Family traditions and recipes was the theme of our fall contest. Many readers shared their stories and recipes with us. We loved reading them. Thank you for taking the time and effort to share your memories.
Recipe from Producer’s past
Dear TEAM Resources – In early December 1951, when the Western Producer arrived at our Saskatchewan farm, we decided to try the Christmas cake recipe in Emmie Oddie’s column. My husband prepared the fruit and nuts and mixed the batter. He has done so ever since. Now our daughter-in-law helps with the shopping and her girls join us in our kitchen, if they can, and we have a baking bee. We are glad to have time together. We share the finished loaves. They make great gifts, too.
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All these years, we have enjoyed this dark, well-fruited Christmas cake. It has become a treasured tradition to bake it together with our family and serve it during the festive season as long as it lasts. Merry Christmas to you all. – Sincerely, Helen Bergen, Lacombe, Alta.
This recipe was from Oddie’s I’d Like to Know page in the Dec. 6, 1951, paper. She wrote this column for almost 50 years and when she retired in 1995, the four of us with TEAM Resources began to write a similar column, which we have done for the past 12 years. Oddie taught both Barb and I at university and our families were also faithful readers of her column. Bergen’s letter highlights the tradition this column has with our readership family, as well as our professional home economists’ family. After almost 60 years, this recipe is now back where it started in the pages of the Western Producer.
Christmas cake
Yield: One four-inch, one-six inch and one eight-inch square cake, or 116 sq. inches of pans. Bergen makes her cakes in loaf pans.
Prepare:
4 cups seeded raisins, washed,
dried and halved 1 L
4 cups seedless raisins,
washed and dried 1 L
21/2 cups currants, washed
and dried 625 mL
11/2 cups candied or
maraschino cherries, drained,
halved or quartered if
necessary 375 mL
11/2 cups cut-up pitted dates 375 mL
11/2 cups thinly slivered citrus
peel 375 mL
11/2 cups thinly slivered candied
orange and lemon peel 375 mL
1 cup almonds, blanched and
chopped 250 mL
1 cup walnuts or pecans,
blanched and broken 250 mL
Line chosen pans with three thicknesses of brown paper or cookery parchment. Brush top layers of brown paper with melted butter. Cookery parchment does not need greasing.
Measure into sifter:
31/2 cups once-sifted pastry
flour 875 mL
OR
3 cups plus 1 tablespoon of
once-sifted all-purpose flour 765 mL
(The original recipe called for hard wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder 5 mL
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 2 mL
1 teaspoon salt 5 mL
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 20 mL
3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg 3 mL
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger 3 mL
1/2 teaspoon ground mace 2 mL
1/3 teaspoon ground cloves 1.5 mL
Sift all together, then sift a second time into a large bowl.
Add prepared fruits and nuts, a few at a time until all are coated and separated.
Preheat oven to 300 F (150 C).
Batter:
12/3 cups butter 400 mL
2 cups brown sugar, lightly
packed 500 mL
9 unbeaten eggs
1/3 cup molasses 75 mL
1/3 cup brandy or grape juice 75 mL
1/4 cup cold strong coffee 60 mL
Cream butter well. Gradually blend in brown sugar and beat well.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in molasses.
Combine liquids.
Add fruit and flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the liquid mixture, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
Divide batter into pans, spread well into corners. Batter should be two inches (four cm) in depth or more.
Bake in preheated oven two hours for four-inch cake, 21/2 hours for the six-inch cake and 23/4 hours for the eight-inch cake.
Stand in tins, on a cooling rack, overnight. Next day, turn out of tins and store in a covered crock to ripen.
Bergen said Emmie Oddie gave this recipe her hearty approval.
Sweet and lean times
Dear TEAM – I would like to share a little story about our Christmases past. We grew up in a family of 10, so there wasn’t a lot of money to spend on luxuries but my mom made the most wonderful fruitcakes, candies and cookies. My dad also bought two crates, each with 24 bottles of pop for a treat. We never got pop throughout the year. It was such a treat. This fudge recipe is still made each Christmas. My children and grandkids love it. – Johanna Kohle, Wakaw, Sask.
Maple fudge
2 cups brown sugar 500 mL
1 tablespoon margarine 15 mL
2 cups whipping cream 500 mL
1 teaspoon vanilla 5 mL
1 teaspoon maple flavouring 5 mL
1 cup chopped walnuts
or pecans 250 mL
Place sugar, margarine and cream in a large saucepan and stir constantly until thick or at the medium ball stage. Remove from heat and add vanilla, maple flavouring and nuts. Cool in a sink of cold water, beating and stirring until cool. Put into an eight inch square (20 cm) buttered pan.
New Year’s Eve tradition
Dear TEAM – My dad’s side of the family was strictly English, so roast beef with Yorkshire pudding (popovers) was frequent fare. However, we had the traditional Canadian Christmas meal of turkey with cranberry sauce, which we usually shared with our cousins (my dad’s sister and family).
When we were young teens, my Aunt Lil started a New Year’s tradition of Chinese food made from scratch. So that has been a tradition for over 50 years. Here is a favourite dish of ours. – Betty Lou Gibbard, Tulliby Lake, Alta.
Chinese pork
1 pound pork shoulder (or
leftover pork roast) 500 g
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour 60 mL
1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 mL
1 teaspoon salt 5 mL
1/2 cup canola oil or less 125 mL
3 green peppers
4 stalks celery
2 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved
in 1 cup (250 mL) water
1/2 cup pineapple chunks,
drained 125 mL
1/2 cup pineapple juice 125 mL
3 tablespoons cornstarch 45 mL
1/2 cup sugar 125 mL
3 tablespoon soy sauce 45 mL
1/2 cup vinegar 125 mL
Cut pork into one inch (2.5 cm) cubes.
Beat together eggs, flour, salt and pepper to make a batter. Heat oil in a heavy skillet. Dip pork cubes into batter and drop into hot oil. (I put all the cubes into the batter at once and stir to coat.)
Fry until brown. Drain off excess oil.
Cut peppers and celery into one inch (2.5 cm) pieces. Add vegetables to meat. Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth, pineapple and pineapple juice. Cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
Combine cornstarch and sugar in a saucepan. Blend in soy sauce, vinegar and remaining chicken broth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick and clear. Pour over meat mixture. Cover and simmer five minutes. Serve over cooked rice. Makes six servings. This recipe is from the Chauvin, Alta., cookbook submitted by Phyllis Goodall.
Family traditions draw winners
We would like to thank the following for sharing their traditions and recipes, and hope that they enjoy their prizes.
The following will receive Company’s Coming craft books:
Card Making, Evelyn V. Gerger, Etobicoke, Ont.
Knitting, Wynne Christianson, Hendon, Sask.
Sewing, Helen Bergen, Lacombe, Alta.
Beading, Betty Stanley, Gainsborough, Sask.
Crocheting, Ruth Bartolf, Oxbow, Sask.
Patchwork Quilting, Jeannette Roy, Arborfield, Sask.
Additional Company’s Coming craft books and cookbooks are available from the website www.companyscoming.com or by calling 780-450-6223.
The following will receive Atco Blue Flame Kitchen cookbooks:
Holiday Collection: Edith Richardson, Darwell, Alta.; Carla Herbist Pittman, Warner, Alta.; Mae Woronuk, Rycroft, Alta.; Marcella Shewchuk, Rama, Sask.; Gloria Coates, Alix, Alta.; Johanna Kohle, Wakaw, Sask.; Elaine Stovin, Pritchard, B.C.; Naden Hewko, Cactus Lake, Sask.; Laura Woods, Camrose, Alta.; Sherry Diener, Saskatoon.
100 Favourites – Celebrating a Century of Cooking in Alberta: Gwen Follick, Strongfield, Sask., and Charlotte MacPhail, Fox Valley, Sask.
Everyday Day Delicious: Betty Lou Gibbard, Tulliby Lake, Alta.; MaLynda Krentz, Rosthern, Sask.
Hall of Flame: Shirley Cross, Westlock, Alta.
Romancing the Flame : Rita Neil, Francis, Sask.
Additional copies of Atco Blue Flame Kitchen cookbooks are available by calling 800-840-3393.
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.
