the nices thing about a great feast... is the leftovers!!!!
Some foods seasoned with spices or various herbs seem to only get better and better as they begin to blend over time into your ‘left over’ culinary masterpieces. This is always true of many soups but turkey meat just seems to absorb more flavors over time. The next time I make a ‘turducken’ or the equivalent, I am thinking it may be fun to ‘pre-cure’ the bird, debone it, season it and freeze it for an indeterminate amount of time!
I hope you are enjoying Day 2… unless it is already all gone!
My Daughter Karla prepared this nice 'Happy Thanksgiving Day' Wish for You!
Thanksgiving is the only holiday celebrated by virtually all Americans. It is a time for looking back on all we have and giving thanks. To prepare for such an event requires a lot of preparation … and a secret ‘energy bar’… in fact, the original energy bar (or as we jokingly refer to it as “Elf Bread”)… SHORT BREAD!
Our version of this infamous everything-in-it soup! CLICK on the picture to read it's history!
When its cold, windy, frosty and rainy, there is nothing like a big pot of warm soup! As a child I always loved the story of ‘stone soup’… although I think it was a fancy way for my mother and grandmother to serve leftovers! For the miliary of our family they might wish to call it the ‘rock soup method!’
“U.S. Army General George S. Patton, Jr. referred to the “rock soup method” of acquiring resources for attacks in the face of official disapproval by his superiors for offensive operations. In the military context, he sent units forward ostensibly on reconnaissance missions, to later reinforce them when resistance was met and eventually turned small scale probes into all out attacks….”
There are other versions of the story of Stone Soup:
“The story is most commonly known as nail soup in Scandinavian and Northern European countries. In these versions, the main character is typically a tramp looking for food and lodgings, who convinces an old woman that he will make nail soup for the both of them if she would just add a few ingredients for the garnish. In Eastern Europe the variation of the story (having more in common with the Northern European rendition) is called axe soup, with an axe being the catalyst. In Russian tradition a soldier eats axe kasha (Каша из топора).”
In any event, it leaves a lot to you imagination. Large kettle soups were very big in old world european inns. An interesting story concerns one inn near the Spanish border in France where travelers came far and wide to try their soups made in a large kettle. Oddly enough, the kettle was cleaned once a year to great fan fare!
Our soup, this day, contains a wide variety of yummy things: leftover meat*, short grain and wild rice, diced potatoes, a few jalapeno slices ( you can see one in the picture), celery, diced linguisa sausage, chicken stock, some choice legumes, a small jar of pimentoes, bell pepper, onion, garlic, red beans, pinto beans, black beans… and some very nice falorings.
The nice thing is that you can never really cook this soup too long… it just gets better!
Roger
* for those who buy large sections of meat and trim and cut your own, you will always have meat that is left over that is perfect for our SOUP! I had a wonderful 7 standing rib and I trimmed to leave the ‘eye’ of the prime rib, the ribs and what is reffered to as the ‘lip’ although we always called this fatty area the ‘tail.’ The meat I used this day came from the leftover tails which I throughly trimmed of fat.
my holiday schedule revolves around cuisine CLICK on the picture to go to my abridged recipe section
Anyone faced with family coming home for the holidays has many things to balance to make the occasion enjoyable for all. The biggest challenge is to have all of the favorite foods that everyone prefers: Stroganoff, cured and spiced bbq ribs, homemade corned beef transformed into pastrami, a “Greek Night”, a ‘Turducken’, a few South African delicacies ( I am hoping for ‘Bobotie’)… and beef in many forms ( the Brazilians would be so proud!).
Oh I haven’t forgotten desserts, cookies and other goodies! I will be making some of President Washington’s favorite Eggnog from an old recipe that is guarenteed to be remembered!
Fortunately, much is in stages of development, but all will be ready when everyone arrives!
MacPhae Short Bread ... have some when you are feeling a little 'rebellious!'
Scottish MacPhae Short bread , the original tax rebel’s treat
THE STORY
The story of Scottish Shortbread is one that takes it’s name – in part—to a rebellion against the English habit of ‘taxing’ biscuits or cookies. Bread wasn’t taxed, so it became a ‘bread’ and the word ‘short’ noted that butter was both a key ingredient and the primary flavoring. The original was probably made of oat flour as it was inexpensive and many thought it was only fit for livestock.
RECIPES
You can read about short bread recipes far and wide, but all of them contain three primary ingredients: flour, sugar and butter! In addition, you will find discussions regarding the virtue of high fat European butters vs. its less stout American cousin; but this is mostly posturing. Personally, I’ll buy an Irish butter or the American ‘Challenge Dairies’ of the West Coast. The historical recipe ratio of flour –butter – sugar is 3-2-1, most likely measured in pounds and I would interpret the original recipe as:
3 ½ cups of flour ( I use bread flour)
1 lb butter ( 4 cubes)
1 cup sugar (confectioners)
325 F for 45 minutes or until slightly brown
The texture of the short bread is very much a point of discussion and the process of blending the ingredients is varied. Purest stay strictly to the three ingredients, while those who want to have a more ‘crumbly’ shortbread add rice flour and those who want a denser cookie will add cornstarch; both are yummy. Some recipes, even some very old recipes, call for eggs and salt.
Regarding sugar, the traditional is a granulated white sugar, but there are recipes including: brown sugar or confectioner’s sugar. Some will add almond or vanilla flavorings and the toppings may include things like: nuts, icing, sesame seeds or even coconut.
Cooking temperature is low with much time in the oven at 275-350 degrees ranging from 15 – 45 minutes depending on the thickness of the product. Shortbread is supposed to be white or slightly brown.
The MacPhae Short Bread
As we have discussed, short bread was named for a rebellion against the English ‘tax’ on biscuits. The book of Scottish Clans tell of the MacPhaes as a small but fierce family… and so the MacPhae shortbread must be the most rebellious of them all!
“Sooo, what ya gonna do now ,laddie? eat somethin!”
