Food History

Today I’m better. Not well, but better. In fact, I’m well enough to catch up in my reporting of the food testing. We’re almost through that stage of preparations for the banquet, as you know, so I had better catch up!!

There were two sweet recipes, one of which worked but not with this menu and the other of which might work, but needs further testing and has other problems. Naturally (since I’m cruel and heartless) I’m not going to give you the details of the recipe that might appear, but I thought you might like to hear the tester’s comments. It ‘was the victim of a unit mismatch’ which is a lesson to us all (or something). What happened was that the tester made the easiest error of all. He read ‘tablespoons’ in the recipe and used tablespoons to measure ingredients – but not all tablespoons are equal.

He asked how alcoholic desserts fit in with Prohibition cooking and I have to answer “out of sight of the law.” This is probably the reason that recipe will be dropped, which is a shame. It would be good in other respects, though, so I’m hanging onto it for a wistful moment.

Dawn tested another potential dessert recipe: Creole Pineapple. She liked it enough to have several servings. My thoughts are that I will take it to the next round ie test it against the other surviving desert recipe. I think the flavours might not be quite right with the icecream, is the problem, but I need to make it to check.

This sometimes happens: I get a good result from an experienced cook and have to make the dish again to find out where it fits. Of the three desserts just tested, only one will make it to even this stage. We still don’t know what dessert will feature on the menu, though the rest of it is beginning to shape up.

I just checked my calendar from last year and we’re ahead of ourselves. This is essential, however, as this year we have cocktails to test. I need ten really scrummy cocktail recipes by mid June and can’t start testing until May 1. If you’re interested in cocktail recipes, please feel free to volunteer, and I’ll contact you in May. I still have a few fridge magnets, too, though they’re going fast.