It may be her plans for grammar schools, article 50 and a great EU “repeal act” that are attracting the nation’s attention, but as the Tory party conference kicks off it is Theresa May’s use of margarine that has raised eyebrows in the culinary world.
In a broad-ranging interview in the Sunday Times, which covered her love of the Great British Bake Off as well as her plans for the UK’s exit from the EU, the prime minister revealed her favourite family scone recipe, in which she suggests using “1.5oz butter or margarine” as one of the four crucial ingredients in the afternoon tea treat.
Master baker Dan Lepard said: “I am always alarmed by the phrase ‘butter or margarine’, which turns your scone either nice or nasty. Margarine helps the multinationals; not sure there’s ‘Devonshire margarine’ out there.”
Lepard said there was “no sense of generosity or helpfulness” in May’s recipe, which resembled Bake Off’s renowned “technical challenge” in offering would-be followers only limited instructions, including to cook in a “very hot oven” and “bind with milk”.
“Very hot oven is fine, though who today knows what those old heat measures like moderate, hot, very hot mean,” Lepard said. “One cook’s very hot is another’s volcano.”
In the interview, May said she loved cooking, though acknowledged that negotiating the UK’s exit from the EU, and rows over the single market and free movement of people, meant she had less time for scones these days.
The Guardian food writer Felicity Cloake said the lack of care was apparent in the recipe, and warned anyone following it was likely to end up with scones “as dry as dust”.
“I guess she doesn’t have much time for baking … The first thing that strikes me is the incredibly parsimonious ratio of fat to flour – as one might expect from an austerity fan – and the use of margarine,” she said.
Delia Smith and Mary Berry both stick to butter rather than margarine, but agree with May on the need for a hot oven, and recommend cooking for 10-15 minutes rather than the prime minister’s eight.
