Historians tell us the people have been decorating eggs for thousands of years. The practice was inspired by religion. Techniques and styles vary according to culture and period. Decorative eggs were also fabricated from other foods, most notably confectionery. Notes here:
"Because eggs embody the essence of life, people from ancient times to the modern day have surrounded them with magical beliefs, endowing them with the power not only to create life but to prophesy the future. Eggs symbolise birth and are believed to ensure fertility. They also symbolise rebirth, and thus long life and even immortality. Eggs represent life in its various stages of development, encompassing the mystery and magic of creation. . . . .The concept of eggs as life symbols went hand in hand with the concept of eggs as emblems of immortality. Easter eggs, in fact, symbolise immortality, and particularly the resurrection of Christ, who rose from a sealed tomb just as a bird breaks through an eggshell."
---Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews [ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara CA] 2000 (p.85-6)
I like to decorate the eggs. Our Easter eggs are always coloured hard-boiled eggs with a mark of the leaf or the herb that I used. They are shared at the table on Easter Sunday.
 |
| Easter Eggs-2013 |
The tradition of exchanging decorated candies, chocolates, jelly beans and other sweet at Easter flourished in the 19th century. Coincidentally, this is the same time folks began exchanging the same type of specialised sweets for Valentines Day. Advances made possible by the Industrial Revolution are responsible for this. Panorama eggs (hollow sugar eggs with scenes inside) feature prominently in traditional Easter Baskets. Marshmallow Peeps were introduced in 1953.
[1820 London]
" Egg Comfits:
'Have the two halves of an egg made in box-wood; take some gum paste, roll it out, thin, and put into the casts, make it lay close, cut off with a knife the outside edges quite smooth, let them dry...They are usually filled with imitations of all sorts of fruits--In Paris, they put in several nick-nacks, little almanacks, smelling bottles with essences, and even things of value, for presents. Join the two halves with some of the same paste, moistened with a little water and gum arabic'... These eggs were covered with syrup in the comfit pan, which considering the fragility of sugar paste, must have been a delicate operation. It is still entirely feasible to make such eggs, although no one but the most dedicated of experimental confectioner would ever attempt to pan them. The underlying concept has survived, but removed to an entirely different branch of confectionery, to enjoy enormous success as the chocolate Easter eggs."
---Sugar Plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books: Devon] 2004 (p.130)
We love our sweets or Easter candy. Easter chocolate eggs are shared at table or for Easter egg hunting. Often I bake a special cake on Easter and decorate with chocolate ganache and chocolate eggs.
Our Easter Sweets-Cakes decorated with chocolate eggs.
Why do some people serve ham for Easter dinner?
Historians tell us religions sometimes use food (taboos/traditional holiday meals) to forge an identity and create community. Early Christians embraced ham, in part, to proclaim their religious beliefs.
According to the Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade editor in chief [Mac Millan: New York] 1987, volume 5 (p.558):
"Among Easter foods, the most significant is the Easter lamb, which is in many places the main dish of the Easter Sunday meal. Corresponding to the Passover lamb and to Christ, the Lamb of God, this dish has become a central symbol of Easter. Also popular among European and Americans on Easter is ham because the pig was considered a symbol of luck in pre-Christian Europe."
I cook Lamb for Easter Sunday, but this time I love to have ham as a flavour of the Easter Crown bread. It is made out of brioche dough (recipe of basic brioche, please look up older post). Filled the brioche with ham, shaped into a crown then baked in a hot oven until golden brown.
The Preparation:
Easter Breads
Bread has long played an essential role in religious ceremonies and holidays. This is true in many cultures and cuisines. Holiday bread is often baked in symbolic shapes and includes unique ingredients. Easter bread often features eggs, a commodity forbidden by the Catholic Church during Lent. English Hot Cross Buns, Italian Colombia & Russian Kulich are two prime examples of this culinary genre
Bread symbolism
"Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ, but it also celebrates fertility and the season of renewal...On Holy Thursday to commemorate the Last Supper, when Christ shared bread with his disciples, they prepare in absolute silence a brioche or egg bread called kulich. On the Saturday night of Resurrection, they walk in procession to church with a basket of eggs, holding a candle in one hand, and the bread in the other. They exchange a kiss and ask each other's forgiveness for any offends they might have committed against one another, as a token of peace for the future."
---The History of Bread, Bernard Dupaigne, Harry N. Abrams: New York] 1999 (p. 137, 139)
 |
| Plated Brioche Round |
Pictured: the brioche before it was baked.
This year Easter preparation, I baked Hot Cross Buns successfully (the recipe, please look at the previous post).
Glossy and Soft Hot Cross Buns
It is easy to prepare and treat yourself by eating them warm, freshly baked, out from the oven, just for a taste, as traditionally the buns are served on Good Friday. It freezes well, bakes a few batches to get ready for Easter.
"Easter has always had a close association with food. The word comes from the name for the Anglo-Saxon goddess of light and spring, Eostre, and special dishes were cooked in her honour so that the year would be endowed with fertility. Most important of these dishes was a small spiced bun, from which our hot cross but derives but from which also the traditional spice sweet bread of Greece probably had its origin.
---"An ancient tradition," J. Passmore, Courier Mail (Queensland Australia), March 26, 1997, LIFE; Pg.40
Hot Cross Buns
"The practice of eating special small cakes at the time of the Spring festival seems to date back at least to the ancient Greeks. But the English custom of eating spiced buns on Good Friday was perhaps institutionalised in Tudor times, when a London bylaw was introduced forbidding the sale of such buns except on Good Friday, at Christmas, and at burials. The first intimation we have of a cross appearing on the bun, in remembrance of Christ's cross, comes in Poor Robin's Almanack (1733): Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs, with one or two a penny hot cross buns'(version of the once familiar street-dry "One-a-penny, two-a-penny, hot cross buns'). At this stage, the cross was presumably simply incised with a knife, rather than piped on in pastry, as is the modern commercial practice. As yet, too, the name' of such buns was just cross buns: James Bowell recorded in his Life of Johnson (179): 9 Apr. A 1773 Being Good Friday I breakfasted with him and cross-buns/' The fact that they were generally sold hot, however, seems to have led by the early nineteenth century to the incorporation of warm into their name/."
--- An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press: Oxford] 2002 (p.164)
We are having two types of buns for Easter this year, they are the hot cross buns and the Good Friday buns.
Good Friday Buns (based on recipe 1875)
 |
| Good Friday Buns |
I adjusted the recipe, and it worked well, I baked the buns today and had a try, it is soft and delicious.
Good Friday Buns
75g butter
500 g plain flour
150 warm milk mixed with 18 g yeast
350 ml warm milk
A pinch of salt
Mix all ingredients to make a light batter.
Place it in a warm place to rise to double (about 2 hours)
Add in 125 g sugar, 125 g mixed dried fruits (sultana,
currants) and add a teaspoon mixed spices (clove, nutmeg and
mace powder).
(Have extra flour ready) to knead the dough very lightly
Knead this well into a dough, make it up into buns, and
place them on buttered baking – tins.
Make a cross on them with the back of a knife, brush a little clarified
butter over the top. And let them stand for 20 minutes, and bake in a good hot oven 175 C degrees (a fan forced) for 22 minutes.
Makes 12-16
The Process: Preparation and Baking
 |
| The Ingredients |
 |
| Mix ingredients to a soft batter |
 |
| The batter rises after 2 hours |
 |
| Adding and mixing with allspices |
 |
| Adding the dried fruits, mixing together |
 |
| Mix the fruit and batter thoroughly |
 |
| Rub fingers with flour - knead lightly. |
 |
| Kneading to a smooth dough |
 |
| Cut into 16, shape into balls (88 g a ball) |
 |
| Place the balls on a buttered tin brush with clarified butter, and make crosses with the back of a knife. Let them stand for 20 minutes before baking. |
 |
| Freshly baked buns, with a golden crust and soft in the middle. |
More baking, but I think it is good to have two varieties of hot cross buns. The recent recipe is the hot cross buns that I put together, and the Good Friday buns recipe is based on an old method from 1875. Both are excellent, and they have their own character.
I hope you enjoy this post about the food and symbolism of Easter.
I may post some of our Easter feast, the food that we may have for our Easter Table, as ideas for the next year Easter. On that note I wish you all to have a Happy Easter 2014. Stay safe and enjoy the festivity.
Until Next Post
Susy
No comments:
Post a Comment