Friday, December 22, 2006
Killing time still while waiting for the kids to arrive. Damn. I think she means to wait til Christmas. It's a real pain in the ass since her "lying in" is happening on the back porch where I can see her from my computer. The herd doesn't want to leave her alone. I originally thought this was because of some tender goatly concern. Now I think they just want her snacks. It's keeping Max, the cocker spaniel stock dog, very busy.
With being tied to the house and all, I've been sifting through blogs I might like to know better. I ran into Rum and Monkey which has the greatest personality generators. I normally hate those things, but these were very witty. I took the "Which Famous Homosexual Are You?" test.
And, of course...
Which Famous Homosexual Are You?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey
Maybe I should have answered the "Have you decimated a village?" question differently.
Other amusing tests include "The Historical Lunatic Test" (I'm Niklas Tesla...Huh?) and the "The Goddamn Rock Solid Ghetto Shiznit Name Generator" (I'm "Ass Machine G"..they seem to know things about me that I don't reveal very often...scary).
Some of my favorite past blogs have had a feature on one day of the week. South Knox Bubba, who I miss desperately in his original form, used to have Friday Bird Blogging with his wonderful bird photos. I really want to do that.
So, I'm wracking my brain over what in the world I'm talented enough at to do such a feature as I'm pouring more "glugs" of bourbon into the sweet potatoes...and wondering how many "glugs" of bourbon the sweet potatoes can withstand without losing their "loft" in the oven...when it came to me.
Without further ado...I give you....
Here is the recipe in its original form from my mother's hand...
4 cups cooked sweet potatoes (pureed)
2 sticks butter
4 whole eggs
3 tablespoons flour
1 and 1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 and 1/2 cups cream
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
juice of one sour orange
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup of Bourbon Whiskey
Raisins(optional)
Chopped Pecans(optional)
Marshmallows
Bake sweet potatoes until tender. Peel warm and place in a large mixing bowl. Add soft butter, eggs, flour, sugar, milk and vanilla and beat at medium speed until light. Add the spices, lemon and juices to the Bourbon and slowly add to the potato mixture. Pour into large greased casserole. Bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 45 minutes to an hour.
When done, top with marshmallows and place under broiler for a few seconds….watch closely.
Now, my sister and I have simplified it and played with it over the years. My primary goal is to go heavy on the bourbon flavor. My sister fancies it up and foregoes the marshmallows at times to serve with whipped cream. You can torch the top with caramelized sugar. I find that a can of sweetened condensed milk along with one egg makes it richer and goes better with the strong bourbon. I also sometimes steep white raisins and pecans overnight in the bourbon. The primary flavors are sweet potato, orange and bourbon. It can be served as a vegetable with the main holiday meal or as a dessert.
The above photo is in the first baking stage and is a bit homely. I'll try to get a picture of how it is served for presentation.
My sister has begged me to get the cookbook into shape for publishing. Yes, I have written a cookbook. My family's history in food going back over 150 years. It's called "Our Kin Cooks". I gave it one year to my siblings for Christmas. I promise this year to try to get the rewrites done and put the damn thing into .pdf and get it up on CafePress or somewhere. But for now...you are just going to have to deal with "Food Porn Fridays".
JohnieB
That looks great!