![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Chanukah song 3
Dec. 11th, 2012 03:55 pmOn the third day of Chanukah, my true love gave to me...
3 greeting cards
2 spinning tops
And a latke.
3 greeting cards
2 spinning tops
And a latke.
Dec. 11th, 2012
Lost recipe loses itself!
Dec. 11th, 2012 04:06 pmGrandma's Christmas cake recipe is not where I left it. It lost itself for 40 years and now it's lost again. Bad recipe! Actually, it was a very good recipe, containing lots of currants and much spice, but if I don't have it right now then I can't give it to you. I do have another recipe, however, that has exactly the same tale behind it and that also contains much currant and lots of spice: Grandma's Christmas pudding recipe. It even has brandy butter.
The story is simple. my father's mother's family came from England and so had a slightly different cuisine to the rest of the family. My father's mother's recipe book contains ingredients that my mother has never tasted (bacon!). In the fifties, my grandmother wrote all these recipes down. I reckon it was her personal battle against the imposition of much higher kashruth onto the family through Mum's side being significantly more religious. Whatever the reason, that notebook only came to light fairly recently.
While it was still in hiding (it's now safely with the senior cousin and family patriarch) several of us debated massively on the subject of Christmas cake and pudding. My cousin Anna could describe the flavour of the cake precisely. I knew the pudding taste through Anna's mother. But there was no recipe. We had lost it.
When I made the pudding, the year it was rediscovered, the reason for the strong family memory became instantly evident. The flavour profile and mouthfeel of this recipe is quintessentially Polack. it's not at all kosher, but it's Jewish in that close and comforting family way that some foodstuffs attain.
Happy Chanukah to those who wanted a cake recipe - I hope that a pudding recipe will suffice. I now need someone to make it with and to help me eat it. That flavour combination is so evocative of Polacks past, that I can't resist.
Christmas Pudding
(Medium Rich) 1 lb suet, ¾ lb fine breadcrumbs, ¾ lb brown sugar, ¼ lb flour, 1 lb sultanas, 1 lb currants ¼ lb mixed peel, ½ teaspoon mixed spice, a good pinch salt, 1 lemon, 4 eggs, ½ pt beer or milk, ½ gill brandy. Prepare all the ingredients. Sieve flour &Y mix with crumbs & finely chopped suet. Add fruit & chopped peel & grated rind of lemon & sugar. Mix in the beaten eggs, beer or milk. Stir well. Cover a clean & put away until next day. Add the brandy, turn into greased basins & cover with the greased paper & pudding cloths. Boil for 8 to 10 hrs. Remove the paper & cloths, let puddings cool & recover with fresh paper & dry cloths. Store in a cook, dry place. Boil for a further 2 hrs before serving.
Brandy Butter
Stir butter and sugar to a cream add sufficient brandy to flavour. Serve with plum pudding.
The story is simple. my father's mother's family came from England and so had a slightly different cuisine to the rest of the family. My father's mother's recipe book contains ingredients that my mother has never tasted (bacon!). In the fifties, my grandmother wrote all these recipes down. I reckon it was her personal battle against the imposition of much higher kashruth onto the family through Mum's side being significantly more religious. Whatever the reason, that notebook only came to light fairly recently.
While it was still in hiding (it's now safely with the senior cousin and family patriarch) several of us debated massively on the subject of Christmas cake and pudding. My cousin Anna could describe the flavour of the cake precisely. I knew the pudding taste through Anna's mother. But there was no recipe. We had lost it.
When I made the pudding, the year it was rediscovered, the reason for the strong family memory became instantly evident. The flavour profile and mouthfeel of this recipe is quintessentially Polack. it's not at all kosher, but it's Jewish in that close and comforting family way that some foodstuffs attain.
Happy Chanukah to those who wanted a cake recipe - I hope that a pudding recipe will suffice. I now need someone to make it with and to help me eat it. That flavour combination is so evocative of Polacks past, that I can't resist.
Christmas Pudding
(Medium Rich) 1 lb suet, ¾ lb fine breadcrumbs, ¾ lb brown sugar, ¼ lb flour, 1 lb sultanas, 1 lb currants ¼ lb mixed peel, ½ teaspoon mixed spice, a good pinch salt, 1 lemon, 4 eggs, ½ pt beer or milk, ½ gill brandy. Prepare all the ingredients. Sieve flour &Y mix with crumbs & finely chopped suet. Add fruit & chopped peel & grated rind of lemon & sugar. Mix in the beaten eggs, beer or milk. Stir well. Cover a clean & put away until next day. Add the brandy, turn into greased basins & cover with the greased paper & pudding cloths. Boil for 8 to 10 hrs. Remove the paper & cloths, let puddings cool & recover with fresh paper & dry cloths. Store in a cook, dry place. Boil for a further 2 hrs before serving.
Brandy Butter
Stir butter and sugar to a cream add sufficient brandy to flavour. Serve with plum pudding.