My Vernacular Saints

Being neither Catholic nor Buddhist, I am only mildly bemused by the vast majority of Saints in all their myriad flavors.
Early on in the Church's sovereignty success was rather too easily accomplished. Almost anybody -- anybody agreeable to being martyred -- became a Saint. You might call it a growth sector. Given the smug, argumentative, stubbornness of the species, volunteers were not far to seek. Rather the Church felt the need to regulate the market to keep the stock up. It wouldn't do to over extend. A young Jesuit once described the church to me as a bunch of non-peakers attempting to maintain a peak experience; so over extension happened. Almost every Saint required a chapel and two pair of hermits. Once a miracle occurred for some one some where some time somebody told whosits about it who mentioned it to my cousin last Epiphany -- or was it Midsomer dag? Any way there was need to mark the day with as much solemn rowdiness as the populace could get away with. The local employers objected. Not only were they hit up for donations to pay for the mass and festivities, but no work was done. It was enough to give Squire the appy pleckzy.

In the sixth century, Pope Boniface IV accepted the Pantheon as a gift from the Emperor Phocas and proclaimed May 13, 610, Feast of All Holy Martyrs held. ... In 835, Pope Gregory IV changed the date to November 1 and the name to Feast of All Saints.

-- Calendar Updates

So every one of the craychurs, even the wee little nameless ones that hadn't so much as a shrine to their name, got smooshed all together in to one collective. The Employers were pleased because the rest of the year was theirs to demand all labor they deemed their due.
The Church was happy because the Landlords paid the tithe even if they did grumble about it.
The King was happy because the serfs were too tired to cause trouble.
And, of course, the lumpen were too exhausted to notice.
Who says the aristos didn't like socialism? Of course only they rightly understood that that meant the work of the many for the benefit of me. Thus particular notice of particular Saints became optional.
Yet one or two Saints were too good to lose among the masses collectivized into one.
Usually it was the Boss' option.
But taking notice of the odd Saint at various times of the year does aid in maintaining a well oiled rhythm.
Among the Buddhist array there is no contest. Monkey is me fave.
When we worked at the Folk Life Festival in Spokane. Diana fell madly in love with the Scots the week they appeared in full kit, romance and regalia to the fore. We actually tried the haggis they made. I thought it excellent. Diana observed judiciously that it was acceptable in smallish nibbles chased quickly by a not so wee dram. And since she would only drink the whiskey if a man in a kilt was present and pipes were skirling, I could forget any notions I had of making it. So I have not yet attempted the intriguing recipe for "Our Modified 'Non-Intestinal' Scottish Haggis" in Feasts for All Seasons by Roy Andries de Groot. This is a steamed pate of beef liver, onions, suet and oatmeal garnished with Rowan jelly. But if the haggis is forbid, the malt remains. Andrew's day, November 30th is a good part of my personal calendar.

Though no saint in any boss' eye, Robbie Burns' day the 25th of January needs another dram or more to prevent toothache, if nothing more.

Saint Nick, December 6, is noticed for his idealism. The sweets are good as well.

On the first of March St David causes the Welsh recipes to dance and sing on the cook's palette. Teisen datws (mashed potato cakes with brown sugar, butter and ginger or cinnamon), or Punchnep (potatoes, turnips and cream), or Teisen nionod (Onion Cake very like a French Pomme de terre a la Boulangere). Accompany this with Cig Eidion Cymreig wedi Ei Frwysio (Welsh Braised Beef) which features beef shin, bacon, turnips, onions, carrots and herbs (thyme, marjoram, and savory which were grown to ward off witches and fairies) in a light beer or cider broth. Potatoes and leaks, naturally, go in the pot to finish. Else you might prefer a Pastai FFowlyn Cymreig (Welsh Chicken Pie) that pairs a jointed chicken with ham slices, gammon or tongue. Add leaks, chopped parsley, minced onion or shallot, flavored with nutmeg and covered with an egg pastry. For afters try Pwdin Efa (Eve's pudding): apples sweetened with golden or maple syrup thinned with lemen juice and surrounded with a vanilla sponge.
My welsh recipes are from a book I photocopied many years agone. Too cheap to pay for the title page, so I have no idea what it's called. Google provides the recipes. (So we need to add a St Google? Or, in the spirit of collectivity, a St. Dog Pile?)

As I write Patric's day looms. Since Diana is partially Irish, mixing nicely with the German and the French Canadian, it is a delight to observe the day. It's always a delight to have corn beef, carefully simmered, and steamed roots with cabbage. Ah, yes, and the light mustard sauce. De Groot mixes it fresh from powdered English mustard thinned with any liquid from beer to milk.

I have two recipes for Irish soda bread. This is so quick it is a shame not to make it for the day. Folklife at Expo '74 offered this:

Mix two cups of whole wheat flour with two cups of white and 2 teaspoons of baking powder, a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of soda and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Beat one egg into two cups of buttermilk. mix into dry ingredients. Stir well. Knead about 10 times. Put into a floured 9" pan and smooth out. cut a cross on top with a floured knife. Bake in a 375⁰f oven for about an hour.

But Thelma, very kindly, gave me her recipe which I like better:

Mix three cups of whole wheat with one cup of white. Add a teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of soda, and three-quarters of a teaspoon of baking powder.
Add one and a half to two cups buttermilk to make a soft dough.
Form into a round loaf. Cut cross in top. Place on a well buttered cookie sheet. Bake in a 375⁰F oven 35 to 40 minutes.

After you chivvy all the sarpents out after Pat's day (they do so love to stick their tongues out at him) it is time to salute the Bard of Avon on his natal day (we think) April 23. Join Falstaff and company in a mere hogshead or two of good sherries sack, or tipple of your choice, and declaim your favorite sonnet (My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun...Yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she belied by false compare!) or scene (My liege I did deny no prisoners. But I remember, when the fight was done, when I was dry with rage and extreme toil, breathless and faint, leaning on my sword, came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dress'd, fresh as a bridegroom ... ), lively with good felt roisterliness. And don't forget the music for your love's feast.

Shakes is followed not long after by St George on the 30th of April. Great British Cooking: A Well Kept Secret, by Jane Garmey, sees me through with Stoved Chicken, or Vicarage Beets, or Mixed Grill or Cornish Pasties, or Bubble and Squeak.and a Victoria sponge rolled up with jam for afters. See "Tools", to your right, to find your copy of the book.

But my all time favorite Saint is one that the workers chose to honor, that concoction of the industrial age -- St. Monday; in whose honor all working stiffs may thankfully worship at his bedside shrine. Observances are unusually strict in forbidding an excess of movement such as dressing for work. The service is usually a meditation of hearty snores which coincidentally allows the last remaining fumes of Saturday's booze-up to dissipate. The great disappointment of the day is that employers refuse to honor it with ordinary pay, let alone the time and a half it merits.
-- ml
tags: Feast of Holidays. Saints Days, St Andrew, St Nicholas, St. David, St Patric, St George, St Monday, Robbie Burns, Shakespeare

Science is Messy

John Hawks strikes again.

The article expresses some worries that people won't be able to deal with the "messy process" of science.

Good on him.
--ml
tags: Dum Luks Community, John Hawks, science

Selling Shakespeare

Once I presented three classy ladies, a soprano, harpsichordist and actress who did a great show around John Donne poetry and Scarlatti songs. Unfortunately ticket sales were less than good. I told them this as they walked onto the stage carrying their bags.
"You did sell it on sex and violence, didn't you?" inquired the harpsichordist.

Which reminds me of the traveling players who arrived in a mid-western hamlet to do a short season of the Bard. The Actor manager strolled into the local newspaper office to buy an ad. After stating his business at the counter a balding gent whose sleeves were gartered removed a stogie from his lips to let this creature know in no uncertain terms that:
"I hate Shakespeare. I despise actors. I loathe the theatre. I will not sully the paper with mention of any of them. If the gentleman can live with these strictures, the paper will happily take his money for an ad of whatsoever size was required."
The actor manager, an old and dab hand at touring provincial towns and dealing with their editors, replied: "If that is so, might I borrow a sheet of foolscap to sketch a thought that might please both of us?"
When so provided he drew this:


The editor accepted the ad and the run was successful.

Which five plays of Shakespeare were performed?

Answer:

Much Ado About Nothing
As you Like It
Taming of the Shrew
Midsummer Nights Dream
Love's Labours Lost

(Run your cursor over the space with the left button down to see the answer)
-- ml
tags: Dum Luks Stockpot, theatre tales, Shakespeare

A Member of the Extreme Middle

What kind of extremist are you? Your Result: Rational Person You consider these questions obvious straw men, designed to distract people from a meaningful investigation of facts and a serious discussion of relevant political issues. How boring.
Moderate Extremist
Right-Wing Extremist
Left-Wing Extremist
What kind of extremist are you? Make a Quiz

Yeah. Surprises me too.
--ml
tag: Dum Luks Stockpot

Pockets Full

Haman was the Dick Cheney of ancient Babylon. Ahasuerus, the King, set Haman above the Princes of Babylon. His pockets were always full of things. Mostly they were full of other people's wealth that Haman and his cronies had plundered or received as bribes. But on one particular and remembered day he filled them with lots, or purim, which he meant to cast to determine the day on which he would slaughter all the Jews of Babylon which then stretched from India to Ethiopia. Haman so hated the Jews that he offered the King ten thousand talents of silver for the privilege of wiping them out.
It so happened that Ahasuerus had recently made Esther, an orphaned Jewess, his Queen. Her cousin Mordecai reported a palace coup plot to Ahasueras through Esther. For this, and other qualities, Esther gained great favor with Ahasueras and was thus able to thwart Haman, prevent the massacre of the Jews and end the Babylonian captivity.
This event is celebrated with feasting, gifts, witty and satiric plays, much noise. "According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai," though opinions differ as to exactly how drunk that is."
The point seems to be that the day is to celebrate freedom and not to wallow in remedied wrong.
This year I made Empanadas and Juvetch to mark the day. One great theme of Jewish cookery all over the world is a circle of dough wrapped around a filling. Knishes, kreplach, koshnikes, borekas, empanadas, topfen, hamantashen, and more explain why Jews the world over love Dim Sum.
The Empanada was in Argentina. It is a spicy beef mixture in a wrap similar to puff paste but not so fussy to make. They are very tasty and hard to stop eating until no more emerge from the oven.

Filling: Brown a pound of beef with two or three onions chopped fine. Drain. Add 3 dozen pimento stuffed olives, 2 hard boiled eggs, and a half cup of golden raisins, all finely chopped. Stir in a quarter cup of chili powder and a half teaspoon of cayenne, salt and pepper. Vary the spices to suit your palettes. The filling is made milder by the pastry wrap.
For the wrap: cream a half cup of salted butter with 2 cups of flour. Add four egg yolks, the juice of a lemon and water if needed. Work until smooth. Roll out on a floured board until about a quarter inch thick. Folds in thirds. Let dough rest for ten minutes. Turn 90 degrees and roll out to a quarter inch. Fold. Turn. Rest. Repeat a third time. Roll out very thin (Less than an eighth inch. Cut into 4" circles, or cut in a diamond or square pattern. Take each bit of pastry and paint a bit of water on half the edge with your finger. Place a teaspoon of filling on the pastry. Fold that over the filling and seal edges. Depending on the shape cut you will have half moons, triangles or squares. Place them on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes in a 350⁰f oven.

You may have filling left over, or need less time or more depending on your oven's idea of temperature. Take notes for next time. These also freeze well if you feel like filling the freezer. Bake them for 30 to 35 minutes if frozen. I am told they go a treat with cold vermouth. Dum Luk's plonk was okay for me.
Juvetch was the main course. This one is worth putting in the staple repertoire as it is infinitely variable with the season.

Brown a pound and a half of coarsely cubed lean lamb in a half cup of olive oil. Set the meat aside. Saute one and a half cups of sliced egg plant, a half cup of sliced leeks, and two stalks of celery, sliced, for five minutes. Add more olive oilr if needed. Arrange the vegetables in a casserole dish. Return the meat to the pan and add two cups of water and simmer until tender. Meanwhile add 2 turnips, 1 cup of fresh green beans, 1 cup green peas, 1 sliced anise bulb, 1 cup zucchini or yellow summer squash, 1 or 2 fresh okra to the casserole. When the meat is tender add 2 to 6 tablespoons of lemon juice salt and pepper and chopped fresh basil to taste. Cover dsh and bake at 400⁰f. for fifteen minutes. Reduce temp to 300⁰f. and cook until the vegetables are done, about 45 minutes.

Vary the vegetables based on what you like and what is fresh in your kitchen. You can leave the meat out if you like. The point of the dish is lots of vegetables that meld together to our delight.
Of course there were hamantaschen. And we played silly cames and the three year old visitor took his mother and the Kid^(tm) for a walk to see the horses at the end of the road. A proper Purim.
The recipes started with those of Patti Shosteck in her fascinating Lexicon of Jewish Cooking, A collection of folklore, foodlore, history, customs and recipes. Look for it at the usual sources. This is one of my favorite horizon expanders, because the recipes come from most all the world.
--ml
tags: Feast of Holidays, Purim

Chinese New Years IV

Chinese New Year
Part 1
Part II
Part III

In the late 90's I visited Uwajimaya's in Seattle (the old store) to re-supply for Chinese New Year's.In the produce section I saw a huddle of old woman turning over a pile of vegetables that looked like shallots crossed with a wrinkly mushroom. The sign overhead announced that these were "water potatoes." Inquiry informed me that these were the starchy roots of an aquatic plant which were a local delicacy in those parts of Guangdong where it grows in the streams and lakes. It is crunchier than a potato but more starchy than a water chestnut. We managed to sprout one and grow a handsome reedish plant. But mostly we ate them. Here is the menu for our Chinese New Year party in 2003.

Dum Luk's pot rack

Longevity Noodles

Cook a pound of noodles. Chop a quarter cup of scallions and slice several radishes. Sliver a third of a pound of salmon with a half pound of calamari. Place some of each in a bowl. Add heated Chicken stock.

These are a traditional wish for a long life. the bowl is supposed to be placed in the guest's hand as soon as they arrive -- get settled for the visit.A dozen or so people were invited so adjust the quantities accordingly. The bowl should be small. The noodles few, and the meat and vegetables less than the broth which would be about a half cup per serving. The hot stock cooks the fish or any other meat or fowl you prefer provided it is cut small and thin.

Spring Rolls

Bone a chicken breast and matchstick the meat. Thinly slice some bok choy , separating the leaves from the stalks. Matchstick three scallions. Peel and matchstick two water potatoes. Rinse a quarter cup each of sliced bamboo shoots and bean sprouts. Smash two or three ginger root slices with cleaver.
Heat oil in wok. Add ginger. Stir. Add chicken. Stir fry. Add garlic and a teaspoon of hoisin sauce. Stir. Set aside. Clean wok if needed. Heat more oil. Add vegetables. Mix all and thicken with a tablespoon of cornstarch or drain as you fill the wraps. Deep fry.

Deep frying does not require fancy equipment. If myou already have a wok put the oil in that and fry away. A modest cast iron stew pot is the preference of the French. Mainly you want a pan whose sides are tall enough to catch the majority of the spatters. A slotted spoon or long handled strainer is a great tool for removing food from the oil. A thermometer is a good idea. I set up two trays. One is lined with parchment and holds the food before frying. The second is large enough to contain a half sheet cookie rack. I line this with paper towels and set all in the oven at 'warm' or 'hold'. This receives the cooked food. Double frying is essential for French fries, but is also useful for do ahead cooking. Get your spring rolls all but done and set aside. Then a quick immersion makes them hot for guests. Spring rolls are around four inches long and so are usually served cut in three pieces. The cool dim sum way to do this is with a scissors.

Lamb Mai

Coarsely grind a pound of lamb with an onion. Finely dice two water potatoes, two tablespoons of red bell pepper. Strip and finely chop the leaves from a half dozen stalks of Chinese celery and Italian parsley. Finely slice the celery stalks.
Heat oil in a wok. Add the meat and onion mixture. Stir fry til meat is browned. Add a teaspoon of garlic and a tablespoon of oyster sauce. Stir. Add a tablespoon each of curry powder and sesame seeds. Add celery seeds. Add the vegetables except the leaves. Mix two teaspoons of corn starch in a little water. Add to wok. Stir. Add leaves, stir and remove from heat.
Using round sui mai wrappers form open topped dumplings using a teaspoon of filling each and place in oiled bamboo steamer baskets.
Steam a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes.

If you do the steaming a day before, or the morning of your party there will be less fuss at the party. You can mix the steamed stuff so that each basket contains some of each and just set ovor boiling water for about fivwe minutes to heat through and serve in the baskets. If you don't have baskets, do the same with the serving plates. Use a round lid to seal in the steam and line it with a paper towel to keep from flooding the plate with condensate.

Cha Siu Bao

Filling: Dice a pound of Cha Siu (barbecued pork) fine. Dice leek tops very fine. Combine with a half cup of Chee Hou Sauce. (a spicy hoisin sauce)
Dough: Combine two and a half cups of warm water with a like amount of flour. Add sourdough starter. (Or yeast) Set sponge to rise.
Add three cups of flour, a quarter cup of sugar and a teaspoon of salt. Mix and knead to a soft dough. Add more flour if needed. Let rise.
Cut the dough into twenty four pieces. Roll each piece out to a circle about 4" in diameter that is thicker in the middle than at the edges. Place a teaspoon of filling in the center and stretch the sides over it and pinch together to completely enclose the filling. Place this seam side down on a three inch square of parchment paper and place in steamer. Let rise a half hour. Steam for 15 minutes or until done. Pinch the dough lightly. If it relaxes it is not done. Fine cold, but easy to reheat just by steaming again for five minutes or so. You can bake these instead. I think steamed is much better. That possibly is another spring roll question, i.e.: how you had it first is the best way.

Pressed Duck

Quarter a duck. Steam two hours using the bowl in a pot method. When cool enough to handle, remove bones. Continue to cool duck under a weighted plank.
Place duck on top of a cup of water chestnut flour and steam thirty minutes.
Deep fry 'til golden. Reassemble quarters and chop into bite size diamonds.
Without disarranging, move the duck to a bed of chopped lettuce.

Sauce:

Soak a cup each of dried apricots and prunes in boiling water with two star anise overnight.
Drain. Matchstick a half cup of scallions. Lightly stir fry a half cup of almond slivers. Add the scallions and stir fry briefly. Set aside. In a sauce pan bring one half cup of rice vinegar, one half cup of sugar, and a cup of plum sauce to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Add the fruit. Two tablespoons Dum Luk's sauce, a tablespoon of pickled ginger, and some celery seed. Simmer until thick. Add the scallions and nuts. Pour over duck.

This is not the recipe Kam Lan's used. There are many varieties of this dish. The easiest way to quarter the duck is to buy it frozen and ask the meat cutter to run it through his band saw twice.

Turnip Cake

Peel and grate one and a half pounds of daikon. Put in a sauce pan with a tablespoon of peanut oil, a tablespoon of sugar, pepper and two and a quarter cups of chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for fifteen minutes or until the daikon is tender.
Dice two Chinese sausage (lap xuong), and a half cup of shrimp. Chop three scallions — about half a cup — and some Italian parsley. Mix a half cup of corn starch in water.
Stir fry the meat. Add scallions. Add a teaspoon of rice vinegar and sugar. Add some mirin and soy sauce.
Add the parsley and corn starch to the daikon. Stir into the meat. Mix well and pour into an oiled square cake pan. Cover with foil. Steam one hour.

Rhoda Yee's recipe calls for cake flour as a thickener which she says has no substitute. Maybe so. But cake flour was not a common ingredient in south China when this cake, or pudding, was developed. Nor was corn starch as in this recipe. This year I used rice flour with good results. The water chestnut flour used in the pressed duck is also possible though harder to find. Taro starch, tapioca starch, and arrowroot are also in the running, though I haven't tried them. The quantity required will vary according to the thickening power. Also this year I did not pre-cook the turnips. They were grated and quickly stir fried in oil for about two minutes. For Chinese sausage substitute ham. I have always used fresh shrimp rather than dried because it is easier to come by. Add a cup of reconstituted shitakes chopped fine.

Kasutera

Line a covered round casserole with parchment paper. Separate four eggs. Beat whites stiff. Beat yolks light. Add 1 cup of sugar.
Add 1 tablespoon water and a teaspoon vanilla. Add 1 cup flour and a half teaspoon baking powder. Fold in egg whites and pour into casserole. Cover. Steam 30 to 35 minutes.

In the 1600's the Portuguese began infiltrating South East Asia. Like all soldiers and sailors every where they longed for home and the comforts of familiar food. In particular they longed for sponge cake made with many eggs and baked to golden exquisiteness. But there were few bake ovens in the orient. There was little wood to waste heating ovens. Instead they steamed. A grand compromise was struck and Kasutera was the result. In Japan it is packaged in wooden boxes and sold as a gift in the railway stations.

Almond Cookies

Set oven to 350° f. Grind ten almonds fine. Cream 1 cup lard with 1 cup sugar. Add one egg and one teaspoon almond extract. Add two and a half cups flour, one and a half teaspoons baking powder and a pinch of salt. Form into a roll about two inches in diameter and cut into thirty six slices. Press a whole almond into the center of each cookie. Bake about fifteen minutes until golden. Var.: Brush tops with egg yolk mixed with a tablespoon of water.

These are the classics. Do use the lard as it gives them a light, crisp texture not to be found with other fats.

This series has not even brushed the surface of the possibilities for Chinese New Years. Once you try Dim Sum, you will find reason enough to make it throughout the year.
-- ml
tags: Feast of Holidays, Chinese New Year, dim sum

Chinese New Years III

Chinese New Years
part I
part II

Steamer baskets and a Japanese sushi press overlook Dum Luk's Kitchen.
In 1978 Diana pushed me into Dim Sum cookery with Rhoda Yee's Dim Sum: The Delicieus Secrets of Home Cooked Chinese Tea Lunch. It remains a favorite source. A search on Dim Sum at your favorite suspect will provide a plethora of titles at least one of which will suit.
Some quintessentials:
Spring rolls: A deep fried roll of thin pastry wrapped around a filling of stir fried meat and vegetables. Pork is most common. But also add pork and shrimp, chicken, fish, calamari or shell fish. Just vegetables also works. Bean sprouts and bamboo shoots are not required. But the spring roll will be 'off' without them. The intrepid may make the wraps (similar to making pasta) while the rest can buy the ready mades, which are much easier to find nowadays than thirty years ago. They are delicate to handle. So patience is requisite. Start atone edge of the stack and stroke the top edge until it lifts . Tease it across the full width and then down the length. An assembly line is useful. One chef can separate skins while another fills, seals and places on a parchment lined tray to await cooking. An excellent variation is Thai Spring rolls mad with raw vegetables wrapped in rice paper wraps. The wraps are soaked in hot water, one or two at a time, until they are limber enough to wrap. Add hot sauce to the filling. Dip in peanut sauce. Excellent summer fare.
Gyosa, or pot stickers, or pork dumplings, were my favorite quick snack in Japan. I was delighted to see them arrive in the States ten to twenty years ago where they are now well established. The Classic explanation is that a cook was making steamed pork dumplings. Just as he was about to cover the pot, something distracts him. The unattended pot boils dry, browning the wrap. Rushing back the cook is just in time to save the dumplings by adding water and covering the pan to steam the dumplings. Use round wraps maybe three inches in diameter. The filling is usually ground pork with ginger and garlic. Scallions are good, or celery. Stir fry the filling and thicken the juice with a teaspoon or so of corn starch [n.b.: Mix corn starch with a bit of water or stock or pan juice to dissolve. Pour into boiling liquid in pan. Stir pan and at the same time add a bit of water to the container to get the rest of your cornstarch mixture into the pan. I use a Chinese restaurant tea cup to mix the starch. Cook until the sauce becomes clear. Arrowroot, or rice flour may be substituted] The wraps form a half moon around the filling. Start them in an oiled frying pan with a tight lid. When one side is brown turn them over to brown the second side. Add a cup of water and clap the lid on. That will steam them done in a few minutes. Serve with soy or Mirin. Mirin is half rice vinegar and half sugar with the merest hint of a splash of soy. Well, that's how I learned it. Per Wikipedia it is sweetened rice wine, i.e. sake, heated to reduce the alcohol. You can buy the stuff bottled or make your own as you need it. Make it by the pint or quart if you eat oriental more often than once a year as it is useful at least once in every meal.
Siu Mai, or steamed meat dumplings: These I usually call Lamb mai as ground lamb is my filling of choice. More usually they are pork with shrimp or pork sausage. The round wrap is tucked around the filling so that the top is open. Steaming can be done in bamboo baskets, in metal steamers or by putting a pie pan inside a kettle with a tight lid on top of a tuna can to keep the pie plate from getting too hot. All that is required is away to surround most of the food with steam without boiling it in water, or exposing it to a dry heat.
Bao, or steamed buns: A sweet yeast bread surrounds a tasty filling of sweet or savory. Bread doesn't need sugar in it, though most people like homemade bread with a tablespoon of sugar in it for two loaves. This dough has between a third and three-quarters of a cup of sugar for a similar amount. Steaming offers a unique texture to the bread. It is springier and has very tiny holes from the gas produced by the yeast. It remains the color of the dough rather than browning as baked bread does. You can use the same dough to make dinner rolls, just leave the filling out and steam as usual. this might be good with a pot roast or cassoulet instead of dumplings. The filling can be anything you like. See here and here for more of my bao lore.
Don Tots, or egg custard tarts: A flaky pastry about three inches in diameter holds a smooth egg custard. Well baked the custard is a sun yellow with not the least hint of caramelizing brown. Absolutely simple. Nothing much. Yet this is what sells out first at the bakery no matter how many they bake. When you make them at home be sure to hide one for the chef or there'll be none left for him.
--ml

Chinese New Years IV

tags: Feast of Holidays, Chinese New Year

"My Best Gingerbread"

Dorothy spent her early teens as a slavey in her mother Florence's Baltimore boarding house. Then Florence married Strother Judson Clark, a dashing road builder who sometimes sailed the windy side of finance. This allowed them to make a new home on what Dorothy always, rather grandly, but with a mischievous glint in her eye, called "the north shore of Virginia." I knew that innuendo was present. Just wasn't sure what. Maybe it was insinuation.
Her step daddy, known as SJC, was part of the Clark family that lived on the plantation next to George Washington's Mount Vernon. William Clark, whom Jefferson sent west with Merriweather Lewis, was SJC's great, great, or better, grand relation.
At some point between getting a step-dad and graduating in the, then, new field of Home Economics from what was then called the Virginia Normal or Teacher's College, Dorothy visited Mount Vernon and took note of Martha Washington's 'Receipt Book'. This was the ledger where Martha kept her kitchen records including her recipes. Dorothy came away with one called "My Best Gingerbread."
Lots of people did. Search for 'Martha Washington's gingerbread' to find many, many more.
Gingerbread was a great favorite with the English/Americans of the sixteenth century through the Nineteenth (scroll down for another one from Martha). One speculates that George's famed wooden teeth might be a result of his fondness for gingerbread.
Here's what I found among the shards of Dorothy's recipe box:

"My Best Gingerbread"
By Martha Washington
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 cup lard
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
1 cup dark molasses
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
salt
1 cup cake flour
Preheat oven to 325-350⁰f. Cream sugar with lard and butter. Add egg and molasses. Sift dry ingredients and fold in. Bake in a greased pan for 35 minutes.

This doesn't quite suit.* Dorothy makes a variation by adding 1 1/2 cup of flour and a cup of hot water. Flour the pan.

After trying both I made note that 1 extra cup of flour was all that's needed.

Tonight I just cut the molasses to a half cup. This makes a moist not quite sticky gingerbread.

So, is this authentically Martha's Best?

I don't think so. All of the recipes, save one, cited here are in modern measures and use modern ingredients such as baking powder instead of saleratas or wild yeast, or beer for leaven. The spicing is also changed. Ingredients such as dried fruit or buttermilk or sour cream or milk that I would expect to find are not included. Martha's best bolted flour would be very different from the modern instantised^tm, pulveravished, send to infinity - turn it around three times - and bring it back, cake flour.
Dorothy copied a recipe from Martha's book and then set about translating it into something that would work in her kitchen with the ingredients available to her. Its like Del's story of the axe: "It's had three new handles and two new heads, but it's the same god damn axe my great grandfather brought out here on the Oregon Trail."
That to one side, "My Best Gingerbread" lives up to Dorothy's highest approbation: it is very easy to eat.
A very Happy Birthday to the first President of the US!
--ml
UPDATE 7/28/2010: *Curiously enough, it does. The trick is in the pan. Put the original recipe in an 8" X 13" pan and it bakes up fine, particularly if you like the Gingerbread gooey and sticky as many do.
tags: Feast of Holidays,  Martha Washington's best gingerbread, gingerbread

Substance Abuse

Digby remarks in the midst of a long and as ever worthy post:

But a single source had given Gerth the tip on the story and arranged for him to meet Jim McDougal, who was at the time suffering from manic depression, drug addiction, alcoholism, and bankruptcy.

As if money was addictive.

oh ...


wait

--ml
tags: Dum Luks Stockpot, economics

Chinese New Year II

Chinese New Year I

Two years in Japan, courtesy of our Uncle Samuel and his lovable (just ask us!) swabbies, imbued me with the culinary delights of East Asia. It also offered a few pointers on cooking.

Once, returning late from Shinjuku, I arrived on the last passenger train of the day at the town near my base. A noodle shop was still open, though I was its only customer. So I asked for a bowl of Yaki Soba (aka the Japanese hamburger due to its ubiquity). After providing it the owner returned to the cooking lesson she was giving to her apprentice just the other side of the counter from me. This was:

How to Chop an Onion

First you slice the stem and blossom ends off the whole onion.
Second you cut it in half from pole to pole.
Third you remove the dried skin from either half and discard it in the pig slop bucket. (I use the compost heap.)
Fourth you place one half on its cut face with the poles going across the line of your knife cut, or athwartship as us cool (only in our own eyes) nautical types say. Slice latitudinal cross sections of the half onion as thick as you wish the final result to be. If you want long julienne strips, omit this step. Fine dice requires many cuts with your blade.
When you have finished the latitudinal work , turn the onion half by ninety degrees and lay the slices over like a deck of cards so that the onion is as flat as possible. Hold this to the board with your non-knife wielding hand with the tips of your fingers curled under so that the first knuckle from your palm juts out. Now rest your chopper against the knuckle and on top of the onion where you want the first cut to go to give you the size dice you want and Bametty- bam- bam- bam. Its done.
Do likewise to the other half.
Use the cleaver to move the diced onion off the board into the prep container.
n.b.: beginner's should work a cut at a time and pick up only as much speed as you are comfortable with as you gain facility. Most important is the little crab walk of the non-chop hand which never, ever, ever, gets out from under the knuckle's protective overhang. Second most important is to never raise the knife edge to knuckle height. The side of the blade must always be riding on your knuckle so you know --tactilely -- where the edge is. Near the end of each half the slice will enlarge due to the curvature of spheres. Let the last bit fall on its beam end and continue chopping at 90⁰.

Back in the states I acquired a proper wok, tool set and Chinese style cleavers. To the left is a picture of that first spatula where it hangs in honorable retirement above the stove. Over the years
I had to turn it a new handle, which I secured with one of the copper nails I used to make. The split in the shovel area is the result of use. Years of back and forth thinned and work hardened the steel until it parted.
During our sojourn in Connecticut, after college, we visited Chinese Markets in both New York City and Boston. In a department store I found the Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook by Gloria Bley Miller. (Link takes you to paperback description because it has more info. There is also a hard cover so do a search) Miller was my mentor and guide through many of the realms of Chinese culinary skills.

When we first moved to Washington State, I got a job with Expo '74's Folklife Festival as a programmer -- which meant something different to the Folklife Festival than it does nowadays. I was supposed to find and vet the craftspeople who would form our display for a week. Typically there were two or three cooks prepared appropriate food samples, artisans and craft people displayed their skills, and performers sang , danced, and/or acted material appropriate to the week's theme whether that was an ethnic group or a trade such as logging or boat building. My first assignment was for our Chinese Week. Somebody else found the initial contact months before. My task was to make sure that what our contact had put together would work. The contact was a lovely young woman who worked in an art gallery behind (South) of the odd triangular building that then housed the fabulous Tashiro's Hardware (which was included in the Whole Earth Catalog for its traditional Japanese pull saws). My contact introduced me to the Wing Luke Museum which was then a storefront just getting itself organized. She guided me through the International District of Seattle east of the King Street station. This included Uwajimaya's Grocery and all things Asian store, The Kau Kau which still offers the best barbecue pork in Seattle. And she took me to lunch at the King Cafe.
Alas the King cafe is no more. The buildings on that block were demolished to make way for the new Wing Luke. After some 35 years of daily operation the family that opened it decided to close it rather than move or sell it on to a stranger. That might have been problematic as the recipes were mostly in the head of the Brother who cooked. I hope that the Wing Luke museum has a project to record those recipes.

The King cafe was in a narrow building two stories tall in the middle of the block. The door opened into a small area which contained a stair case with a cash register counter tucked under it. The always cheerful Sister greeted and worked the til. There were two small tables along one wall where guests sometimes ate if the upstairs overflowed. Most times they were occupied with young nieces or nephews 'helping' Sister. The rest of that floor, behind a swing door, was the kitchen. At the top of the stairs the second Brother waited. There were many tables and a dumb waiter that communicated to the kitchen. At lunch time the room was full of people and noise. Chatter and laughter and joyous screams and jokey arguments and greetings hailed across the room in Chinese and English. Frequently newcomers had to wait in line all down the stairs until a seat became free.
Once seated a waiter (Brother or a 20 something nephew) arrived with tea and water. If you wanted anything besides dim sum you told him and he would scribble it down before crossing to the dumb waiter to shout the order down to brother in the kitchen. A second waiter would arrive bearing a three foot diameter tray covered in small plates. The plates were of different shapes: round or oval. Some with a stripe in the glaze; others plain. Occasionally plates would be stacked two deep. Each plate held two, maybe, cha sui bao - steamed bread hiding a pocket of barbecue pork; or three, maybe spring rolls; four fried won ton; or six delicate sui mai -- tasty ground pork flecked with bits of vegetables and ginger and water chestnuts steamed in a thin wheat dumpling wrap. How many of each item were on each plate depends more on how much the item costs than how big they are. The shape and coloring of each plate meant a different price. As a plain oval was $1.20, perhaps while the oval with the stripe was a $1.50. If there were two plates, the price doubled. A succession of waiters bore trays filled with dim sum from the dumb waiter around the tables and back to the dumbwaiter empty. Shouts down the shaft with distant responses up the shaft. Creak-- here comes the next couple of trays and this time they might contain ha gow (shrimp bonnets). Slam! Clatter! The dumbwaiter descends with trays of dirty crockery. Over sated at last we beckon and the waiter appears to tote up all our plates: so many at one price so many at another. Down the stairs we groan to compliment Sister and pay the modest bill. Maybe the door to the kitchen opens as someone goes through to permit us a peep at the Brother who cooked, sweat streaming, as he runs to pull more Shrimp toast out of the deep fryer or turnip cake out of the steamer.

Chinese New Years III

--ml
tags: Feast of Holidays, Chinese New Year, King Cafe, Expo '74 Folklife Festival