Ruminations

A friend once challenged me:

"If you can't afford broad cast, do narrow cast!"

Television is broadcast. One source presents itself to many.
What is Narrowcast?
My friend meant one talks with a selected few, i.e.: use direct mail which would avoid the waste of TV ads,
Now he might mean social networks, or You Tube, or podcasts, or blogs.

At which point Narrowcast becomes: "Many talking to a self selected number between few and many" with a chance that those many might talk back.
So the problem is now: get the message to those who want to hear and give them a means to respond. And let everyone listen in.
Many talk with many.
This I like.
--ml
updated in a vain attempt to improve the quality of thought. 2/29/08
tags: Dum Luks Community, U S politecs 2008

Steps to Paradise # 27

Crisis Avoidance is better than Crisis Response if you want many happy returns.
--ml
h/t Matt

Of course you have to be right.

That is very hard.

tags: Dum Luks Community, U S politecs 2008

Bitter Truth

They cover politics as if the Media aren't part of the process and as if reporters, pundits, editors, publishers, producers, and anchors have no influence on anything---not on the way stories are covered, not on what stories are covered, not on what people think about the stories.

-- Lance Mannion

--ml
tags: Dum Luks Community, Mannion on Fineman, media sucks

Oliebollen

Little oily balls.

Direct translation. Not so appetizing in the midst of our current anti-fat bigotry.

Fruit doughnut? Only a little better.

Apple Fritter, suggests the MacGear.

And I accept it as descriptive and inviting. For a translation.

But Oliebollen is the name as this is the progenitor of all doughnuts: A yeast raised sweet dough, filled with fruit, and deep fried, traditionally eaten in the Netherlands at New Years since the late sixteenth century. Approximately guessed.

For certain it attracted the notice of that famed historian Diedrich Knickerbocker who describes a a high tea among the Dutch settlers in the Hudson valley as including:

Sometimes the table was graced with immense apple-pies, or saucers full of preserved peaches and pears; but it was always sure to boast an enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks—a delicious kind of cake, at present scarce known in this city, except in genuine Dutch families.

-- Washington Irving, Hist of New York,
Chapter III

Thus Oliebollen are as native to this country as the Dutch farmers and merchants who built Wall street.

The Congressional Club Cookbook of 1927 is the earliest recipe I have. My transcription (possibly not verbatim)

13 oz flour	7oz currants
1/2 pint milk	4 oz raisins
3 eggs	1 1/2 oz citron chopped fine
1 1/2 oz yeast	1-2 sour apples chopped fine
2 oz butter

Mix above in bowl. Stir well. Let stand 30 minutes. Drop by spoonfuls into hot oil. Cook slowly until brown.

-- Mrs. Jacob Steketer

But, as with any traditional dish there are many variants' only one of which will be acceptable to the one who grew up with a particular recipe. The rest may pick and choose and use the result as a springboard to their own version.

For your browsing pleasure we offer a round half dozen out of the myriad your search engine will find:

Oliebollen

Oliebollen (Dutch Doughnuts)

Oliebollen

International Recipes: Oliebollen

Oliebollen -- New Year's Eve Doughnuts

Recipe for Cooking Olie Bollen

Although essentially the same in the main ingredients, variation appears in the fruit used, how it is incorporated with the dough and the consistency of the dough which may be a batter or a soft, but moldable dough, or any likely point between. In some recipes the dough wraps around the filling rather like Bao. This requires dough to work. If the fruit is mixed in with the flour and liquid, then a batter consistency is good, though the dough still works.

Dum Luk's, but of course, does it other.

Dum Luk's Oliebollen

1 cup starter (or yeast)	3 eggs
1 cup cream	2 tbl Butter, melted
1 cup Flour	nutmeg
1 tart apple grated	1/2 cup filberts,chop fine
sugar

Mix all of the above, except sugar, in a bowl. Adjust flour until you have a good batter. Deep fry in your Christmas goose schmaltz, or lard, at 350^of (180^oc) until brown. Turn halfway through. Drain and cool slightly. Then roll the oliebollen in sugar. Powdered or granular as you wish.

Goed Niewe Jaar!

--ml
tags: Feast of Holidays. New Years, oliebollen, Dutch doughnuts

Iowa News

Hubris Sonic at the Group News Blog nails it:

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Iowa Wrap Up

Total Voter Turnout (approximate)

356,000

Percentage of total vote
24.5% Obama
20.5% Edwards
19.8% Clinton
11.4% Huckabee (R)

Hubris Sonic 9:21 PM

All else is spin.
--ml
tag: U S politecs 2008

Dum Luk Nogs Eggs

One of my favored youthful seasonal indulgences was the local dairy's eggnog which showed up maybe December 5th and was gone by the 31st.

Nowadays it seems to appear before Halloween and stick around until after Valentine's. Like xmas tree lights it is stretched to serve every occasion of the dark, cold, time of year.

The Kid^tm enjoys the stuff as I did. So every year I get to sample the local brews, which are mostly not remarkably different from my memory. Well, except for one very small local organic dairy who make an excellent, in all respects, eggnog.

except...

They put cinnamon in it.

To them, I suspect, this is an old family recipe that they have served time out of mind and adore. I have even less doubt that they have a loyal following who approve of this practice, for each year they bally forth's the same treasured product.

So, what I say here has nothing to do with their hard earned success in all they do -- including their eggnog. But... I find the addition a specious adulteration which no sane, or opinionated, asshole, such as my self, will tolerate. There.

I know, he perorates, how to nog an egg properly. Attendez, mes enfants, so:

Separate a dozen eggs.
Beat the whites stiff.
With the same beaters, without cleaning, beat the yolks until thick and light. Add a cup or more of granulated sugar a little at a time. Less is best but this measure is entirely to your own taste. Add a tablespoon of vanilla and a teaspoon (or more) of freshly ground nutmeg. Now add a quart of heavy whipping cream. When mixed pour into a suitable bowl.
Fold in the beaten whites.
If not serving immediately, cover and refrigerate.
Else: Ladle into mugs, cups, glasses, steins, dancing slippers or what you like.
At this point you have a sort of ecumenical, or Unitarian Universalist, nog which can be offered to everyone able to stand. For those who like to blunt their wits with something of the maker's art, elevating their soul to commune with the higher spirits, add a wee, or not so wee, dram of what you fancy.

"Pairsonally," said the auld git, "Ai prayfer the malt on t'side."

And a very happy New Year to us all!!

--ml
tags: Feast of Holidays, New Year's, eggnog

On Ways to Stuffing a Goose

n.b.: Cooking fowl at proper temperatures to insure succulence and tenderness creates an excellent environment to grow bacteria in stuffing inside the goose (Turkey, duck et al.) Better to use discardable aromatics in the cavity and make the dressing in a casserole.

An Evolution of Dressing

When I commenced to start to begin to learn (as Del would say) how to cook a goose, I followed the recipe in the Horizon Cookbook, and used this for stuffing:

Persian Cracked Wheat and Apricot Stuffing

½ lb dried apricots, pitted	1 tsp dried sage
1 cup tawny port wine	salt and pepper
2 cups cracked wheat bulghur)	½ lb dried prunes, pitted and halved
¼ cup butter	2 med onions chopped
1 /3 cup pine nuts	1 cup beef broth

Soak the apricots in the port overnight. Reserve port to baste bird.Soak the cracked wheat in 4 cups of water for two hours. Drain well.Melt the butter and fry the onion and celery, add the well-drained cracked wheat, and sauté for five minutes. Season with sage, and salt and pepper to taste.Mix in prunes, pine nuts, drained apricots, and broth and simmer for 30 minutes. Makes about 6 cups, enough to stuff body cavity and neck of a 10-pound bird

-- Horizon Cookbook, 1968

This is very good.

But, always one to paint a gilt lily, I became so full of myself as to make this:

FOESTAG
(Full of enough shit to stuff a goose)

By Martin Langeland
C 2001

This is my evolution of the Horizon Cookbook's Persian Cracked Wheat Stuffing.

A day or so before use fill a quart jar half full of dried apricots. Fill the remainder with your selection of dried fruits such as Prunes, dried cranberries, dried sweet or tart cherries and so on. Chop if you like, I leave them whole. Add a cup of tawny port, cover and turn end for end several times each day until used.

On the day, sauté a medium onion and the top of a bunch of celery — the more leaves the better thinks I — in butter or butter and olive oil until the onion softens. Add garlic, celery seed and a bit of cayenne.

Take a half cup each of cracked wheat, pearl barley, white and brown rice and add to the vegetables. Substitute grain of your choice for some or all of the above. I found this a very pleasant combination, though I am not certain anybody else who tried it agreed. Sauté the grain (two cups in all) for about five minutes. Add a quart of chicken stock. You may need to add more if the grain absorbs it. Cook about twenty minutes until the grain is cooked. Past crunchy is better than at crunchy. Add the dried fruit and port mixture.

Fill a casserole or mold with the result and bring on the goose.

Reheats just fine. Those who like consider it a fine winter breakfast without any toppings.

My problem with both came about when I discovered that dried fruits were too much sugar for me. So this year I made the following:

Dum Luk's Cherry-Hazel Nut Stuffing

Soak a cup of bulghur in 12 oz. water for one hour. Meantime sauté a finely diced sweet onion in a quarter cup of butter until translucent. Add a tablespoon or so of garlic. Salt and pepper and celery seed to taste. Add two ribs of celery finely diced. Then add the bulghur with its water and a can of chicken stock. simmer 20 minutes or so until the bulghur is cooked. Add a cup of dry roasted hazel nuts, a cup of sour pie cherries. Fill a casserole. Pour on a miniature of Frangelica, or a couple of tablespoons of tawny port, or what you will. cover and refrigerate until needed. Heat about 30 minutes or more at 350^of.

Go, thou, and vary according to your taste, your cupboard and the company you keep!

--ml
tags: Feast of Holidays, Christmas menu, Christmas goose, stuffing, dressing

My Foolish Feast

I have long believed, without evidence beyond my laughable wit, that the Twelve days of Christmas were twelve days in duration.
Elaine informs me otherwise:

My source (Matthews, J. 1998. The Winter Solstice) says that

Christmas Day is just Christmas Day and thus = Day # 0
Day #1 = St. Stephen's Day a.k.a. Boxing Day
Day #2 = St. John's Day a.k.a. Mother Night
Day #3 = Holy Innocent's Day or Childremass
Day #4 = The Feast of Fools
Day #5 = Bringing in the Boar
Day #6 = New Year's Eve a.k.a. Hogmanay
Day #7 = New Year's Day, a.k.a. The Kalends of January
Day #8 = Snow Day
Day #9 = Evergreen Day
Day #10 = St. Distaff''s Day
Day #11 = Eve of Epiphany, a.k.a. Festival of the Three Kings
Day #12 = Epiphany, a.k.a. Twelfth Night

also note that Matthews considers the Winter Solstice to last two days, 12/21-22

So, happy fourth day all even though five days have elapsed since Christmas.
I have no problem adding twelve to zero to produce twelve, the math works. But I think there may be some objections in making Christmas a nothing day.
--ml
tags: Feast of Holidays, Twelve Days of Christmas

How Cooks My Goose

Goose do require a modest amount of fuss in prep. After that they are no more challenging than turkey. Thinks I.

First item: Have two roasting pans and a rack that allows for easy transfer of the goose from one to the other.

Fetch your goose, between 8 and 12 pounds, early enough to be completely thawed by the time you mean to prepare it for cooking. Wear expendables: grubbies or a working apron. Roll your sleeves up. You will get intimate with this goose which always means a bit of mess.

Preheat oven to 350^of. Unveil the goose from out of its packaging and rinse it. If the innards are in the cavity, remove them and reserve. Inside one end will be two great wads of fat. These pull away easily. Do so and reserve them to render later for deep frying oil. Slide your fingers or a rubber spatula (I end up using both) between the skin and the meat. Try not to break the skin. Do this all over the trunk of the goose. Prick the goose with a fork all over through the skin BUT NOT INTO the meat. Spoon as much garlic as you like between the skin and the meat. Salt and pepper ad libidum inside and out. Collect a bouquet garni of sage, thyme, rosemary and what-have-you-else. Add the leafy end of a celery rib or two and a halved onion with its dried outer layers and ends still attached. Shove all of this into the cavity and place the bird breast side down on the rack in the first roaster. Cover with a tent of aluminum foil, shiny side in to reflect the heat. Convey the goose into the oven.

That is most of the fuss.

Let the bird render for one to one and a half hours, until you have at least an inch of fat in the roasting pan. Set the innards to simmer in a pot of water, with a bay leaf crumbled in, covered, for about an hour. Meanwhile finely dice a small onion, a rib or two of celery, and a carrot. Place this in the second roasting pan with some garlic, sage, thyme, etc. When the hour expires remove the first roaster from the oven carefully to not spill any of the quart or so of hot fat you now have. Place it in an out of the way spot where you can leave it 'til the next day. Transfer the goose to the other roaster. Turn it breast side up. With its foil tent tucked in put the bird back in the oven for another hour to two hours depending on the size of the goose. You can tell it is done by how freely you can move a wing or a leg in its socket. Remove the foil tent and rub the bird with a stick of butter (or brush melted butter over the skin). Return to the oven for fifteen minutes, or so, until the skin browns and crisps to your preference. Remove from oven and transfer the bird to a carving platter and let it rest for twenty minutes or so, before carving.

Whereas the first roaster was filled with mostly fat, the second roaster should contain a nicely browned collection of vege, juice and fat. Pour this into a blender or food mill and whiz it into a puree. Add a tablespoon or so (depending on thickness desired) of flour while it whirls. Deglaze the pan with a half cup or so of tawny port. Add to the liquefied vege/drippings mixture in a frying pan or sauce pan, and heat. Stir frequently as it nears the boil. As it thickens add buttermilk (about two cups) and, or, the water the innards simmered in (about one cup), to the gravy. You can add the heart and liver to the blender, or not. Or feed them to the cats or dogs.

--ml

tags: Feast of Holidays, Christmas goose, Christmas menu

Boxing Day Morn

The ghost of Gluttony Past conjoins with the remains of Gluttony Present:1. Sourdough Kaiser Rolls; 2. Mince Pie; 3. Pumpkin Pie; 4. Anise cookies; 5. remnants of peppernotten and pfefferneuse; 6. Chocolate Pepper Cookies; 7. Fruit Cake.
--ml
tags: Feast of Holidays, Christmas afters, Christmas menu