I like to send folks what they really want. However, it becomes a bit of a challenge sending food a long way. It has to be made to travel and not spoil. Packaging can help… but the key is in the ingredients.
My Gingerbread Cookie Recipe for Kristin in Iraq:
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup molasses
5 teaspoons spice blend*
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2/3 – 1 cup water
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
7 cups flour
sugar sprinkles for topping
* (BLEND: 8 parts Ginger, 4 parts Cinnamon,1 part Cardamom,1 part Allspice,1 part Cloves,1 part Nutmeg,1 part Mace,4 parts Orange zest)
Once you have taken the time to make your own pastrami and tweak it to your particular taste, it’s hard to buy anything else! Some folks cure their brisket for hours, others — like me — for weeks. Some like a standard sort of brine mixture… others ( again, like me) enjoy a mixture with beer, juniper and allspice berries. The beauty of making anything for yourself is that you can find the style that suits you best. So it wouldn’t surprise you if I said that I like my recipebest.
I can see why most folks don’t realize that Pastrami and Corned Beef are very similar although the final product seems very different. Pastrami starts off with a finished corned beef then goes through a small seasoning process and finally smoked. Most corned beef is served boiled and this allows the fat to disappear and leave a leaner product with the characteristic meaty ‘strings.’ Pastrami however is almost never boiled — at least I don’t — and the final product appears with thin ribbons of fat… which is why — I think — it is almost always served hot.
My great Uncle Karl was an interesting man, a shorter and chubbier version of myself that made his living as a butcher and also had a preference for Pastrami. I was fond of him (Karla is named after him) and talking with him about food was always a treat.
Roger
PS. By the way, Pastrami is one of Laura’s favorite dishes … hmmm … it continually amazes me how she gets me to make these things while allowing me to think it is my idea.
I have noticed that if ingredients in a recipe tend to be pricey — as is the case with lobster tails — chefs tend to develop presentations to feature them. However, if you take the challenge to use lobster in a more ‘supporting role’ then I think you can really bring out it’s wonderful and tasty nature and it’s real beauty.
There are a few lobster pie or lobster quiche recipes on the net and most of them are relatively bland, some with virtually nothing added to distract from the subtle taste of lobster… some recipes come with virtually no spices.
This recipe is very different and filled with spices and various herbs, vegetables and sauteed in Sherry . Of course there is nothing wrong with preparing a wonderful dessert to complement the meal… and Baklava provides just the right sweetness for the occasion!
Laura has some fond memories from childhood regarding something called Gingerbread Cake often served with a ‘hard sauce.’ I am very familiar with many cakes… especially something called ‘spice cake’… but this isn’t that.
Gingerbread is a ‘firm’ cake sliced in layers and served often with a wonderful hard sauce… and ice cream ( which is how I like it). Laura enjoyed her serving with tea (Earl Grey), honey and lemon. The hard sauce contained: orange brandy, orange zest, cream, rye whiskey, powdered sugar, ginger and butter.
There are many claims to gingerbread and gingerbread cake alike. Both the Romans and the Chinese were fond of a honey cake with ginger. In middle age Europe, gingerbread was viewed as a medicinal aid to digestion with curative powers. In pre-Christian Europe, gingerbread was part of the winter solstice ceremonies and continued on to help ring in Christmas. The ancient Greeks and the Egyptians were said to use it in their ceremonies.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) has often been quoted as a fan of gingerbread:
“Had I but a penny in the world, thou shouldst have it for gingerbread”
In America, gingerbread has been a favorite from the very beginning . It is said that President George Washington’s mother served gingerbread to the Marquis de Lafayette on his visit to America in 1784.
The ingredients and preparation styles of gingerbread have always reflected the times. When stoves didn’t have ovens, gingerbread was cooked very much as you would Boston Baked Bread in a container surrounded by boiling water. The availability of spices and cost considerations also limit the recipe construction. I have even found recipes for gingerbread where the addition of ginger appears to be an afterthought and much reduced.
Fortunately, we won’t bother ourselves with trivial concerns for time, effort or expense in our recipe.
Sonrisa Gingerbread Cake
By the way, Gingerbread is one of those things you can bake the day before, reheat, top with hard sauce and it’s all to the good. I will be producing a hard sauce (tomorrow) to drip over the final creation… should be fun.
