Cover with a clean tea towel and leave overnight ...

[ChrisGreaves]

So I find a recipe for mince-meat (fruit!) pies. (I supposed "minced flesh - of fruit - would be accurate) and I'm camped out at Ms B's who doesn't use scales but measuring cups, so I just grind and toss my bags of dried fruit, add brown sugar (what's left in the cannister), stir and etc etc and this morning I bottle it. Looks OK to me.

Home_HPIM6410.JPG

A few more details here and the original recipe here.
Knock, as they say, yourself out.

Now, there's no way I can buy "6 oz/175g shredded suet" in this neck of the district; it's a high-class non-cooking district. So I thought maybe I'd use a couple of spoons of drained bacon fat, but in the end I didn't. Also I forgot to buy "1 lemon" and "1 orange" so I didn't juice or zest.
It tastes good, and I shall make mince pies (tarts) today in preparation for Ms B's homecoming.

Which raises the question: WHY? (suet, orange, lemon, leave overnight ...) etc, and I wonder how many recipes are written down from Mum, who left the mixture overnight because her mum did so, because her mum did so, because her mum did so, because SHE was tired and figured "Oh, I'll finish this in the morning".

And in 1456 did folks really measure 4oz, or did they just pop in whatever dried fruit was available from the wandering peddler?
And is it one lemon and one orange because we didn't have two lemons on hand?

It seems to me that a great many recipes have steps that are unnecessary, steps that were introduced as mutations, but are slavishly followed because "we've always done it that way".

Like the lady who always hacksawed the bone of the leg of lamb before putting it in the roasting pan, because her mum did so, because her mum did so, because SHE had only a small pan for the Sunday roast ...

[HansV]

There are undoubtedly recipes where it's essential to use amounts precisely as indicated, but for most it doesn't really matter - you can add or omit ingredients, or replace them with something similar, or use more or less of an ingredient (within reason of course) without problems.

And you're probably correct that the procedures are often the result of tradition. A fine example is making mayonnaise - the traditional recipe says that you have to add the oil very slowly, drop by drop at the beginning. But it turns out you can simply drop all ingredients into a blender in one go and let it whisk them into mayonnaise...

[Rudi]

This smiley says it all...



I looooove Xmas mince pies (tradition in our family!!!)

[ChrisGreaves]

I looooove Xmas mince pies (tradition in our family!!!)

Well, if you sneak yourself onto an Air Canada flight from Fort Lauderdale arriving v. late Friday night in YYZ, there's a spare seat in the Toyota, and there'll be leftover home-made pizza for a late supper, more mince pies than you can eat, and great coffee in the morning.

Can't say fairer than that now, can I?

[ChrisGreaves]

... you have to add the oil ...

Oil? You put oil in your mayonaisse?

[HansV]

:welcomingarms:

P.S. :whyisthereneverasmileyforthiswhenyouneedone?:

Perhaps ?

[ChrisGreaves]

Perhaps ?

Thank You Hans.
I have embraced your suggestion!

[BobH]

Interesting that you call your towel a 'tea towel.' I grew up calling that item a 'dish towel' (not to be confused with a 'dish rag').

I had an interesting conversation with some native Texans about what such a thing is called. Apparently it is (or was) widely known in Texas households as a 'cup towel.'

[Rudi]

there'll be leftover home-made pizza for a late supper, more mince pies than you can eat, and great coffee in the morning.

Sounds awesome. I'll bring the marshmallows and candy canes too.

[ChrisGreaves]

Sounds awesome. I'll bring the marshmallows and candy canes too.

Hah!
You think you can bribe me with sweets!
(The key is under the mat ...)

[ChrisGreaves]

Interesting that you call your towel a 'tea towel.' I grew up calling that item a 'dish towel' (not to be confused with a 'dish rag'). I had an interesting conversation with some native Texans about what such a thing is called. Apparently it is (or was) widely known in Texas households as a 'cup towel.'

Ah Bob!
Ms B calls it a hand towel, although I use it as an oven mitt because she keeps her collection of spotlessly-clean quaintly-stitched oven-mitts in a drawer and the towel is easier to grab. A dish-rag is used to wipe crud off plates, and is usually to be found either soaking in hot soapy water or cooling off breeding germs on the edge of the sink.
As a child growing up in Western Australia, I was always puzzled by Texans' nomenclature. For one thing they claimed that they lived in a big state ...

[Rudi]

(The key is under the mat ...)

Noted

[DaveA]

Have a read at http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... ea%20towel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rudi]

Here is RSA we call it a "Dish Cloth"

waffle-weave-dishcloths.jpg