We often hear about comfort food at this time of year. When the weather begins to get colder, warm food seems to comfort us.
We are asking our readers to share the stories and recipes of such foods. What are the foods that you or your family members associate with the comforts of home? Sometimes these foods are connected with other family traditions or seasons of the year.
Send us the recipe and a brief description of why it is significant to you or your family. We will be making a draw in early December from all of the entries for several prizes.
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Send your information to TEAM Resources, c/o The Western Producer Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or e-mail to team@producer.com. The deadline for entries will be Dec. 5.
We will be giving away several Atco Blue Flame Kitchen cookbooks including its newest Holiday Collection. Also, Company’s Coming has supplied us with several of its new craft series books.
The family tradition of biscuits
When my children were young, making baking powder biscuits was one of the first recipes we did together. They could help measure, mix, knead, pat, squeeze and then cut out the biscuits. Often the shape and colour of the dough would reflect the season of the year: pink heart shapes for Valentine’s Day and a green shamrock for St. Patrick’s’ Day.
Biscuits are still one of my daughter’s favourite foods. I had the opportunity to extend this family tradition to my nephews and nieces.
In October I introduced the family tradition to my youngest niece, Rowen, who is six. She loved to hear the story of how her older cousins had all been taught to make biscuits and it was now her turn. I love to see the pride in a child’s eyes when they serve their creations. This is the recipe that I most often use.
Biscuits
2 cups flour 500 mL
1 tablespoon baking powder 15 mL
1/2 teaspoon salt 2 mL
1/2 cup butter 125 mL
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk or water 125 mL
Mix dry ingredients together.
Cut in butter using a pastry blender until mixture has the texture of small peas.
Combine eggs and milk or water and add to the flour mixture, mixing until moistened.
Turn dough onto a floured board. Roll or pat out to 1/2 inch (one cm) thickness. Fold in thirds and roll or pat again. Repeat five times.
Cut into two inch (four cm) rounds. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 F (200 C) for eight to 10 minutes. These are great served with stew or enjoyed with yogurt and fruit.
Potato cookie recipe
A reader wrote looking for a snowball cookie recipe that contained mashed potatoes and was baked into a soft cookie. She and her sister remember making these at Christmas with their mother. We were unsuccessful in finding this recipe and asked our readers for help. We received many replies. The following recipe seems closest to the one requested.
Cherry pecan snowball cookies
1/2 cup soft butter or margarine 125 mL
1/2 cup icing sugar 125 mL
1/4 cup cold mashed potato 60 mL
2 tablespoons milk 30 mL
1 teaspoon almond flavouring 5 mL
1/4 teaspoon salt 1 mL
13/4 cups all-purpose flour 425 mL
1/2 cup chopped pecans 125 mL
maraschino cherries, drained, halved
additional icing sugar
Preheat oven to 325 F (160 C).
Cream butter and icing sugar. Blend in potato, milk, flavouring and salt. Stir in flour and pecans. Mix well. Form into small balls with half a cherry inserted in each centre. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 15-18 minutes. Cool slightly and roll in icing sugar. Makes 40 cookies.
This recipe is from the One Potato, Two Potato cookbook by Janet Reeves. All of the recipes in the book contain potatoes. The cookbook is published by Ragweed Press, and is available from www.peibooks.ca.
Thank you to Betty Beaudin of Langenburg, Sask., for sharing the recipe with us.
Position of the turkey
Dear Team: Could you tell me why a turkey is cooked breast side up? I found a site on the internet where someone said she always cooked her turkey breast side down because that was the way her mother did it, and it makes the breast tender and juicy. – M. W., e-mail.
Dear M.W. – I contacted the Manitoba Turkey Producers and the National Turkey Federation and there seems to be no food safety reason for cooking turkey breast side up. The main reason is probably appearance. The skin is a highly desirable part of the turkey and in order for it to darken and crispen, it must be exposed to the heat with the breast side up.
So if you were discarding the skin and slicing the turkey in the kitchen, there would no reason why you couldn’t cook it breast side down.
The National Turkey Federation suggested that to achieve desired juiciness, you could try thawing the turkey breast side down before cooking. This would allow the juices to drip into the breast meat. Then cook the turkey breast side up to get the desirable browning of the skin.
I like to lift the breast skin up and rub oil or butter directly on to the breast meat before cooking. To retain moisture, pour a cup of stock or water into the roasting pan and cover the turkey loosely with aluminum foil for the first hour.
Another suggestion is to allow the turkey to stand on a platter to rest for 15 minutes before carving. If you slice it too soon, most of the juices will run out and the meat will be dry.
Another option to keep the turkey breast meat moist is to use some of the pan drippings. Carve the breast meat first and place it in a casserole that can be kept warm. Pour 1/4-1/2 cup (60–125 mL) of the drippings from the roaster over the breast meat, cover the dish and place it in a warm oven.
If the drippings are fatty, drain the fat off and add hot water to the roaster to get a broth to use on the breast meat. Carve the rest of the turkey and make the gravy. The breast meat can be lifted from the casserole and added to the platter of meat just before serving and the turkey juice can be added to the gravy.
If you decide to cook your turkey breast side down, I would suggest that you use a rack or turkey harness so the breast meat does not stick to the bottom of the pan and it is easier to lift the bird out when it is done.
To avoid overcooking your turkey the Atco Blue Flame Kitchen recommends inserting a meat thermometer into the middle of the thick thigh muscle parallel to bone and next to the body, or into the thickest muscle of breast. Be sure the thermometer does not touch bone.
When the turkey is cooked, the therm-ometer should read 180-185 F (82-85 C) in the thigh and 169–175 F (77-80 C) in the breast. If a meat thermometer is not available, pinch the thick muscle of the drumstick or breast between cloth- or paper towel-protected fingers; the meat should feel soft. Another check is to run a long-tined fork into the thick muscle. The meat should feel tender and the juice should show no pink tinge.
Betty Ann Deobald is a home economist from Rosetown, Sask., and one of four columnists comprising Team Resources. Send correspondence in care of this newspaper, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or contact them at team@producer.com.
