special occasion/holiday recipes

What dishes do you most associate with birthdays,Thanksgiving and other special times?Outing myself as a former Catholic pizzelles,rosettes,kolachy and popcorn balls for Christmas.

Many Jewish holidays revolve around food:

Passover: Matzoh ball soup, matzoh meal kugel (a heavy savory pudding), braised brisket, kishke (matzoh meal with beef fat stuffed into sausage casings), and stewed dehydrated fruit to make sure all the above will pass

Yom Kippur (Day of atonement, post-fast meal): traditionally in our family it's lox & bagels (since you shouldn't be cooking on a day of fasting), honey cake, sweets in general (that was tonight, by the way)

Hanukkah: Potato pancakes (the use of oil for frying evokes the oil that lasted through eight days at the temple -- Sephardic Jews make little doughnuts)

hattyn wrote:What dishes do you most associate with birthdays,

Hattyn,

My last 15 or so birthdays have been celebrated at my all time favorite restaurant, 'Little' Three Happiness (209 W Cermak).

Always a wonderful meal and great celebration with friends.

Enjoy,
Gary

Ahh Christmas. I too would probably be thinking of it too right now were it not for the fact that my 2d favorite holiday,Halloween is just around the corner. My house becomes a holiday bakeshop around December 1. For the past 10 years, I have made 8-10 different varieties of cookies; stollen; and a variety of other cakes and candies. I can't even wait until next year when my son will be almost two and we will be hosting both families. My known recipe addition for that year: a gingerbread house fashioned after our home.

My known recipe addition for that year: a gingerbread house fashioned after our home.

Alright, this is almost like pulling on Santa's whiskers to see if they are for real.

Do you ever eat your gingerbread house? I guess this is premature, because this will be the FIRST gingerbread house. Do you plan to eat it or keep it for a few years as a permanent display?

I have made a few Gingerbread houses, where my poor engineering necessitated a few canned goods sitting inside for the walls to lean against. By the time the season passed and we attempted to eat it, not difficult to imagine it was now the stale gingerbread house.

Anyway, I'm sure your efforts will dazzle your friends and family.

My one and only Christmas specialty is Plum Pudding. I use an old family recipe (no, really, it was claimed by my great-grandfather, a Methodist minister who came over from England in the late 19th century). Other than using a pressure cooker to speed the steaming process, they are the same, glorious, suet-filled raisin cannonballs enjoyed for over 100 years in my family. I'll probably make a few this year. Any suggestions on butchers who (1) sell good, clean white (food grade) suet and (2) are willing to mess up their meat grinder to mince it for me (last year I got tendonitis using a cheese grater on three pounds of suet).

(I'd print the recipe here but I assume nobody really wants to know. If you are crazy enough to care, PM me.)

Christmas cookies are one of my areas of pride, as I have a number of family recipes which are unlike the kinds of cookies most people see at this time of year, which I bake proudly each year. I never make white cookies for frosting purposes-- only gingerbread-- and other specialties from my German Mennonite heritage include pfeffernusse, hard, spicy little cookies that were typically stuffed in pockets for munching while working in the fields, as well as an orange-carrot cookie which my mom probably got out of a magazine somewhere 40 years ago, it has a 50s slightly prefab feel as it was made with carrot baby food in her day (I actually boil and mash my own, thank you), but which we've been baking so long that I feel certain we've adapted and improved upon it enough to call it an original recipe.

Pfeffernusse

1 C shortening
3 C white sugar
3 C brown sugar
1/2 C molasses
2 eggs
1 C water

Blend sugar and shortening in mixer, then add eggs and other liquids and
mix. Divide into two bowls.

German Style:

1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fine ground black pepper
1/4 tsp anise oil
1 tsp baking soda
3 1/2-4 C flour
Green food coloring

In first bowl, add above spices and mix till well blended. Dye green if you wish (takes a lot to turn green instead of brown), though my mother doesn't for that reason. Add flour until makes a stiff dough. Wrap and refrigerate at least 1 week.

American Style:

12 drops peppermint extract
1 tsp baking powder
3 1/2-4 C flour
Red food coloring

In second bowl, add above ingredients (sifted) and mix till well blended.
Dye pink if you wish. Wrap and refrigerate at least 1 week.

Roll by hand into ropes the thickness of your thumb, then cut into pillows about an inch long. Bake at 350 for 12-15 min. They look like dog biscuits at the end, but you forget that once you try them.


Mike's Favorite Carrot-Orange Cookies When He Was a Kid

1 C shortening
3/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C mashed cooked carrots
2 C flour

Cream shortening, sugar and salt. Add carrots, flour and BP sifted, and
vanilla. Spoon tablespoon or less onto cookie sheets and bake 17 min. at
400. Frost while still warm:

1 C powdered sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
Orange juice as needed

Thanksgiving:
Lefse - a Norwegian potato bread, rolled very thin and cooked on a dry gridle, then refrigerated overnight. Unchanged since the old country.
Two largest turkeys available, reserved with the butcher in July - one roasted the night before so that the 20+ friends and relations can take home leftovers.
My grandmother's jello salads - one layer salad with strawberries, strawberry jello and sour cream; the other a mixed salad with lime jello, pineapple and cottage cheese. Sounds ghastly but results are remarkable. Probably helps to have grown up with these.
Usually about 12 pies, including pumpkin, cherry, apple, mincemeat, pecan and lemon merangue.
Venison heart sandwiches on white bread with letuce, tomato and horseradish - eaten as lunch in the field.

Christmas: "Refrigerator cookies" artistically frosted, drilled with a bit held in the fingers and hung on the christmas tree. Each child allowed to choose one after dinner for desert. "Refrigerator cookies" becuase the dough is refrigerated overnight before rolling and baking.

Do you ever eat your gingerbread house? I guess this is premature, because this will be the FIRST gingerbread house. Do you plan to eat it or keep it for a few years as a permanent display?

Actually, it's not my first one, I just haven't made one in a couple years. My first, the not officially gingerbread, kid-friendly, graham cracker/milk carton variant was made while in Brownies. My mother, grandmother and I used to make real ones when I was a little older - gumdrops and all. And then for a few years after law school, I would make them - my favorite being the English cottage with an icing thatched roof and carmelized sugar windows. Architecturally, our home should be easy as it is a flat roofed row house. The bow windows will create the only difficulty in confectionary recreation.

And no we do not, nor have we ever really eaten them. Like elaborate bread sculptures and spun sugar creations, I see gingerbread houses as an illusion.

JILS, I would love your recipe. I haven't made a plum pudding in years, but am contemplating one in Christmas' to come. I would be happy to see a tried and true recipe.

In response to three separate requests for the Plum Pudding recipe, here it is:


Ingredients:

1 lb. Raisins (I tend to prefer golden raisins)
1 lb. Currants
1/2 lb. Candied lemon peel (do NOT substitute Citron)
1/2 lb. Candied orange peel (see above)
1 lb. Ground white suet
1 cup White sugar
2 cups Prepared bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Ground cloves
1 tsp. Allspice
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
6 Eggs
1/3 cup Brandy or Bourbon

Directions:

1. Combine raisins, currants, and candied citrus in extra large mixing bowl.
2. Add suet; mix well.
3. Add sugar; mix well.
4. Add bread crumbs; mix well.
5. Sift together flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, and baking powder. Add to fruit mixture and mix well.
6. Beat eggs well and stir into pudding mixture.
7. Sprinkle with brandy (or bourbon) and blend in well.
8. Grease quart bowl (metal or glass) extra well (Crisco).
9. Fill bowl with plum pudding mixture, 1/4 to one-third full, pressing in very firmly.
10. Place a double thickness of wax paper over the bowl and anchor with a rubber band (don't use string, it shrinks and is hard to cut off after steaming).
11. Place bowl on a square of muslin. Bring opposite corners together and tie (to make a handle).
12. Put 7 cups cool water in pressure cooker, with rack. Place pudding on rack.
13. Close cooker without safety valve (regulator) in place and heat on high until steady stream of steam appears. Reduce heat to medium and steam for 20 minutes without pressure.
14. Place regulator on cooker. Increase heat to high. When regulator begins to rock, reduce heat to medium/low and maintain for 50 minutes.
15. Remove cooker from heat and allow to cool until lid can be removed (approximately 15 to 20 minutes). Remove plum pudding with tongs, unwrap muslin and remove wax paper. Place plate over plum pudding and invert; give bowl a tap and a shake to remove the pudding. I find this actually works best if you do it while the pudding is still fairly hot.
16. If plum pudding sticks to bowl, use rubber scraper to remove stuck portion from bowl and paste onto pudding; press and shape into place and put pudding in freezer for two hours to solidify.
17. Finished pudding should be wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, and refrigerated until use. Will last up to one month without freezing. For longer storage, place in freezer bag and freeze.
18. To serve, heat in microwave until warm.

This recipe makes six or seven puddings, I believe (typically I just keep making them until I pass out, so I can't be sure).

Trivia Note: Why use suet? Suet melts at a relatively high temperature (higher than shortening or butter). This allows the cake part of the pudding to cook solid before the suet melts. The un-melted suet, acting like a sort of random lost wax mold, holds open pores that allow the pudding to remain light and crumbly. Eventually, as the steaming continues, the suet melts to the bottom. If you used shortening or butter instead of suet, you would end up with something the approximate density of a white dwarf star.

Hi,

Thank you for the recipe. It's delightful to use something your family has valued for over 100 years. BTW - I make my own candied peel, which I will share the recipe soon.

I realize this is a traditional recipe passed down through the family. Sometimes there are techniques which are followed though the reason for doing them is not always known. I have done quite a bit of work with pressure canners, so I recognize some well-intended mis-information and probably relatively new information since this recipe was reworked for pressure processing:

JFLS wrote:14. Place regulator on cooker. Increase heat to high. When regulator begins to rock, reduce heat to medium/low and maintain for 50 minutes.

What level of pressure? 5, 10 or 15 pounds?

&&&

JFLS wrote:12. Put 7 cups cool water in pressure cooker, with rack. Place pudding on rack.

You don't need or want so much water in a pressure cooker.

National Center for Home Food Preservation wrote:1. Put 2 to 3 inches of hot water in the canner. Place filled jars on the rack, using a jar lifter. Fasten canner lid securely.

&&&

JFLS wrote:13. Close cooker without safety valve (regulator) in place and heat on high until steady stream of steam appears. Reduce heat to medium and steam for 20 minutes without pressure.

In the recipe you have, you may reduce the non-pressure time from 20 to 10 minutes for the following reasons:

National Center for Home Food Preservation wrote:Air trapped in a canner lowers the temperature obtained at 5, 10, or 15 pounds of pressure and results in under processing. The highest volume of air trapped in a canner occurs in processing raw-packed foods in dial-gauge canners. These canners do not vent air during processing. To be safe, all types of pressure canners must be vented 10 minutes before they are pressurized.

To vent a canner, leave the vent port uncovered on newer models or manually open petcocks on some older models. Heating the filled canner with its lid locked into place boils water and generates steam that escapes through the petcock or vent port. When steam first escapes, set a timer for 10 minutes. After venting 10 minutes, close the petcock or place the counterweight or weighted gauge over the vent port to pressurize the canner.

&&&

The following are instructions intended for Pressure canning but it applies to pressure cookers as well:

National Center for Home Food Preservation wrote:Using pressure canners
Follow these steps for successful pressure canning:

1. Put 2 to 3 inches of hot water in the canner. Place filled jars on the rack, using a jar lifter. Fasten canner lid securely.

2. Leave weight off vent port or open petcock. Heat at the highest setting until steam flows from the petcock or vent port.

3. Maintain high heat setting, exhaust steam 10 minutes, and then place weight on vent port or close petcock. The canner will pressurize during the next 3 to 5 minutes.

4. Start timing the process when the pressure reading on the dial gauge indicates that the recommended pressure has been reached, or when the weighted gauge begins to jiggle or rock.

5. Regulate heat under the canner to maintain a steady pressure at or slightly above the correct gauge pressure. Quick and large pressure variations during processing may cause unnecessary liquid losses from jars. Weighted gauges on Mirro canners should jiggle about 2 or 3 times per minute. On Presto canners, they should rock slowly throughout the process.

6. When the timed process is completed, turn off the heat, remove the canner from heat if possible, and let the canner depressurize. Do not force-cool the canner. Forced cooling may result in food spoilage. Cooling the canner with cold running water or opening the vent port before the canner is fully depressurized will cause loss of liquid from jars and seal failures. Force-cooling may also warp the canner lid of older model canners, causing steam leaks. Depressurization of older models should be timed. Standard-size heavy-walled canners require about 30 minutes when loaded with pints and 45 minutes with quarts. Newer thin-walled canners cool more rapidly and are equipped with vent locks. These canners are depressurized when their vent lock piston drops to a normal position.

7. After the canner is depressurized, remove the weight from the vent port or open the petcock. Wait 2 minutes, unfasten the lid, and remove it carefully. Lift the lid away from you so that the steam does not burn your face.

8. Remove jars with a lifter, and place on towel or cooling rack, if desired.

Thanks, again!

Any suggestions on butchers who (1) sell good, clean white (food grade) suet and (2) are willing to mess up their meat grinder to mince it for me (last year I got tendonitis using a cheese grater on three pounds of suet).

Have you tried Paulina (my stock response to all butcher related inquiries). Otherwise, if you have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, there is meat grinder attachment that works quite well.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Thank you for the recipe. It's delightful to use something your family has valued for over 100 years. BTW - I make my own candied peel, which I will share the recipe soon.

I realize this is a traditional recipe passed down through the family. Sometimes there are techniques which are followed though the reason for doing them is not always known. I have done quite a bit of work with pressure canners, so I recognize some well-intended mis-information and probably relatively new information since this recipe was reworked for pressure processing:

JFLS wrote:14. Place regulator on cooker. Increase heat to high. When regulator begins to rock, reduce heat to medium/low and maintain for 50 minutes.

What level of pressure? 5, 10 or 15 pounds?

&&&

JFLS wrote:12. Put 7 cups cool water in pressure cooker, with rack. Place pudding on rack.

You don't need or want so much water in a pressure cooker.

National Center for Home Food Preservation wrote:1. Put 2 to 3 inches of hot water in the canner. Place filled jars on the rack, using a jar lifter. Fasten canner lid securely.

&&&

JFLS wrote:13. Close cooker without safety valve (regulator) in place and heat on high until steady stream of steam appears. Reduce heat to medium and steam for 20 minutes without pressure.

In the recipe you have, you may reduce the non-pressure time from 20 to 10 minutes for the following reasons:

National Center for Home Food Preservation wrote:Air trapped in a canner lowers the temperature obtained at 5, 10, or 15 pounds of pressure and results in under processing. The highest volume of air trapped in a canner occurs in processing raw-packed foods in dial-gauge canners. These canners do not vent air during processing. To be safe, all types of pressure canners must be vented 10 minutes before they are pressurized.

To vent a canner, leave the vent port uncovered on newer models or manually open petcocks on some older models. Heating the filled canner with its lid locked into place boils water and generates steam that escapes through the petcock or vent port. When steam first escapes, set a timer for 10 minutes. After venting 10 minutes, close the petcock or place the counterweight or weighted gauge over the vent port to pressurize the canner.

&&&

The following are instructions intended for Pressure canning but it applies to pressure cookers as well:

National Center for Home Food Preservation wrote:Using pressure canners
Follow these steps for successful pressure canning:

1. Put 2 to 3 inches of hot water in the canner. Place filled jars on the rack, using a jar lifter. Fasten canner lid securely.

2. Leave weight off vent port or open petcock. Heat at the highest setting until steam flows from the petcock or vent port.

3. Maintain high heat setting, exhaust steam 10 minutes, and then place weight on vent port or close petcock. The canner will pressurize during the next 3 to 5 minutes.

4. Start timing the process when the pressure reading on the dial gauge indicates that the recommended pressure has been reached, or when the weighted gauge begins to jiggle or rock.

5. Regulate heat under the canner to maintain a steady pressure at or slightly above the correct gauge pressure. Quick and large pressure variations during processing may cause unnecessary liquid losses from jars. Weighted gauges on Mirro canners should jiggle about 2 or 3 times per minute. On Presto canners, they should rock slowly throughout the process.

6. When the timed process is completed, turn off the heat, remove the canner from heat if possible, and let the canner depressurize. Do not force-cool the canner. Forced cooling may result in food spoilage. Cooling the canner with cold running water or opening the vent port before the canner is fully depressurized will cause loss of liquid from jars and seal failures. Force-cooling may also warp the canner lid of older model canners, causing steam leaks. Depressurization of older models should be timed. Standard-size heavy-walled canners require about 30 minutes when loaded with pints and 45 minutes with quarts. Newer thin-walled canners cool more rapidly and are equipped with vent locks. These canners are depressurized when their vent lock piston drops to a normal position.

7. After the canner is depressurized, remove the weight from the vent port or open the petcock. Wait 2 minutes, unfasten the lid, and remove it carefully. Lift the lid away from you so that the steam does not burn your face.

8. Remove jars with a lifter, and place on towel or cooling rack, if desired.

Thanks, again!

Cathy -- Regarding the pressure level, I have no idea. I use an el-cheapo brand pressure cooker with no pressure guage. You just pop on the weight and stand back! Keeping in mind that the goal is to cook the hell out of these things without simultaneously burning them (see below), probably you couldn't go wrong by using relatively high pressure -- but I'll bet my model tops out around 5 or 10 pounds.

Regarding the amount of water, I also thought 7 cups seemed like a lot, and maybe depending on the size of your pressure cooker it is too much (say, if you have a really small model). Honestly, maybe I do use less water than that (the recipe was adapted for a cooker a size or two larger than mine). However, be warned. The one and only time I decided to follow the directions that came with the cooker and just put in a couple of inches of water, the water all steamed away, the pudding was ruined and the wax paper started smoking. Highly disappointing results. Maybe you could get away with using less water if you only went for 10 minutes of non-pressurized venting rather than 20. (That last part sounds like I'm half way to having a lucrative self-help seminar ... "Maximize your life with just 10 minutes of non-pressurized venting a day -- the JiLS way!")

HI,

When you get home, please look at your weighted gauge. If did what I suspect, you put the entire 15 pounds on. Some weighted gauges have a small core, which is 5 pounds, then two removeable rings which are 5 pounds each. For canning in Illinois, I always use 10 pounds.

I will see if I can find recipes which parallel what you are doing to see what they recommend. I'll report back if I learn anything.

Cathy -- I'll take a look at the cooker guage when I get home and report back. [EDITED: THERE IS NO MARKING ON THE GUAGE AND IT IS NOT ADJUSTABLE. THE COOKER IS A MIRRO, THE CHEAPEST AVAILABLE FROM WAL-MART. THAT'S ALL I KNOW FOR SURE!]

I appreciate your assistance with the kitchen science. One thing about these puddings is that there is a lot of inconsistency among them regarding stability -- that's why the recipe includes directions on how to fix a broken one (which is actually my own addition to the recipe -- see how family recipes can adapt and evolve?).

One other interesting note about "adapted" recipes. What you see above is not only "adapted" from the old, pre-pressure cooker original recipe (and includes ingredients like all-purpose flour that for all I know may not have been around in 19th Century England), it also represents my own "translation" of a handwritten version my mom works off of. That version takes a lot of steps for granted and actually includes the words "... BUT FIRST, ..." at one point. Needless to say my version is more analytical, if a bit less charming.

By the way, here's a picture of one of my puddings "in action" last New Year's Eve: http://images.egullet.com/u1144/i1994.jpg Apparently, it can inspire shock and awe.

alriemer wrote:My grandmother's jello salads - one layer salad with strawberries, strawberry jello and sour cream; the other a mixed salad with lime jello, pineapple and cottage cheese. Sounds ghastly but results are remarkable. Probably helps to have grown up with these.

My mom is known for her lime jello, cream cheese, and assorted cocktail fruit concoction. I'll have to ask her where she got the idea/recipe for that one. An acquired taste, for sure.

Hi,

I have read Utah has the greatest consumption of Jello per person in the country. The number flavor is LIME!

I make Jello molds based on some ideas I picked up from Jane and Michael Stern. I usually forget to put something on the Thanksgiving table, but everyone reminds me if the Jello has gone missing.

Ah yes, great recipes made with lime jello. I worked as a lifeguard at a church camp for a couple of years in my youth. The menus repeated every week--not a problem for the campers who only stayed a week, but a touch repetitive for the staff who stayed all summer. My favorite was Wednesday. Tuna casserole, made with tuna, canned peas, cream of mushroom soup and potato chips (nope, no noodles, just crushed potato chips). Jello "salad" made with lime jello, applesauce (heated, to dissolve the jello), and 7-Up. Often frosted with cream cheese and mayo. I really did love them both. I've tested my memories against the realities of the recipes since. But only once.

On the other hand, my mother puts on a dinner party for 12-14 friends (called the "waifs and strays" because all are widowed or divorced) every week. She once did a blind taste test on key lime pie recipes--the classic recipe vs one that included lime jello. The jello version was the clear winner.

And on a further digression, I recently picked up a cookbook put together by the Seney Michigan Historical Society in the early 60's. Seney is a tiny town on one of the best trout steams in Michigan (Hemingway called it the Big Two-Hearted River, but he was writing about the Fox River in Seney). It is also in the heart of the best blueberry country I know of. The entire cookbook had one recipe that used trout, two that used blueberries (and one of those called for canned pie filling), and at least 15 that called for fruit cocktail and miniature marshmallows. Oh, and two recipes for Pork Cake.

Ann Fisher wrote:
And on a further digression, I recently picked up a cookbook put together by the Seney Michigan Historical Society in the early 60's. Seney is a tiny town on one of the best trout steams in Michigan (Hemingway called it the Big Two-Hearted River, but he was writing about the Fox River in Seney). It is also in the heart of the best blueberry country I know of. The entire cookbook had one recipe that used trout, two that used blueberries (and one of those called for canned pie filling), and at least 15 that called for fruit cocktail and miniature marshmallows. Oh, and two recipes for Pork Cake.

There were some worse ones in that cookbook, too... at least a half dozen or more dishes that used cream of mushroom soup.

Actually, no, the pork cakes were by far the most disgusting sounding.

gleam wrote:There were some worse ones in that cookbook, too... at least a half dozen or more dishes that used cream of mushroom soup.

Ah, cream of mushroom soup. I'll only reluctantly have it from a can, but add it to green beans and french onions, and you've got yourself a casserole. (And a pretty good one at that.) Keeping to topic, that's another dish you might find our family preparing on special occasions.

Green bean casserole with cream of chicken.Topped with any of the following-shoestring potatoes,french onion,onion rings or potato chips.We recently saw cheese flavored shoestring potatos.I cannot attest to it but it sounds like green bean casserole was created in someone's less than sober moments.

JiminLoganSquare wrote:Trivia Note: Why use suet? Suet melts at a relatively high temperature (higher than shortening or butter). This allows the cake part of the pudding to cook solid before the suet melts. The un-melted suet, acting like a sort of random lost wax mold, holds open pores that allow the pudding to remain light and crumbly. Eventually, as the steaming continues, the suet melts to the bottom. If you used shortening or butter instead of suet, you would end up with something the approximate density of a white dwarf star.

I am preparing to make some pasties of the type offered in the U.P. The recipe called for beef suet for the pastry. Remembering your trivia, when I was rejected at one grocery store and one butcher, I continued my search. I found beef suet frozen at Sunset Foods in Highland Park. The butcher did grind it for me. I requested 2X, I am not sure if indeed it was processed twice, but the stuff looked like thick spaghetti pellets after processing. I usually use a pastry cutter to cut the fat into the flour. However the suet was already so small, it was difficult to do by hand. Instead, I used my Cuisinart to incorporate the fat into the dough.

Sunset Foods
1812 Green Bay Road
Highland Park, IL 60035
http://www.sunsetfoods.com
847-681-5590

Cathy2 and others: did you know that you can mail-order geniune UP pastys from www.pasty.com? The pastys are prepared by residents of a retirement home in the UP and shipped all over the country. As a bonus, the website also features a webcam of the lift bridge in Houghton, MI; a daily photo log of the UP; weekly desktop wallpaper; and a discussion forum. See the 3/10/02 wallpaper for example.

Alriemer