candied fruit peel (fruites in sirrop, 1597)

“A goodlye secret for to condite or confite Orenges, citrons, and all other fruites in sirrop”, a recipe from Thomas Dawson, THE SECOND PART OF THE GOOD HUS-WIVES JEWELL, 1597.

“(1) Take Cytrons and cut them in peeces, taking out of them the iuice or substance, (2) then boyle them in freshe water halfe an hower untill they be tender, and when you take them out, (3) cast them into cold water, leave them there a good while, (4) then set them on the fire againe in other freshe water, (5) doo but heate it a little with a small fire, for it not seeth, but let it simper a little (6) continue thus eight daies together heating them every day inn hot water: (7) some heat the watre but one day, to the end that the citron be not too tender, but change the freshe water at night to take out the bitternesse of the pilles, the which being taken away, (8) you must take suger or Hony clarified, wherein you must the citrons put, (9) having first wel dried them from the water, & in winter you must keep them from the frost, (10) & in the Sommer you shal leave them there all night, and a day and a night in Honie, (11) then boile the Honie or Sugar by it selfe without the orenges or Citrons by the space of halfe an hower or lesse with a little fire, (12) and being colde set it againe to the fire with the Citrons, (13) continuing so two mornings: if you wil put Honnie in water and not suger, you must clarifie it two times, and straine it through a strayner: having thus warmed and clarified it you shall straine and (14) sett it againe to the fire, with Citrons onely, making them to boyle with a soft fire the space of a quarter of an houre, (15) then take it from the fire & let it rest at every time you do it, a day & a night: (16) the next morning you shall boyle it again together the space of half an hower, and (17) doo so two morninges, to the end that the Honie or Suger may be well incorporated with the Citrons. All the cumuing (sic) consisteth in the boyling of this sirrope together with the Citrons, and also the Sirrope by it selfe,and heerein heede must be takken that it take not the smoke, so that it savour not of the fire: In this manner may be drest the Peaches, or lemmons Orenges, Apples, green Malnuts, and (18) other liste being boile more or lesse, according to the nature of the fruits.”

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modern interpretation:

Remove the peel from lemons/limes/grapefruits/oranges with as little of the pith as possible.

Place the peels in water in the refrigerator.

Change the water every day for 5 days.

Drain the peels and place in a pan of sugar syrup (1 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup water).

Boil the the peels gently for 1/2 hour.

Allow to cool and place in the refrigerator overnight.

For another 1-2 days, repeat.

Drain the peels sift, sugar over them and allow to dry.

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from the Fort de Chartres Heritage Garden, which is from this clump of recipes from mediaeval times

brown sugar casted chocolates

great idea from rise and shine – just press anything into brown sugar to make an impression instead of buying molds to cast chocolates! i’m thinking doll parts. it seems like it’d be satisfying to eat a tiny chocolate hand.

someone commented on the entry saying, “classically confectioners used cornstarch for this, finer texture”

and, unlike plastic molds that get thrown away later, brown sugar can be reused!

jalebi / jalaibi / jilawii / jilebi / jeri / zoolbia / zlebia / zalabiyah

my housemate recently picked up a container of self-rising flour. i’ve never cooked with it before, and felt a bit clueless about it when i saw it. i still have a lot of questions – can it be used with yeast?

i knew this as an indian and pakistani snack… apparently, however, it’s also enjoyed in nepal, bangladesh, iran, egypt, lebanon, syria, the maldives, morocco, algeria, tunesia, and libya. wow…

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Self rising flour 1 1/2 cup
Water to mix (?)
bag with a corner cut
Oil for frying
Sugar 2 1/2 Cups
Water 1 1/2 Cups
Green Cardamom

Preparation
Make sugar syrup by boiling water, sugar and illaichis (note: cardamom) for few minutes. put aside and let it cool down to a warm temperature.
Mix flour with water. The consistency of the batter should resemble that of a cake batter or pancake batter.
Beat it with an electric beater for couple of minutes until all the lumps are well mixed. put the batter in a piping bag or a bottle with small nozzle.
Heat oil in a fry pan and squeeze the batter out in a circular motion, starting from inside out. Make 5-6 jalaibis at a time.
When light golden in colour, take them out and put it in the syrup. (Note that the syrup should not be hot, rather luke warm.)
Make another batch of jalaibis and when they are fried, take the syrup ones out in a strainer and add the newly fried ones in the syrup.

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thx pakirecipes

quick peanut butter fudge

another quick fudge with no candy thermometer necessary.

1¼ cups (10 ounces) unsalted butter
1¼ cups smooth peanut butter
Pinch of salt
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
4½ cups powdered sugar, sifted

1. Butter an 8-inch non-stick baking dish (or line with buttered parchment paper) and set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the butter and peanut butter until the mixtures comes to a boil. Remove from the heat.

3. Add the salt and vanilla extract, then stir in the powdered sugar until smooth and no lumps remain.

4. Pour the fudge mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the fudge and refrigerate until set, at least 1 hour. Cut into squares and serve. Fudge can be stored at cool room temperature in an airtight container.

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i’m not the biggest fan of that powdered sugar taste; i wonder if it’s really strong, or if the peanut butter takes over? i’m willing to try this after the success with the last fudge.

taken from this

quick-fudge

here’s the recipe i “followed”:

1 1/2 cups (360 ml) nuts (hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, and/or peanuts)
1-14 ounce can (414 ml) sweetened condensed milk
1 pound (402 grams) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons (30 grams) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

here’s what i actually did.

put a stainless steel mixing bowl on top of a saucepan of hot simmering (not boiling) water
fill the bowl with all the chocolate i had (~8 ozs sweetened and unsweetened chocolate)
add a few pats of butter, half a can of sweetened condensed milk, a dash of heavy cream, and a healthy sprinkling of cayenne. mix constantly until melted. remove from heat.
dump water from saucepan and add remaining sweetened condensed milk. cook on a very low heat until brown in color, stirring constantly.
add a quarter cup or so smashed hazelnuts and a few capfuls of vanilla extract to chocolate mixture.
transfer to greased pan.
top with caramel mixture.

this is completely amazing, of course. almost too rich. and it couldn’t be easier; you don’t even really cook it!

pumpkin caramels

still never made candy before, but the house i’m moving in to next month has a candy thermometer! maybe my first time will be these pumpkin caramels.