The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Dessert Cookbook

 Way back in 2010, long before the Amazing Race, long before any cookbooks, and the afternoon before their first appearance on television, Lucindaville was begging everyone to watch the Fabulous Beekman Boys.  We just knew they were going to be stars. 

A mere three years later after a marriage, $1,000,000, a mercantile, two television seasons, and a lot of cheese; they have not one but two cookbooks. Whod'a thunk it! 

So here we are three years later and EVERYONE is writing about the Beekman Boys.   Seriously they are in more magazines than Kate Moss.   So we are going to keep it short and sweet, like The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Dessert Cookbook.

1. The book is beautiful.

2. The photo are beautiful.

3. The recipes are old-fashioned -- excuse me, HEIRLOOM...yet,

4. they seem very modern (much like the boys themselves).

5.  It's dessert!  Buy a copy.

It is mid-September and still 90 degrees!   Make this:

Honey Ice Cream

2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch

In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups of the milk, the cream, honey, orange zest, cardamom, and salt and bring to a simmer.

In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch into the remaining 1/2 cup of milk.  Add to the simmering cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute, or until thickened.  Let cool to room temperature.

Transfer mixture to an ice cream machine and process according to the manufacturer's directions.  Serve right away or transfer to a freezer container and freeze.  If you like, serve with a drizzle of honey.

Now, guess who is going to be on the cover of Popular Mechanics?

Mrs. Bridges' Upstairs, Downstairs Cookery Book

Today we are featuring a television tie-in cookbook, Mrs. Bridges' Upstairs, Downstairs Cookery Book.
As you may know, Upstairs, Downstairs recently received a makeover. Returning to 165 Eaton Place gave a new generation a look into one of the best loved British television series of all time. And thanks to DVD, one can watch all 68 episodes from the 1970's to catch up to the new series. With a copy of this cookbook, one can cook exactly as Mrs. Bridges did for the Bellamy family.

The fictional cookbook is presented as the actual cookbook of Mrs. Bridges, even featuring a dedication to Lady Marjorie Bellamy. The recipes were pulled from many Edwardian cookbooks to give it that authentic feel. Alas, it does not always feature the dishes one can see being served in the show, which might be its biggest flaw.

When I need a recipe for spotted dick recently, (check out the reason and the "dick" at Lucindaville.) I turned to Mrs. Bridges and she did not disappoint.

Spotted Dick

4 oz flour
4 oz suet
4 oz breadcrumbs
2 oz sugar
5 oz currants
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

Sieve the flour , salt and baking powder. Add the suet, finely grated, the breadcrumbs, sugar and currants. Mix into a stiff dough with water. Wrap in a floured cloth, then tie into a ball and boil. allow at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours' boiling. Turn out and serve with Custard Sauce.

If you are totally enamoured of British historical drama, do add this book to your collection, even if you don't make spotted dick.

The Three Chimneys

When you write a cookbook blog, you often find that you are the recipient of cookbooks that your friends bought on a whim. I know this sounds bizarre, but there are some people out there who see no need whatsoever for a thousand cookbooks to peruse. Well their loss is my gain.

Recently, I gained a lovely cookbook from my friend Nanci. Several years ago, she and her husband took a whirlwind trip to Scotland. While they were there, they had dinner at the famous restaurant, The Three Chimneys that was vote one of the world’s top 50 restaurants.

Being dutifully impressed, and filled with vacation largess, they not only ate at The Three Chimneys, but they also bought the book. Recently, without ever having to visit the Isle of Skye myself, I became the inheritor of the cookbook.

Shirley Spear, the cook at The Three Chimneys began her career as a journalist. The job took her to London where she met her husband. As with any journalist living in London, she couldn’t wait to go back to Scotland and open a restaurant. Sure, after being named one of the 50 best restaurants in the world, one might think it was a great idea, but for many years it seemed like a huge catastrophe. But Shirley was determined to make the local ingredients of the Scottish countryside a source of culinary pride.

Shirley succeeded.

Now, along with the gift of this cookbook, I also received the menu from 16 August 2004, the night Nanci dined there. I really wanted to start with the Loch Dunvegan Lobster & Langoustines with Peashoot, New Potato & Quail Egg Salad, Lemon & Olive Oil Vinaigrette but alas, the recipe was not included so I went for dessert.

Whisky and Lemon Syllabub with Skye Strawberries

250 ml fresh double cream

Finley grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon

125 g castor sugar

1/2 a measure or I generous tbsp. of your favorite whiskey

Whisk all the ingredients together until holding just form.

Spoon on top of fresh strawberries.

Eat and enjoy.

Did she really have to tell us to enjoy? Now I feel the need to re-visit Scotland. And eat langoustines and syllabub and…

Thanks, Nanci!

Recipes Of All Nations

Many cooks of the thirties, including Elizabeth David, were enamored of Countess Morphy's Recipes Of All Nations. There is very little known about Countess Morphy, though many believe she is a "countess" in that same way Prince is a "prince", that is in name only. Still the Countess knew how to collect recipes. This rather massive tome contains over 800 recipes from 29 countries.

This copy bears an introduction by the well-known 1950's television cook, Philip Harben. Harben states that while he has not cooked all 800 recipes, he has cooked over a dozen and boldly states, "I have never found Countess Morphy once to be in error."

There is a large section on Creole cookery and more than one person believes that before she was the "Countess", she was Marcelle Azra Hincks or maybe Forbes from New Orleans. Her section on Creole recipes features a calas recipe. This is a great old New Orleans recipe that is making a bit of a comeback in cooking circles.

Calas (Breakfast rice fritters)

These delicious breakfast fritters or cakes were sold by the old Creole negro women, and their familiar and harmonious street cry of “Bel calas, bel calas, tout chauds!” was heard in all the streets of the French quarter at breakfast time. They went their daily round carrying on their heads a covered wooden bowl containing the hot Calas – picturesque figures they must have been, with their brightly coloured bandana tignons or head-dress, their blue check dresses and their spotless white aprons. The negro cooks would dash out to secure the freshly made hot Calas, which were eaten with the morning cup of coffee. The following is the traditional recipe for Calas:

Ingredients: ½ a cup of rice, 3 cups of water, 3 eggs, 3 tablespoons of flour, ½ a cup of sugar, about 1 oz or a little under of yeast, lard or oil.

Method: Put the water in a saucepan, bring to the boil and add the rice. Boil till the rice is very soft and mushy. Remove from the saucepan and, when quite cold, mix with the yeast dissolved in warm water. Set the rice to rise overnight. In the morning, beat the eggs thoroughly, add them to the rice, with the sugar and flour. Beat all well and make into a thick batter. Set aside to rise for another 15 minutes. Have ready a deep frying pan with hot oil or lard, drop into it 1 tablespoon of the mixture at a time, and cook till a light golden colour. When done, remove them from the fat, drain well by placing them on a sieve or in a colander, sprinkle with sugar and serve very hot.

My copy of this book was used exclusively for the Austro-Hungarian recipes. (There are notes and checks.) This seemed to be a favorite. The "paprika" here refers to the actual pepper so the Countess should have translated it as a Pepper Salad.

Paprika Salat (Paprika Salad)

The paprikas are either boiled or baked till tender and served with salad dressing made of 2 tablespoons of oil to 1 of vinegar, salt, pepper, and a little sugar.

AS you can see, there are just more countries than we have time for here.

Dolly's Dixie Fixin's

“I cook like an old mountain woman.”

Today’s joint venture with Famous Food Friday at Lucindaville is none other than Dolly Parton. I bet you didn’t even know she could cook. Sing yes. Act and write and run a theme park, yes. But cook? Well, she watched her Mama feed 12 kids in a tiny cabin, so some of that cooking had to rub off.




Dolly gathered up a whole bunch of recipes and wrote a cookbook, Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s. The cookbook is filled with her Mama’s recipes as well as recipes from family and friends. There is a section on Christmas and other celebrations. Sections on barbeque, breads and sweets. Also, there a section called Road Kill that feature… not road kill, but recipes from some of Parton’s favorite roadside eateries like the Loveless Café and Mama Dips.

“…the two things I require in all my homes are a great kitchen and a chapel.”

Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s follows the time-honored tradition in the South of gathering together collections of recipes to raise money for a church or a junior league. Parton’s cookbook raises money for a project close to her heart, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. In 1996, Parton began giving away books to children to spark their love of reading. She had a simple idea, give children, regardless of their family income, a book of their own every month. Parton personally sent a book every month to every child in Sevier County, Tennessee. The books begin with The Little Engine That Could and end, the month the child goes to kindergarten with, Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come. Needless to say, the idea caught on and before long there were Imagination Libraries popping up everywhere.


Like Dolly, food and reading are two of my favorite things.



Here is an appropriately titled recipe from Dolly. According to Parton:

“…when I stopped hoeing corn and working in the fields and moved to Nashville, I grew quite a bit larger. I was so fat, when I hauled ass I had to make two trips.”

These bars couldn’t be any sweeter. Just reading the recipe will make your teeth hurt.

Hello Dolly Bars

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Pour the butter into an 8 by 8-inch baking pan. Spread the graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of the pan. Arrange the chocolate chips over the crumbs, followed by the coconut and pecans. Pour the condensed milk over the pecans. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. The bars will not look like they’re cooked; they need to cool on a rack to firm up. Cut into bars once they are cooked.

I’m sure if you eat a big ol’ plate of these, you, too, will have to make a couple of trips to haul ass. And, if your community is looking for a fine project for children, look into the Imagination Library.

Cooking In Provence

I know, I know, I don’t need another cookbook about Provence. There are clafouti, and moules and tomato tarts, oh my. Still, there has never been a Provence cookbook I didn’t love and Alex Mackay’s Cooking In Provence is no different. I can’t help myself, but French food just looks better than any food on the page. How is that possible? I don’t know, but it is a fact. Rather than palaver on, take a look at the food.

and

and

Oh yeah, here is the recipe.

Coeur A La Crème

350 g (12 oz) fromage frais
200 g (7 oz) caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
250 g (9 oz) raspberries
300 g (10 1/2 oz) or 2 large punnets, of either raspberries, strawberries or red currants, or a mixture
100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) double cream or crème frâiche (optional)

Line a heart, or any perforated mould – the base of a small colander would do – with a layer of muslin. Mix the fresh cheese with half the sugar and the lemon juice and spoon it into the muslin and mould, being careful not to crease the muslin too much. Tap the mould against the table a few times to knock out any air bubbles and leave to drain for at least 2 hours.

Mix the first 250 g (9oz) raspberries with the remaining sugar and 100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) water in a small pan. Bring to a boil, purée and strain, and mix the remaining fruit.

To serve, unmould the cheese heart, warm the berries in the coulis and help yourself to the double cream.

I think coeur a la crème is a wonderful, and lovely dessert. It is quite easy to make and tasty. I am resolving to make it at least twice this summer!

Thanksgiving 101

Rick Rodgers has done several of these "101" type books. Thanksgiving was such a big thing in my family, that I have a hard time imagining anyone who can't throw together a turkey, dressing and pie. I forget that there are a lot of people who don't know exactly how to get it together. There are several basic cookbooks for this and Rick Rodgers' Thanksgiving 101 is a good choice.

I thought of this book because of a conversation I had with someone who never cooks. She mentioned a pumpkin roll thing (she didn't really have a name for it) but the second she started talking about it I knew exactly what she was talking about.

I don't know where this recipe originated, I think perhaps it is a standard "Libby's Pumpkin" recipe, but it has become a popular Thanksgiving dessert. As with so many things that have become "popular" this dessert had been subjected to many a horrific interpretation. So many times it looks particularly inedible. Rodgers has dressed up the recipe a bit, adding a nice "spiked cream" and some nuts. (As you know I generally have an aversion to nuts, but I do rather like walnuts so I am letting this slide.)

Pumpkin-Walnut Roulade with Spiked Cream

1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup (3 ounces) finely chopped walnuts

Confectioners' sugar, for sifting

Filling

Two 3-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger


Spiked Cream

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons dark rum or brandy, optional
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts, for garnish
2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger, for garnish



1. To make the cake, position a rack in the top third of the oven and preheat to 375° F. Lightly butter a 10 X 15-inch jelly roll pan. To line the bottom and sides of the pan, cut a 12 X 16-inch piece of parchment or waxed paper. At each of the four corners, cut a diagonal slash about 2 inches long. Fit the paper into the pan, folding the cut ends over each other at the slashed to form neat corners. Lightly butter and flour the paper, tapping out the excess flour.

2. In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer set at high speed, beat the sugar and eggs until light in color and texture, about 3 minutes. (The mixture should form a thick ribbon that falls back on itself when the beaters are lifted about 2 inches from the bowl. It must be stiff enough to support the weight of the dry ingredients.) Stir in the pumpkin and lemon juice.

3. Sift the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cloves onto a piece of waxed paper. With the mixer on low, gradually beat in the flour mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan, being sure to reach into the corners. Sprinkle the batter with the walnuts.

4. Bake until the center of the cake springs back when lightly pressed with a finger, about 15 minutes. Sift confectioners' over the top of the cake. Place a clean kitchen towel over the cake, then top with a baking sheet. Holding the baking sheet over the cake, turn the cake upside down and invert it onto the towel on the baking sheet. Carefully peel off the paper. Place the paper back on the cake. Using the towel as an aide, roll up the cake and cool completely.

5. To make the filling, in a medium bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer at medium speed, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until combined. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar until smooth.

6. Unroll the cake and discard the paper. Spread the filling evenly over the cake and sprinkle with the crystallized ginger. Re-roll the cake (you won't need to use the kitchen towel) and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until the filing is firm, at least 1 hour. (The cake can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)

7. To make the spiked cream, in a chilled medium bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer set at high speed, beat the cream, confectioners' sugar, optional rum, and vanilla until stiff. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a large open star tip, such as Ateco Number 5.

8. Transfer the roll to a long serving platter. Garnish the cake with swirls of the whipped cream, and sprinkle with the walnuts and crystallized ginger. To serve, cut the cake diagonally into thick slices.

Now, I know everyone (well, not everyone, but the ONE who gets stuck in the kitchen cooking all this food) gets rushed during this time of the year, but if you are going to the trouble of making a "homemade" dessert, do make it look edible! A last minute dusting of 10X can do wonders for cattywhompus jelly roll!

Check out Rick Rodger's web site.

I Couldn’t Cook Either

"Just as I would never have learned to drive a car if I had to become a mechanic first, so I should never have started to cook at all had I relied on cookery books. " So writes Kenyon Goode, who ended up writing a cookery book, I Couldn’t Cook Either for the person who likes to put food on the table, but has no real idea how to do it.

I don't know much about Kenyon Goode with the exception of the info in this book. Here it is. In the thirties and forties, Goode watched his mother or her cook scurrying about the kitchen and behold – food appeared on the table. When he was married in the forties, he found his wife possessed those same womanly skills. Alas, he ended up getting a divorce in the 1950’s and found himself in a bachelor abode with an empty cupboard. He set out to share the basics with others who might find themselves in a similar predicament.

He cooks eggs, a few sauces some chicken and fish and finally, the end all English dessert.

Fool

Another dish that usually appeals to children and grown-ups alike, is a fool. Why this dish is so called, I've never been able to discover. Perhaps the suggestion is that, being so easy to make, any fool can do it. A fool is merely a combination of any puree of fruit and an equal quantity of stiffly whipped cream. Gooseberry Fool s perhaps the best known, but I usually make mine of frozen raspberries or blackberries, which I first sieve, and then sugar, before mixing in with the cream. Being very rich, it requires to be served ice-cold.

The actual origin of the English "fool" may have originated from the French " fouler" which means to "crush" or "mash." The OED scoffs at this notion (but they are English and loath to credit the French with anything.) So we will go with the "any FOOL can make it" explanation.

Regardless of what Kenyon Goode says, we here at Cookbook Of The Day, we love to rely on our cookery books.

Mrs. Manders’ Cook Book

Mrs. Manders came of age when English society was still very “Upstairs, Downstairs”. She began her professional career as fourth housemaid, then a scullery maid and finally a kitchen maid. To broaden her professional horizons, she studied at Marshall’s School of Cookery, serving as an apprentice and then a cook.



Mrs. Manders was quite a fine cook and she quickly began working for a posh crowd. She was cook to Sir Anthony Eden, considered by most to be the worst British Prime Ministers of the twentieth century. She also worked for two famous writers, Sheila Kaye- Smith and Rumer Godden. "Godden" is a rather a common name in Sussex and Joanna Godden was the title of Kaye-Smith’s most famous novel, though she never met Rumer. Mrs. Manders was at Shelia Kaye-Smith’s side when she died. In a moment of kismet, Godden bought Shelia Kaye-Smith's house.

Mrs. Manders became Godden’s cook. During turn of bad luck, the house burned to the ground and Godden spent a year homeless and camping out in wide array of furnished rentals, Mrs. Manders followed, cooking in unfamiliar surroundings with a hodge-podge of utensils and china.

“You should write a book,” Godden told Mrs. Manders.

“Me write a book?”

“I’ll buy you a fountain pen.”

“But, what sort of book is it.”

“A cookbook, of course.”

For a party, Mrs. Manders created a dessert called “Fraises à la Rumer". Godden wrote,

“I felt a little embarrassed at having such a confection called after me, but Mrs. Manders loves really to “go to town” when there is any kind of party. I always felt it would be a wonderful thing to have a rose called after me, but perhaps this-–dare I call it a pudding?—is better.”

Fraises à la Rumer

6 egg whites
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups finely granulated sugar
2 quarts strawberries
2 tablespoons Kirsch
2 1/2 cups heavy cream

METHOD: The meringue should be made 24 hours in advance. Grease three large baking sheets. Preheat oven to 475 F. Beat egg whites with salt and 1/4 cup sugar until stiff. Add the remaining sugar and continue beating until the mixture stands up in peaks. Put this into a large pastry bag and form a solid flat circle 9 inches in diameter on one of the prepared baking sheets. Next, make another circle 7 inches in diameter, another 5 inches and lastly one of 3 inches. Put these in the oven, turn off the heat, and leave for 8 hours. Remove, and when they are quite cool place each one very carefully on a clean working area.
Hull the strawberries, except for the largest one, which is reserved for the final touch. Put the fruit into a large bowl and sprinkle over it a little Kirsch: be careful not to use too much. When the strawberries are lying in the bowl with the liqueur, whip the cream until firm but not buttery. Insert a large rosette funnel into the pastry bag and fill it with the whipped cream.
Now put the largest meringue onto a circular platter (preferably silver) larger than 9 inches. Arrange the strawberries on this, covering it completely, and pipe cream over them. Follow this procedure with the 7-inch and then the 5-inch meringue. Finally put the 3-inch meringue on the top; pipe the remaining cream onto it in large rosettes, then put on this as a crowning the single large hulled strawberry. The whole sweet should look like a wedding cake.

While she might not have a rose named for her, this lovely strawberry meringue is gift enough.

Parisian Home Cooking

I know the very mention of clafoutis made you want run right over to your cookbook collection and drag out a French cookbook. Well, here’s one of mine, Parisian Home Cooking: Conversations, Recipes, And Tips From The Cooks And Food Merchants Of Paris by Michael Roberts. No really it is “Michael”, he’s a big old American, who is known for his “California “ cuisine but who doesn’t love Parisian cooking, at home or otherwise? These recipes were gathered from many of Roberts’ friends in Paris and from their mothers and housekeepers. He points out that there are 16 open air markets in Paris – sixteen, seize.

Frankly, you could trip in the street in Paris and find good produce to slap together into a meal. In talking with cooks, cooking teachers and restaurateurs, Roberts found that gender plays an important role in Parisian cooking (and most probably cooking everywhere.) As one teacher tells him, for women, “it is less method and more love,” whereas, men approach cooking as thought it is, “an obstacle to overcome.” And one friend goes so far as to postulate, and I paraphrase, “show me the mirepoix and I’ll tell you the sex of the cook.”

Clafoutis aux Cerises


1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoon kirsch
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
4 cups cherries, stones removed
Confectioners sugar for dusting
Crème fraiche or sour cream for serving

Preheat oven to 400 F. Butter and flour 9 –inch flan ring or round baking dish and set aside on a baking sheet.

2. In a bowl, beat the egg and egg yolk together, then beat in the sugar. Add the flour and mix until incorporated. Stir in the cream, kirsch, and melted butter. Pour the mixture into the flan ring and distribute the cherries evenly over it.

3. Place in the oven until puffed and golden, about 30 minutes. Let cool, then turn the clafoutis upside down onto a wire rack or plate. Then turn right side up onto a serving plate, sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar, and serve, accompanied by crème fraise or sour cream.

Whether you approach it with a love or a mission, whip up a nice clafoutis for your foodie friends.

Classic Stars Desserts

Emily Luchetti is a rock star among pastry chefs. She was the pastry chef at Stars, a landmark restaurant in San Francisco from 1984 to 1999. Classic Stars Desserts combines recipes from her two earlier cookbooks, Stars Desserts and Four-Star Desserts. While the book is meant to be written for a home cook, I find that the recipes seem a bit too "pastry chefy" for me. There are 8 ingredients for zinfandel-marinated raspberries! While Luchetti's books are not the first place I look for recipes, her flavor combinations are interesting and we should all aspire to be great pastry chefs even if we just want to have fresh berries!

Instead of a grand dessert, I am sharing with you a recipe for an ingredient I use often, pumpkin puree. It is so easy to grab a can off the shelf that we sometimes forget that is easy to make and the results are far superior to anything in a can. Remember to get the little sugar pumpkins!!

Pumpkin Puree

2 1/2 pounds sugar pumpkins
1/4 cup water

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Cut each pumpkin into sixths. Scrape out the seeds and any stringy pulp. Put the pumpkin pieces, cut-side up, and the water in a baking pan and cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake until soft when pierced with a fork, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and, when cool enough to handle,scoop out the flesh with a spoon and puree in a food mill or a food processor. If the puree is watery, place it in a large saute pan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thick. the timing depends on how watery the puree is.

Let cool, cover, and refrigerate until using.

Luchetti says you can freeze the puree for a month. Many people feel a year is OK. The Department of Agriculture has a low opinion of frozen of canned pumpkin because of the varying amount of water given off by pumpkins. Remember, it's your kitchen, so you know what is best. If you use canned pumpkin, you have a good idea of the consistency of the puree you need. If you need to dry out your puree, another way to proceed is to spread a layer out on a rimmed baking sheet and roast in a low, 200 F oven for a while. Again, there is no specific time as the water content varies. As with anything canned or frozen, if you open it and it seems funky -- throw it out!


If you are interested in the California culinary scene with a decidedly snarky bent, check out Jeremiah Tower's memoir,California Dish: What I Saw (and Cooked) at the American Culinary Revolution.

Cooking for Company

Today most cookbooks are filled with stunning photographs of food gracing page after page. There was a time that cookbooks had few photos, as they were thought to be frivolous. In old cookbooks that have color pictures, they have not always stood the test of time. The food, no matter how wonderful it may taste, looks dated.

Cooking For Company is a collection of recipes from the Farm Journal. I am sure that in 1968 it was a premiere cook, featuring over 900 recipes and a dozen full color pictures. I always find it ironic that THE most popular food to photograph in these books seems to be frozen or congealed; two preparations that do not hold up under lights and yet, there they are. The more garish and multicolored, the more popular. This is my favorite. This recipe makes 9 quarts! That’s a lot of company. Just whip up 9 quarts of this frozen fruit salad-dessert combo and stick it in your freezer. When company stops by, you will have a pre-made salad/dessert to serve your company. And if you make it just right, it will look like this…





Here is the recipe.

Frozen Fruit Salad-Dessert

4 (1lb. 4oz.) cans crushed pineapple
2 (1lb.) cans sliced peaches
2 c. fresh white seedless grapes, halved, or 2 (1lb.) cans
1 1/2 c. maraschino cherries, cut in eighths
1/2 lb. marshmallows, quartered (30)
2 tsp. crystallized ginger, finely chopped
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 c. cold water
1 c. orange juice
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. coarsely chopped pecans
2 qts. Heavy cream whipped, or 10 pkgs. Dessert topping mix, whipped, or 1 qt. Heavy cream and 5 pkgs. Dessert topping mix, whipped
3 c. mayonnaise



• Drain fruit; save 1 1/2 c. pineapple syrup. Cut peaches in 1/2 in. cubes. Combine fruit, marshmallows and ginger.
• Soften gelatin in cold water
• Heat pineapple syrup to boiling. Add gelatin; stir to dissolve. Add orange and lemon juices, sugar, and salt; stir to dissolve. Chill.
• When mixture starts to thicken, add fruit mixture and nuts. Fold in whipped cream and mayonnaise.
• Spoon into 10qt. Cylinder cartons (paper, plastic or metal). Cover and freeze. Makes 9 quarts.
• To serve, remove from freezer and thaw enough to slip out of carton. Cut in 1 in. slices. Serve salad on lettuce; garnish with cherries. For dessert, top with whipped cream. Each quart makes 6-8 servings.

Be sure and invite me over for salad OR for dessert!

The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love

In 1982, Jackson Mississippi threw it’s first, unsanctioned and little appreciated St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It was thrown on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. Jill Conner Brown volunteered to be in the parade. She would be the Sweet Potato Queen -- she a few other gals. No one really cared about St. Patrick, but the Queens were a hit. After that, in true Southern fashion, the Jackson, Mississippi St. Patrick’s Day Parade was moved to a Saturday close to St. Patrick’s Day. Why, because they’re Southern and there’s a bit of drinking and as Brown will tell you, “we are more concerned with the convenience afforded by a Saturday parade.”


The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love by Jill Conner Brown is not technically a cookbook, but it does have some of the signature dishes of Sweet Potato Queendom… the more fat and chocolate the better. As a child, the founder of the Jackson, Mississippi St. Patrick’s Day Parade was given an entire can of sweetened condensed milk to eat for his birthday and he waited all year to get it.

Here is a signature dish featuring sweetened condensed milk.

Danger Pudding

To make Danger Pudding, you take your can, and without opening it, you boil it for an hour or so. Now, the people who make sweetened condensed milk are hip to this, and they say flat-out you shouldn’t do this, ever. They feel so strongly about it, they actually print this warning right on the label: “Danger! Do not heat unopened can!’ So be forewarned: You’re risking your life and assorted kitchen parts by doing it. In my opinion, however, it’s worth the hazard.

The reason Eagle Brand puts that warning on the side is so that when, in the unlikely event, a can of heated , sweetened condensed milk does explode in your kitchen and you are maimed by shrapnel and molten toffee, you cannot blame Eagle Brands and sue their ass off. In the spirit of this litigiousness let me tell you right now --- don’t even try this! No matter how incredibly yummy it might be.