The recipe thread (revisited)

[Regina]

I used to make Friendship bread frequently back in the day. I gave it up because of the huge amounts of sugar it uses. It definitely was delicious, though. :D I did a few different things with it, as in sometimes I'd add cocoa, other times a can of fruit cocktail. With the fruit cocktail it reminded me of a cake I ate when I was very young, although I could never remember exactly where and when.

[Ghost]

(10-24-2011 01:15 PM)Regina Wrote:  I used to make Friendship bread frequently back in the day. I gave it up because of the huge amounts of sugar it uses. It definitely was delicious, though. :D I did a few different things with it, as in sometimes I'd add cocoa, other times a can of fruit cocktail. With the fruit cocktail it reminded me of a cake I ate when I was very young, although I could never remember exactly where and when.

I remember my mom getting a Herman once when we were kids. Back at the stage where if it was new most of us kids wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole... I liked it, but that was the last time she ever accepted one.

[Regina]

I found it! I've been trying to get some house cleaning done, again, this time maybe for real even, and was going through the small bag I carried back and forth with me last winter and there was the recipe!

If oysters squig you out (they often do me) you can use this for clam chowder or as a base for a seafood stew. Even though oysters sometimes make me go Ewww, my hubby loves them and I usually get a severe hankerin' for them during the winter so I usually buy some around Christmas to fry. If I cook them just so I really enjoy them. This stew took my enjoyment of oysters to an entirely new level, as in I could eat this at least once a week with no problem. Of course I'm not going to do that for a number of reasons, but I definitely could.

This recipe is called Oysterman's Stew and I'm going to relate it as James Michener did in his book Chesapeake. This is totally designed for a work crew expending huge amounts of energy in very cold weather. I fixed it a couple of times last winter when we were trudging back and forth in three feet of snow. My mom made good oyster stew off and on when I was growing up but hers pales in comparison to this. Of course you're going to want to adjust the proportions to the amount of stew you want to make--I start with the oysters and work from there.

Mess of bacon fried crisp
8 large onions
2 hefty stalks of celery
(Both chopped and sauteed in bacon grease)

Remove vegetables from bacon grease
Put 48 oysters in bacon grease, brown a little
Pour oyster liquor over oysters and cook until gills wrinkle

Put milk and cream in a pan and bring it to a simmer
Add a pinch of tapioca

Pour oysters into milk mixture and add vegetables.
Crumble bacon on top
Dust top of stew with saffron
Add 1/2 pound butter

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If I can get them I prefer using small oysters over medium or large but they're not easy to come by around here since most stores tend to stock only one size. Also, since I never know how long they've been sitting in the store before I come along I make sure not to buy them if I can't make the stew within the next couple of days.

I did a couple of things slightly different, one of which was to cut back on the milk and use some water. I'm also going to say tapioca for thickener is optional, as would be the saffron since it's mainly used as a garnish. If you want it thicker a little corn starch could be used just as easily as the tapioca and since saffron is so expensive I've never bought it.

One go-round with this I added clams and shrimp to the oysters. The flavor combination was out of this world. Unfortunately my hubby has a severe intolerance to shrimp so I may never get to eat it that way again.