Professor Butter Beard’s Pictish Cross-Slab
My DNA verified my soul’s assumptions. Just a few weeks ago now, I received the results of my DNA testing by ancestry.com. Their suggested gene breakdown describes me 45-60% Scottish with an extending mix of contributions from Ireland, Wales, Sweden, Norway and a wee bit from France. It appears my ancestors were regular travelers upon the North Sea, mingling cultures and traditions, and ultimately creating such mysteries as me!
Interestingly, when I chose my topic for my masters dissertation fifteen years ago, I opted for a discussion of these same travelers. During the early medieval period, between the 6th and 9th centuries, all of Scotland’s regions were producing significant and original art. The Pictish tribes, the subject of much myth and misconceptions, were creating monumental standing and inscribed stone slabs, engraved treasures of silver chain, brooches and reliquaries and stunningly illuminated books – all influenced by their own Pagan traditions and of those of the North Sea travelers combined with the recent arrival of Christianity to the British Isles.
One gorgeous example is the Pictish Standing Cross-Slab carved in old red sandstone and located in Glamis, Angus, Scotland. Isabel Henderson’s research suggests that this work may have been an early prayer-cross, placed beside tracks or a boundary as a focus for devotion. The central Celtic cross is decorated with elaborate knotwork resembling interlaced snakes or vegetation. This obviously Christian symbol is surrounded by images of a more Pagan nature. A warrior centaur swinging a pair of axes dominates the upper right corner, with a stag’s head and a triple disc symbol below. A fierce beast, with its right paw raised and its tail royally curled, roars from the upper left corner.
But it is the lower left corner that always attracts my attention and imagination. Two bearded, long-haired men in tunics confront each other with raised axes. Above them, a large cauldron is suspended from which two sets of human legs frighteningly wave in the air. According to research, Pictish cauldrons would normally be used to prepare feasts of shellfish, beef, pork, grains and vegetables such as turnips, leeks, watercress and parsnips. Fresh berries and herbs were simmered in the cauldron to create local mead or healing herbal concoctions. Apparently, these warriors were engaging within a totally different ritual or culinary agenda!
This morning, my cauldron was filled with boiling oil eagerly anticipating the arrival of risen five-spice donuts ready for their shocking swim. The donuts emerge, golden and crusty, and are immediately cooled by a second bath in the pool of vanilla orange glaze. Out of the corner of my eye, I think I see those two beardy warriors standing nearby taking in the aroma with their steaming mugs of Joe. Or, it might just be the hungry neighbors!
Five-Spice Donuts with a Vanilla Orange Glaze
18 donuts (with plenty of cinnamon/sugar donut holes!)
Ingredients
½ cup warm water
4 Tbsp white sugar, used at separate times
1 package dry yeast – 2 ½ tsp – 7 grams
4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup bread flour
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
2 tsp Chinese Five-Spice Powder
Zest of 2 oranges (the juice will be used in the glaze)
4 ounces unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and cooled
¾ cup buttermilk
2 large eggs, room temperature and gently whisked
1 tsp vanilla paste
Canola or vegetable oil for frying
2 tsp cinnamon and 4 Tbsp white sugar for the donut holes
Vanilla Orange Glaze – recipe below
1) In a standing mixer, stir together with the paddle – the warm water, 1 Tbsp of the sugar and the yeast – let sit ten minutes.
2) Melt the butter, let cool, and then stir in the buttermilk, the eggs and the vanilla.
3) In a medium bowl, whisk together the two flours, remaining sugar, kosher salt, five-spice powder and orange zest.
4) Add the butter mixture to the yeast mixture and stir together with the paddle on low speed. Add half the dry mix and stir together with the paddle on low until smooth.
5) Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining dry mix. Mix on medium until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. This should take 3-4 minutes. On humid days, you can all up to ½ cup more all-purpose flour to bring the dough together.
6) Oil a large bowl. Place the wet dough into the bowl, turn to grease all over, and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough double in size – about 45 minutes.
7) See the photographs below for visual instructions.
8) Cut eighteen 4x4” squares of parchment paper and space them, nine to a tray, on a cookie sheet. Spray the parchment square with cooking spray.
9) Roll the dough to a ¾” thickness and cut with a doughnut cutter dipped in flour. Place each donut on a prepared parchment square. Place the holes on a separate piece of parchment (also sprayed with cooking spray). Let the doughnuts rise about for about 40 minutes.
10) Pour the oil into a large pan to a height of 4”. Heat the oil to 365 degrees.
11) Pick up the donuts by the individual squares and fry (two or three at a time) until golden, about 1 minute per side. Be careful not to let the parchment touch the oil. Using a spider strainer, lift out the fried doughnuts and let drain and cool on paper towel lined sheet trays.
12) Once all the doughnuts are fried, carefully add all the holes to the oil and let fry for 2 minutes – they will turn themselves over! While they are frying, whisk 4 Tbsp white sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon in a medium bowl. Using the spider strainer, lift out the fried holes and toss them immediately in the cinnamon/sugar. Lift them out and add them to the paper towel lined sheet trays to cool.
13) When the donuts are just still warm, dip them into the Vanilla Orange Glaze and turn them over onto a wire rack to drain and dry.
Vanilla Orange Glaze: Whisk together 3 cups confection sugar, the juice of the 2 oranges, ¼ cup whole milk, 3 Tbsp light corn syrup, 4 Tbsp unsalted butter (melted and cooled), 1 tsp vanilla paste and ½ tsp of kosher salt. Use immediately.
