Bonfire Night Recipe

Recipes

While the fireworks are certainly the main attraction nowadays on Guy Fawkes Night, for the children, as well as the adults, the food comes a very close second. In the United Kingdom, there are several foods that we traditionally eat on Guy Fawkes Night:

Toffee apples
Baked potatoes
Black peas with vinegar
Pie and peas
Black treacle goods such as
Bonfire toffee and
parkin

And if you’re having a bonfire or firework party in your garden and making food for your friends and family, the bonfire comes in very handy for cooking.

Once the bonfire has cooled down a bit, you can use the smoldering ashes to roast your food. Wrap it in tinfoil first – corn on the cob, mushrooms brushed in oil, chunks of peppers, and garlic bread all work really well and are easy to do.

Use sticks or long skewers to toast marshmallows, chestnuts, or bread.

For food with longer cooking time, like our baked potatoes, starting off the baking in the oven will save you time and they can easily be transferred to the bonfire embers, wrapped in tinfoil for when you are ready to finish them off.

Also, if you’re going to an organised firework display away from your home, you can make food to take with you. You can make some Guy Fawkes biscuits or toffee apples as a sweet treat, but you can also use tin foil to wrap up hot chicken legs or stuffed baked potatoes, they will stay hot for ages and keep your hands warm. For that traditional touch, bake some ginger cake or that classic Bonfire Night dish, parkin, always a favourite.

Then, all you need to make your night go with a bang is some mulled wine or hot punch for the adults, and for the kids try a children’s punch as well, made out of hot apple juice (warm it gently with a tiny sprinkling of cinnamon) or hot ginger milk, delicious.

The good old favourite parkin is a lovely and filling ginger cake made with oatmeal and treacle. It is an ideal food for the 'parky' weather November brings and is traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night.

There are hundreds of variations of Parkin recipes. Ask your Nan, maybe she has a secret one!

Here is one of our favourites.

Parkin
Ingredients:

4 oz margarine
8 oz oatmeal
2 teaspoonfuls ginger
1/2 pint of milk.
4 tablespoonfuls sugar
8 oz S.R. flour
8 oz treacle

Method:

Rub margarine into the flour and oatmeal.
Add the sugar and ginger, mix thoroughly.
Warm the treacle and mix into the paste, adding milk if necessary.
Put into a greased pudding tin and cook for one hour in a moderately slow oven.

We love bonfire toffee, and it’s great to hand out to your friends and family around the bonfire.