Austen Family Cooks/Recipe:Individual Ham Loaves

This was my first Easter as a carnivore in nearly a decade.As always, I spent the day at my Grandparents' house, amongst family.The spread, what less lucky folk would call a meal, was sinfully amazing:I savored its every facet. The centerpiece was my Grandmother's Individual Ham Loaves. If you have never experienced ham loaf, don't be scared off by the mundane name. It is a true delight.I suggest that you rectify this oversight as soon as practicable by preparing the below recipe. Enjoy!!

INDIVIDUAL HAM LOAVES

2 POUNDS GROUND HAM
2 POUNDS GROUND PORK
2 EGGS
1 CUP CORNFLAKE CRUMBS
1 8-OUNCE CAN CRUSHED PINEAPPLE
1 TABLESPOON CHOPPED ONION
1/3 CUP BROWN SUGAR, PACKED
3/4 CUP MILK
SALT AND PEPPER

FOR COATING:
1/2 CUP CORNFLAKE CRUMBS
1/2 CUP GRAHAM CRACKER CRUMBS

Combine all ingredients and form into 12-15 small loaves. Roll loaves in a combination of 1/2 cup cornflake crumbs and 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Finally, the Recipe is Revealed....with Awkward Photos

By the time that I finished preparing and consuming my yummy family recipe Monday night, I was, alas, too tired to write about the meal.I made one of my all-time favourite dishes, Potato Soup with Riffles. My Great-Grandmother was the Queen of the Riffle, which is a teensy, flour-and-egg dumpling. Riffles make an excellent, simple and hearty milk-based soup by themselves. They are also an interesting texture and flavour addition to potato soup.

Monday's cold inspired me to a brief period of retreat and hibernation. I wanted nothing more than to cozy up, with a bowl of warm goodness.This filling yet basic dish, which is a long-standing family tradition, really filled that need.

POTATO SOUP WITH RIFFLES

You will need

5 MEDIUM POTATOES, DICED

1 TABLESPOON SALT

1/2 TEASPOON PEPPER

2 TABLESPOONS BUTTER

3 TABLESPOONS ONION, CHOPPED

2 CUPS MILK

FOR THE RIFFLES

3/4 CUP FLOUR

1 EGG

PLACE POTATOES IN A SAUCEPAN, WITH SALT, PEPPER, BUTTER AND ONION. ADD WATER TO BARELY COVER THE POTATOES; COOK UNTIL TENDER. MEANWHILE, TO MAKE RIFFLES: PLACE FLOUR IN BOWL AND ADD EGG TO THE CENTER OF THE FLOUR MOUND. MIX LIGHTLY WITH FINGERS UNTIL CRUMBLY. DRAIN POTATOES AND ADD MILK. WHEN MIXTURE COMES TO A BOIL, ADD RIFFLES AND SIMMER, COVERED, UNTIL DONE--ABOUT 5 MINUTES.

YOU MAY ALSO ADD ANOTHER TABLESPOON OF BUTTER AFTER THE POTATOES ARE DRAINED.

SHHHH......Cooking in Progress

I have been unexpectedly inspired by the weather's current nasty turn. It is mid-Winter chilly, just in time for the start of America's favourite warm-weather sport,baseball.Peering through the windows today, at various times, one could find freezing rain, snow or hail.
My flat was a brisk 61 degrees when I walked through the door a couple of hours ago: the result of the heat being, ever so optimistically, turned off. Clad in pajamas, I cozied up in my favourite reading chair, family cookbook on my lap, with the intention of finding a yummy and warm family favourite to write about. I had no plans to actually, well, cook. I have already had a long, crammed day. Relaxation was, I thought, my ideal.
However, luck of the highest order smiled on me when I saw the recipe. One mental scan of the contents of my larder and, ten minutes later, I am about to hit the kitchen in my fuzzy Eeyores and dice and crumble my way to an Austen family classic. Stay tuned!!

Dinner for Two, Complete with Clumsy Photos

When: Sunday night,late:9:30 PM

Where: Sitting room, loft: home

Meal by: The Chef

Photos by: Me, nearly forgot, seconds from digging in...

SIRLOIN

RICE

and, the best side dish I have had in ages:

EDAMAME-With onions (caramelized with Marsala), mirin, salt, pepper and cilantro. Amazing, thank you Chef!!

YUM!!!!

The Family Larder

"If God had intended us to follow recipes, He wouldn't have given us Grandmothers."-Linda Henley



My Great-Grandmother, Ethel to you, Nanny to me, died a few weeks before my tenth birthday. She was much-loved by all, to say nothing of her cooking. Three generations of us sat at her table, enjoying her dishes, taking for granted that the recipes, if not the lady herself, would always be there for us. We were wrong. A handful of prized recipes died with her. Some have been partially recovered though never fully duplicated; others are simply gone.

We love to cook, the lot of us. Our pleasure, collective and individual, in good food could fill several volumes.We savor it, we talk about it, we anticipate it: it is one of the ingredients in the glue that binds us together as a family.

Yet ask each of us which dish of Ethel's we miss the most and you'll have a variety of answers, answers which are likely to change like the weather. I have not tasted real banana pudding in nearly 26-years. Perhaps one day I will make it myself, playing around in the kitchen until I find the exact combination which reminds me,the most, of hers.

In order to prevent such future disasters, my mom and I complied a family cookbook about nine years ago. It was difficult, complicated and a pain. For several months, my Grandmother conducted what we called LEONA'S TEST KITCHEN. In other words, we cajoled and begged and ordered the woman to measure things while she prepared dishes which had long been habit. I am sure that she whined for a moment or two but, no matter: we now all have access to the same well-loved recipes, with the same little-to-no chance of making anything half as well as she does. With all of our ability and passion, my Grandmother remains the head chef and pie maker for a reason.

Somehow, no matter how accomplished you become in the kitchen, food always tastes better when it comes from the family food archivist:Grandma!!

Austen Family Cooks/Recipe: Sauerkraut Balls

This is the most-requested appetizer we make--especially when my Aunt Lauree prepares them. When I was a little girl, it was a treat to roll the balls into the bread crumbs. My fingers always became yellow-coated with egg yolk before swelling to three times their slender size with bread-crumb residue. While it is not season-specific, it seems to surge in popularity during the colder months. This weekend is the perfect time to make sauerkraut balls, as Winter takes its last, extinguishing gasp.

SAUERKRAUT BALLS

1/2 pound bulk sausage

1/4 cup onion, chopped 14-ounce can of sauerkraut, drained and snipped

2 Tablespoons bread crumbs (not fine)

3 ounces cream cheese

2 Tablespoons parsley

1 teaspoon mustard

1 dash garlic salt

1 dash pepper

2 eggs, well beaten

1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup bread crumbs (not fine)

Flour for coating

Brown sausage and onion;drain. Add sauerkraut and bread crumbs to sausage mixture. Combine remaining ingredients and add to sauerkraut mixture. Chill. Shape into balls and coat with flour. Roll the balls into a mixture of eggs and milk; and then into 3/4 cup bread crumbs. Deep-fry in hot oil until golden brown.

Painting:La jeune cuisiniere by Francois Moreau