Eating In

Miss Bright, Northern Counties School of Cookery, 1929

(From ‘Good Things in England’ by Florence White

Hinnie is used throughout Tyneside as a term of endearment for both men and women. It’s a bit like the Scottish ‘hen’ though that is usually for women. These hinnies make a singing noise whilst cooking.

1lb plain flour
4oz lard
4oz butter
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
6oz currants
milk, enough to make a stiff pastebutter to spread

Rub the butter and lard into the flour. Mix in the salt, cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda. Add the currants, well cleaned. Make into a firm dough with the milk. Shape into a round. Roll it out to ¼ inch thick. Rub a girdle with a bit of mutton fat and make it hot. Place the cake on it. Cook till the underside is brown. Then turn it over with a broad bladed knife (in northern counties they use a wooden spurtle) and cook the other side. Turn it again to heat it well through, cut into convenient pieces, split, butter and serve piping hot.