When I was very small, my grandma used to buy a magazine for me. It was called Twinkle, and one of the cartoon stories in it followed the adventures of a little girl called Nurse Nancy, who ran a toy hospital. Nancy had a younger brother, and one week, the story involved the two of them making some toast together. I can't remember anything else about the story (or indeed about any of the other stories) but the toast-making episode stuck in my mind. They gathered bread, butter and jam and sat on stools in front of the fire. They fixed the bread to a long-handled fork, and toasted it on the fire. And then they spread it with the butter and the jam. No strawberry jam ever looked as red and appetising as that jam, or spread so evenly or thickly.
I can't remember if this is when my love of toasting things began, but it's certainly my earliest memory of reading about food and wanting to translate it into real life. I have been lucky enough to grow up with open fires, and I have fond memories of toasting all kinds of things in front of the glowing coals: bread, crumpets - even bare feet like Polly Flinders.
Jam and honey are good, but my favourite fireside spread is marmalade - warmed on the hearth and melted into the butter on the finished toast. There is something very simple and satisfying about toasting bread on an open fire. Patience is called for, and a certain dexterity in fixing the bread to the toasting fork. You need to wait for the flames to die down, for the embers to be 'just right' - not too bright or a sudden flame might char your bread; not too dull or the bread will take forever to toast. And yes, sometimes a slice will fall into the fire and be lost, you will have holes in the centre of your toast that the melted butter will drip through, and the finished slice will taste slightly smoky...yet it somehow tastes better than toast made on a grill or in an electric toaster.
Discussion is warmly encouraged - does anyone else remember Twinkle? Do you have any memories about toasting bread on the fire? Are there any other stories that have characters toasting bread at the fireside?
