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2010

TODAY's CASES:

Torta de Aciete

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Steve
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2010 9:38 AM
Subject: Torta de Aceite

Hello Phaedrus and Happy New Year!

On New Year's day a friend and I made a trip to Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati where 
you can find extraordinary things. www.junglejims.com  I go with a laundry list 
that might include; Wilhelmina mints. frozen Peruvian corn and dried chunos 
(Andes freeze-dried potatoes), Asbach-Uralt filled chocolates, Buddha's Hand, et al. 
However, this time I discovered the incredibly delicious Ines Rosales Seville Orange 
Sweet Olive Oil Tortas (Torta de Aceite).  This kind of discovery makes me want to 
catch a flight to Andalusia, break into the factory, and get this secret recipe...
just kidding!  The Story of INÉS ROSALES, Sevillian pastry history The adult subtlety 
in flavor and sheer perfection has made this an immediate favourite...tasting it upon 
my return drive to Indianapolis was one of those culinary epiphany's  that surprises 
even me who had a restaurant for almost thirty years, traveled to over 50 countries, 
and now teach at the Art Institute of Indianapolis. Perfection!

Google searches netted a few recipes, although the addition of yeast, pizza dough, 
Baker's ammonia, and other ingredients did not parallel the list on the Rosales label 
which begins in order of predominance:  Unbleached wheat flour, extra virgin olive oil, 
sugar, crystallized orange from Seville, natural orange essence, sesame seeds, baking 
powder, and sea salt. Pretty simple ingredients that must rely more on technique than 
just the ingredients.  The serving size is for one of the five inch tortas which has 
150 calories, 70 of which come from fat...which gives indication as  to why they are 
pleasantly crisp and rich in flavour.  Remarkable!  And I would love to make this in 
my own kitchen with your advanced resources and help.

Here are a few that I found:

Tortas de Aceite (Olive Oil Wafers) | Wild Yeast 

Sweet olive oil crackers (Tortas de Aceite) (Probably the better sounding of the 
two and the baker's ammonia would indeed add crispness.)

If you have not tasted one of these tortas...you must!  You will thank me for the 
recommendation or will wish I had not introduced you to this historic treasure.

I look forward to hearing from you and remain,

Sincerely,

STEVE

Hi Steve,

Jungle Jim's sounds great - the kind of market that I really like. Problem is that Ohio is not near either of the two centers from which I operate: Memphis, TN and Portland, ME. There's a Trader Joe's in Nashville, and one in Boston. There's Whole Foods in Portland and also in Memphis. Maybe I can order some tortas over the Internet.

What I find is that tortas de aceite come in several flavors, and Seville Orange is just one of them. That's why your ingredients lists are not matching up. There are several recipes for tortas de aceite on the web, bit I could not find one for the Seville Orange flavored ones, which are a fairly recent creation of Ines Rosales. The anise flavored ones are much more common. See:

"Sweet 'Tortas de Aceite' Crisps - 2 Packages 12 Hand-Made Crisps by Ines Rosales - Wheat flour, olive oil ( 24%), sugar, matalahuga and ajonjoli, salt and anise essence."

"Seville Orange Sweet Olive Oil Tortas-These new Seville Orange Sweet Olive Oil Tortas have a beautiful aroma and finish of orange. - Perfect with coffee, tea, ice cream, as a snack or with a bit of soft cheese. Very delicious and addictive"

I can offer you no hope of a recipe for the Seville Orange flavored ones until someone gets down to it and creates a copycat for them. Perhaps..... you?

Other recipes:

Andhrapradesh.com

Spanish Food at About.com

Recipeland

Phaed

Pig's Ear Pastry

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Nancy 
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 3:15 PM
Subject: Puff Pastry Pig's ear

Dear Uncle Phaedrus,

I am trying to find a recipe for a puff pastry called pigs ear.  It is about a 1/2 inch 
thick and rolled to about 4 to 5 inches in diameter before it is cut in half.  It has 
cinnamon and sugar in the layers and is baked not fried and then glazed, the texture 
almost reminds you more of bread then puff pastry.  The Dutch Bakery in Boone, Iowa 
offers them but they will not divulge the actual name or recipe of course.  There 
are recipes for Swizeshorn, palm leaves, elephant ears etc... but these do not come 
close to this delicacy. I am wondering if it might be a homemade puff pastry or a type 
that is not sold in supermarkets.   Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Nancy

Hi Nancy, Sorry, I had no success locating a recipe for this. It may be out there under a different name, but just "puff pastry, cinnamon, and sugar" are not enough to locate it without that other name. I believe you mean "The Dutch Oven Bakery" in Boone, IA.
See:
The Dutch Oven Bakery

Phaed

Annette sent the below recipe for "Les Orielles de Cochon" ("Pig's Ears"). This is a typical recipe for them, and there are more recipes and a photo of them here:
Recipe.com

Ifood.tv

However, these are not what Nancy describes. The pastries that Nancy describes are baked, not fried, and they have cinnamon. They are glazed, rather than having syrup poured over them, and they are apparently rolled up like a jelly roll, with layers of cinnamon sugar between layers of pastry.

Phaed 

Dear Uncle Phaedrus,

Les Orielles de Cochon (Pig's Ears) are popular cookies in South Louisiana, 
available at many bakeries. Here is a recipe from "Louisiana Lagniappe" Cookbook. 
I've never tried it myself, and am giving it to you as written. The instructions 
are a little unclear in spots. I could probably find a different version in other 
cookbooks if you need one.

1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sifted flour

Beat eggs slightly, add melted butter. Add flour and salt and stir until well blended. 
Pinch off a small ball of dough and roll out very thinly. Roll dough into cone shape 
pinching bottoms together so that other end resembles a pig's ear. 
Heat oil in large skillet or deep-fryer to high heat. Reduce heat to medium.
Fry two or three ears at a time until brown. Drain on paper toweling. Cool.

Topping:

1 cup pure cane syrup
1/2 cup chopped nut meats

Pour syrup into large saucepan (it likes to boil up and bubble) and cook to the 
soft ball stage. Remove toweling from ears and pour the hot syrup over them until 
well coated. Sprinkle chopped nuts over ears before syrup dries.

from Mrs. Rivers Vidrine

Annette

Hough Bakery Mexican Wedding Cookies

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dee  
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 9:45 PM
Subject: mexican wedding cookies

Dear Phaedrus,

I am looking for the recipe of the Mexican Wedding cookie that was sold by the 
Hough Bakery store in Cleveland, OH, before they closed their doors some years ago. 
It is covered with powered sugar and contains chopped/crushed pecans, is very airy 
and light.  They were a flat cookie, as opposed to the "ball" version.  Would you 
know about these?  I haven't had one so good since then.

Thank you for any help.  Sincerely,

Dee
 OH

Hi Dolores,

I wish I could help, but as you can see from this list:
Most Popular Requests
that's one of the Hough recipes that has not made it onto the Internet. Sorry.

Phaed 

From: "Halyna" 
To: 
Subject: Re: Hough Mexican Wedding Cookies.
Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010 12:42 AM

Hi Uncle Phaedrus,

I found a response to the person who was looking for the Hough Mexican
Wedding Cookie recipe.  One of the grand-daughters of L.A. Pile, founder and
owner responded on another recipe list.   Here is what she said about the
Mexican Wedding Cookies.
Hope this settles the question.

Halyna

From Recipelink.com:
Title: Recipe: Mexican Wedding Cakes (aka Mexican Wedding Drops)
Board: Copycat Recipe Requests at Recipelink.com
From: Ann M. B. Gale, Barbados 12-31-2007
To: ISO: Hough Bakery Mexican Tea Cake Cookies
------------------------------
No Hough recipe is available that I know of. It could be small comfort,
however, to know that  Mexican Wedding Cakes are essentially 
a generic recipe. They were simply excellent quality shortbread balls rolled 
confectioners' sugar (not just dusted). Hough'sadded extremely finely ground 
pecans to the dough (pulverized, really).

Of Further Interest ~ In Robbie Pile's Menu Planning For Every
Occasion (Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City NY (1968)he mentions 
in one Mexican menu, dessert of cut up fruit and Mexican Wedding Wafers, 
(dusted with powdered sugar. No recipe included; and these were available
only for catered private dinners, if memory serves.

I tasted them right out of the Hough ovens a time or two, and they were just
fine. However (for me, anyway) they did not allow for the marvelous
texture-sensation of biting into those deep round balls--and the lovely
experience of that sugar melting in my mouth. Those balls? Each one you ate
always called for another.

Please try and let me know.

J. L. Hudson's Chicken Pot Pie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Wendi 
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com 
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 11:31 AM
Subject: chicken pot pie receipe

Hi! I was hoping you could help me. As a child growing up in Michigan,  I used to 
go shopping frequently with my grandmother. We always stopped to have lunch at a 
small cafe run inside the J.L. Hudson store. I always ordered the chicken pot pie. 
All of the Hudson's stores have closed down now and I have never come across anything 
close to the Hudson's chicken pot pie and would dearly love to have the recipe. 
It was served as an entire, individual size, pot pie  - not a slice of a larger 
pie - with a top and bottom crust. There were absolutely no vegetables in the pie, 
it was just jammed packed with chicken. There was very little gravy or sauce within 
the actual pie because it was so fulled with chicken. Instead, it came plated with 
gravy poured over the top and around the sides. Several years before they closed 
their doors, Hudson's changed their pot pie recipe to include veggies and used a 
puff pastry type shell. I'm looking for the original, no veggie, recipe. I do know 
that sometime back in the 1980's Hudson's  published a cookbook which included the 
original pot pie recipe. I've been searching for years and have had no luck finding 
either the recipe or a copy of the Hudson's cookbook. I'm hoping you'll have better luck.

Thank you!

Wendi

Hi Wendi,

Sorry, I had no success searching for the J.L. Hudson's chicken pot pie recipe. I could not find any mention at all of a J.L. Hudson's cookbook.

Phaed

Jambalaya

The search engine registry indicates that someone has searched for this: 

Louisiana  Jambalaya

1 fryer, cut up
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. flour
1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced
2 med. onions, chopped
1 green pepper, diced
3 c. tomatoes, peeled, diced
3 c. water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. liquid red pepper
2 c. uncooked long grain rice
1 lb. fresh shrimp, cleaned
1/4 c. chopped parsley
1/3 c. chopped green onions

Rub chicken with salt and pepper.  Heat the oil and brown chicken on all sides. 
Remove from skillet.  Add the flour to remaining oil in skillet; cook, stirring 
constantly, until the mixture (roux) turns light brown.  Return chicken to skillet; 
add sausage, onions, green pepper and tomatoes.  Cook about 10 minutes, stirring 
gently.  Stir in the water, salt, red pepper seasoning and rice.  Bring to boil; 
lower heat.  Cover; let simmer 15 minutes.  Stir in shrimp; simmer 15 minutes. 
Stir in parsley and green onions.  Simmer 5 minutes more or until rice is tender.
-------------------------------------
Creole  Jambalaya

1 chicken, cut up
4 1/2 c. water
1/3 c. onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 lb. link pork sausage
1 tbsp. flour
1 can tomatoes, broken up
2 tbsp. parsley
2 tbsp. sweet pepper
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 sm. bay leaf
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. red pepper
1 1/4 c. raw reg. cooking rice
1/2 lb. cooked ham, cut julienne
1/2 lb. shrimp

Simmer chicken in 4 cups water until tender.  Remove chicken from broth; 
reserve broth and chicken.  Slice sausage and brown in large Dutch oven. 
Remove sausage; pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat.  Add onion and garlic; 
saute 5 minutes.  Stir in flour.  Gradually add 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth. 
Add tomatoes, parsley and sweet pepper, salt, bay leaf, thyme, and red pepper. 
Bring to boiling; stir in chicken, sausage, rice, ham, and shrimp.  Reduce heat; 
cover and simmer until rice and chicken are tender, about 20 to 30 minutes. 
Yield:  8 portions.  Instead of putting rice in jambalaya, you may cook rice 
separately and serve jambalaya over rice.

"Miss Etta used a combination of greens, the exact description of which was a secret she would one day carry to her grave. She swore, when forced to talk about it at all, that most of the leaves were turnip greens, but some might be wild greens she gathered from the fields around her house. The result, whatever the ingredients, was a dish unlike anything anywhere else on earth. The flavors were a balance of sweet and salty, sharp and soft, rich and clean. I put them in a bowl, because the liquid in which they were cooked was to be soaked up with cornbread, which was, in fact, the reason God invented cornbread at all."
A Widow's Curse by Philip DePoy

Copyright (c) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Phaedrus