-----Original Message----- 
From: Dorothy 
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 8:01 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: St Patrick's Day Parsley Potatoes from the New York Times over 30 
yrs ago.

Dear Uncle Phaedrus,
I have a request for a recipe that might be very difficult to find. The 
recipe came from a New York Times St Patrick's Day recipe article from over 
30 yrs ago. It was for parsley potatoes. These potatoes used corned beef 
liquid as part of the sauce. Can you find it?

Thank you so much!
Kind regards,
Dorothy 

Hi Dorothy,

Sorry, no joy. I found some parsley potatoes recipes from the NY Times, including the ones on these sites, but none that called for adding corned beef liquid.

Lincoln Inaugural Parsley Potatoes

Classic Parsley Potatoes

Phaed

A long time ago I acquired several recipes from a St. Patrick's Day menu. 
Irish Parsley Potatoes were amongst them. Perhaps this recipe is close to 
what they are seeking.         
Timm in Oregon
 

Irish Parsley Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 cups corned beef cooking liquid
2 pounds small red potatoes, peeled
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion or leeks, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 cup corned beef broth 
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

Instructions:

Over medium-high heat, reduce 2 cups of the corned beef cooking liquid to 
1 cup of broth. Place the potatoes into a large pot full of salted water. 
Bring the water to a boil and then reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for 
10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender but not mushy. 
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the onion 
or leeks and garlic for 5 minutes or until tender. 
Pour in the broth and 3/4 cup of the parsley and mix well; bring to a boil 
for 1 minute and then remove from the heat. 
Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon to a serving bowl. 
Stir the pepper to the sauce and pour the sauce over the potatoes and sprinkle 
with the remaining parsley.

From: Jennifer 
Sent: Sunday, November 06, 2011 12:44 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Subject: Sam's Club Rotisserie Chicken

Hi Uncle Phaedrus,
 
A few years ago, you helped me find the recipe for Bravo Restaurant's House Salad.
I wonder if you could work your magic again.  My husband adores the Sam's Club 
Rotisserie Chicken.  
It is fully cooked on-site at the club near our house, which is located in the 
Houston, TX are (unsure if the recipe varies by region).  
They use a blend of seasonings on the chicken that we have been unable to copycat.  
The label which can be found on the packaging of the chicken mentions that it 
"features Lawry's Seasonings."
He has tried going to other stores to get rotisserie chickens, but they just do 
not taste the same.  
I guess other people like the chicken at Sam's, as it is often sold out.
Could you please help us find the recipe for the seasoning used on this chicken?
 
Thank you,
 
Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,

I had no success finding an exact recipe or a copycat.

I found this statement on a message board:

“I work at Sam’s making these chickens. The recipe is extremely simple just lawry seasoning salt. 
I also believe that before they ship us the chickens they inject them with butter.
Unfortunately I don’t know if you can replicate the taste in a normal oven. 
The rotisserie’s cook at a high temp with a real flame fire and spin the chickens to give them 
an even darkened finish. 
Make sure you use a whole chicken with the skin still on to ensure it doesn’t dry out.”

This person says nothing about any spices other than - Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
However, the reason he doesn’t mention any other spices might be that these chickens are prepared elsewhere – perhaps not in the local stores. The chickens may be injected with a solution of brine and spices at another location, then frozen and sent to your local Sam’s, where they are thawed, sprinkled with Lawry's Seasoned Salt, and then cooked on the rotisserie.
If so, no one at any of the local stores would know the ingredients in the brine.

Coincidentally, Sam’s Club sells a rotisserie chicken spice mixture made by McCormick’s:
McCormick's Rotisserie Chicken Spice Mixture

There’s also a recipe below that you might want to try.

Phaed

Roasted Chicken-Rotisserie 
8 servings. 

4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 onions, quartered
2 (4 pound) whole chickens

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix together salt, paprika, onion powder, thyme, white pepper, 
black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. 
Remove and discard giblets from chicken. Rinse chicken cavity, and pat dry with 
paper towel. Rub each chicken inside and out with spice mixture. 
Place 1 onion into the cavity of each chicken. Place chickens in a resealable bag 
or double wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 to 6 hours, or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
3. Place chickens in a roasting pan. Bake uncovered for 5 hours. Let the chickens 
stand for 10 minutes before carving.

From: Tricia 
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 11:53 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Subject: russian tea biscuits - chocolate.

Hi Uncle Phaedrus,

Thanks for all these great recipes, however, I am looking to modify your russian 
tea biscuit recipe with chocolate instead of jam/raisin filling.  
Can you help me with this?  I am not sure what kind of chocolate or how much would 
go into the inside to roll up.

Thank you for your help with this. It is a surprise for someone who used to live 
in Ohio, but has not had these favorite treats for about 20 years.  
I looked on your website before emailing but had no luck.

Regards,
Tricia

Hi Tricia,

Let me make some distinctions. These are the Russian Tea Biscuits as sold in kosher bakeries in Cleveland, Ohio and rarely seen elsewhere. They are rolled up like little jelly rolls, and the filling is usually jam & raisins & nuts or chocolate & nuts. They are not those “Russian Tea Cookies/Cakes” that are also called “Mexican Wedding Cookies” or “snowball cookies” or pecan somethings. A recipe for the jam-filled kind of Cleveland tea biscuit is here:

Sorry, I can’t find a recipe for the chocolate filled ones.

There are several recipes for the other kind of Russian tea cakes with chocolate:
Food.com

Yummly.com

Hungrybrowser

Family Oven

Perhaps you can adapt a filling from those. Sorry I can’t be more help with this.

Phaed

From: Pam
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 5:29 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Subject: Re: trying to find a cookie recipe from appx. 1960's

I am trying to locate a recipe for a cookie that may have been made by Archway Cookies 
or a similar type of cookie company.  
We purchased them at the grocery store in cellophane packages in throughout the 1960's.  
I don't remember them after approx. 1968 - 69.

I will describe it the best my recollection and vocabulary can muster.

It was a large chewy, dark brown sugar colored, molassesie, dried ground fruit like 
raisins? possibly, but not chunky textured, soft cookie.  
Appx. homemade style two and one half to three inches across, with a royal type anise 
frosting/glaze with thin black lines or stripes across the width of the cookis.  
Each package contained both pink frosted and white frosted top bases with the black 
stripes or lines spaced appx. 1/2 inch apart throughout the entire top of the cookie.

These cookies were very flavorful as I remember, and you could dunk them and the lower 
bottom exposed cookie would get soft and the top hard sugary stripped frosted portion 
remained crispy, as long and you didn't just soak it forever.

Do you remember these?  Or do you know of a recipe for these?

Thank you for your time.

Pam 

Hi Pam,

Sorry, I have no idea what these might have been. I was not much of a commercial cookie fan back in the 1960s – just oreos and chocolate chip. There‘s not much way for me to search for a recipe without having the name of the cookie. A description by itself is not useful for such a search. Hometown Favorites maintains a database of discontinued commercial food products here:
Hometown Favorites
Going through that list would be a good place for you to start looking for the name. You might recognize it from the list where I wouldn’t, since I never knew them to begin with.

I’ll post your request on my site. Perhaps a reader will know them.

By the way, I like that word “molassesie”....

Phaed

Several companies produced their version of Molasses Raisin Bars. 
You can make similar cookies at home but they will never look exactly like the store bought 
cookies because of manufacturing techniques. 
There are many of these basic cookie recipes on the internet along with frosting recipes. 
Below is an example:         

Timm in Oregon
 

Molasses Raisin Bars

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup Brer Rabbit Molasses
2 eggs
3/4 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup nuts, chopped
1 cup seedless raisins, chopped

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375F degrees. Melt the shortening and let cool. 
Add the molasses and eggs; beat well. 
Sift together the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and salt. 
Add the flour mixture to molasses mixture and then stir in nuts and raisins. 
Pour into a greased 8 inch square baking pan and bake for about 25 minutes. 
Let cool for 5 minutes and then cut into bars.

Anise Icing

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon anise extract

Instructions:

Stir all of the ingredients to combine. Add additional milk for thinner icing.