Monthly Cooking Thread - December 2020

[Jamestown1630]

To those who know Kimchi, this may seem like a joke – but it’s not.

I first learned to love kimchi when I had it made by a friend’s Oma 30-odd years ago, and I got pretty spoiled on the home-made stuff. We occasionally find jarred, refrigerated kimchis that can rival home-made in local supermarket produce aisles, but not reliably; and getting to the closest ethnic market is a traffic/parking nightmare.

I happened to see the Jayone pictured above in a local store, and bought it just for larks – but to my surprise, it’s actually very good! It may lack a certain element of fizz-and-zing that you experience with the ‘real’ stuff, but for a very unexpected canned variety, we liked it a lot. If you can’t find fresh, and aren’t up for the complicated project of making your own, this may somewhat assuage your addiction if you can find it somewhere nearby. Open up, transfer to a glass container, and chill well.

(My husband doesn't think it's 'hot and spicy' enough - but maybe it can be doctored to personal taste ;-)

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I recently had a birthday, and got some very nice presents. One of them was a Taiyaki iron.

Taiyaki is a popular little fish-shaped Japanese waffle-like cake, usually stuffed with sweetened red bean paste – but often also stuffed with custard, chocolate, Nutella or fruit preserves. It’s a popular street food in Japan, and you can buy little irons for making them, for home use. I haven’t tried it yet, and I’ve read that they don’t work real well on an electric stovetop, though some say they’ve managed it. (If the electric stove doesn’t work, I’ve got one of those little butane- burning ‘hot plates’ to try – watch this space.)

http://chefiso.com/p/taiyaki-recipe/

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I’ve always loved Gordon Lightfoot’s music – he’s a poet-singer in a very old tradition of storytellers. I’ve especially liked his song, ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’.

But I realized the other day that I didn’t really know much about the Edmund Fitzgerald and her story; so I found this – the 45th anniversary of her sinking was just a few weeks ago - and this is a very moving video. (I got almost to the end, thinking that YouTube at least had the good grace to not interrupt certain types of vids with commercial ads; but alas…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5i_XMqdULM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A

Millions of men – and women – all over the world brave the dangers of the seas to ensure the economies, food needs, and defense of their respective countries and communities. Even in the modern world of steel ships and boats and high technology, it takes a lot of grit to do a job like that.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

There used to be Crosse and Blackwell plum puddings in our grocery store. When that long-time family business was taken over by an international corporation, we never saw them again - as well as a lot of other interesting seasonal things.

I loved that plum pudding and hard sauce. Even though it was canned, it was great.

[Liz]

The plum pudding must have been popular.

An old dented.....empty ....Crosse and Blackwell plum pudding can is priced at $58 on ebay.

[Liz]

[Jamestown1630]

Is that a plum pudding?

Not sure I’d want to buy one from Ebay ;-)

[Jamestown1630]

I’m looking around for a small-scale recipe to try. I’ll post when I do.

[Liz]

Not a pudding——a used dented empty can.

[Jamestown1630]

They must still make it - I can still find some Crosse and Blackwell items in the store, or at least I could up to last Christmas. I’ll have to look around.

I found this simplified recipe from the Townsends:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4o1wYwkv9g

(I used to be able to get suet from the supermarket grocery; but it’s been ages since they’ve done their own butchering. I think you can get it mail-order in some packaged/preserved form.)