They keep me thinking that we almost had it all

[venta]

Yesterday I took myself for a little wander round Kew Gardens. In between the exciting plants and inconvenient rainshowers, I paused in the café and bought myself a cake and some pop. The cake I bought was a strange-looking thing, rather like a small, dense pain au chocolat. It was, I discovered, actually a giant fig roll.

I presume the giant fig roll is a rare species which Kew is busy conserving. Anyway, I approve. But it has suddenly been revealed to me that I could make fig rolls. I could make giant ones! And eat them all myself!

Anyway... I've had a quick google, and there seem to be a variety of different approaches. The BBC - normally a pretty reliable source of recipes - wants me to boil dried figs with rosewater and brandy. They can sod right off; everything made with rosewater is disgusting. Fact.

Some website or other reckons it's ok to boil the figs in plain water; but they put me off by describing the result as "almost better than shop-bought!" If it's not going to be frankly quite a lot better, then why am I bothering? Fig rolls aren't exactly pricey in your average supermarket[*]. Plus they reckon wholemeal flour, which sounds a bit worthy to me. And the picture looks even more like dog biscuits than normal fig rolls.

Waitrose think I should use fresh figs - but they would, wouldn't they. They also reckon orange zest (boo!) and grated ginger (hurray!)

I imagine I'm likely to read a bunch of recipes and then ignore them all selectively. But I am curious to know if anyone has an opinion on the fresh/dried fig dilemma. Or if anyone has ever successfully made them?

[*] And they are especially cheap in Lidl, but beware! Lidl fig rolls are vile.

Comments

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the rest, but Waitrose are very wrong. The fresh figs available in this country are frequently tasteless and watery.

Armed only with my ignorance, I'd be tempted to split the difference of the other two recipes and boil the dried sort in water and brandy.

[lnr]

Those Waitrose soft figs aren't fresh ones! They're a semi-dried version, like you get semi-dried apricots - and they're in the dried-fruit section of a supermarket. Any ready-to-eat ones would be fine, and these Tesco ones are a) cheap and b) not claiming to be wholesome :)

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/#/tesco-price-comparison/dried_fruit/tesco_ready_to_eat_dried_figs_250g.html

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

All I can say is, giant fig rolls sound amazing. I don't think I've ever cooked with figs so I won't waste your time by opining on how to do it, but if you manage it please post the recipe!

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

How giant do you plan to go with your own ones?

Loaf-of-bread-sized might be interesting: you could cut slices off the end and butter them. (Or batter and deep-fry them… possibly.)

I reckon you could get away with all sorts of interesting variations in flavour. A warm spice like cumin or chili flakes might add a bit of zing. Or some tamarind, to cut the cloyingness of the fig.

[grumblesmurf.livejournal.com]

Nice idea, but I've no idea where you're going to get a sufficiently large quantity of wasps to include. Unless the alcohol is there to lure them in, perhaps?

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

No advice, but if you ever make such a monstrosity, I'd love to see a photo of it sat next to a "normal" fig roll for scale.