In June 1983 Oxhey Village Environment Group (OVEG) published a Recipe & Household Hints book as a fundraising endeavour.
The collection of 66 favourite recipes and useful household tips were gathered from members and friends and, to add a dash of nostalgia, augmented with recipes and tips from my grandmother’s 1909 copy of The Bushey Book of What to Cook and How to Cook It.
OVEG’s book was produced in the days of Gestetner stencils and smelly pink correcting liquid. I mentioned the publication in the Watford Observer in 2021 when writing about my grandmother’s 1909 Bushey recipe book, but I feel it deserves an article of its own.
It was a real team effort, to which members and friends responded enthusiastically. A number of us on the committee when I was Publicity Secretary actively gathered the many contributions and were delighted when we received several recipes that had been handed down through Oxhey members’ families.
In September 1983, the Watford Observer promoted the book as ‘a pleasing Christmas gift for any cook, especially one who has connections with Oxhey Village and can identify with contributors and their roads’.
Ian Mackay, designer of inspirational posters for OVEG talks and the annual Summer Fayres, produced an attractive cottage garden-style cover for the recipe book. The first edition of 200 copies sold well; in fact, it sold out in three months. We ran a second edition of 260 copies in March 1989 to coincide with OVEG’s Summer Fayre, where it sold for 75p a copy.
The oldest recipe, Watford Heath Crumble Pudding, which dated back 144 years, was submitted by OVEG member and Oxhey’s own local historian, Miss Marjorie Bray from Kingsfield Road. First published in St Matthew’s Magazine in 1882, it only had four ingredients: ‘3 tablespoons of flour, 1 ounce of finely cut peel, 1 pint of cold milk and half a pound of treacle [a lot!]. Add sufficient milk to the flour to make a paste and put it into a saucepan with the remainder of the milk. Stir and boil until thick. Mix in the treacle and peel, then place in a pie dish. Bake in a ‘quick’ oven for half an hour.’
OVEG member Mrs J. Doe’s grandmother brought up a large family in Villiers Road in the early 1870s. Her contribution was an old family recipe for Grandma’s Faggots, which included a pig’s caul. The caul had to be cut into four-inch squares and filled with breadcrumbs, minced liver, pork and onions before joining the sides downwards in a greased baking tin. If a caul wasn’t available, the mixture could be shaped into balls and covered with foil. It baked in the centre of the oven for one hour, Gas Mark 7 for 50 to 60 minutes. In true Mrs Beeton style, the recipe fed 16.
Mrs Marjorie Taylor of Cross Road gave us her recipe for Super Bread Pudding; ‘¾ lb. stale bread; 2 oz. each of currants, sultanas, halved glace cherries and almonds; 3 oz each of raisins and butter; two eggs; 4½ oz soft brown sugar; grated rind of one lemon; chopped nuts; and ½ teaspoon of mixed spice. Soak the bread in water till crusts soften. Squeeze out water, add fruit, sugar and chopped nuts, melt butter slowly, lightly beat eggs with lemon rind and spices and mix. Place into greased baking tin and cook for 1½ hours on Gas Mark 5. Dredge with caster sugar and serve hot or cold.’ Mrs Taylor indicated that the recipe was also a family favourite of Mrs. Mary Dodd, former Mayor of Watford.
Mrs Ruth Marshall, wife of signwriter Frank Marshall of 35 Upper Paddock Road, offered her tasty Mock Crab recipe: ‘½ lb tomatoes; 3 oz grated cheese; 1 oz butter; 1 tablespoon fresh breadcrumbs; 1 egg; pepper and salt. Blanch the tomatoes, cut them up and place in a saucepan with butter and breadcrumbs and cook for two or three minutes. Add grated cheese and, when melted, remove from heat. Gradually add beaten egg. Return to the heat and cook until mixture thickens. Season and serve hot on toast or, when cold, in sandwiches. Delicious’, she noted!
Or you could choose from then-Mayoress Jill Greenstreet’s favourite teatime recipes: Lemon Dairy Sponge, Pineapple Fruit Cakes or Chocolate Trifle.
Also included in the OVEG recipe book was this verse from The Bushey Book of What to Cook and How to Cook It, 1909: ‘I guessed the pepper, the soup was too hot, I guessed the water, it dried in the pot, I guessed the salt, and what do you think? We did nothing else the whole day but drink. I guessed the sugar; the sauce was too sweet; and so, by my guessing, I spoilt our treat. And now I guess nothing, for cooking by guess is sure to result in a terrible mess.’ Something that resonates today, just as it did in Bushey in 1909!
OVEG’s recipe book was a fun venture that involved the committee and the 300-plus members, and brought in welcome funds for the group.
- Lesley Dunlop is the daughter of the late Ted Parrish, a well-known local historian and documentary filmmaker. He wrote 96 nostalgic articles for the ‘Evening Post-Echo’ in 1982-83 which have since been published in ‘Echoes of Old Watford, Bushey & Oxhey’, available at www.pastdayspublishing.com and Bushey Museum. Lesley is currently working on ‘Two Lives, Two World Wars’, a companion volume that explores her father’s and grandfather’s lives and war experiences, in which Watford, Bushey and Oxhey’s history will take to the stage once again.
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