Abernethy biscuit

Last updated

Abernethy biscuit
Place of origin United Kingdom
Created by John Abernethy
Main ingredients Hardtack, sugar, caraway seeds

The Abernethy biscuit was invented by surgeon John Abernethy in the 18th century as a digestive improver and hence aid to health. [1]

Contents

Abernethy believed that most diseases were due to disorders in digestion. The Abernethy biscuit is a type of digestive biscuit, a baked good originally designed to be eaten as a support to proper digestion. [2] In creating his biscuit, Abernethy was following a trend of other medical practitioners like English William Oliver of Bath, Somerset, inventor of the Bath Oliver; and the American preacher Sylvester Graham, a nutrition expert after whom the graham cracker is named. [3]

The Abernethy biscuit is an adaptation of the plain captain's biscuit or hardtack, with the added ingredients of sugar (for energy), and caraway seeds because of their reputation for having a carminative (prevents flatulence) effect [4] making them beneficial in digestive disorders. The biscuit is a mix between an all butter biscuit and a shortcake, raising through use of ammonium bicarbonate. According to The Oxford Companion to Food , a baker at a shop where Abernethy regularly had lunch created the new biscuit when Abernethy suggested it, naming it after him. [5]

Abernethy biscuits are still popular in Scotland. They are manufactured commercially by Simmers (Edinburgh), The Westray Bakehouse (Orkney Islands), Walls Bakeries (Shetland Islands), and by Stag Bakeries (Isle of Lewis). [6]

Sample ingredient list

The following are ingredients: [7]

The biscuit in history

When British statesman William Gladstone was Vice-President of the Board of Trade in the 1840s, his only luncheon consisted of an Abernethy biscuit, brought to him by his wife. [8]

In the libretto of the comic opera Princess Toto written by W. S. Gilbert (first performance 24 June 1876) the king disguises himself as an Abernethy biscuit. [9]

In Charles Dickens's first novel, The Pickwick Papers , the character Mr. Solomon Pell is found, "in court, regaling himself, ... , with a cold collation of an Abernethy biscuit and a saveloy". [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cookie</span> Small, flat and sweetened baked food (biscuit)

A cookie, or a biscuit, is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pastry</span> Various baked products made of dough

Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as bakers' confectionery. The word "pastries" suggests many kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and eggs. Small tarts and other sweet baked products are called pastries as a synecdoche. Common pastry dishes include pies, tarts, quiches, croissants, and pasties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cracker (food)</span> Flat, dry baked biscuit

A cracker is a flat, dry baked biscuit typically made with flour. Flavorings or seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds, or cheese, may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top before baking. Crackers are often branded as a nutritious and convenient way to consume a staple food or cereal grain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biscuit</span> Sweet baked product

A biscuit, in most English speaking countries, is a flour-based baked and shaped food product. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. Types of biscuit include sandwich biscuits, digestive biscuits, ginger biscuits, shortbread biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate-coated marshmallow treats, Anzac biscuits, biscotti, and speculaas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dough</span> Paste used in cooking

Dough is a thick, malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops. Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes yeast or other leavening agents, as well as ingredients such as fats or flavorings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digestive biscuit</span> Biscuit

A digestive biscuit, sometimes described as a sweet-meal biscuit, is a semi-sweet biscuit that originated in Scotland. The digestive was first developed in 1839 by two Scottish doctors to aid digestion. The term digestive is derived from the belief that they had antacid properties around the time the biscuit was first introduced due to the use of sodium bicarbonate as an ingredient. Historically, some producers used diastatic malt extract to "digest" some of the starch that existed in flour prior to baking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shortbread</span> Scottish biscuit

Shortbread or shortie is a traditional Scottish biscuit usually made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three to four parts plain wheat flour. Shortbread does not contain any leavening, such as baking powder or baking soda. Shortbread is widely associated with Christmas and Hogmanay festivities in Scotland, and some Scottish brands are exported around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheesecake</span> Sweet cheese-based dessert

Cheesecake is a sweet dessert made with a soft fresh cheese, eggs, and sugar. It may have a crust or base made from crushed cookies, graham crackers, pastry, or sometimes sponge cake. Cheesecake may be baked or unbaked, and is usually refrigerated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeira cake</span> British sponge cake

Madeira cake is a sponge or butter cake in traditional British and Irish cookery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fat rascal</span> Traditional cake from Yorkshire

A fat rascal, closely related to the historical turf cake, is a type of cake, similar to a scone or rock cake in both taste and ingredients. It originated in Yorkshire at least as early as the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bath bun</span>

The Bath bun is a sweet roll made from a milk-based yeast dough with crushed sugar sprinkled on top after baking. Variations in ingredients include enclosing a lump of sugar in the bun or adding candied fruit peel, currants, raisins or sultanas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ka'ak</span> Arabic baked goods

Ka'ak or kahqa is the common Arabic word for biscuit, in its various senses, and can refer to several different types of baked goods produced throughout the Arab world and the Near East. The bread, in Middle Eastern countries, is similar to a dry and hardened biscuit and mostly ring-shaped. Similar pastry, called "kue kaak", is also popular in Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makhan Bada</span> South Asian donuts

Makhan Bada is a traditional dessert originating from the state of Rajasthan in Indian subcontinent. It is also known as Balusaahi and is similar to a glazed doughnut in terms of ingredients, but differs in texture and taste. Makhan Bada also resembles Rajasthani Baati in terms of size & preparation but resembles more with Medu Vada in terms of shape. In South India, a similar pastry is known as badusha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petit four</span> French confection

A petit four is a small bite-sized confectionery or savory appetizer. The name is French, petit four, meaning "small oven".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qurabiya</span> Shortbread-like cookies found in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire

Qurabiya, is a shortbread-type biscuit, usually made with ground almonds. Versions are found in most Arab and Ottoman cuisines, with various different forms and recipes. They are similar to polvorones from Andalusia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cat tongue</span> Biscuit

A cat tongue is a small biscuit (cookie) or chocolate bar available in a number of European, Asian, and South American countries. The name comes from the fact that the biscuits are long and flat, somewhat like a cat's tongue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limpa</span> Scandinavian rye bread flavored with caraway and orange peel

Vörtbröd is a sweet Scandinavian rye bread, associated with Swedish cuisine. It is a yeast-leavened spice loaf, sweetened with brown sugar and molasses which comes in a large variety in regards to whether or not butter-enriched, and which spices are being used. Traditional bread spices are anise, caraway, fennel seeds, and bitter orange.

References

  1. Laura Halpin Rinsky; Glenn Rinsky (2009). The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional . Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. pp.  1. ISBN   978-0-470-00955-0. OCLC   173182689.
  2. "Abernethy Biscuits". The Foods of England. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  3. "Abernethy biscuit". theoldfoodie.com. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  4. Prosper Montagné (1961). Larousse Gastronomique: The Encyclopedia of Food, Wine & Cookery . New York: Crown Publishers, Inc. pp.  209–210.
  5. Alan Davidson (2006). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 78. ISBN   0-19-280681-5.
  6. "Abernethy biscuit". bakersandlarners.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  7. "Traditional Scottish Recipes - Abernethy Biscuits" . Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  8. George William Erskine Russell. Seeing and Hearing. p. 169. Retrieved 3 November 2018 via Project Gutenberg.
  9. W. S. Gilbert. "Princess Toto – An entirely new and original English Comic Opera in Three Acts" (PDF). The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive. p. 57. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  10. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, (1836) p. 774, Charles Dickens