Cooking Influences

Many times the people who really like to cook have a special person, often a relative, who taught them the ways of the kitchen. In my case the influences were from both my Mom and Dad, although mostly from Mom. She didn't share her kitchen well, but I don't either. I remember that before she would show me how to make pie crust that I had to read about it. I think it was 3-4 pages in the Fannie Farmer cookbook. Then we talked about what I had read so she knew that I had actually read it and understood at least some of it. Finally we went into the kitchen and made the pie crust right down to measuring out the iced water in tablespoons. I can still make a pretty good pie crust from scratch, although I rarely do. Thanks Mom for all the cooking advice and instruction over the years. Do you, dear reader, have anyone who inspired you in the kitchen?

When my Dad died in 1994 one of the ways that I mourned was by putting together a cookbook with favorite family recipes. By then all of the children had learned to cook (some were more enthused than others) and often had collected recipes from friends and elsewhere that had little in common with the foods we grew up with. I wasn't sure that a collection of those old standards would be of much interest but went ahead anyway because I wanted to have them for myself.

Letters were exchanged with my Mom and interested siblings so that I included the most desired recipes and could include comments from Mom, too. Many hours were spent typing them up and organizing them by season. There was an index but it somehow was left out of the final booklets. When I was finished I made copies and took them to a printer who made up enough copies for Mom and me and the 7 others and they had a black plastic binding so that the book could be laid flat for use. The illustrations were copies from an old cookbook and all the illustrations were of children doing things like finding eggs on nests, tossing salad and eating birthday party ice cream.

Everyone received their copy at our family reunion the summer after Dad died.

Over the years since I've used my copy often and I'm pretty sure that the others have, too. Some of the recipes have shown up on this blog from time to time. When I visited my Mom last spring I found that her copy was in tatters from much use! Unable to find the originals (or the computer files) for the cookbook so that I could just have new copies made, I decided to create a new, updated version. That is one of the reasons that I took the InDesign class last semester. Now I know enough to do a good job with type and layout.

Yesterday I said I was going to have custard for dinner. Actually I had some leftover casserole, but then had custard, of a sort, for dessert...rice pudding. One of the recipes from the original Family Food cookbook is Rice Pudding. The recipe comes from The Boston Cooking School Cook Book and here is what my Mom said about it:
"When we were stationed in Boston during World War II, I bought my first cook book - The Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Fanny Farmer. It was my cooking bible for many years and provided the following 2 pudding recipes, Rice Pudding and Bread Pudding."

This rice pudding is the kind made with rice that has already been cooked. It also uses raw egg whites, folded in at the end. With eggs these days sometimes not being as bacteria free as we might like you may want to use a product like Best of the Egg - Whites instead of fresh egg whites. If the pudding were baked at the end there would be no problem to just use the whites from the separated eggs. Will have to try that sometime. In the meantime, here is the recipe for your enjoyment.


Rice Pudding

1 C cooked rice
2 C milk
1/4 t salt
1 or 2 eggs, separated
1/2 C sugar
1/2 t vanilla

Scald the milk with rice. Beat egg yolks with the sugar in the top of a double boiler.


Add the hot mixture slowly to the yolk mixture while stirring. Cook in top part of double boiler over simmering water until thick. Flavor with 1/2 t vanilla. Fold in the egg whites which have been beaten stiff with the salt. Chill.

(Notes: I folded the cooked mixture into the whipped egg whites instead of the other way around because my double boiler top couldn't hold both mixtures...it worked fine since I added the cooked mixture by the cupful and then folded. I also managed to overcook the rice slightly which gave the pudding a bit of a toasted rice flavor. I added three drops of orange oil which worked nicely in tandem with the toasted rice and vanilla flavors.) Serves 4 - 6.

Seasonal Fruit in a Microwave Pud

A true sweet tooth like me will always find a reason to bake something sweet and if it is sticky too, all to the good. A friend brought me some small but ripe plums, both red and yellow flesh varieties. I also have some newly harvested Gravenstein apples. Since the plums were so ripe I had to find a way to use the, right?

Call in my Bread Baking Babe friends Lien and Lynn...well their blogs anyway. I remembered a delightful microwave pudding that I found at Lien's blog, Notitie van Lien which called for raisins and golden syrup.

I love golden syrup, but apparently I've been loving it too much because there was only about a tablespoon in the jar and this recipe calls for 4 tablespoons. Fortunately I also recently visited Lynn's blog Cookie Baker Lynn and followed her links to recipes with caramel and discovered that she uses caramel ice cream topping to top bar cookies before they are baked. Seemed that I could use the jar of caramel ice cream topping in the pantry to replace the golden syrup. After all apples and caramel are a natural combo. Thank you Lien and Lynn!

Now that I'd changed both the fruit and topping it was only fair to add some nutmeg to the pud batter and to suggest less orange zest...or that lemon zest would also be OK. A touch of extra salt was added to tone down the caramel. OK, ready to bake!

This went together fairly quickly and baked extremely quickly. Since I did all the molds at one time I ended up microwaving 2 minutes and then 2 minutes. I would recommend adding only one minute at a time because I think mine could have used just a bit less time in the microwave.

Fun...check, fast...check, uses up some of the plums...check, Sweetie liked it...check (although he liked the ice cream better, but then he always does when the choice is cake or ice cream). Cake and ice cream together...it's a party after a long work week.



Microwave Pud with Caramel, Apples and Plums

Adapted from Notitie van Lien’s recipe Microwave Pud with Raisins

35 g (finished weight) peeled, cored, sliced and finely diced apples
60 g (finished weight) peeled, pitted, sliced and finely diced plums
4 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping
100 g butter, room temperature, cubed
100 g granulated sugar
grated zest from a lemon or ½ an orange
2 eggs
100 g self-rising flour
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or ¼ teaspoon already grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt


Grease and flour 4 – 6 (depending on the size) microwave proof pudding molds. I used ramekins but you could use custard cups or small coffee cups.

Mix together the diced apples and diced plums.


Divide the fruit mixture evenly among the prepared molds.

Divide the ice cream topping among the molds. (I used 4 molds and put a tablespoon topping in each mold.) Set aside.

For the batter cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the citrus zest and one egg. Mix to combine thoroughly. Add the second egg. Mix to combine thoroughly. In a small bowl combine the flour, nutmeg and salt. Add the mixture to the egg mixture and combine thoroughly. You will have a smooth cake batter.

Spoon the batter on top of the fruit and topping in the molds. Fill about halfway…any more and it may go over the top of the mold. Cover with microwave foil (I have no idea what this is, but it was in Lien’s recipe) or plastic wrap that you pierce or vent to let some of the steam out.

Place 3 molds at a time in the microwave and nuke them on highest setting for about 2-3 minutes (or steam for 30 minutes). Start with two minutes and then add on another minute if needed. You will see the puds rise and dome above the molds. They are firm to the touch and come away from the sides a bit.

Take them out of the microwave to rest for 1 minute and microwave the rest of the puds.

Take the puds out of the molds after 1 minute resting time by running a knife around the edges of the mold to loosen and then invert over a plate, scooping the topping from the mold onto the top of the pud if it sticks in the mold. Serve with additional ice cream topping if desired. (I went even further and added a scoop of caramel ice cream…just like a party!) Serve while hot!

Makes 4 – 5 puds