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God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety
For New Year's Day, we had lasagna, so tonight I'm making duck à l'orange. I was almost tempted to attempt the eighteenth-century version translated here, but instead I'm just going with the recipe from a 1943 issue of Gourmet (partly because I had already started it by the time I thought to throw "caneton à l'orange" into Google . . .). Have I mentioned how truly unhappy I am that the magazine has been shut down by Condé Nast and its subscription replaced with Bon Appétit, which is really not the same? It's enough to make me worry about The New Yorker. And if anything happens to Cook's Illustrated, I'll hurt someone.
Right. I have to start the Indian pudding. (I'm also experimenting with desserts. Last night was gingerbread with pears, very dark and not sweet.) Things of actual interest later on.
Right. I have to start the Indian pudding. (I'm also experimenting with desserts. Last night was gingerbread with pears, very dark and not sweet.) Things of actual interest later on.
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(As for the post title: have you heard Kate Rusby's version of "The Village Green Preservation Society"?)
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Fingers crossed. Thank you.
(As for the post title: have you heard Kate Rusby's version of "The Village Green Preservation Society"?)
Hers was actually the version I heard first. I didn't really discover the Kinks until last year.
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Edit: Saveur is also rumored to be on the chopping block. I'd be mad about that, too.
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It was! You could read Gourmet even if you didn't feel like cooking anything.
Saveur is also rumored to be on the chopping block. I'd be mad about that, too.
Argh!
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The duck sounds lovely--I hope it tastes equally so. Agreed about the magazines, esp. your hopes for the survival of Cook's Illustrated.
Desserts sound lovely as well. I hope the Indian pudding comes out well--I've always wanted to try making it, but never have.
We were invited by friends of my mother's for New Year's Eve, and had mostly Filipino food, which was mostly new to me, and brilliant (spare ribs and a sort of spring roll with a ground-meat filling, turkey red rice congee, sea trout steamed whole with lemons and ginger and things, some sort of Chinese greens, roast duck, egg noodles and bean thread noodles with Chinese sausage...). Made sure to have ham and black eyed peas* on New Year's Day.
*Some part of my mind is awfully silly about these things. My first thought, when you said you'd had lasagna, was to the effect of 'ham lasagna? That's different. I wonder if it has black eyed peas in it or not?'
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I have, but thanks. I like her work.
I hope the Indian pudding comes out well--I've always wanted to try making it, but never have.
I am confused, because I always thought of Indian pudding as a molasses-sweetened, spiced cousin of polenta, but all the recipes I could find involve a cup or less of cornmeal and a lot of milk. I'm trying one; we'll see what happens.
We were invited by friends of my mother's for New Year's Eve, and had mostly Filipino food, which was mostly new to me, and brilliant (spare ribs and a sort of spring roll with a ground-meat filling, turkey red rice congee, sea trout steamed whole with lemons and ginger and things, some sort of Chinese greens, roast duck, egg noodles and bean thread noodles with Chinese sausage...).
That sounds really, really magnificent.
My first thought, when you said you'd had lasagna, was to the effect of 'ham lasagna? That's different. I wonder if it has black eyed peas in it or not?'
I have never heard of the ham-and-black-eyed-peas rule for New Year's. Where does it come from? Lasagna in my family means interleaved layers of pasta, ricotta, mozzarella, meat sauce, and pepperoni and meatballs, I think because at some point in the past my mother added them; I am sure it would be disowned by Bologna, but it's delicious.
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We just used whipped cream. I will definitely try a batch with golden syrup; I've had a lot of success with it in pies etc.
Also also also, should it fail, it comes nicely in a tin from the Vermont Country Store.
Thanks. This recipe did not fail, but it could have used more spices; I liked the addition of sliced apples prescribed by this version, but I would probably still add more cornmeal next time.
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I'm glad you have heard it. You're welcome. She's brilliant--I wish she didn't hate to fly so, as I've only heard her once in concert and I'd like to do so again without having to cross the Atlantic myself.
I am confused, because I always thought of Indian pudding as a molasses-sweetened, spiced cousin of polenta, but all the recipes I could find involve a cup or less of cornmeal and a lot of milk. I'm trying one; we'll see what happens.
Interesting. I'd always had the same impression of Indian pudding. I'm looking forward to hearing how this version based on confusing recipes comes out.
That sounds really, really magnificent.
It was. It was very hard not to overeat, but it was splendid.
I have never heard of the ham-and-black-eyed-peas rule for New Year's. Where does it come from?
It's a Southern thing, I think. One eats ham, or some kind of pork product, for good luck--the explanation for this, I'm told, is that a pig kicks the dirt backwards when digging, so bad things are being symbolically kicked backwards behind the new year, or something like that. The black-eyed peas are for good luck as well, although truth to tell I've no notion why this would be. (Aside from the fact that they're delicious, of course.)
Lasagna in my family means interleaved layers of pasta, ricotta, mozzarella, meat sauce, and pepperoni and meatballs, I think because at some point in the past my mother added them; I am sure it would be disowned by Bologna, but it's delicious.
That does sound delicious. (And much much much better than ham-and-black-eyed-peas lasagna.)
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I wish—it was an adapation of a recipe from Gourmet. We messed around with it as follows:
Whisk together one and a half cups flour, one teaspoon baking soda, one teaspoon cinnamon, a half-teaspoon allspice, and a quarter-teaspoon dash of salt. Melt one stick of butter (if salted, delete the dash of salt from the previous instruction) in a half-cup of water. Preferably using an electric mixer, beat together a half-cup dark brown sugar (tightly packed) and a half-cup molasses (should also be dark, but not blackstrap; that's crystallized road tar) until combined; add three large eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add flour and spices, beat until just smooth. Add butter-and-water, beat until just smooth. Add a quarter-cup of finely chopped crystallized ginger and as much powdered ginger as your tastes desire—I think I used two healthy teaspoons—beat until just smooth, and pour out into a buttered and floured nine-inch cake pan. (The batter will look very liquid for most of this process, but it stabilizes right at the end.) Peel and chop one pear, scatter thickly over the surface. Bake at 350° F for about thirty-five minutes or until the usual toothpick comes out clean; I found it took more like forty-five or fifty minutes, but your oven may vary. Knock the cake out onto a rack to cool slightly, flip right ways up and devour.
Enjoy!
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