I don't know what propelled me to buy a bottle of orange flower water at Harris Farm Market at Potts Point in Sydney last year. Maybe because the name sounded so pretty and it hails from the exotic East. Or because in the back of my mind there was a thought that I had come across a recipe of Mrs Beeton's in which it was an ingredient. Which recipe I wasn't sure. So the purchased bottle sat on a shelf in the pantry until recently when I found we had no cream to whip to place atop the dessert strawberries. But we did have natural Greek yoghurt. Knowing The Bloke wouldn't tolerate a simple unadulterated dollop on top of his naked strawberries, I reached for the honey and there it was, the still unopened bottle of orange flower water, in all its exotic glory. A small amount only went into the yoghurt before it was applied to the strawberries and that was all that was needed. The Bloke gave it the thumbs up, and he's a very fussy eater (although his stated favourite dish is Sausages and Eggs).
As for that elusive recipe where Mrs Beeton employed orange flower water, I'm still yet to find it. I think it was a dessert recipe. I leafed through her hefty tome this morning with no success however, other than to find just one recipe that incorporates this delightful ingredient - one with the enchanting name of "Fairy Butter". It is essentially a butter cream icing for use on cakes (fairy ones no doubt), although if making icing I would omit the egg, substitute icing sugar and put it all into the food processor instead of a "coarse cloth." So here it is:
Fairy Butter
1/4 lb (125g) fresh butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoonfuls caster sugar
1 tablespoonful orange flower water
Boil the eggs hard and when cold, take out the yolks and pound them in a mortar with the sugar and the orange flower in a mortar to a smooth paste. Incorporate this mixture with the butter. Put the paste in a coarse cloth and force it through by wringing the cloth hard and squeezing the butter through it. The butter should then drop into the dish or plate in irregular pieces according to the holes in the cloth and should have a pretty effect. Plain butter may be done in the same manner.
Orange flower water was no doubt an exotic ingredient in Victorian and Edwardian times and luckily a little goes a long way. In fact, the less you use the better, as it flavours subtly, but well. In the days of few flavour enhancers it would have been a useful and piquant addition to whipped cream on desserts and imparted a luxurious touch to dishes in which it was used, which could be savoury or sweet.
And that elusive other recipe of Mrs Beeton's where orange flower water is an ingredient? I'll keep looking in my travels through her comprehensive publication and advise accordingly, as soon as I've found it.
