turkish delight au poisson

There was, understandably, consternation in the kitchen last night. I decided to test a recipe for Turkish Delight and, as this meant standing by the stove for an hour, I reckoned I might as well cook a smoked haddock kedgeree for tea at the same time. Mmmmm, fishy, turmeric-infused Turkish Delight, anyone? However, the fears of Simon and the children were allayed as I stirred the glutinous mass of what looked like sticky Vaseline and remembered to change spatulas when moving to the rice and fish.

We've made Turkish Delight before but it didn't turn out well. TD has a very strange texture but this stuff had the wrong strange texture, was too wet and slimy, and the flavour wasn't sufficiently 'boudoir'. As a result, I wasn't convinced that TD could even be made at home.

But I was not prepared to give up that easily and decided to have one last attempt. I found another recipe, stocked up on sugar and cornflour and set to work creating the extra-thick wallpaper paste-like mix to which we added rosewater and fuchsia food-colouring at the last minute.

Turning it out of the tin this morning, I could see that it had worked well. It is beautifully, pinkly translucent and gently scented, and when I cut it up and covered it with snowy icing sugar and cornflour, I could almost imagine myself in Narnia.

And how does it taste? Well, I reckon it's the closest I'll get to the real thing when making it in a domestic kitchen. It's soft and sticky yet firm and yielding. It's sweet and perfumed and it makes you very thirsty. It's not authentic Turkish Delight because I really don't think you can beat TD made the traditional way in Turkey. But I like to think it might tempt Edmund in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

One thing, though. You can cook TD and kedgeree at the same time, but I wouldn't say you'd get any Michelin stars for serving them together.

Or maybe I'm wrong. Now I come to think of it, my rose-scented, gelatinous Turkish Delight and smoked fish combination is not a million miles away from Heston Blumenthal's signature dish of oysters and passion fruit jelly with lavender... And look at the way he's convinced people it's what they want.

Comments

[Laura A.]

You astound me, Jane. I cannot imagine having the courage to attempt TD. Those are such beautiful photos. They seem lit from within!

And this post proves just how necessary your book is! There are so many people out there who've read children's classics but have no idea what the foods mentioned actually are.

I'm also amused by the fact that there seems to be clear delineation among people (rather like coconut and raisins)--you either love 'em or hate 'em.

[carol]

It looks delicious to me sitting here. But I know what you mean, TD had a very unusual texture and feel in the mouth. But maybe TD and kedgergee is the way to go. Although (thankfully I think) the craze of fusion cooking is now passe I believe.

[stinkerbell]

my incredulousness expands with each time I see you try something new...

[Anne Kaz]

hi I m from turkiye and advice for you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cezerye....delicious. http://www.yogurtland.com/images/cezerye/cezerye.jpg....http://turkishexporter.net/default.asp?islem=firmaindex&fh=S&firmaid=18045&sf=1

:) fondly bye..

[Tui]

I had a Turkish Delight-studded icecream at a Melbourne restaurant last week. In fact, not only was the icecream flavoured with TD, but with whole rose petals and glace ginger, then garnished with a topknot of Persian fairy floss. Perfectly lovely.

[SewDelish]

Turkish Delight is my absolute favourite treat. Oooh please can I have some? I haven't made any for a long time. You have made my mouth water just reading about it!

[sheila]

Love that pinkness in the sunshine - looks perfect

[Novembrance]

I'm so impressed that you transformed a 'bad magic food' into a good, ordinary one. (Well, not ordinary; that color is gorgeous.)

[heatherly]

my grandad was a movie prop master. so we just happened to have all these fur coats... we dressed all the ladies in fur and the boys wore their armor, and went to see narnia at the theatre. i snuck in turkish delight. and as the witch enticed edmund, i passed it down our row.

it was great.
bought at world market, now i want to try to make some :-)

[Sarah]

yum yum!! its a great fave of my mum's is rose flavour turkish delight. although strictly speaking it should be creme de menthe flavour to tempt edmund :-) you clever thing to make it yourself, and such a lovely colour too.

[lena]

you are amazing. i bought the gentle art on a trip to the uk this fall and i am certain your new book will require another trip.

my sister and i were obsessed with turkish delight growing up and as adults went to see the lion, the witch and the wardrobe more times than we should have probably.

i am so impressed.

[rosie]

stop! stop! drooool...

[lisa]

Dorothy L. Sayers has a thing or two to say on the subject of Turkish Delight.

[Claudia]

We're making Kergee this weekend for a brunch we're throwing! And puffy cheese bake and grilled tomatoes. YUM.

And I have to say that I totally get making the TD. I've made Mochi and have attempted (will attempt again when I get my nerve back) Torrone (if you want to see the horrofic mess):

http://healmyhands.typepad.com/heal_my_life/dessert_first/index.html

And have always wanted to try the TD. Hmmmm, perhaps next weekend, I have the rosewater!

[katy]

I'm so glad to see this - when you first started posting about this project, i immediately thought of Turkish Delight. I loved the Narnia books as a kid and never knew what turkish delight was!

[Lulu]

I'm drooling just looking at these pictures! Oooh, Turkish Delight... I've only had it a couple times in my life, but it is amazing! And its place in the Narnia books definitely adds to its glamour!

[di]

Oh I love turkish delight. Boudoir is exactly the right word. Now I'm just wondering how they make it in Turkey?

[susan]

yum, recipe???

[sandrine]

au poisson????

[laura]

what recipe did you use? it looks lovely. i've been tempted to try and make turkish delight after reading that the store bought stuff wasn't up to par with homemade.

[Tracey]

Do you even know how much I adore TD? I would never dream of trying to make it though!