TODAY's CASES:

• Nut Tree Turkey Tamales
• Emily's Lebanese Deli Mistah Bread
• Crusty Beefeater Sandwich

Nut Tree Turkey Tamales -----Original Message----- From: Connie Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 6:40 AM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: nut tree cocktail turkey tamales A once revered rest stop between San Jose and Sacramento on the way to Tahoe was the nut tree; a beautiful old farm house, air strip, fruit farm, book store, and great restaurant. Home to crazy art and Calif cuisine. I would love to make these tamales with chili sauce as rich and complex as a mole' All others are sad representations. Even with our farm heritage, demand for good tamales has sunk. Silicon valley may innovate but every new wave of immigrants demand their home flavors and all else is washed way. Thank you for giving us back these little pieces of our past. Connie Hi Connie, I found the below recipe, which was originally published in the "Sacramento Bee", on this blog: Good Eats Fan Board Phaed Nut Tree Restaurant Turkey Tamales From: Nut Tree Restaurant Source: Taste - Sacramento Bee Ingredients: 50 large corn husks (5 per tamale) For the Tamale Sauce: 3 cups all-purpose flour 8 cups water 2 to 4 tablespoons chili powder, depending on heat desired 2 tablespoons chicken base or bouillon 1 to 2 tablespoons Spanish-style seasoning, Grandma's brand if available 2 teaspoons paprika 2 teaspoons salt For the Masa: 6 pounds prepared masa (available in Mexican markets) 1-1/2 tablespoons Spanish-style seasoning 1/4 teaspoon chili powder For the Filling: 5 to 6 pounds cooked turkey, cooled, cut into large chunks or shredded 10 large Spanish green olives, with pits (traditional) String to tie tamale ends For Serving: Avocado, black beans and tomato salsa. Method: Soak corn husks in warm water for 10 minutes or until soft. Rinse in cold water, removing all silk. Stand husks on end to allow excess water to drain. To make the Tamale Sauce: Combine flour with half of the water, mix until smooth. Set aside. Combine remaining water, spices and seasonings in a large pot and bring to a boil. Slowly add flour mixture while stirring until smooth. Return sauce to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook while stirring for 15 minutes or until mixture starts to thicken. Remove from heat and allow to cool. To prepare the Masa: Combine prepared masa and spices until completely mixed. To make one Tamale: You will need 5 husks for each tamale. 1) Spread a 1/4-inch-thick layer (about 3 tablespoons) of masa across the centers of 4 prepared husks. Leave about 2 inches at each end of the corn husks without masa. 2) Pour 1 cup of the tamale sauce on the center of the fifth corn husk. Place 8 to 10 ounces of turkey and one olive on top of the sauce of the fifth husk. Holding the ends of the fifth husk, roll the husk around the sauce, turkey and olive, completely enclosing them. 3) While continuing to hold the sauce husk ends (the fifth husk), place one of the masa-covered husks, masa side up, under the sauce husk and gently roll it around the sauce husk. 4) Repeat this process with the last three masa-covered husks. 5) Wrap string tightly around each end of the tamale twice and tie with a double knot. Cut excess string off each end, and then wrap entire tamale in parchment paper. NOTE: The tamale may be frozen at this point, in an airtight plastic bag, or refrigerated up to two days. Repeat the process with the remaining sauce, husks, masa and filling. When ready to use tamales, steam them for best quality. Do not microwave. To steam the Tamales: Arrange tamales in a single layer on a steamer. Pour boiling water to just below the rack and cover tightly. Steam about 1 1/2 hours or until center reaches at least 140 degrees. Keep water boiling hard over medium-high heat. Add more boiling water as it boils away. If you are cooking frozen tamales, steam an additional half-hour. To Serve: Use your largest dinner plates. Provide extra plates to take care of the husks as they are discarded. Take up one tamale at a time onto a platter or cutting board. Remove parchment paper. With a sharp knife, snip cords at ends of tamale. Lift tamale onto dinner plate. The Nut Tree served their tamales with avocado, black beans and tomato salsa. Makes 10 tamales =============================================================================== you are unbelievable. do you know how wonderful you are? thank you, I know the recipe looks daunting but these will freeze beautifully. I make double batches of all my favorites and the freezer has been a long time friend. may your blessings be abundant and your friends innumerable. thank you for this gift. connie Emily's Lebanese Deli Mistah Bread From: Steve Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 12:34 AM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: Mistah bread Google hasn't helped. Maybe you can. Mistah bread recipe as served at Emily's Deli Minneapolis. Menu Google Images Thanks Steve Hello Steve, Emily’s Menu describes it like this: Mistah - thick bread baked golden brown & served warm with melted butter. There is a photo here: Blogs - Citypages I had zero success finding a “mistah” bread recipe from Emily's Lebanese Deli. Matter-of-fact, I had zero success finding any mention at all of a bread called “mistah” except in reviews of, and ads for, “Emily's Lebanese Deli”. This bread, at least with the name "mistah", does not appear to exist anywhere except at Emily’s. At first glance, since Emily’s calls itself a “Lebanese Deli”, one might assume that mistah is a kind of Lebanese bread. However, there is no mention of "mistah" on Lebanese food sites, and no mention of it on Arabic or Middle-Eastern cooking sites. If you look for Lebanese or Middle-Eastern breads, what you find are almost always pita breads or flat breads, nothing that looks like the plump, spongy bread in the photo. It would be odd if “mistah” were a traditional Lebanese bread, yet never mentioned anywhere else on the Internet except in relation to Emily’s. My thinking is that this bread is probably not a traditional Lebanese bread and that it probably has another name in its country of origin. “Syrian bread” is almost always flat bread, too. If you look at Google images of “Syrian bread”, some photos of plump loaves of bread show up, but with no accompanying recipes. So, “mistah” may be based on some sort of Syrian bread. If you can’t get a recipe or more information about this bread from Emily’s, then I’m afraid there’s not much hope unless an employee or former employee of Emily’s spills the beans. I’ll post this in case they do. Phaed From: Timm To: "Phaed, Mr." Subject: Mistah Date: Friday, June 13, 2014 5:21 PM In my recipe files I came across this recipe for Mistah. I hope it is the same as the one you are looking for.    Timm in Oregon Mistah Ingredients: 2 packages active dry yeast 1/3 cup warm water at 110F degrees water 1 tablespoons all purpose flour 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar 3 cups all purpose flour 1 cup water 1 teaspoon kosher salt Instructions: Sprinkle the yeast over water and add 1 tablespoon of flour and sugar. Stir and set aside to rise for about 10 minutes. Sift the 3 cups of flour with the salt. Add the yeast mixture. Knead adding one cup water gradually to make stiff, but not dry, dough. Set in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk. Punch the dough down. Divide into 6 to 8 round balls. Place on a lightly floured surface. With a rolling pin, flatten into 1/4 inch thick circles. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise again for 15 to 25 minutes. Brush with milk. Heat the oven to 500F degrees for about 15 minutes. Place the bread on baking sheets and bake for 8 minutes until puffed up. Then turn over so the other side browns also. When the bread is a little cool, place them in plastic bags to soften. Crusty Beefeater Sandwich From: Jodie Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 4:49 AM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: Crusty beef eatera I have been looking for a recipe that was served in my high school in Tulsa Oklahoma. It is called Crusty beefeaters there's a bread on top and a bread on bottom and meat and cheese in the middle it's a pretty simple recipe that I was wondering if you could find it for me Hi Jodie, I’m seeing two descriptions of “crusty beefeater” one is more like a casserole and has noodles. The other is more like a sandwich and has bread. I had no success finding a recipe for the one with bread, but there is a recipe similar to the one with noodles here: 12/17/2010 Phaed Hi Phaed, in response to the request made for crust beefeaters here: http://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0613F14.htm#3 I have three recipes, each from school cafeteria food service professionals, but their locations unknown. Two will need to be scaled down. Crusty Beefeaters 115 lbs ground beef 8 lbs chopped celery 8 lbs chopped onion 1 cup chili powder 3/4 cups worcestershire sauce 3 1/2 cans catsup (6 lbs 15oz. ea) 40 lbs shredded cheese Bread Dough (See roll dough recipe, below) Method: Brown meat, add partially cooked celery and onion. Add chili powder, worcestershire sauce and catsup. Roll 2-1/2 lbs basic bread dough into thin sheet to cover bottom of bun sheet which has been greased and sprinkled lightly with cornmeal. Spread cooked and cooled meat mixture (2 qts per pan) over dough. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover meat and cheese mix with another 2-1/2 lbs layer of dough rolled thin. Mark each bun pan as desired for number of servings planned, making slight indentations. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes until golden brown. Roll Dough 20 lbs flour 2 lbs sugar 10 oz dry milk 2 c dry eggs 2-1/2 cups salt 2-1/2 lbs shortening 9 oz yeast 6 quarts water Blend together dry ingredients, and add wet ingredients. Let rise until double, punch it down. Knead. Let rise again until double. Shape into rolls in oiled pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Makes 642 rolls. ------------------------------ Crusty Beefeaters Pie 2 c. milk 2 tbsp. butter 2 pkgs. yeast 1 tbsp. sugar 4 to 6 c. flour Scald milk, add butter and cool to lukewarm. Mix together 2 cups flour, sugar, and yeast. Add milk and mix well. Add enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Turn onto board and knead 5 to 8 minutes. Cover and let rise 30 minutes. Filling: 2 lbs. hamburger 1 pkg. taco seasoning 1 can tomato sauce 1/2 lb. Mozzarella, shredded 1/2 lb. Cheddar cheese, shredded Brown meat. Drain and then add taco seasoning and tomato sauce. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Roll out half of bread dough and place on bottom of pizza pan. Then put meat and cheese on. Also, any extras (hot peppers, olives or mushrooms). Roll out second half of dough and place on top. Roll edges to seal pie. Place in 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until brown. --------------------------- Crusty Beefeater Pie Servings: Makes 288 Servings Cook Time: 30 Minutes Ingredients 75 lbs ground beef 2 gallons bbq sauce 6 lbs fresh onions (can use dehydrated) 30 lbs flour (make roll dough) for bottom and top crust 25 lbs cheese (can use 1/2 mozz & 1/2 american) 12 2 1/2 inch steam table pans cut in 24 Directions Cook and drain ground beef. Add bbq sauce. Roll out bottom dough put in pan. Leave crust over edges. Add meat mixture then top with cheese. Roll out top crust and place on top of cheese. Fold bottom crust over top crust to seal. Bake at 350° for approx. 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Best, Gwen.