"New England" news and stories

Lo these many years ago, a UK-born boss of mine attempted to wheedle me into swifter production by offering me a small mincemeat pie if I finished a pressing task by 4 p.m. I begged to be allowed to take only half if I knocked it out by 3, and remain fully un-minced if I had everything squared away by 2.

In theory, I should love traditional mincemeat. I'm a huge fan of a meat 'n sweet one-two punch -- especially when there's cookin' booze involved -- but I've never been able to wrap my head around the flavor of suet. It's the hard fat from around the loins and kidneys of sheep and cows, isn't especially full and meaty like lard, and is possessed of a particularly high melting point, making it the perfect base fat for many classic British steamed puddings. It seems to be the definitive flavoring agent in all the mincemeat I've had, but I've not been able to convince myself to care for it. I tend to be a stickler when it comes to ingredient lists for traditional dishes from my vintage cookbooks, but I'm wondering if there's a fat I can sub in that would render a texture that would cleave closely to the original. Most suet-centric recipes I've come across warn that the use of butter, margarine, lard, shortening et al leaves the whole dish overly greasy and flat, but if any of y'all have met with a successful swap, I'm all ears. There may even be a bit of Spotted Dick in it for you.

Other Cooking and Traveling the Cape Cod Way highlights include Forefather's Day Succotash (look for that recipe on December 21st), Beach Plum Jelly, Irish Moss Pudding, Scootin'-Long-The-Shore, Skully Joe and a wicked lot of mouthwatering Portuguese cookery. I'm more than happy to share if there's any interest.

I really, really like community cookbooks. I like knowing what people are cooking in their homes and finding out what they see as their best or most crowd-friendly recipes. Sandra J. Taylor shares my love of community cookbooks and had taken the time to search, scan and study more than 100 of them published by small towns, churches, museums, historical societies, and civic organizations from across New England. She narrowed the field down to the 400 best recipes and those are what went into Hometown Cooking in New England.

I don't a copy of this book in my collection, although given my love of the community cookbook, it is now on my list of wants. However, here is a choice list of recipe names that the book contains: Quilter's Potato Salad, Poppy Seed and Maple Syrup Bread, The Reverend Hall's Clam Chowder, Apple and Walnut Scones, Yankee Pot Roast, Maple Baked Beans, Scalloped Oysters, Wellesley Fudge Cake, Beacon Hill Cookies, and Mother Shaw's Baking Powder Biscuits.

Anyone out there have a favorite community cookbook?

Source

Wow.

You best believe I was watching the Super Bowl all afternoon (with a few flips back and forth from AnimalPlanet to catch the Puppy Bowl) and though I was supporting the Patriots here all week in our very own Slashfood Bowl, it's the New York Giants who won today!

And since the Giants have won Super Bowl XLII, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino lost his bet with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Mayor Menino will send a package of Boston foods to New York: New England Clam Chowder, Dunkin' Donuts coffee, Boston cream pies, chicken sausages and Brigham's ice cream. The food will be donated to local food charities in New York.

Congratulations, New York, and great job, Giants!

It's Super Bowl Dessert day here at Slashfood, which means for the Slashfood Bowl, we're talking about Boston Cream Pie for the New England Patriots.

Though it's called "pie," the Boston Cream Pie is actually a layer cake filled with pastry cream and covered with a chocolate ganache. Why it's called a pie, we can't be sure, but reliable sources (and by "reliable" I mean I googled it) say that it was likely because pie tins were more readily available than cake pans to bake the cake layers.

I've only tasted the cake twice, and both times, I wondered why I didn't eat this cake more often. I mean, come on. It has pastry cream in the middle and is topped with chocolate that drips down the sides. Alright, I'll be honest with you all. I basically love the cake for that pastry cream.

I have to admit that when I throw a Super Bowl party, I don't usually serve foods on Super Bowl or football-themed plates and platters. It's usually enough for me to have the game on in the background and let the food just speak for itself. However, because we happen to be hosting the Slashfood Bowl this week, I thought it would be nice to show off Wincraft's Snack Helmets that come in the opposing teams' helmets. Since I play fairly, I'm representing Marisa's New York Giants in addition to the Patriots. (I didn't really care either way for anyone who cares - my heart belongs to the Colts).

The helmets hold snacks on top and in a small section near the face mask. Both are available on Amazon.com for about $45 (depending on the seller).