I’ve begun a journey creating food from my favourite children’s literature. With a little inspiration from my friend over at Passionate Life Kitchen, I’m calling this journey:
From pages to plate.
Butterbeer
Today I tried my hand at butterbeer. Butterbeer is Harry Potter’s favourite drink in the books penned by JK Rowling but ‘buttered beer’ is actually a traditional Tudor recipe. I understand it also appears in The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. Heston Blumenthal bought the recipe back from the archives in his Tudor Feast. I have tweaked that recipe so my version best resembles the description of the drink by Harry Potter. I chose a beer that had nutty notes, James Squire’s Amber Ale. If you know one with caramel notes I think that would be good too. Indeed, the result tastes a bit like butterscotch, but ‘less sickly’ and warms you all the way through. It’s quite a rich drink, so I tracked down some mini beer mugs to serve it in.
Serves 2-3
| 345 | millilitres | James Squire’s Amber Ale |
| 1 | teaspoon | vanilla extract |
| 1 | pinch | ground cinnamon |
| 1/3 | cup | brown sugar |
| 2 | large | free-range egg yolks |
| 25 | grams | butter |
Place the beer, vanilla and cinnamon in a small saucepan and heat gently.
Meanwhile, bet the brown sugar and egg yolks till pale and fluffy.
When the beer mixture is hot, but not boiling, whisk in the egg yolk mixture. Continue whisking to create a foam on top and heat till the liquid begins to thicken. When this happens, the foam will also thicken. Turn the heat off and whisk through the butter.
Serve in small beer glasses. Enjoy.
That would certainly keep you going for a good few hours. We were just talking today about the young JKR and how much she learned?/transcribed? from the scholarly Tolkein.
Absolutely! The butterbeer was really delicious. You shold give it a go.
I think JKR would have taken a lot from Tolkein. She took so much from earlier literature, and so much from the English language, particularly the old language and old practises. I’m constantly impressed by it.