On 12/30/2016 1:26 PM, U.S. Janet B. wrote:
> On Fri, 30 Dec 2016 11:59:23 -0700, graham > wrote:
>
>> On 12/30/2016 11:18 AM, U.S. Janet B. wrote:
>>>
>>> I come from a long tradition of big deal Christmas Eve/Day and New
>>> Year's Eve/Day meals, guests, cooking, baking and decorating. It got
>>> to the point where I was getting seriously out of sorts, depressed
>>> even when the first of December rolled around. I didn't want to do
>>> all those cookies and breads and spreads etc., etc., anymore. It was
>>> a real challenge for me to work up the courage after several years of
>>> feeling this way to contact the people that were used to coming to
>>> our house for the events and tell them I wasn't doing it anymore. I
>>> can't tell you what a relief it is to be able to enjoy the holidays
>>> for my husband and myself and no one else.
>>> But, here I am today, kind of fidgety. I doesn't seem right to just
>>> sit down and read a book . I seems like I should be making a special
>>> meal or something. I think I am going to order a pizza delivered
>>> around dinner time instead. I did put out half a loaf of my honey
>>> wheat bread for the squirrels -- but that's all the food prep that I
>>> am doing today.
>>> Happy New Year
>>> Janet US
>>>
>> Every xmas my Mother would bake a skep full of mince pies, the same
>> quantity of sausage rolls and also of Suffolk rusks for her parents for
>> the inevitably large, family gatherings over the xmas/NY. They were all
>> consumed without a thought for the trouble she had gone to so one year
>> she ordered all the sausage rolls from the village baker. No-one noticed
>> so from then on, she stopped doing the mega-bakes and bought-in instead.
>> Her only regret was not having done so sooner!
>> Graham
>
> I didn't know for sure what a skep was so I looked it up -- I had the
> gist of that in my mind. The Suffolk rusks have me puzzled. I know
> what a rusk is from using them as a teething soother for babies. I've
> looked at the recipe for Suffolk rusks and I can't quite imagine them.
> I my mind I have it sort of like a crisper english muffin half -- not
> hard like a US cracker. ???? More info please
> Janet US
>
Initially, they look like what you would call a biscuit but they are
then halved, while still warm and put back in the oven for a few
minutes. They are firm to hardish, depending on how long you leave them
for the second bake. They are spread with butter and eaten with cheese
or with a dollop of jam. They are poor people's food, cheap and easy to
make and limited, I think, to Suffolk and Norfolk in eastern England.

As they are twice-cooked, they are a biscuit in the real meaning of the
word.
Graham