Professor Butter Beard and the Earl of Grey (Tea)
“Anthony imagined a time before all that – a time when people sipped Earl Grey tea on a breeze cooled veranda and looked out upon the endless countryside.” – Alan Gibbons, English novelist
It sounds so “Sense and Sensibility.” Simply posh. I hear the rustle of white cotton gowns and the whisper of ladies’ slippers on the stone veranda. The blazing heat of a summer afternoon is subdued by the large brim of a stylish straw hat, a crisp linen suit and silk cravat. Silver spoons audibly tap the sides of the dainty porcelain teacups as they stir a tiny cube of sugar into the hot tea. Puffins and kittiwakes whirl and dance with the clouds in the salty sea air. I’m about to bite into a jam-filled shortbread, and then Nellie barks at a frisky teasing squirrel and I realize I’m sitting in my pajamas in New Jersey writing this week’s blog.
But I am drinking Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
And I am wondering, who is this Earl of Grey? I know more about the tea than the man. Earl Grey tea is a two century old (or more) black tea blend which has been flavored with oil of bergamot oranges, a type of aromatic citrus fruit that is usually grown in the Mediterranean. Traditionally, the blend was made from black teas such as Chinese keemun, and therefore intended to be served without the addition of milk. Some varieties blend the leaves with lapsang souchong which lends a smoky character. Recently, other varieties have been introduced as well, such as green or oolong.
It has been suggested that the Earl Grey blend, or “Earl Grey's Mixture,” may have been named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl of Grey, and British Prime Minister in the 1830s. Food historians have presented a number of theories linking the tea to the Earl. One legend claims that a grateful Chinese mandarin whose son was rescued from drowning by one of Lord Grey's men first presented the blend to the Earl in 1803. The tale appears to be dubious, as Lord Grey never personally set foot in Asia and the use of bergamot oil to scent tea was then unknown in China.
Another legend claims that he received tea flavored with bergamot oil as a gift, probably a diplomatic benefit, as a result of his ending the monopoly held by the East India Company on trade between Britain and China. The Grey family continues to perpetuate their own ownership, claiming the tea was specially blended by a Chinese mandarin for Lord Grey, to suit the water at Howick Hall, the family seat in Northumberland, using bergamot in particular to offset the preponderance of lime in the local water. Lady Grey used it to entertain in London as a political hostess, and it proved so popular that she was asked if it could be sold to others, which is how Twinings came to market it as a brand.
We do have an exquisite portrait of the Earl by Thomas Phillips, a leading 19th century English portrait and subject painter, who captured the likenesses of many of the great men of the day including scientists, artists, writers, poets and explorers. His first employment was as a painter of the stained-glass windows of St George's Chapel at Windsor. He went on to paint the portraits of the Prince of Wales, Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott, the poet Thomas Campbell, the African traveler Dixon Denham, Hugh Clapperton and the Earl Charles Grey. The young Grey is portrayed as an up-and-coming confident Whig politician, fresh off the Napoleonic Wars, self-marketing his campaign to be elected the next Prime Minister of Britain.
That’s all well and good, but I tend to enjoy most an often not mentioned tidbit within his personal history. Before his marriage, Grey had enjoyed a delicious affair with the married Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. Grey met the scandalous Georgiana (recently played by Keira Knightley in “The Duchess”) while attending a Whig society meeting in Devonshire House, and they soon became intimate lovers. In 1791, she became pregnant and was sent to France, where she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, who was then raised by Grey's parents.
I see them sitting at the next table on the sunlit stone veranda. They whisper and giggle, unaware of me watching them as I sip my tea and take another nibble of my shortbread while pretending to read a recent publication of Lord Byron’s poetry. Oh, and did I mention that I baked the shortbreads? I cleverly infused the butter with leaves of Earl Grey’s blend, lemon zest and plenty of vanilla bean seeds. The glaze is both sweet and sour, with freshly squeezed lemon juice, plenty of confectionary sugar and just a pinch of salt. And just to gild the sea-side lily, I sandwiched two cookies with homemade seedless blackberry jam. Very “Sense and Sensibility posh,” wouldn’t you agree?
Earl Grey Shortbread Sandwich Cookies
18-20 Finished Cookies
3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp fine sea salt
3 Tbsp Earl Grey Tea (if using tea bags, 3 Tbsp is roughly six tea bags)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
Zest of one lemon
2 tsp vanilla paste
1 1/2 cup confectionary’s sugar
Glaze:
2 cups confectionary’s sugar
A pinch of fine sea salt
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (roughly two lemons)
Filling:
8 ounces of seedless blackberry jam (or raspberry, or even lemon curd)
1) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and the salt.
2) In a mortar and pestle, grind together the loose-leaf Earl Grey tea and the 1 Tbsp granulated sugar.
3) Place the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer and mix on low to a smooth consistency. Add the tea/sugar, the lemon zest and the vanilla paste and mix to combine.
4) Slowly add the dry mix on low speed until a dough begins to form – do not overmix. Remove the bowl from the mixer and gather the dough into a ball with your hands. Divide the dough into three pieces, flatten them on a sheet pan lined with parchment, cover with plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
5) Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line three sheet pans with parchment paper.
6) Roll the first third of the dough on a lightly floured surface to ¼” thick. Cut into 2” circles and place them on the baking sheets about 1” apart. Gather the scraps, roll again and cut into circles. You should end up with roughly one dozen cookies per pan.
7) Choose your favorite cookie stamp and press onto the cookies. Slowly release the cookie from the stamp, letting gravity be your friend. Bake the first pan of cookies while you prepare the second pan. And then the third.
8) Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the edges are just beginning to brown. Remove them from the oven, let them cool for five minutes on the pans and then move them to a wire rack to further cool.
9) While the cookies cool, heat the lemon juice in the microwave until it begins to bowl (roughly 30-35 seconds). Pour the hot juice over the confectionary sugar and whisk to combine. The glaze will become very shiny and smooth. Dip half of the cookies into the glaze, one at a time, stamped side down, and return to the wire rack (stamped side up) to harden the glaze.
10) Place one teaspoon of jam in the center of the underside of the unglazed cookies. Gently smooth out the jam leaving a ½” border on the edges. Place a glazed cookie on the top and gently press down to distribute the jam evenly.
