Old Fashioned Hard Candy

Years ago, while making our Christmas gift lists for others, my eldest daughter suggested a great gift for her grandmother who loved creating stained glass artwork--a gigantic jar of jaggedy, colorful pieces of old fashioned hard candy. Back then, it was kind of difficult to find flavoring oils, but now it's easier. It comes in so many flavors, from almond to wintergreen (though I've never been brave enough to try pomengranate or guava flavor) that we can make a couple of batches every day, right up through Christmas eve, and never repeat flavors. They're so gorgeous as a centerpiece during the holiday season. I keep a basket of cellophane treat bags nearby to fill for friends and neighbors who stop by during the season. Every day, the house is alive with a delicious new flavor. Right now, it's cinnamon. 

Old Fashioned Hard Candy

Ingredients: 
2 cups granulated sugar 
2/3 cup light corn syrup 
¾ cup water 
1 dram LorAnn super-strength flavoring (1tsp.*) 
Food coloring 
Powdered sugar

Make sure everything is prepared ahead of time, because once you start, you don't want to stop!

Line a cookie sheet or pan with heavy foil and lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.  

In a 2-quart saucepan, mix together sugar, corn syrup and water. Stir over medium to medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture starts to bubble.

Once the mixture starts bubbling, stop stirring. Insert candy thermometer. Make sure it doesn't touch the bottom of the pan.

Boil the mixture, without stirring, until the temperature reaches 260º F

Add food coloring, whatever color(s) you want to match the flavor of the candy. Do not stir; the boiling action will do the mixing.

As soon as the thermometer hits 300° F, take it off of the heat immediately. Wait until the bubbling stops, and then add the flavoring oil. BE CAREFUL! Some of the flavors, especially the oils like cinnamon, wintergreen, peppermint, etc., will burn your skin if the steam hits your face. They're very strong! Make sure the boiling has completely stopped, put the oil in, then stand back for a few seconds before you stir it.

After you have stirred the flavoring in, pour the very, very hot candy onto the prepared cookie sheets. Do NOT drip any on your skin! This stuff is like napalm and will keep burning through!

Don't refrigerate it. Leave it sit to cool until hard.

Then comes the fun part! Using the heavy end of a butter knife or other clean, sturdy tool, crack the candy into bite-sized pieces. It helps if  you life the foil off of the cookie sheet a bit. Use caution. The pieces can be quite sharp, and, if you have too much fun breaking them, they can fly into your face. No one wants that. 

Once the pieces are broken up, put a little bit of powdered sugar (about a teaspoon or two per batch) in a sturdy (not glass) container, like a clean, dry pot or storage container, and add the candy pieces, shaking or stirring to coat them with the powdered sugar. Then, put them in a clear glass jar for holiday display and yumminess. 

Turkey Carcass Soup

One of our favorite Thanksgiving traditions is to make Turkey Carcass Soup the day after the Big Feast. First of all, I just love the name. It sounds so...barbaric and medieval. Secondly, it's absolutely delicious and feels very resourceful to use all of the turkey this way. I discovered this recipe years ago in Jane Brody's Good Food Cookbook, one of my all-time favorite cookbooks.

Add a loaf of homemade bread, and you've got yourself an amazing meal.

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Turkey Carcass Soup


Ingredients:

• Stock:
• Turkey carcass, broken into pieces
• Any defatted pan juices or leftover gravy
• 12 cups of water, or enough to cover the carcass completely
• 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 ribs of celery with leaves, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup diced carrots
• ½ cup diced well-washed leek (optional)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt, if desired
• Bouquet garni, made by tying in cheesecloth:
• 6 sprigs fresh parsley (or 2 tsp. dried parsley flakes)
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• Soup:
• ½ onion, finely copped
• 2 - 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup diced carrots
• ½ cup diced celery
• 1 ½ tablespoons flour
• 6 - 7 cups turkey stock
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• ⅓ cup raw barley or rice
• 1 cup diced turkey meat
• Hot pepper sauce, to taste (optional)
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley or chives

Directions:
For the stock, combine all the ingredients in a large stock pot, bring the stock to a boil and simmer it, partially covered for 2 to 3 hours. (It tastes better the longer it simmers, but be careful not to cook away the liquid.)

Strain the stock; cool, then skim off the fat.

Remove all of the meat from the bones and refrigerate for adding to the soup later. Discard other vegetables, bones, turkey skin, etc. Makes 10 - 12 cups.

To make the soup, in a large stockpot saute the onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add the carrots and celery and mushrooms and cook the vegetables for an additional 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the flour and stir for one minute.

Add the stock, marjoram, salt and pepper, and barley or rice. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat, partially cover the pot, and simmer the soup for about 1 hour. Add the turkey meat and hot pepper sauce. Adjust seasonings, and heat the soup to boiling. Sprinkle the soup with parsley just before serving.

Grandma Jane's Special Potato Salad

Grandma Jane had a way with food. Everything she made was delicious--perfectly seasoned, just the right balance of everything, and always plenty for everyone. Her potato salad, for example, was a special treat. There are some things in life that you just *know,* and getting potato salad when you went to Grandma Jane's was one of them. My main goal when visiting her was to wake before everyone else in the house so that I could devour my special breakfast. Potato salad.

I've had this recipe for years. Grandma wrote it out especially for her daughter-in-law and me. Yet no matter how many times I make it, I just can't get it to taste like Grandma's. Still, it's a big hit in our house and everywhere else we take it.

I've altered the recipe a bit to use yukon gold and red potatoes, which just need to be scrubbed but not peeled. Be careful not to overcook the potatoes!

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Potato Salad Special

Cube about four cups of Yukon Gold and red potatoes, and place them in a pot, covering with just enough cold water to cover them. Add a tablespoon of salt.
Place two eggs, whole, in the pot, too, to boil while the potatoes cook.
Bring the water to a slow boil and cook until you can *just* put a fork in them. You don't want them to fall apart, but you don't want them to be too firm. This usually takes about ten minutes from the time the water starts to boil.

While potatoes are cooking, get a large bowl and mix together:

1 1/2 cups REAL mayonnaise, either homemade or Hellman's
1 cup chopped red onion
1 cup finely diced celery
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 small sweet pickle, diced
salt to taste

When potatoes are done cooking, drain them. Remove the eggs and place them in a bowl of cold water to cool. Cool potatoes, gently turning them occasionally to keep them from further cooking in the bowl.

When eggs are cooled, peel them and chop them very fine. Add this to the mayonnaise mixture.

When potatoes are cool, add them to the mayonnaise mixture, stirring well, but being careful not to mash the potatoes. Sprinkle top with chopped parsley.

If it seems too dry, add more mayonnaise.

Chill all of this, preferably overnight, as the flavor is better the next day!

Hungarian Pork Roast and Caraway Sauerkraut

For our New Year's Even houseconcert, I wanted to try something different, something other than my standard Lentil Soup fare. And since I'm a very big fan of pork roast, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, I went searching for a recipe that would make my mouth water. This recipe was surely it, and ended up being a very big hit with the houseconcert guests. The comments were made mostly in regard to the thickened sauerkraut and the onion gravy. Cook the pork sl-o-o-o-o-w-ly for maximum tenderness and flavor!

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Hungarian Pork Roast with Onion Gravy and Caraway Sauerkraut

1 large pork roast (6-7 pounds)
7 large onions, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons sugar to caramelize the onions
salt and pepper

Seer all sides of the roast in a hot roasting pan over high heat. Do not add any fat.
Put all the chopped onions and 2 tablespoons sugar into a roasting pan (I use my electric roaster when doubling this for a great big batch) and cover.
Cook at 325 degrees for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Check periodically to turn it over and push the onions around. The onions should caramelize, or take on a rich, brown color.

When roast is finished cooking, remove it from the roasting pan.
Mix 2 tablespoons of flour into 2 cups of water.
Stir the water/flour mixture into the onions, scraping the sides of the pan to get all of the onions/juices into the gravy. Season with salt and pepper.

Caraway Sauerkraut
2 pounds of Sauerkraut, preferably the bagged kind, rinsed and drained
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon of caraway seeds
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of lard or butter, partially melted
2 tablespoons of flour

Put the sauerkraut in a pot. Add the caraway seeds, sugar and water.
Slowly cook until the kraut is soft, about a 1/2 hour.
In a small bowl, mix the lard or butter and the flour. Stir into the kraut. Stir until thickened.
Simmer for five minutes.

Serve this with mashed potatoes (be sure to make your mashed potatoes with plenty of butter, cream cheese, heavy cream and salt/pepper).

Original recipe found at June Meyer's Authentic Hungarian Recipes. It's packed with fabulous foods! This particular dish includes a recipe for Farina dumplings which I have not yet tried, but look fabulous and can be frozen for use in other recipes. Her recipe for mashed potatoes looks great, with the addition of egg and sour cream.

Taylor's Traditional Cranberry Sauce

We found this recipe in a book called Thanksgiving Fun: Great Things to Make and Do by Ronne Randall and Annabel Spenceley. Daughter Taylor has been making it for years, now, and has improved it with the addition of crushed pineapple and a pinch of cinnamon. The best part is watching all of the children gather around the pot to see the cranberries pop. Serve it with generous dollops of homemade whipped cream.

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Taylor's Traditional Cranberry Sauce

2 cups fresh cranberries (can be frozen)
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 can crushed pineapple, drained well
a pinch of cinnamon

Heat everything except the pineapple in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring gently, for about 7-10 minutes. Pretty soon, the cranberries will start popping open! That's the fun part! When they've all popped, add the pineapple. Cool, refrigerate, and serve with whipped cream.