Porcupines

For my last lot of party food I thought I would show you something savoury. These Porcupines are simple to make and great as party nibbles that look fun at a kid's party. Although I would say mine look more like some strange alien like creatures rather than porcupines!

Makes 2 porcupines

Ingedients

2 oranges or grapefruit

150g (5oz) Cheddar cheese, cubed

1 x 227g (8oz) can pineapple pieces, drained

50 cocktail sticks

2 stuffed olives, halved crosswise

1 small gherkin, halved (I used dried mango slices instead as I'm not a fan of gherkins)

20 cocktail sausages, grilled

Cut a slice off one side of each fruit so they will stand firmly.

Thread cheese and pineapple onto cocktail sticks, and stick into one fruit to make the porcupine's spikes.

Pierce 2 olive halves and 1 gherkin piece (or mango slice) with halved cocktail sticks. Push them into the fruit to make the porcupine's eyes and nose. 

Place a sausage on each of the remaining cocktail sticks and stick them into the other fruit. Make the eyes and nose in the same way. 

Recipe from: Handslip, Carole. The Sainsbury Book of Children’s Party Cooking. London: Cathay Books, 1985.

I decided to use this recipe after reading Toast by Nigel Slater last week for my lecture. Although it is not a children's book it is a memoir of Nigel's childhood where he writes about his memories in separate sections all titled with a different food that reminds him of each memory. So I thought it would be good to look at someone else's childhood memories of food and what it meant to him. In the section 'Cheese and Pineapple', Nigel talks of his family not having parties but instead just friends that drop by. His view of being a child at these impromptu parties was that "Everyone was taller than me. It was as if I wasn't there," (42) which shows how children can be overlooked at adult parties and how they are no fun for kids, especially if there's only one child there. As the only child there, Nigel is used more like a waiter who has to pass round the food. His family possess a certain snobbery with everything surrounding food as they do not eating certain foods or brands as they think they're 'common': "Babycham, sandwich spread, tomato ketchup, bubblegum, HP Sauce and Branston Pickle could never even be discussed let alone eaten" (55). This is also shown when Nigel talks about the food he has to serve visitors with as he states a families' social status depends on "whether you had Huntley & Palmer's Cheese Footballs or not" (42). This shows a snobbery with food as people's social standing could be judged on whether they serve guests the fashionable food of the moment. Nigel also discusses the cheese and pineapple they serve which reminded me of my Porcupine recipe, although mine is a more fun child-like version. Nigel is in fact horrified by the cheese and pineapple, he sarcastically calls it "The pièce de résistance" (42) and exposes it for the basic dish it is: 

"Few things could embarrass a would-be chef quite as much as having to hold out a whole grapefruit speared with cubes of Cheddar and tinned pineapple on cocktail sticks to men in cardigans" (43).

He does not like that this dish is seen as 'fashionable' by the grown-ups as he really appreciates food and sees it for the basic, non-sophisticated dish it is and so he states that "When it came to offering the dreaded grapefruit to everyone else, I would throw my head in the air and flay my nostrils" (44). This shows his distaste for the dish and his dramatic nature as a child. Nigel writes this episode with a sarcastic tone to portray how now as an adult he can identify how comedic his behaviour was and to highlight the ridiculousness of the adults snobbery. Despite, Nigel's obvious disgust for cheese and pineapple I think it makes for good party food for children, especially with the porcupine design! Being a well known chef now I'm sure he still would be horrified by my recommendation but there's nothing wrong with simple, easy to make food, particularly if you're a busy parent and any kid would probably prefer a funny looking porcupine to caviar at a party. 

Image from Google: Nigel and his mother

Nigel also presents an example of children cooking in his memoir such as how I've shown you Milly-Molly-Mandy's attempt at cooking for her party in a previous post. Nigel makes it clear that he was a child with a love of food and so it makes sense that he would like to cook. He writes of his memories cooking with his mother, "Every few weeks my mother and I would make jam tarts;" (15) as much as he criticises his mother's attempts at cooking in his writing he also shows how cooking with his mother actually brings them together. When making jam tarts he states "Mother didn't like cooking. She did this for me," (15) suggesting she does it because she loves him and knows it will make him happy. This suggests how cooking together can create fond memories for a parent and child. When Nigel's mother dies, his father's and his life become very different significantly because there is a lack of cooking. So when Nigel's father meets his next wife, Joan, their life becomes filled with food again as she is a good cook, in fact much better than Nigel's mother. As a teenager Nigel starts cookery lessons at school, in his first lesson he makes a perfect Victoria Sponge which he cannot wait to show his father as "who for all his disinterest couldn't fail to congratulate me [/him]," (182) when it came to good food being made. Joan is not impressed by this and starts to make more and more food herself for Nigel's father on Nigel's cookery lesson days making it like a competition between the two of them. So here cookery and food becomes a way of control, of who has the upper hand with Nigel's father. 

Despite this negative connotation with cookery, we should emphasise the positive side to it with cooking bringing families together. Letting kids join in in the kitchen can be messy but is fun and great for bonding. It's good to have memories of cooking with your parents and especially for something like a party where kids can feel proud to say they helped Mummy make the birthday cake or Porcupines (that is if you fancy using the recipe in this post!).

Slater, Nigel. Toast. London: Fourth Estate, 2010.