sugar pies or maple syrup pies.
I always have Lyle’s Golden syrup on hand. It’s so yummy. Like candy. I have found it readily available in most grocery stores where I’ve lived, including the smallish town I live in now.

By: Sam Jackson

Sam Jackson — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 06:07:43 +0000

As an american of solid and upright character I don’t know any tart—unless it is the halloween kind as in treacle or tart.

p.s. I didn’t inhale either

By: vivian

vivian — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 02:44:39 +0000

#30, #31 yes, okay, I’ll make proper pastry crust for it, was just asking. (Sometimes I get really lazy and use a mix, but frozen crusts almost never.)
The Anzac biscuits sound yummy and kid-preparable too. I’ll report back on the next recipe thread.

By: Helen

Helen — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 22:45:06 +0000

If you need further uses for your Golden Syrup, Anzac day is coming up (the celebration of Australia's glorious defeat); you can make Anzac biscuits (not "cookies"!), which actually aren't that unhealthy. Comparatively speaking.

By: harry b

harry b — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 16:22:04 +0000

Katherine: avoid corn syrup. Just forget about it. Use Golden Syrup instead—it can only be better than whatever the corn syrup would have yielded.

By: SamChevre

SamChevre — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 15:14:01 +0000

I hadn’t realized that treacle tart was a close relative of shoo-fly pie. (Shoofly pie has egg added, and the crumbs are flour and lard rather than breadcrumbs. I make it with sorghum; shoofly pie with sorghum—I might as well carry a sign with my background on it.)

By: Katherine

Katherine — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 12:04:16 +0000

Cranky – I have much the same problem with interpreting American cook books. What the hell is corn syrup? Presumably some kind of sugary stuff made from corn – is that about it?

By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 05:27:22 +0000

I once made a pecan pie substituting Golden Syrup for Karo’s light corn syrup (although it may be true that U.S. brands have crowded out many domestic offerings in the UK, I could find noone selling Karo’s syrup in London!!)

I decreased the amount of syrup somewhat, but otherwise it turned out respectably well. The Golden Syrup gave is a distinctive flavor, although it was easy to miss the subtle difference underneath the overwhelming sweetness.

By: nick s

nick s — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:31:37 +0000

Needs real shortcrust pastry, such as you should be able to buy in any supermarket.

Or, y’know, make for yourself. Half fat to flour, half shortening to butter, pinch of salt, add icewater (or milk for a sweeter pastry), mix, refrigerate and roll. I can understand store-bought filo and puff pastry, but shortcrust takes no effort to prepare.

By: chris y

chris y — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 13:17:38 +0000

27: Needs real shortcrust pastry, such as you should be able to buy in any supermarket. The lemon (optional IMO), is there to cut the sweetness, not to add flavour.

By: Richard J

Richard J — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 11:43:13 +0000

Parkin is essentially gingerbread cake, while a flpajack is essentially oats, butter and sugar.

By: Henry (not the famous one)

Henry (not the famous one) — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 09:08:28 +0000

Boycott Whole Foods.

By: vivian

vivian — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 08:15:11 +0000

WOW, flattering and fattening at the same time! Thanks – just the thing for school vacations I guess. Would it work with a crumb-crust, do you know, or does it have to be proper pastry? Does the lemon give it lemon flavor or just general tart-ness?

By the way, what is the difference between a parkin and a flapjack? Over here flapjacks are US-style pancakes, yours are like a cross between toffee and brownies.

By: nick s

nick s — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 05:12:20 +0000

I was shocked to find tins of Lyle’s Golden Syrup in the baking section of the local (non-hippie) supermarket. It’s especially useful for flapjacks or parkin, which aren’t quite as tooth-rotting as treacle tart.

I suspect you could boil down cane syrup to a similar viscosity—it’s sold alongside the disgusting shitty corn syrup shit here in the South—but I’ve yet to try it.

By: Eszter

Eszter — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 03:36:46 +0000

Whoa, intriguing. I see now why you have that concern about killing off the readership…