Nostalgia

This is the only brand of long macaroni you can buy here in Eastern Canada!

When I make macaroni and cheese I always use long macaroni. I hope it never disappears from the shelves because for some reason it tastes much better than those silly little elbows.

I learned to make my macaroni this way back in the 'Sixties - yes, that's the 1960s, nearly 60 years ago, when I was working as a translator at the head office of Robin Hood Flour Mills here in Montreal. It was located in the Town of Mount Royal Shopping Centre, and there was only one place to eat lunch and that was Murray's Restaurant, right in the little strip mall.

My recent web searches have shown that most people remember the Murray's chain - they had several branches in this part of the country - for their British desserts, but for me it was the rest of the menu that kept me standing in line to get in day after weekday in spite of the high prices. 

The macaroni and cheese was my absolute favourite, but their cheeseburger was the best in town, their mixed salad with "French" dressing was crunchy and fresh and loaded with veggies, and the vegetable soup was a classic. 

The only way I deviate from Murray's macaroni and cheese is that I sometimes pour it into a baking dish, slice some tomatoes on top, dot with butter and bake until the top begins to turn brown in places. But it's delicious straight out of the pot too.

I have no recipe: I just make a béchamel, add lots of yellow aged cheddar cheese and a pinch of Cayenne pepper and stir this into the cooked macaroni. The secret is to keep the sauce silky by not cooking it after you add the cheese.

As for those desserts, the ones people keep remembering are the Steamed Fruit Pudding with Custard Sauce and the Rice Custard Pudding and I must say both were absolutely top-notch.

To find the recipes, I just googled "Murray's steamed fruit pudding" and there they were.

Bon appétit!

Make Your Own White Flour

NOTE: THIS IS BEING WRITTEN IN EARLY APRIL 2020, DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC.

It's not fair! Some of us have been making our own bread forever, but now all those amateur newbie breadbakers are hoarding all the flour!

Every time I place an online food order, it arrives minus the flour I ordered.

Except for my last order. There it was: a 5-lb bag of whole wheat flour.

But sometimes you really really need white flour, so Im making my own until better times.

You see, whole wheat flour is just white all-purpose flour with some bran added. (Honest, unless you grind your own wheat berries, there is no wheat germ in your "whole" wheat flour.) So all you have to do is sift the bran out of your whole wheat flour.

Last night, I made the above test. I already knew about sifting the bran out; the test was about making my own sieve out of cheesecloth and an embroidery hoop, because my fine flour sifter seems to have disappeared during my recent move.

As you can see, there is a substantial amount of bran in whole wheat flour. Save it for another use.

Another solution to render the bran less gluten-destroying is to run the flour, or just the bran, through the food processor. At times I've separated it out, as in the photo, and ground it in my spice grinder.

You've got time, these days, so experiment!

Happy Baking!

Why I Will Never Be A Vegetarian

There are two reasons why I will never be a vegetarian: carnitas and barbacoa. Yes, both are Mexican meat dishes!  

Carnitas is Mexico's favourite way of eating pork and barbacoa is how you eat lamb if you live in Mexico.

Homemade Carnitas. Photo credit: Mexico In My Kitchen

Real barbacoa cannot be made at home, but an excellent carnitas substitute is entirely feasible, and you will find the recipe here: https://www.mexicoinmykitchen.com/pork-carnitas-mexican/

Please ignore any recipe that contains anything else - trust me, this is the real mccoy.  In fact, having lived in Mexico for over 20 years, I can assure you that all Mely's recipes are absolutely what you would be served if you had the good fortune of having friends like mine in Mexico. If you like authentic Mexican food, you should subscribe to her blog (it's in English).

Homemade Mixiotes

As for barbacoa, I'm sorry that she does not give a recipe for my favourite alternative, mixiotes. They are little parcels of lamb and seasoning in parchment paper tied with string that are steamed for a couple of hours. You can make a decent substitute as long as you have access to latino ingredients like dried chiles.

Here is a recipe that I might use: https://www.tvazteca.com/aztecauno/cocineros-mexicanos/recetas/notas/receta-mixiotes-de-borrego

I have not found one in English that I would recommend, so if you want to try this, write me in the Comments section and I will provide a translation.

Buen provecho!

Tomato Paste Trick

I used to buy small cans of tomato paste, but I would take out a tablespoon or two, and after a while the leftover paste would grow some fur, and I had to throw it out.

Then, one day, I discovered tomato paste in a tube, imported from Italy. I remember it well, it was at Eatalia in New York City. The huge, wonderful store was near the Yotel (this is not a typo, it's the name of the hotel!) where I was staying. I bought two tubes.

Nowadays, tube tomato paste is easy to find up here in Canada, even in the small town where I live, but my frugal self refuses to pay the price. So what I do is buy a larger can, and do this. I use a small ice cream scoop. I freeze the lot and store it in a baggie. Then I take out a ball or two when I need them.