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----- Original Message -----
From: Michael
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 4:41 AM
Subject: Lithanian Celery Stuffing
Dear Phaedrus
My Lithuanian Grandmother taught my mom to make a celery stuffing which
we have enjoyed for over 50 years. I remember grinding Royal Lunch Crackers
with a Universal Hand Grinder attached to a stool in the kitchen as a child
(50 years ago) to help prepare the stuffing. Our family continues to enjoy this
recipe today. We called it "Kaushi" (sp)? Mom always stuffed the bird and
baked extra on the side. My searches cannot find a match to Grandma's
version. Can you provide any insight to this?
Grandma's Stuffing
1 box Nabisco Royal Lunch Crackers, ground fine
1 bunch celery, 1/4" chop (approx)
1 stick butter
2 eggs
2 cups milk (approx)
Grind crackers. Since the Royal Lunch Crackers have been discontinued I use Keebler Club.
Not quite as good.
Saute celery in butter in a covered skillet until soft.
Mix celery and cracker crumbs
Mix eggs into crumb mix
Add milk to moisten. Do not over mix
Stuff bird or bake at 325F in a buttered casserole
What I always find interesting is that mom never used salt and pepper or onions as I have
found in similar recipes.
Regards,
Mike
Hello Mike,
Well, it sounds like you are looking for the origin of the cracker stuffing recipe. Sorry,
I had no success finding that. All I can tell you is that milk crackers and cream crackers
came into existence in the late 1800's in America and Britain. Stuffing recipes using Milk
Crackers came into being about 1900. The ordinary cracker was created in New England in the
U.S. about 1800 and was originally what's known as "hardtack" and was a seaman's staple on
sailing ships, again primarily in the U.S. and Britain. Given that fact, It's very unlikely
that any stuffing recipe with crackers goes back to Lithuania. If the stuffing recipe existed
in Lithuania, it would almost certainly have used breadcrumbs rather than crackers.
So, perhaps it's a good speculation that the Lithuanian cracker stuffing recipe was created
by Lithuanian-Americans in America. Yes, most of the recipes that I see have onions, but not all.
None had as much celery as your Grandma's, so that may be unique.
authentic
Lithuanian cracker stuffing
Cracker Stuffing
All of the recipes that I found in my quick search have salt and pepper. This one has salt,
pepper, and onions, and claims to be an "Old Fashioned Lithuanian Stuffing" recipe:
Old Fashioned Lithuanian
Stuffing
There's a lot of variety among the "Lithuanian stuffing" recipes on the Internet. If you want to
know whether your Grandma's recipe is unique, or the oldest, then I know of no way to do so. You
could Google "Lithuanian stuffing" and "cracker stuffing" recipes on the Internet and check every
reference to compare ingredients. It would take more time than I can devote to it, and it still
wouldn't prove that the recipe is unique or oldest, just that it's not on the Internet. I could
not find anything like "kaushi".
If you're really interested in finding out more about Lithuanian cracker stuffing, your best bet
is to get involved in some of the discussions that are ongoing about it on food message boards and
Lithuanian message boards like these:
Lithuanian Cooking
Rootsweb:
Lithuania
There's a recipe on this food board that's even simpler than your Grandmother's. The lady
posting says: "Like you I use them for a lithuanian stuffing that my family has made for
generations and am not sure what I am going to do this year. I was curious about your
particular recipe as you are the only one who mentioned it as a lithuanian recipe. Mine
is very simple with scalded milk, butter eggs and crushed crackers." -
Chowhound
Since Nabisco stopped making Royal Lunch Milk Crackers, there's lots of discussion about
cracker stuffing on the message boards.
I'll post this on my site, and maybe someone with knowledge of the question will respond.
Phaed
Carroll County White Grape Juice Cake
1 cup chopped pecans
1 box butter recipe cake mix
1 3-1/4-ounce box vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
1/2 cup white grape juice
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan and spread pecans on bottom.
Mix remaining ingredients and pour over pecans.
Bake until done (about 50 minutes).
Glaze:
1/4 cup white grape juice
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
Combine ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil and pour over the hot cake (still in pan).
Reserve a small amount of glaze. Remove cake from pan while still hot and pour remaining
glaze over top of the cake. Makes 10-12 servings.
(From “The Bluegrass Music Cookbook,” by Penny Parsons, Ken Beck and Jim Clark;
John F. Blair, Publisher)
Hungarian Paprika Soup
Ingredients
1 green pepper (1 1/4 cup), diced
3/4 pound thick-sliced bacon, diced
1/2 cup onion
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon caraway seed, crushed
6 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tomato, core, seed and rough chop
2 cups red potato (2 cups), peeled and cubed
Directions
Stir flour, paprika and caraway seed into bacon mixture. Gradually add stock,
stirring occasionally. Add vinegar, tomato and potatoes. Cover and simmer
15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Taste for seasoning, adding
salt and pepper if desired.
Serve hot, garnishing each bowl with a dollop of sour cream.
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephanie
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 4:07 PM
Subject: request vincent price recipe
Hi,
I'm looking for a recipe for turkey dressing that I believe originally appeared in a
Vincent Price cookbook. My mother was a great fan, and made this every year.
Naturally, I never wrote it down (!) and since she has passed away, I can't find
the recipe anywhere.
Thank you!
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Is this it?
Phaed
Vincent's Turkey Dressing
3 lbs. sausage (American)
2 loaves Italian bread (stale)
2 lbs. cooked chestnuts
3 stalks celery (not bunches), chopped
1/2 lb. onions, chopped
2 1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped parsley
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 eggs
Soak bread in cold water. Fry sausage, if too much grease, pour some off.
Add chopped celery and onions. When they are golden color, add bread
that has all the water squeezed out of it. Add parsley, salt, pepper, thyme
and eggs. Mix well. Salt and pepper inside of turkey before adding the
dressing. The bird stuffed, grease and salt and pepper outside and put
some chopped onion, celery, carrots in bottom of roasting pan for
seasoning of gravy.
Striped Holiday Cookies Like McKenzie's
2 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks, cold, unsalted butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp maple extract
Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. In larger bowl
beat butter, powdered sugar and extracts until smooth. Add flour gradually,
beating at low speed, until dough holds together. Form into balls with your
hands. Press each cookie onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet. Make
them as thick as you prefer. Bake at 300 degrees until set but not brown (about
10-15 minutes, depending on your oven). Test bottom of a cookie, it should be
just getting golden and be able to hold shape. Do not try to take them off
cookie sheet until they've cooled for a few minutes;they are fragile cookies.
Number of cookies depends on size you make them. Makes at least 12 'big'
cookies.
Frosting
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 squares semi sweet chocolate
5-6 tbsp hot water
Spoon frosting over cookies while they are on a rack. When the frosting is
almost set, stripe them with appropriate color icing made from powdered sugar,
food color and a bit of hot water (orange for Halloween, red or green for
Christmas, etc.).
Melt the chocolate squares for the frosting - double boiler or microwave. When
mixing, make sure the water is hot and add it after you put in some powdered
sugar. You may have to do a little experimenting. The frosting was more milk
chocolate, than dark.
If you substitute milk or cream for water, heat it before mixing, too. Cream
makes a thicker frosting, water makes a harder, shinier one.
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