Harry Potter Food

I was wondering if anyone has been involved with this sort of venture and/or could share some ideas with me.

My wife is a Potter nut (I still think the force is mightier than magic). As the final book’s release is around the corner, we were going to have people over for a Potter-theme night prior to the midnight release. This idea has blossomed into a full-blown Potter dinner. Would anyone know what to serve for this kind of dinner, asides from gross-tasting Shepard’s pie and treacle tarts?

Also, for the adults, does anyone have a good idea for an alcoholic pumpkin juice?

Thank you.

I think the adults should indulge in Butterbeer or Rosmerta's famous mead.

BUT...I'd say food coloring would be your best pal for the pumpkin juice..or orange soda mixed with something volatile...

McClane wrote:Also, for the adults, does anyone have a good idea for an alcoholic pumpkin juice?

You'll have a hard time finding it this time of year, but Buffalo Bill's Brewery makes a Pumpkin Ale.

A friend of mine out in LA made pumpkin-pie martinis. If you scroll about 4/5 of the way down the linked page below it has the recipe for pumpkin-infused vodka, and then below that is the martini recipe.

http://www.theslack.com/more.php?id=231_0_1_0_M

McClane wrote:what to serve for this kind of dinner, asides from gross-tasting Shepard’s pie and treacle tarts?

Isn't there an episode in one of the Potter books where a guy volunteers to fix a dinner he's not real enthusiastic about, and he doesn't let his wife in the kitchen because she has enough to do, what with refilling the guests' ashtrays & stuff, and then just as the dinner's ready an evil wizard appears and transforms everything into takeout pizza from Spacca Napoli?

I'm pretty sure that's in there somewhere .....

eatchicago wrote:You'll have a hard time finding it this time of year, but Buffalo Bill's Brewery makes a Pumpkin Ale.

Now I can almost swear I saw a 6-pack or two of this a week or two ago when I was at Sam's. Might be worth a call if you were interested.
Jamie

McClane wrote:Would anyone know what to serve for this kind of dinner, asides from gross-tasting Shepard’s pie and treacle tarts?

Are the Shepard’s pie and treacle tarts in the Harry Potter specified as being gross-tasting? Because surely you couldn't be saying that all Shepard’s pie and treacle tarts are intrinsically gross-tasting? Right? I made a Shaphard's Pie recipie from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's fantastic River Cottage Meat book just last night, and it was pretty great. I had roasted a leg of lamb the night before (using a recipe from the same book) and found this to be a very satisfying way of using up left-over lamb meat.

I would heartily recommend that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall book, by the way.

You might take a look at Nigella Lawson's How To Eat, which, despite its trendy reputation, is actually full of fairly traditional English dishes like custards, shepherd's pie, steak and kidney pie, Yorkshire pudding, and jam tarts.

By the way, some industrious and enthusiastic person actually wrote a little essay on the food consumed in the Potter books. It is pretty old-fashioned and English (Yorkshire puddings, crumpets, Cornish pasties), and a nutritionist certainly wouldn't approve of Harry's diet (lots of candy in the early books, especially). Anyway, here's the link:

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/essays/essay-food.html

Fun idea! I should do this, too! I don't know what part of town you're in, but you might want to research by eating at Celtic Knot or Duke of Perth - I understand pasties are available at Duke of Perth, maybe even for takeout? Otherwise, looks like a selection of roasted meat surrounded by potatoes and the occasional pea or carrot would be pretty authentic.

I was looking over the dessert list; most of that's pretty doable: Trifle is dead-easy especially in summer (some recipes also contain pastry cream) Blancmange is an old-fashioned pudding made from cornstarch, milk, and gelatin dessert whose closest modern cousin is Jell-O pudding (would need gelatin to make it moldable) I also found a British Food websitethat ships canned Spotted Dick. The gateaux and eclairs should be available from most any bakery.

Pumpkin drinkshere and here(the last is from Fogo de Chao!)

Jewel stores in the suburbs often have British items -- even Spotted Dick and mushy peas.

And in Long Grove, if it isn't too far (and they have a web site if it is too far), you can shop at British Accents -- simply a dandy place to get English foods, from candy bars to mushy peas to frozen pasties.

http://british-accents.com/

116 Old McHenry Rd
Long Grove, IL 60047

847 913 0855

Cynthia wrote:Jewel stores in the suburbs often have British items -- even Spotted Dick and mushy peas.

Treasure Island in Wilmette (and perhaps elsewhere) has a very nice British section as well.

The Dutchess of Birmingham put together the following menu based on the dinner in the garden of the Weasley house from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire :

Mrs. Weasley’s Garden Menu (Vol. IV, p. 61)
• Main Course
o Chicken and ham pie, boiled potatoes and salad.
o Added: cold roast beef, buttered peas
• Dessert
o Homemade Strawberry ice cream (Vol. IV, p. 63) Chocolate cake with green letters, "Happy Birthday Harry," slightly smashed (Vol. I, pp. 47-8)
• Beverages
o Elderflower wine (Vol. IV, p. 62)
o Tea (flower teas)
• Décor
Grass and honeysuckle over tables
Copper pots
Many candles

We thought we might substitute summer pudding for the cake and ice cream, since we have recently come into a windfall of red and black currants. Also, Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans and Chocolate Frogs might make a nice friandise at the end of the meal.

HI,

Would a reasonable substitute for "Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans," be Jelly Bellys? Inquiring minds want to know!

BTW another source for English foodstuffs is at Woodman's Grocery stores. They have an international aisle devoted to many different countries.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Would a reasonable substitute for "Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans," be Jelly Bellys? Inquiring minds want to know!

I've seen the Bertie Botts ones for sale, but at the time I had no idea what they were. One of the flavors was vomit.

For those of you seeking out vomit-flavored jelly beans (which, incidentally, are made by Jelly Belly along with HP jelly slugs) I'm pretty sure I saw the individual packet sizes of Bertie Botts at the Kay-Bee toystore in the Lincolnwood Mall - but the Jelly Belly site has a store locator which will find specific product. I've only seen them in the mini-packet, but apparently there is also a "10 flavor discovery box." All kinds of other HP related candy can be found on the Internet as well.

I'm pretty adventurous and something of an HP fan, but I have no real desire to taste earwax, dirt, rotten egg or vomit flavored jelly beans. (I freely admit to curiousity about sausage, black pepper, and pickle jelly beans.)

Hi,

Last years picnic, Ramon's pinata had a pooh shaped candy. I took it home to try it in the privacy of my own home. I guess it must have been ok because it was eaten by the time I considered trying it.

Regards,

That's right! I'd forgotten Ramon's piñata of delectable horrors! We got beer lollipops and cucumber candy of some kind. I think those would make a wonderful substitute!

stevez wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Would a reasonable substitute for "Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans," be Jelly Bellys? Inquiring minds want to know!

I've seen the Bertie Botts ones for sale, but at the time I had no idea what they were. One of the flavors was vomit.

Yes, the Bertie Bott's beans are manufactured by Jelly Belly. I'm a pretty big Jelly Belly fan, and some of the BB flavors were really great, but others... eh.

I liked both grass and dirt, and thought they combined nicely. I did not like vomit at all. Snot was not as bad as you might think, and earwax was ok too. Sardine was not really to my taste. Black Pepper was delicious. There area few other exotic ones I'm not recalling, but several of the flavors are actually straight out of the normal Jelly Belly menu.

Somehow, on my sister's birthday a year or so ago, I managed to convince her and the rest of my family to take turns eating BB beans. It was a lot of fun to see the expressions we all made as we bit into a (insert disgusting flavor here) jelly belly.

Highly recommended for your next sado-masochism party.

Today in a store, I noticed Harry Potter Cockroach Clusters so I looked online and found a whole line of Harry Potter candy! A lot of things are out of stock (maybe others are planning their own HP themed party), but I thought you may be interested in the varieties available.

http://www.candywarehouse.com/harrypotter.html

I mean, who wouldn't want Harry Potter blood pops? Yum!

Sharona

Edit: I also just found a website with a review for the sausage and pickle flavored jelly beans. *shudder*

http://candyaddict.com/blog/2006/08/29/exclusive-candy-review-sausage-and-pickle-flavored-harry-potter-jellybeans/

Food and Drink in the Harry Potter Lexicon (Don't miss the links under "Related information.")

Harry Potter recipe links

[url=http://tinyurl.com/242xxz]Chocolate frogs

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Border's at Randhurst had a display of the Bertie Bott's beans amid other Jelly Belly products and Harry Potter paraphernalia today. I'd assume other bookstores would have them as well.

B thought this movie the best of the lot. I wouldn't know.

Madam Rosmerta's Magical Recipes linkfilter->mugglenet

-ramon

Hi,

I saw a gummy rat at Tenuta's in Kenosha yesterday for ~$1.29.

Regards,

While googling recipes, I came upon this quote in Wikipedia:

This article is about the popular English pastry. For the deep fried food in Northern Ireland, see Pastie. For the nipple covering, see Pasties.

You can get delicious chocolate frogs at:

Northern Chocolate Co.
2036 N Dr Martin Luther King
Milwaukee, WI 53212
(414) 372-1885

And surely the Fudge Pot on Wells and Mr. Kite on State have something too, don't they?

Sigh, all this talk about chocolate frogs is making me wish for the real thing...only the finest baby frogs, dew-picked and flown from Iraq, cleansed in the finest quality of spring water, lightly killed, and sealed in a succulent, Swiss, quintuple-smooth, treble-milk chocolate envelope, and lovingly frosted with glucose.


I mean, with no bones, how are they supposed to be crunchy?

I finally settled on buying a little box of Bertie Botts beans for Sparky and we had a tasting - which, truthfully, would have been more fun if they didn't have a flavor key on the outside. Both Sparky and I wound up with Sardine as our first pick - after the first sugar hit, the flavor was instant - sweetened seaweed or nori, like the Korean cookies I tried last fall. Not my taste, but pretty similar to the sweeter version of furikake, heavy on the sweet. Might make a popular flavor in Asia.

I also tried the bacon-flavored jellybean, which was awful - basically, liquid-smoke flavor and sugar. Blecch. Unfortunately, we were stiffed on the black pepper beans. When my stomach returns to its rightful place in my abdomen, I will try to report on dirt, vomit, earthworm, rotten egg, and earwax - but don't hold your breath.

I think somebody should take a box of these to Alinea and see what they do with them.

Mhays wrote:When my stomach returns to its rightful place in my abdomen, I will try to report on dirt, vomit, earthworm, rotten egg, and earwax - but don't hold your breath.

I think somebody should take a box of these to Alinea and see what they do with them.

Mhays, I am enjoying your account of your BB's experience. Your suggestion for an Alinea tasting is so much fun, though it seems to me that homarocantu (his LTH screen name) is your man for that particular experiment. (Seriously. He reads the board. I can just imagine: packing peanut, pizza, and glazed donut Bertie Botts. Oh, and I forgot: beet!)

You remind me of a simple game of chance my daughter played with her cousins a few years ago when the first HP books came out. It might be right for your family or for your son and his pals if there are not any highly sensitive children among them.

The Rules: Players sit in a circle with glasses of water at their sides for emergency relief. A die is cast to determine the first player, or, failing that, the player with the earliest birthday in the year goes first. (Ideally, there will be some observers to serve as referees, and to heighten the drama with their grimaces and interjections.) The bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans is passed around. Each player takes a bean and tastes it. The whole bean must be consumed to earn a point. Of course, this is easiest for the person who has the "normal" flavors. The winner is the person who gets the earwax bean (kind of a golden snitch equivalent) because that is the one that causel Dumbledore to eschew all future tasting of the candy. The result of the first game: the boy cousins were delighted at selecting all the "gross" flavors, though they protested loudly at the unfairness of their chance selections. My daughter sailed through to a win by eating the earwax bean with nary a whimper.