What I Cook When the Fireworks Go Up

Nobody sits down on the fifth of November. That is the first thing to understand about Bonfire Night food. People eat it standing up, in the dark, in a coat, with one eye on the sky and one hand free for a sparkler or a child.

So the food has to be easy to hold, and it has to wait patiently on the stove while the cook is outside watching the rockets with everybody else.

There is no Bonfire Night in Guadeloupe. Nobody back home lights a fire to remember a plot against a king in London. But a crowd of people outside after dark, hungry and happy, with one big pot keeping them all together: that part I understood straight away. It is how we feed people at home.

These are my Bonfire Night food ideas, and every dish links to the full recipe. Pick two or three, cook most of it the day before, and you will spend the evening by the fire instead of at the stove.

What Bonfire Night actually is

On the night of 4 to 5 November 1605, Guy Fawkes was caught in a cellar beneath the House of Lords, guarding barrels of gunpowder. He was one of a group of Catholic conspirators, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to blow up the House of Lords at the State Opening of Parliament and kill King James I. An anonymous letter had warned Lord Monteagle to stay away from Parliament, and the search that followed found Fawkes before anything was lit.

As the news spread, the king’s Council allowed Londoners to celebrate his survival with bonfires. The following January, Parliament passed an act making 5 November a day of public thanksgiving, and it stayed law until 1859. The bonfires outlived the law.

By the 1860s, parkin, treacle toffee and potatoes baked in the fire had become the traditional foods of Guy Fawkes Night, and in Leeds the fifth was known as Parkin Night. So the jacket potato has belonged to this evening for a long time. It is cheap, and it is warm in a cold hand.

Something to hold in your hands

Caribbean sausage rolls. Sausagemeat seasoned with thyme, spring onion, allspice, lime zest and my Caribbean BBQ Sauce, wrapped in puff pastry and glazed with more sauce while still hot. The recipe makes 24 and they are mild, about 4 out of 10, so the children can have them too. They freeze raw better than almost anything I make, so you can make them weeks ahead.

Caribbean BBQ pulled pork. A 2.5kg pork shoulder, rubbed, rested and cooked low for 6 to 8 hours, feeds 8 to 10 people in soft rolls with slaw. It is even better reheated, so cook it the day before and warm it through with a splash of the finishing sauce.

Spicy BBQ meatballs. Beef meatballs in a sticky glaze made with my Spicy Caribbean BBQ Sauce, 35 minutes from start to finish. Roll them the day before, brown and glaze them on the night, and stand a pot of cocktail sticks beside the pan. In my older recipes it is called Flaming BBQ Sauce. Same bottle, about 8 out of 10 for heat.

Flaming BBQ chicken wings. These are for the adults. The wings sit in the Spicy Caribbean BBQ Sauce overnight, then go into a 200°C oven for 25 to 30 minutes until they are sticky and charred at the edges. Keep the marinade and the basting sauce in separate bowls from the start, exactly as the recipe says.

Caribbean BBQ burger. If somebody is already standing at the barbecue, this is the one. Shape the patties in the morning, keep them in the fridge, and they need 4 to 5 minutes a side on a hot grill, glazed with BBQ Sauce after you flip them. Cut one open before serving: it should be cooked right through, with no pink in the middle.

A pot on the stove for a crowd

This is the heart of the night. One big pot, lid on, lowest heat, a ladle beside it and a stack of mugs or bowls.

Caribbean chilli con carne. My Bonfire Night pot. Beef, kidney beans, thyme and allspice, with five tablespoons of Caribbean BBQ Sauce stirred in and simmered for the best part of an hour. It serves 6 in bowls or 10 in jacket potatoes, and it sits at about 4 out of 10, so the grandparents and the children eat from the same pot. A whole scotch bonnet goes in for its perfume and comes out before serving. Make it on the 4th. It is better on day two.

Sausage casserole. Thick pork sausages, peppers and butter beans in one pot in 45 minutes, with Spicy Caribbean BBQ Sauce bringing real heat. Like every stew my mother made, it is better the next day. Spoon it over a jacket potato and it becomes a meal you can eat standing up.

Caribbean chickpea curry. For the vegans and vegetarians, and everybody else too. Chickpeas and coconut milk with my Caribbean Sauce Creole, ready in 30 minutes, warm rather than fierce. The flavour deepens overnight, so this is another pot for the day before.

Caribbean pumpkin soup. Pumpkin or squash, coconut milk and thyme, finished with a swirl of Fresh Herbal Sauce. No heat at all, and vegan. Pour it into mugs and watch people wrap both hands round it. It freezes well. Add the herbal swirl on top when you serve, not before freezing.

On the side

Jacket potatoes. Not a recipe so much as a habit. Big floury potatoes, rubbed with oil and salt, about an hour and a half in a hot oven until the skin crackles. They go under the chilli, the casserole or the curry.

Spicy potato wedges. Maris Piper wedges dusted with cornflour and roasted with Caribbean Hot Sauce, with a lime and coriander dip. Forty-five minutes, vegan, and about 7 out of 10, so this is a grown-up tray.

Caribbean loaded fries. Double-fried chips under spiced chicken thigh, a Spicy Caribbean BBQ glaze, a green herb mayo and diced mango. A sharing plate for six. Do the first fry in the morning, then cook the chicken and do the second fry when people arrive.

Something sweet, and something to pour

For sweet things, I let British tradition win. Parkin, treacle toffee and toffee apples belong to this night, and I have nothing to add to them.

What I do bring is hot honey: runny honey warmed gently with Caribbean Hot Sauce for a few minutes, never boiled. A thin thread over the wedges or the loaded fries just before they go out, and the tray is gone. Make it in the morning and keep it in the fridge.

To pour, there is my planteur, the fruit rum punch of Guadeloupe, a jug for eight. On Bonfire Night it comes with three rules. It is for adults only. Make the alcohol-free jug from the same post for the drivers and the children, and label both jugs. And whoever is lighting the fireworks drinks none of it. The Firework Code says do not drink alcohol if you are setting off fireworks, and I agree with every word.

Easy Bonfire Night food: my make-ahead plan

This year the fifth falls on a Thursday, a school night and a work night. So the trick is to do almost nothing on the day itself. If your fire is at the weekend instead, count back from that.

Weeks before. Make the sausage rolls and freeze them raw. Make the pumpkin soup and freeze it without the herbal swirl on top.

The day before. Cook your pot: the chilli, the casserole or the chickpea curry. Or cook the pork shoulder. Cool it, cover it, and get it into the fridge within two hours of cooking, which is the Food Standards Agency’s advice. Put the wings in their marinade. Roll the meatballs. Move the soup from the freezer to the fridge.

The morning. Shape the burger patties. Do the first fry of the chips. Make the hot honey.

Late afternoon. Jacket potatoes into the oven. Then the sausage rolls go in straight from the freezer at 200°C fan for about 32 to 35 minutes. Do not thaw them first, or they go soggy. The wings go in half an hour before you want them.

When the first rocket goes up. Reheat the pot until it is steaming hot all the way through, not just warm, and reheat it only once. Then keep it on the lowest heat with the lid on and serve straight from the stove. Put the sauces on the table so anybody who wants more fire can find it.

Party food has more ingredients than people think. If anybody coming has a food allergy, check the label on every jar and bottle of sauce before you cook, and on the sausages, the pastry and the breadcrumbs too.

FAQ

What food is traditional on Bonfire Night?

Potatoes baked in the fire, parkin and treacle toffee have been the food of the night since at least the nineteenth century, and toffee apples are eaten around the fifth in parts of England. These days a jacket potato from the oven does the job of the one from the embers. I put chilli on mine.

What is good Bonfire Night food for kids?

The sausage rolls and the chilli are both about 4 out of 10, which is gentle, and the pumpkin soup has no heat at all. Keep the pot mild and put the hot sauce on the table. That way one pot feeds the whole family, and the adults add their own fire.

What Bonfire Night food can I make ahead?

Nearly all of it. The chilli, the casserole, the chickpea curry and the pulled pork are all better the next day, and the sausage rolls and pumpkin soup freeze well. The plan above shows you the order.

How do I keep food warm on Bonfire Night?

Keep it inside. Leave the pot on the stove on the lowest heat with the lid on, and bring food out in small batches rather than leaving one big dish to go cold on a garden table. Anything left over goes into the fridge within two hours.

One small thing to try this year

Make one pot the night before. Just one. Then on the fifth, when everybody else is rushing, you will be outside with a mug of something hot, watching the sky, and the pot will be doing the work for you.

That is all Bonfire Night food needs to do.

JP