2007
This is a good basic pudding recipe. Add raisins, cranberries, nuts or candied fruit as you see fit.
Basic Steamed Pudding
1 egg
� cup molasses
2 Tablespoons butter
� teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 � cups flour
� cup boiling water
Beat egg and molasses together. Mix in ingredients in listed order. Pour batter into a well-greased pudding mold. Set covered mold into a kettle of boiling water. Steam for 1 �- 2 hours. Always maintain water level and boil. Serve with a hard sauce. For Christmas place a twig of holly at the top.
Cranberry Sauce
(Giving Thanks:Thanksgiving Recipes and History from Pligrims to Pumpkin Pie, Kathleen Curtin, Sandra L. Oliver and
Plimoth Plantation, 2005)
This recipe is adapted from Maria Parloa�s Appledore Cookbook (1880). In Sandy Oliver�s copy of the book, a previous owner inserted the word brown before the word sugar, which is a great idea. The amount of sugar in this recipe is reduced by half, making it a nice change from the sweeter commercial sauces. You may prefer to use a full 2 cups white sugar.
1 pound cranberries (about 4 cups)
1 cup water
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
Check the cranberries and remove any soft or brown ones. Put the good berries in a stainless- steel or enamel pan with water. Sprinkle the brown sugar over them. Simmer gently, stirring frequently but gently, for about 30 minutes, or until the berries are soft and the sauce has a glossy appearance.
Cool slightly and serve in a pretty bowl.
1880 Recipe
(Maria Parloa, The Appledore Cookbook)
Cranberry Sauce. Pick and wash the cranberries: now put in the preserving kettle with half a pint of water to a quart of berries; now put the sugar on the top of the berries, allowing a pint of sugar to a quart of berries. Set on the fire and stew about half an hour. Stir often to prevent burning. They will not need straining, and will preserve their rich color cooked this way. Never cook cranberries before putting in the sugar. Less sugar may be used if you do not want them very rich.
Receipt for Apple Fritters
(Pioneer Cookery of the Genesee Country, Susan S. Kinsey,1996)
Make a stiff batter of a cup of cream, 2 eggs, and sufficient flour. Grate in some nutmeg, if you have any. Pare and thinly slice some sweet apples. Allow the slices to dry before dipping them in the batter or it won�t stick. Fry them in an inch or two of lard, but not too hot so the apples will cook throughly. Turn to brown both sides. Remove them from the fat and sprinkle with a bit of sugar. If you can pound a little cinnamon to mix with the sugar the fritters will be best.
Other fritters can be made by stirring cut up pieces of fruit into the batter. Apples, peaches, cherries, and damson plums can be used. Parsnips and carrots are both used in fritters. Cook and either chop fine or mash a few parsnips or carrots. Allow to cool a bit and stir into the batter. Fry spoonfuls, turning to brown all sides. These should also be sprinkled with sugar before serving.
Smoked Beef, Salmon, Sturgeon, Goose Breast, or Tongue
(The Epicurean, by Charles Ranhofer, 1920)
Cut the beef into very thin slices, and serve with sprigs or parsley.
Smoked Salmon or Sturgeon. Cut thin slices of smoked salmon or smoked sturgeon three-sixteenth of an inch thick; broil them on a gridiron for one minute on each side, and when they are cold, arrange them on a side dish, pour a little sweet oil over, and serve with chopped parsley and slices of lemon around, or to be served raw cut in thin slices and dressed either in a circle or straight row with chopped parsley around.
August, 2007
Salmagundi
Turn a Blow on the Difh, and put on it in regular Rings, beginning at the Bottom, the following, Ingredients, all minced: Anchovies with the Bones taken out, the white Meat of Fowls without the skin, hard-boiled Eggs, the Yolks and Whites chopped feparately, Parfley, the Lean of old Ham fcraped, the inner Stalks of Celery: put a Row of Capers around the Bottom of the Bowl, and difpofe the others in a fanciful Manner: put a little Dyramid of Butter on the Top, and have a fmall Glafs with Egg mixed as for Sallad, to eat with the Salmagundi
(Mrs. Mary Randolph's Virginia Housewife, 1831)
Creamed Potatoes and Peas
(The Cooks Book, Marguerite Sharp, 1985)
This is a Traditional Fourth of July meal. The first tiny new potatoes and garden peas should be ready by the 4th (weather permitting!).
Boil new potatoes and add cooked peas. Drain some of the potato water off and add milk to cover. Thicken with flour-water mixture. This is a great "one pot" meal.
Remark: This �one pot� meal is also good with fresh green or yellow string beans. If you use new tiny potatoes, don�t try to peel them. If new potatoes aren�t available just quarter old potatoes and cook the same way.
RHUBARB BREAD
(From the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook)
TOPPING :
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar *
2 tsp. butter or margarine, melted
BATTER :
2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Blend the topping ingredients and set aside.
To make the batter, blend the flour, baking powder, soda and salt.
Stir in the rhubarb and nuts. In a separate bowl, beat the oil, sugar and eggs together until light,
and blend in the milk. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry, stirring
just enough to blend. Stir in the vanilla. Pour the batter into two 4 1/2 x 8 1/2-inch loaf pans and drizzle the
butter/sugar topping over them. I found that it was more a case of
crumbling.
Bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the
center comes out clean.
* For a little different flavor replace the granulated sugar with brown or maple sugar.