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Traditional Guernsey Recipes
Here you will find a selection of traditional Guernsey recipes handed down through
the generations. 
1lb Plain white flour
1oz Fresh yeast
½ oz of salt
4oz Guernsey butter
8 fl. oz warm
milk
½ oz of sugar
Guernsey Biscuits
Donkey Dining
Sieve and mix the salt and flour, Cream the butter, yeast & sugar and add the warm milk. Leave for ten minutes.Mix the creamed butter, milk etc with the flour and knead it well. Cover the bowl and leave to stand in a warm place for 1 ½ hours to rise. Knead the dough again lightly on a floured board and form into round shapes. Flatten the balls or roll them into biscuit shapes. Place on a greased baking sheet and leave in a warm place for 20 minutes.Bake in a preheated hot oven 200°C (400°F) Gas mark 6 for 20 minutes.
500g/1lb plain white flour
250g/8oz butter
310g/10oz dried currants, sultanas or raisins
60g/2oz mixed peel
15g/halfoz fresh yeast or 2tsp dried yeast or 1 pkt dried yeast.
1tsp sugar
Pinch of salt
150ml/5floz milk or water
If using fresh yeast, place in a bowl with one tsp sugar, add a little tepid milk and stir until dissolved. Add the rest of the milk and leave to become frothy. If using dried yeast, place the tepid milk in a bowl with one tsp sugar, sprinkle on the yeast and leave to become frothy. Use packet yeast according to instructions.
Rub the butter into the flour and salt. When the yeast is frothy, add to the mixture and mix to a soft dough; if it’s dry, add a little more milk or water. Knead for five minutes so that the dough becomes soft and smooth. Add the fruit, kneading again until it is well mixed in. Cover with a tea towel. Leave in a warm place to rise for about two hours until the dough is double in size. Turn onto a floured board, knead once more.
Place in a buttered tin, approximately 23 cm/9inches by 18cms/7inches. Leave for twenty minutes to rise a second time. Bake for forty-five minutes to one hour, in a moderate oven 200°C, 400°F, Gas 6.
Place in a greased tin, approximately 23 cm/9inches by 18cms/7inches. Leave for thirty minutes to rise a second time. Bake for forty-five minutes to one hour, in a moderate oven 200°C, 400°F, Gas 6.
Guernsey Gache
1½ lb cooking apples
3 oz granulated sugar
2 oz vegetable suet
4 oz Self Raising flour
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp cinnamon powder
3 oz granulated sugar
2 oz vegetable suet
4 oz Self Raising flour
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp cinnamon powder
Heat oven to 350°F, 180°C or gas mark 4.
Grease a shallow baking tin 6 - 7 ins square. Peel, core and chop apples into a large mixing bowl, leaving them in quite large chunks.
Sprinkle sugar over, then chop the apples into the sugar with a sharp knife until the juices run and the sugar has dissolved.
Add suet, flour and cinnamon, and mix well. Mix in beaten egg until you reach the consistency of a smooth batter. Pour into prepared tin. Level the top and sprinkle with a little more sugar and cinnamon Bake in preheated oven until the top is a deep golden brown- about 30 to 40 minutes depending on the depth of the mixture.
Gâche Melée
Right up until the end of the Occupation, bean jars, covered with brown paper and tied with string and with the owner's name on a label, were very often carried in a bucket to a bakery to cook overnight. Payment of a penny would be made.
1lb haricot beans (500g)
Piece of leg pork on the bone weighing about 1 1/2 lbs (750g)
Alternatively, one pig's trotter with some extra pork as there isn't much meat on a trotter
2 large onions
3-4 bay leaves
Salt and Pepper
Soak the haricot beans in cold water over night. Rinse them and place in an earthenware bean jar or casserole dish. Push the meat in amongst the beans. Add the onions, bay leaves and pepper. Cover and cook gently in a moderate oven for at least five hours, even overnight, but make sure the oven isn't too hot. Check occasionally to make sure there is enough liquid. Towards the end of cooking season with salt
Bean Jar or Bean Crock
Guernsey French: enne Jarraie d'Haricaots
Guernsey French: enne Jarraie d'Haricaots
As many ormers as possible
A strip or two of belly pork
2-3 carrots
2-3 shallots
Guernsey butter
Bay Leaf
Salt and Pepper
Soak the Ormers in fresh water for an hour. Prize them from their shells, scrub, trim and beat with a steak hammer. Flour the Ormers and brown in a frying pan with the Guernsey butter and a little oil. Cut the belly pork into cubes and place in a casserole dish. Sliced the carrots and place in the casserole dish with the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Add the Ormers to the casserole dish. Place in pre-heated oven at 160/170 °c for two hours. Turn down the oven and allow the casserole to simmer until cooked. Enjoy with a Guernsey Biscuit and Guernsey butter
A strip or two of belly pork
2-3 carrots
2-3 shallots
Guernsey butter
Bay Leaf
Salt and Pepper
Soak the Ormers in fresh water for an hour. Prize them from their shells, scrub, trim and beat with a steak hammer. Flour the Ormers and brown in a frying pan with the Guernsey butter and a little oil. Cut the belly pork into cubes and place in a casserole dish. Sliced the carrots and place in the casserole dish with the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Add the Ormers to the casserole dish. Place in pre-heated oven at 160/170 °c for two hours. Turn down the oven and allow the casserole to simmer until cooked. Enjoy with a Guernsey Biscuit and Guernsey butter
Ormer Casserole
If you have any traditional recipes you would like to contribute to this page send us an e-mail at contactus@thewanderingdonkeys.com
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