Already planning for Christmas

[splunge]

I can see the duration tag line now:

"This food lasts forever."

[Ortrillian]

You know, being American and living in the hell hole known as Tex-ass my entire life (and hardly ever been out of it

Bah! A true Texan would send in a recipe for Tamales~ Always a Christmas tradition in my family. YEE HAW!

[Xxyl]

It was in mine growing up as well (half Mexican). Buuut, it would have to be truly authentic and there is no corn in EQ and there is no pig head meat either (OH hoho! Didn't know about that part didja kiddies? Well it is only in traditional recipes all the crap you buy from the store nowadays is all regular meat. >.<).

[Idana Phoenixfyre]

Suet = lard

And I'm with Doebi, why exactly doesn't plum pudding actually have plums in it?!

I

[Morani]

Suet is not lard though they can be exchanged frequently. However, if you are baking with them, it could be an important thing to know the difference. Lard is a rendered fat (usually by steam) from the belly of the pig that is blended and purified. It melts at 100 - 105 degrees F (38-40 C) and has next to no water in it. Suet is raw beef fat found near the kidneys & loins (Mutton Suet is raw fat from the same location in sheep), melts at 113-122 F (45 & 50 C), is reliably solid at 70 F (21 C) and under, and contains up to 10% water. The water difference COULD ruin a recipe if it's not corrected for. Many cooking sources mention that you can exchange the two with out issue and many times you can, but baking is different and the more delicate the baked good the more difference the water will make. Outside of that, I can taste a big difference between the two. Suet contributes a richer taste than lard does and for things like Plum Pudding, it's all about rich flavors.

Plum Pudding likely is called that because in the 17th century all small, dried fruits were called plums (including raisins). It is unknown if Plum Pudding once contained plums or not. At the begining of the 17th century, raisins became a major fad in England and many recipes that called for other died fruits where changed to use raisins. Because of the common use of the word plum to mean may things, it's pretty hard to say for sure what the oldest recipes really were asking for since they also are from that time. Some sources say it never had plums in it and some say it did but was changed with the times to what it is now. (A few sources claim that the name comes from "plumming" the fruit by dehydrating them in warm brandy but I have never heard that term before and can not find it in any authentic source so I have a hard time believing that idea.)

As much as I'd hate to see yet another thing that uses cinnamon sticks, the French Toast Xxyl suggested would go better with it. How about 5 eggs (one type only like Basilisk or Aviak), 1 milk, 1 butter & 1 cinnamon stick (or maybe spice) = 20 spiced egg washes (drop the cinnamon and you get "egg wash" that can be used with vegetable oil and flour to fry things in a wok). 4 Spiced Egg Wash + 1 Loaf Bread + Non-stick pan = Eggy Fried Toast

My British friends tell me that US attitude toward fruit cake baffles them. One, in particular, has fond memories of getting for his birthday cake every year.

That's because most Americans have only had the cheap stuff made by people who have no clue how to make them. It's like comparing Taco Bell to real Mexican food or imitation crab to the real thing fresh off the boat. I really enjoy a good Fruit Cake but I don't get them often because there are not a lot of companies that make them right in the US. The British art of pudding making is almost nonexistent here <pout>

Other ideas:
Sugarplums. They were really an assortment of things from small, dried fruits to seeds and nuts that have been soaked and sugared (processes takes 3 days per "soak and from 3 -12 "soaks" plus 3-14 days to dry for a single batch; 12 - 60 days but they keep for more than a year). So, I would suggest using 4 sugars, 1 water, a pot, and one of each: Dawnflower Seed, Wild Blueberry, Nepeta Cataria Mint, & Ro Date for a yield of 10 Sugarplums with a trivial at 200 or more.

Gingerbread: 1 clump dough, 1 sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 Lotus Sap, 1 rockweed bulb (Sony can claim it tastes like ginger if they want and it gives a use for another item) in a mixing bowl.

Stollen: 1 flour, 1 butter, 1 milk, 1 spices, 1 yeast, 1 Caynar Nuts (or Heartfruit Walnut), 1 Candied Fruit, 1 Candied Orange (Following Xxyl's lead), 1 rum, and a Bread Tin in an oven (obviously).

Holiday Drinks:
Wassail: 1 port (any), 1 spices, 1 allspice, 1 sugar, 1 Emerald Orange

Glögg: 1 Wassail, 1 brandy, 1 Caynar Nuts (or Heartfruit Walnut), 1 Raisins (Raisins: 1 Grapes in spit/oven triv.<= 21)

[Darial1]

I like fruitcake and no one sends me any

Darial

ps: You can use it as window caulking if things get iffy in the winter!

[Hawek]

/bump

interesting thread. would be nice if SOE did something like this.

Hawek

[eniamn]

as an erudite wizard who wants to join in the festivities here.
french toast: egg, loaf of bread, butter, milk, sugar, non-stick frying pan.
maybe cinamon stick but you need to mke the triv 202 then so that they aren't all ganked from people doing pixie powerded cinamon stick. i dont want to have to buy foraged stuff for the holdiay party though.

hot coco should be brewing: dark chocolate, milk, sugar.

i will have to look up sugar i dont remember it. normally use frosting. oh well. i'm sure its on this site.

bread pudding would be hard. the only norrath ingredients i can think of existing already are bread and milk.

i would like a patch for christmas giving us this stuck though.

[burnttoastv]

Originally posted by andyhre
My British friends tell me that US attitude toward fruit cake baffles them. One, in particular, has fond memories of getting for his birthday cake every year.

Imagine that in the US! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Did you mention the bouncing fruitcake contest held after the new year? Seems a lot of places do it as a publicity fun event after the Christmas holidays.

Would love to taste a homade fruitcake sometime, if I could get past all the candied fruit.