DUCKS reading support group discussion

Has anyone got the inclination to try Abby’s BBQ sauce? I’m thinking of writing it on an index card and tucking it away as if it’s an old family heirloom of my own.

Abby’s BBQ sauce

1 lge. onion
2 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. vinegar
1 tbsp. Worcestershire
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 jar chili sauce (substitute Hunt’s and add chili powder or paprika)
salt & pepper

Brown the onion in butter, then add everything else and cook slowly for 20 minutes until it thickens. Lasts a couple of weeks in the refrigerator. Suitable for use on ribs, chicken, p. chops, hamburgers, and hot dogs.

Here's a recipe for (Coconut) Rice Pudding Pie from epicurious.com, a website I'm certain our narrator would frequent:

Coconut Rice Pudding Pie

YIELD: Makes one 9" pie
ACTIVE TIME: 1 hour
TOTAL TIME: 3 hours

INGREDIENTS
For the crust:
3 cups sesame sticks (about 10 oz.)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
7 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
For the pudding:
1 Tbsp. gelatin
2 cups full-fat coconut milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp. kosher salt
3 large eggs
2 cups cooked jasmine rice

For the caramel:
3/4 cup full-fat coconut milk
1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
For the rum whip and assembly:
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup dark rum
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
Toasted coconut flakes (for topping)

Special Equipment:
A standard 9"-diameter pie plate

PREPARATION
Make the crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Pulse sesame sticks and granulated sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Add butter and continue to pulse until dough sticks together when pressed with your fingertips.
Transfer to pie pan and press evenly into bottom and up sides with a flat measuring cup. Chill in the freezer until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake crust until golden brown and set, 12–15 minutes. If the crust has slouched while baking, use measuring cup to fix. Let cool.

Make the pudding:
Mix gelatin into 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl; set aside to bloom.
Heat coconut milk, cream, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high until simmering, about 4 minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low.
Whisk cornstarch, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a medium bowl. Add eggs and continue to whisk until well combined. Whisking constantly, slowly pour half of milk mixture into egg mixture to temper. Pour egg mixture back into pan, stir in rice, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping bottom and sides of pan until thick and big bubbles are rising to the surface, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in gelatin until dissolved, then transfer to a large bowl or resealable container. Let cool slightly. Place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding to prevent a crust from forming and chill at least 2 hours and preferably overnight.

Make the caramel:
Bring coconut milk and brown sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking to combine. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often with a rubber spatula, until reduced to a thick, glossy sauce, 10–15 minutes.
Remove from heat and whisk in butter and salt. Pour caramel into cooled crust and tilt to coat bottom of crust. Freeze until set, about 15 minutes.

Make the rum whip and assemble the pie:
Beat cream in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form, 3–4 minutes. Add rum, powdered sugar, and salt and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Chill two-thirds (about 3 cups) of the whipped cream until ready to use. Fold remaining cream into chilled rice pudding.
Fill pie shell with pudding. Chill at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

When ready to serve, re-whip rum cream until it holds stiff peaks and pile on top of rice pudding. Sprinkle with toasted coconut and slice to serve.

Grandma’s Chicken Stock

chicken bones
celery
onion
carrot
potato
ginger
garlic
black peppercorns
a few cilantro seeds
a bay leaf
a pinch of sugar
glass of white wine or vermouth, or half a glass of gin

Bring it all to the boil, then simmer it low for at least 8 hours, preferably 12. The more gelatinous the better. If you cook it long enough it goes golden (but 24 hours is probably too much). Then cool, strain, and salt it (don’t forget the salt), and get it into the freezer as soon as possible.

NB: Never use parsley in chicken stock, because it gets bitter if it's cooked too long. And no need to cut the vegetables small, just make sure they fit into the pot.

apples’n’onions

INGREDIENTS
leftover onions
leftover apples

DIRECTIONS
Caramelize the onions, then add big chunks of apple. Flavor with cinnamon and cloves. Let it simmer until the apples are just soft (not mushy).

Candy Corn Cob

INGREDIENTS
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 c. almond flour
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 (20-oz.) bags candy corn

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter and sugar together, then add vanilla. Add almond flour and salt and beat until combined. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. On plastic wrap, form each piece into a log. Refrigerate until solid, 2 hours.

When cookie dough is well chilled, push candy corn into cookie dough in rows. Refrigerate until ready to serve, at least 1 hour.

Narrator has lost her recipe for fanouropita cake, and obviously she can't make a fanouropita cake to find it--unless she googles one, like I did (though she might not find the one she likes!). I found this one with 9 ingredients (assuming the salt doesn't count as an ingredient) including nuts and raisins, which Narrator always substitutes.

Fanouropita cake

INGREDIENTS
375 g seed oil
375 g orange juice
300 g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
1 teaspoon(s) cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon(s) cloves
540 g self-rising flour
120 g walnuts (leave these out; use thinly sliced olive instead)
75 g raisins (leave these out; use a little splash of brandy instead)
salt

METHOD
Preheat oven to 170* C (347* F) Fan.
Use a hand whisk to beat the sugar, vegetable oil and 250 g fresh orange juice in a large bowl, until the sugar melts.
In a separate bowl, combine the remaining 125 g of orange juice with the baking soda, cinnamon and cloves. Mix with a fork until the baking soda froths.
Add the baking soda mixture to the bowl with the sugar and whisk thoroughly.
Add the flour, walnuts, salt and raisins. Mix until all of the ingredients are completely combined.
Transfer to a baking pan 25x30 cm and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Serve with icing sugar and mint leaves. [these are also not "ingredients"]

I'm searching desperately for Laura Ingall's Wilder's homemade noodle recipe, but meanwhile I've found one from a grandma:

Vintage Homemade Noodles

INGREDIENTS
4 egg yolks
2 egg whites
1 cup enough flour to roll

INSTRUCTIONS
Beat eggs together and add flour.
Roll dough out on a heavily floured surface.
Cut noodles and then separate.
Boil noodles for 20 minutes in salted water.
Put in sieve and pour cold water over them.
Fry in hot brown butter until very brown.

We need a poffertjes recipe, those sound delicious. Even Stacy can’t resist!

I found one on a website called "Pudge Factor" which is a promising name. It turns out you need a special pan for them, kind of like a cast iron shallow muffin pan, but only if your muffins are very small with round bottoms like me. Here's her recipe, which has been adapted to an American palate (typically they use buckwheat flour where she has used all-purpose):


Poffertjes

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces, 350 ml) milk, heated to about 105° F (See Tip 1)
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 3/4 cups (8.75 ounces, 250 grams) all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 large egg
Unsalted butter (See Tip 2)
Confectioners' sugar for sprinkling on Poffertjes

INSTRUCTIONS
Add yeast to lukewarm milk; stir to combine. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes or until frothy.
Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add milk/yeast mixture and egg. Beat with electric mixer on high until smooth, about 1 minute. (See Tip 3)
Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let sit until bubbly and doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
Heat Poffertjes pan on medium heat until hot, 3 to 4 minutes. Brush cavities with melted butter. Add about 1 tablespoon of batter to each of the cavities. When small bubbles start to appear and the top starts to look a bit dried out, quickly flip Poffertjes. (See Tips 4 and 5)
Allow Poffertjes to cook on other side until nicely browned, about 2 minutes. Remove from pan. Repeat with remaining batter.
Serve hot with a pat of butter and sprinkling of confectioners' sugar. Yield, about 60 Poffertjes.


TIPS
I used whole milk. However, you could also use low-fat milk. I heated the milk in my microwave on full power for about a minute.
I melted about a tablespoon of butter to use for greasing the cavities of the Poffertjes pan.
I could have also used a whisk to beat the ingredients together to form a smooth batter.
If you've ever made pancakes, you should know how they look when it's time to flip them over - small bubbles appearing and the top looking a bit dried out.
While cooking the Poffertjes, watch the heat carefully. You might need to lower the heat just a little bit to prevent the Poffertjes from burning.

Thanks! Ah, special equipment. The last time I bought kitchen equipment to make food from a novel was when I read Still Life by Louise Penny, disliked the book, but thought I had to try making cannelés so I bought a mold for them. This was in 2014, I still haven't used it.

Fanny Cradock’s Humble Emergency Aspic

INGREDIENTS
one 10 1/2 oz tin of consommé
14 1/2 fl oz and 1 fl oz of cold water
4 tablespoons of sherry
strained juice of 1/2 lemon
1 generous oz powdered gelatine.

METHOD
Soften gelatine in 1 fl oz water. Mix all remaining ingredients together. Stir in gelatine and stir over ice until syrupy when using as a coating or masking agent or for locking in tops or top and sides of special savoury decorative mixtures.

Individual Vegetable Aspics Set in Dariole Moulds
Oil moulds lightly. Pour in sufficient syrupy aspic to cover base thoroughly. Leave until set. Arrange cooked peas and/or tiny fancy shapes in cooked carrot over set aspic. Spoon sufficiently syrupy aspic over to lock in vegetable pattern without disarranging it. Leave until set. Fill up with syrupy aspic. Unmould when set. Neatly cut scraps of cooked French beans, overlapping unskinned slices of cucumber, and sections of tomato etc. may also be used.

Poached Egg

INGREDIENTS
One fresh egg, room temperature
Vinegar or salt

METHOD
Bring a pan of water to just under simmering. Add a touch of vinegar or salt.
Take a room-temperature egg and crack it into a cup, then carefully ease it from the cup into the simmering water.
Simmer until the egg is cooked to your liking.

Clean-up tip: When you are finished, empty the hot water, then let the pan soak in cold water.

Shrimp Bisque

INGREDIENTS

Salt pork
Shallots
Celery
Potatoes
Clam juice
Parsley
Thyme
Bay leaf
White wine for the stock
1 1/2 lbs shrimp, s&d
Cooked rice

METHOD
You're going to have to figure this one out on your own, but I'll give you a hint: "s&d" means "shelled and diced." Bon appetit!

Cannelloni
(Bear in mind this recipe is no good)

METHOD

Make your own pasta
Cut into rectangles
Put ricotta cheese on each rectangle
Roll into tubes and seal, somehow
Drop into 8 quarts of gently boiling water, ensuring that the ricotta does not come out, somehow

Scoop out cooked pasta whenever you think you should.
Put into oven with tomato sauce and basil
Bake for 10 minutes

Serve with Romano cheese

Crab-Stick Sandwich

INGREDIENTS
Crab sticks
Raw Garlic
Jalapeno
Ginger
Celery Salt

METHOD
Assemble sandwich, eat one or two. Please note that crab sticks need celery salt; do not substitute.

No-Bean Chili

INGREDIENTS
2lbs ground beef
1/4 cup chill powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp all-spice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 bay leaf
1 oz unsweetened chocolate (important: the chill is no good without it)
2 cans beef broth
1 can tomatoes
2 tbls cider vinegar
1/4 tsp cayenne

METHOD
Brown your spices and meat, then simmer everything together.

Bottom-crust fruit pie (serves 6)

This is a classic, American-style fruit pie with a free-form rough crust that you wrap unsymmetrically and messily around a pile of sugared fruit.

It involves no crimping, primping or decorating. It simply and unshowily displays the talents of the ingredients, fruit and pastry, and brings them together, making a virtue of inelegance.

You may use any fruit or combination of fruit you choose, though I think plums, damsons and greengages are pretty damned fine.


1 lb 10oz/750g fruit, plums, damsons, greengages, gooseberries, blackberry or apple
Shortcrust pastry made with 8oz/225g flour and 4oz/110g unsalted butter, or, better still, half butter, half lard
2.5-3oz/75-85g sugar depending on the sweetness of the fruit
Egg white to glaze and a little extra sugar
Cut plums or greengages in half and remove the stones. Damsons should be left unstoned; gooseberries should be topped and tailed; apples peeled, quartered, cored and cut into chunks.

Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Roll the pastry out into a large circle, about 12in/30cm in diameter, and flip it from the rolling pin into a greased baking tin. Tip the fruit into the middle of it in a reckless pile and sprinkle over the sugar.

Fold over the edges of the pastry as far as they will go without stretching them - fatal to pastry that shrinks by nature. The edges should very definitely not meet in the middle. Brush the pastry with egg white and scatter over a little more sugar, demerara if you prefer.

Bake for 20 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and bake for a further 25-30 minutes until bubbling with juices and golden brown.