Fruitcake?

[Wood and Wire]

I have to wonder, does a taste refinery smell as bad as an oil refinery??

One time, I got bored and felt the urge to go on a road trip to Manhattan.

Unfortunately, I'm in England, but in my boredom flipping through the London A-Z, noticed there's a Manhattan in Silvertown, on the North bank of The Thames.

Get there and realise it's the part of the London Docklands that stood in for Hue City, Vietnam, in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.

Manhattan itself, is nothing like it's namesake - just a small concrete garden, on a wharf at then end of a short terrace of really grotty pebble-dashed council houses.

If the fact that it looks like the sort of working class nightmare that would have seemed like a dystopian future to Dickens, and it doubled for a city that had been bombarded by Uncle Sam, doesn't already paint a pretty grim picture ; let me assure you - the smell was so overpowering, my eyes and nostrils tried to leap off my face, and leave the area before I did. All of us were on the verge of passing out, and choking on our own vomit.

Turns out Manhattan is in the shadow of the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery, and a stone's throw from the Tate & Lyle factory.

That smell put me off pancakes for a couple of years - and I really love Tate & Lyle's Golden Syrup.

Talk about aversion therapy. To this day, I still flinch when I use Golden Syrup.

 

[Michedelic]

You don't need to be talking about my girlfriend!

I aquired one from a pop-up store.

 

[MJ5150]

Y'all oughta give torrone a try.

-Mike

 

[MattZilla]

So now that we've got fruitcake sorted, what's next? Who wants to join me and try some good ol' mincemeat pie? Mmmmmmm, mmmmmmm, mincemeat! hehe

if it’s just grandma’s meatloaf but with flaky & buttery crust, I’m in!

 

[bholder]

if it’s just grandma’s meatloaf but with flaky & buttery crust, I’m in!

Sadly, the only "meat" is nut meats (though perhaps made with lard originally?). Still, very very nummy. Weird spicing that I absolutely love!

 

[Wood and Wire]

Sadly, the only "meat" is nut meats (though perhaps made with lard originally?). Still, very very nummy. Weird spicing that I absolutely love!

Aren't these a thing in America?

Here, in the U.K. they're a big seller throughout the whole Christmas season.

Sort of the essence of Christmas pudding, in a pie.

So, don't you guys have Eccles cake?

 

[bholder]

So, don't you guys have Eccles cake?

I've never heard of it, no. Any good?

 

[Wood and Wire]

I've never heard of it, no. Any good?

Oh yeah.

Flakey pastry, a ton of butter, and a good helping of currants.

Like some kid wrapped a box of Sunmaid in a fistful of play-doh.

 

[bholder]

Oh yeah.

Flakey pastry, a ton of butter, and a good helping of currants.

Like some kid wrapped a box of Sunmaid in a fistful of play-doh.

I'm ordering some! Nommies!

 

[slobake]

Don't look at me when you say "fruitcake."

 

[slobake]

Aren't these a thing in America?

Here, in the U.K. they're a big seller throughout the whole Christmas season.

Sort of the essence of Christmas pudding, in a pie.

So, don't you guys have Eccles cake?

Never heard of Eccles cake until now. Do people in the U.K. still eat figgy pudding? We sing about it here in the U.S. in "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," but i have never had it and I doubt most people in the U.S. know what figgy pudding is.

 

[Wood and Wire]

Never heard of Eccles cake until now. Do people in the U.K. still eat figgy pudding? We sing about it here in the U.S. in "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," but i have never had it and I doubt most people in the U.S. know what figgy pudding is.

It's one of those things where people sing that song, and then have a bit of a think, and then ask "what the hell is figgy pudding?"

Then some news magazine show will do a piece on it, and the presenters will eat some, and everyone goes "huh..."


About 10 years later, that exact same scenario will play out again.

I don't think it's coming back in style, anytime soon.



_____ Edit _____

Now that I think about it, we've made Christmas pudding (rather than bought it) in the past, and a few years ago I planted a fig tree in the garden, which has been very successful.

I'm thinking next year, instead of turning all of the under -ripened figs into chutney, I might make a figgy pudding...

 

[DWBass]

Real freshly made fruitcake is delicious. My Jamaican grandparents made it all the time.

 

[FilterFunk]

My mother made them. As other people said, the cake was good, just didn't like the candied fruit.

Me, too. That's why I prefer date nut cake. Dates and walnuts in delicious, dense but moist, dark cake. That's what I thought of as "fruitcake" as a kid, and that's why I couldn't understand all the hate...until I tried the stuff loaded with candied fruit.

 

[bajaandy]

Fruitcakes in the kitchen (fruitcakes in the kitchen)
Fruitcakes on the street (fruitcakes on the street)
Struttin' naked through the crosswalk
In the middle of the week
Half-baked cookies in the oven (cookies in the oven)
Half-baked people on the bus (people on the bus)
There's a little bit of fruitcake left in everyone of us

 

[Wood and Wire]

Real freshly made fruitcake is delicious. My Jamaican grandparents made it all the time.

Jamaican spiced bun, toasted, and slathered in peanut butter, is mankind's greatest culinary achievement!

 

[5StringBlues]

never had, want

Jamaican spiced bun, toasted, and slathered in peanut butter, is mankind's greatest culinary achievement!

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Sadly, the only "meat" is nut meats (though perhaps made with lard originally?). Still, very very nummy. Weird spicing that I absolutely love!

Commercial "mince meat" these days, that's true. I have a recipe for the real deal involving "5 lbs of deer neck meat" (which is trivial to come by if you know a successful hunter as they generally don't want it.) Also two pounds of suet. It does have apples, raisins, currants, citron, candied citrus peel and spices; no nuts at all. (Cooking Down East by Marjorie Standish. Also has a meatless version with green tomatoes.)

The lard goes in the pie crust (really - if you're not religiously or ethically opposed, it makes the best pie crust. Something about the structure of the fat.) Half butter/half lard is also valid.

As for the figgy pudding, yes, we had it. More memorable for the traditional flaming presentation (doused in rum or brandy and lit.) IIRC we went back and forth with the neighbors (the ones across the road, since then next-nearest were 1/4 mile away) on who made it and brought it over to the other house. Or was that a plum pudding? Hmm. Been a few decades.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Fruit cake!!!

 

[Wisebass]

Well? Whatcha think?

My grandma showed me how to make this "Hutzelbrot" (German winter sweetbread with dried fruit)

Yep! Yummyyy!!! But only dried fruit (none of that candied stuff) and nuts

Here is what you need:

Water

Pears, figs, plums, raisins (dried fruits).

Hazelnuts and/or almonds

cinnamon, anise, cherry brandy

flour, yeast, sugar, salt

Three days to make them and another three days to let them rest!!!


Gut Ding will Weile haben!



Wise(b)ass