Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

I have to admit that with Christmas coming, and work issues, I'm so busy right now that I've got little for you this week in terms of recipes.

But I've been thinking of some things that I remember from my childhood Christmases. As I've mentioned before, I was largely raised by my paternal Grandmother, who was born in 1890. Her own childhood took place at a time when not many people had Christmas trees in their homes; I remember Granny telling us that in the 1890s the Christmas tree, for her small-town Virginia area, would be in the Church, or in a municipal place.

But treats for the kids at home were very special and important at Christmas, and my Grandmother always followed the tradition that she remembered from her own childhood: She filled our stockings late on Christmas Eve, when we kids had gone to bed, and then she hung them up on the window moldings, either side of our Christmas Tree.

There were always tangerines and apples; a bunch of walnuts and other nuts in the shell that we would have to crack with the nutcracker; little packs of M-and-Ms, and those hard candies shaped like raspberries with soft centers. Except for the apples, these were things we had at no other time of year, in the 1950s, and even into the 60s; and we really enjoyed them. It was the last thing we 'opened' on Christmas morning; but strangely, it is also among the things I most remember.

Of course, in later years, when Christmas Trees in the home had become a real, mainstream American tradition , my Grandmother and Father had been into the whole Christmas Tree thing 'Big-Time', for decades.

In the 50s and 60s, we'd go out on a cold December night to buy the tree from the local Lion's Club, which had their tree sale only a few blocks from our home. We'd choose our tree (this was a serious, time-consuming deliberation! but every year it was, of course, the Best Tree Ever!) and we'd walk home carrying it horizontally, Granny in front holding the top part of the tree, and my brother and I in the back, holding up the heavier bottom of the trunk.

(For some reason, we sang "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest", while we carried the tree those few blocks. I have no idea why; it was something my brother instituted, and it became a weird family tradition ;-)

Decorating was also a little weird. Daddy would have a couple of drinks after dinner, ensconce himself upon the reproduction Duncan Phyfe sofa (his Domain), and direct the first application of decoration, as the rest of us put on the electric lights.

We had to unscrew and screw little light bulbs over and over, until they were all perfect, according to Himself. Then we'd put the glass balls on, and the colors had to be equally positioned and perfect.

Penultimately, Daddy got up and put the star on top (he was the tallest person in the house!) and then permitted us to apply the final gilding of tinsel. But we couldn't just grab a bunch and throw it - we had to delicately place a few strands on every branch. (Oh, Hell; we bunched-and-threw quite often, and it became a little riotous at times. But by then, Daddy was.....well....'in the mood' ;-)

And it WAS the 'Best Tree Ever', every year! It became an actual Presence in the house, for a few weeks; a glorious Spirit, smelling like beautiful, fresh, cold Winter - and feeling like Love. Waking up in the morning and walking into the living room where it stood in its glory, was marvelous. There really was another 'Person' in the house, those weeks!

(Some years ago, I purchased an item on ebay from someone in New England. Since it was around Christmas time, the seller put a big bunch of freshly cut pine branches in the box, as an extra, ephemeral 'something'. I thought that was a very thoughtful touch, and it gave me a lot of pleasure.)

It's been a long time since I've had a real Christmas tree, because I've got cats all the time now, and they want to chew and climb the tree. But this year, I'm going to buy a real wreath and hang it inside, so that I have that fragrance and Presence again.

My Aunt always sent a big box of cookies, candy and fruitcake - I'm convinced that everything wrong with my teeth today, is due to her wonderful confectionery! I've posted her cookie recipe before, and her fruitcake was pretty standard for that time (despite all the jokes about Fruitcake, my husband and I love it, and I bought my dried fruit last weekend, for to make one.)

But her fudge was really amazing. She made a chocolate one, and a sort of Penuche one. After she died, a cousin gave me the recipe for the chocolate, and I was a little surprised that such a simple recipe made that fabulous fudge: while she was alive, my Aunt guarded that recipe as if it were the Family Jewels, and I had thought that it was a mysterious and exotic one.

(I recall her using asbestos pads on top of the electric range, while cooking it. So, I've never been sure that these quickly-jotted and second-hand instructions are the exact ones - but, here it is. She often added chopped walnuts, but we liked it best plain.)

Grace's Chocolate Fudge

Mix in saucepan:

4 cups Sugar

2 cups Evaporated Milk

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 pound (8 squares) unsweetened Chocolate (brand lost to posterity)

Heat over medium heat, and cook to 228 degrees (??? perhaps someone with Fudge Experience can enlighten us)

Beat in:

1/4 pound Butter

7 ounces Marshmallow Cream

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Spread in pans and refrigerate for 24 hours before cutting into little squares.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

This week: Christmas Memories!

(Posting a little early again, as the next four days are my time to get Christmas preps ‘done-and-dusted’ ;-)

If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking ping-list, please send a private message.

-JT

[ColdOne]

for later.

[BlackVeil]

That choc fudge recipe looks great.

[llmc1]

Aww, loved reading about your Christmas memories! So special. And we love fruitcake in our family, too. : )

[Jamestown1630]

Will post the fruitcake recipe soon; but it’s probably the same one everyone has had for decades.

We’re the only ones in our circle who like it; so we usually cut it up, vacuum pack, and eat it all year :-)

-JT

[llmc1]

I’ll post ours, too. It’s a pretty simple one. My guys like to toast hunks of it and spread butter on it.

[Jamestown1630]

I think we have Johnny Carson - some remark he made on national television in the ‘70s - to thank for all the ridicule of Fruitcake! It’s really a wonderful little sweet.

Here’s an interesting article about it:

http://grubamericana.com/2012/12/22/fruitcake-holiday-tradition-or-joke/

-JT

[mountn man]

We always had artificial trees in our house when I was a kid. The all aluminum one. The pure white flocked one. And the ubiquitous 7', 70's era, wood pole with twisted wire and plastic needles.

BUT...back in my mind, there was ALWAYS a memory of the few times we went to my grandparents farm, when I was about 3-6 years old.

My grandpa would go out to the woods and find a pine tree to cut down.

It wasn't perfectly shaped or anything, but it was cut by grandpa and decorated by grandma and filled with love.

I remember in my mind, the smell. The c7 lightbulbs. and even some 50's era bubbler lights.

Back 17 years ago, I decided I was tired of the artificial tree stuff.

Time to go out and get a real tree. I wanted to TOUCH my memories again. Grandma and Grandpa are gone, but for a few weeks each year, I can touch a little bit of that childs memory and feelings.

For awhile I continued with the little Italian lights, but about 5-6 years ago I got some of the c7's like my Grandma had.

Maybe next year I'll find some of the old Noma bubble lights.

Here is a recipe for Pfeffernusses.
Something my Grandma made at Christmas time.

1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup margarine
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons anise extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting

1
Stir together the molasses, honey, shortening, and margarine in a saucepan over medium heat; cook and stir until creamy. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in the eggs.

2
Combine the flour, white sugar, brown sugar, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, anise, cinnamon, baking soda, pepper, and salt in a large bowl. Add the molasses mixture and stir until thoroughly combines. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

3
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Roll the dough into acorn-sized balls. Arrange on baking sheets, spacing at least 1 inch apart.

4
Bake in preheated oven 10 to 15 minutes. Move to a rack to cool. Dust cooled cookies with confectioners' sugar.

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks for your recipe; but especially for your memories.

I’ve got many boxes of never-used bubble lights; I started buying them up in the ‘90s wherever I found them, because I remembered them from the Christmas trees of relatives.

We’ve also got a lot of C-7s, wired and replacements. I’m always thinking of what will happen when everything goes to those LED ‘jewel’ colors, that don’t look anything like Christmas lights, to folks of my age ;-)

-JT

[mountn man]

I abhor the LED lights.

They are glaringly bright and cold and artificial looking.

There is a warmth to the incandescents.

[Jamestown1630]

Yes.

We’ve recently started replacing all the ‘new, fake’ lights that were brought in when our apartment management apparently received some grant to install all these fake lights.

I appreciate a good little LED lamp for doing fine work - my eyes ain’t what they used to be - but I don’t want to LIVE in that ‘atmosphere’.

I’ve heard about this company, but I don’t know anyone who has actually bought and used them:

http://www.newcandescent.com/

-JT

[mountn man]

I am going to look into that.
Thanks.

[Rodamala]

I abhor the LED lights.

I can't stand them either, particularly with outside displays. When I drive past, particularly the sickly blue colored ones, I pick up the 60 Hz flicker of these things in my peripheral vision and it fills me with some primal sense of dread or fear or something like a lion is about to leap out from my periperal vision. Really distracting.

Indoors, if I just move my head I sense the flicker as well.

There is undoubtedly research that had been done and that is how they came to that particular wavelength of blue LED for modern police cruiser light bars strobes... it's intentional.

[econjack]

While this appears to be a Thanksgiving recipe, I make it several times a Winter for turkey, pork, and chicken.

Cranberry Relish

1 bag (12 oz) fresh or frozen cranberries

8 oz dried cherries

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Dissolve sugar in water over heat and bring to a boil. Toss in the cranberries, stirring until they pop. Stir in cherries and cook for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Options: I've tried this with a little orange zest, but now leave it out because I think it "fights" with the cherries. If you try something else, let us know how it turns out.

This stuff has the shelf life of granite and I "lost" some in the fridge for two months, but it was still good.

[Jamestown1630]

I love Cranberry-Anything!

Thanks for your recipe.

-JT

[octex]

What a great telling of your childhood memories! You have an excellent talent for creating the image with your words.

I was a kid in the ‘40s-’50s, so have very similar memories.

[Jamestown1630]

So many things seem to have been better, back then.

I have always been a little suspicious of the reality of ‘progress’. In many ways, it seems we don’t progress so much as we ‘trade-off’.

Back in those land-line days, a telephone call was an EVENT; and the phone didn’t ring very often. Now, I can carry my phone around with me - but that seems like a noisy way to live, and so far I’ve only used my first smartphone to listen to Art Bell at night ;-)

Back then, you had to plan to watch your favorite TV show, and it was a family event. Now everyone is huddled in a room apart, doing their own thing on their own electronics.

My first car, a used 1963 Impala, was simple enough that even I could do minor repairs on it - my sewing machine, too - which gave a certain confidence, a feeling of control of some essentials. Now I wouldn’t open either one up, or understand them if I did.

On the other hand, to someone like me the advent of WordPerfect was tantamount to the discovery of penicillin or the invention of the light bulb ;-)

I guess I wouldn’t give up the modern things; I just wish we were wiser in how we allow them to affect us and impact our priorities. And I often wonder if people today truly ENJOY life as much as we did...

-JT

[Liz]

Dont throw out that coffee can.

FROSTY THE SNOWMAN TOP HAT CENTERPIECE

Paint tall-type coffee can black. Cutout black felt circle--circumference a little less than the height of can---glue to a cardboard circle cut to brim size.

FINAL---dab glue here and there on brim; invert can onto felt. Let dry.

Tie wide red/check homespun ribbon around can--add bow; glue on asst of Christmas holly, acorns, flowers, candle.

CANDLE Make a candle w/ tea light set in toilet paper roll painted white, sprinkled w/ glitter.

FINISHING TOUCHES To ice the hat: make a paste w/ flour/water. Drop it on the hat as pictured--then add glitter. Dry.

OR sprinkle hat w/ Epsom salts to get that pillowy, just-snowed look.

NOTE: to make a larger centerpiec---ask your local restaurant or pizza shop for one of the large commercial cans they use.

[Trillian]

My mom used to make this when we were kids. This recipe is very similar to hers. She used those Maria cookies in the big orange box from the grocer store.

Salame al Cioccolato (Chocolate Salami)

**Please Note - The Chocolate Salami will be firm when you first remove it from the refrigerator (you can see that in the photos). It is best to cut slices immediately but then allow the slices to come to room temperature before serving (the slices will then become soft and luscious!).

This recipe uses raw eggs; please make sure to use only the freshest of eggs.
226 g (8 ounces) good quality dark chocolate, 70%, finely chopped
100 g (7 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
150 g (2/3 cup) caster (superfine granules) sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
30 ml (2 tablespoons) dark rum
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
15 g (2 tablespoons) unsweetened cocoa, sifted
250 g (about 9 ounces) plain cookies (tea biscuits, digestive cookies), coarsely chopped
75 g (1/2 cup) almonds, toasted, finely chopped
75 g (1/2 cup)hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, finely chopped
50 g (1/3-cup) unsalted pistachios, toasted, finely chopped
Confectioners’ (icing) sugar, sifted, for work surface
1.In a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of just simmering water, melt chocolate until smooth. Remove from heat, set-aside.
2.In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together butter and sugar until creamy.
3.Add the eggs; whisk until well combined.
4.Add the rum and vanilla extract; whisk to combine.
5.Add cocoa to cooled chocolate; stir until well combined.
6.Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and whisk until well combined.
7.Add the cookies, almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios to egg-chocolate mixture; stir to well combine.
8.Cover and chill chocolate-cookie mixture until firm, about one-half hour.
9.Using a fine mesh sieve, sift confectioners’ sugar onto a clean work surface. Transfer chocolate-cookie mixture to work surface.
10.Using your hands, form chocolate-cookie mixture into a log (resembling a salami) about 5-cm (2-inches) in diameter.
11.Using the fine mesh sieve, sift confectioners’ sugar over surface of log to well coat.
12.Place the log on a sheet of plastic wrap; wrap tightly. Twist the ends by grasping both ends of the wrap and rolling towards you several times (wrap as tightly as possible to keep the log shape). To secure, tie a knot at each end.
13.Chill in refrigerator for at least three hours, preferably overnight.
14.To serve, cut into slices or place on a wooden board and allow your guests to slice on their own.
15.Store well wrapped in aluminum foil in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or well wrapped in foil and then in a freezer bag in the freezer for up to 1 month.
16.Buon Appetito!

http://gracessweetlife.com/2011/06/salame-al-cioccolato-chocolate-salami/

Here is a pic of the cookies:
https://sp.yimg.com/xj/th?id=OIP.Md50844f7c3ea8984715c83ec6c3074b7H0&pid=15.1&P=0&w=226&h=152