Belly Lore - False Professions

The following is a favorite excerpt of mine from "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee:

"...ladies, bathed before noon, after their three-o-clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum."

This reminded me, somehow, of the thin glaze of sugar left behind on my countertops after my son was left to clean up after cookie making.

False Professions (Not like a fake job. More like a fake claim)

First I must give a shout-out to my friend, Liz.  Every year she makes 37 (or so) different kinds of Christmas cookies to share with friends and colleagues.  Thirty-seven kinds!  She's currently up to 24.  I'm currently (and finally) up to one.

I know I professed to being a non Christmas cookie baker but I came across some cookie cutters I couldn't resist.  That damn fancyflours catalogue always sucks me in.  Not only did I make Christmas cookies, I used sparkly sugar!  I usually despise sparkly sugar.  I'm not really into sparkly anything though I do have fond memories of sparkles (not the edible kind) covering my furniture after the obligatory high school dance pictures were taken at my house.  Sparkles left behind by lovely young ladies on their way to sparkle at the dance.

Hopefully the friends with whom I share these cookies will now have a fond memory of sparkles too.






And then there is that test color that goes badly wrong.  So wrong you just can't leave it alone.  So wrong you're really kind of...awed by it.  So wrong you must...not...can't...look...away...

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Belly Lore - Shaken and Stirred

Sugar consumption in the U.S. has risen over 1,000% since the 1800's.  But let's wait until after the holidays to digest (so to speak) that...

Shaken and Stirred

Yes more candy!  Did I not make my addiction, my...need clear?  This time it's toffee.  Really, really good toffee.  I got the recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine 23 years ago.  Been making it ever since.

 I seem to be having technical difficulties with my music so you will just have to play your own.  Put on some Motown, and maybe "I Want Candy" by the Strangeloves, for example.  I know you might think a little Nat King Cole singing Christmas songs would be more appropriate but no.  See there is a lot of stirring involved in this toffee recipe.  Like 20 minutes worth.  That amount of stirring time is clearly meant to be shakin' your booty time too.  So blast that music, keep your eye on the candy thermometer, stir constantly and shake it!  Shaken and stirred.  Take that, James Bond.

Dark Hazelnut Toffee

1 C chopped hazelnuts (3/4 C chopped and 1/4 C finely chopped)
1 C REAL butter
1 1/4 C packed brown sugar
1 T dark corn syrup
3/4 C milk chocolate chips
candy thermometer

Line a cookie sheet with foil.  Crank up the Motown.  Sprinkle the 3/4 C chopped hazelnuts over the foil.  Set aside.  Butter the sides of a heavy 2 Q saucepan.  Do it!  In the saucepan melt the butter over low heat.  Stir in brown sugar, water and syrup.  Cook over medium high heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Clip the candy thermometer to the side of the pan (don't let it touch the bottom of the pan) and lower heat to medium.  Stir and boogie constantly until the thermometer hits 290 degrees (you really need to pay close attention once that baby hits 280 because things start to pick up speed considerably after that).  Remove the thermometer and IMMEDIATELY pour the toffee over the nuts.  Let stand 2 min. then sprinkle the chocolate chips over it.  Let stand another 2 min. then spread evenly over the toffee.  Sprinkle the 1/4 hazelnuts over the top.  Chill until chilly then break into pieces.  Makes about 48 pieces.  Or so.

Belly Lore - Sugar

Harold McGee in "On Food and Cooking"  writes, "While "honey" is almost invariably a term of praise, "sugar" is often ambivalent.  Sugary words, a sugary personality, suggest a certain calculation and artificiality.  And the idea of "sugaring over" something, the deception of hiding something distasteful in a sweet shell, would seem to be taken directly from the druggist's confections.  As early as 1400, the phrase"Gall in his breast and sugar in his face" was used, and Shakespeare has Hamlet say to Ophelia,

'Tis too much prov'd, that with devotion's visage
And pious action we do sugar o'er
the devil himself."

With all due respect to Harold and Will the Shake, I prefer to think of sugar as a natural mood booster.

I Want Candy

I skip most Christmas cookie making and go straight for the candy.  This is the only time of year I can get my hands on enough really good candy.  My shamelessness can be unleashed, my unabashed sweet tooth let  loose and no one will so much as blink.  A candy recipe has only to murmur, "yields four pounds" into my ear and I am smitten. 

The ingredients in my candy are shameless too so I am in good company.  I reveal my Midwestern lust for marshmallows and they reveal their talent for melting into a pool of goodness when combined with butter.

And sweetened condensed milk...languid liquid lust pours forth from that can!  I am not above putting myself in physical danger (beyond that of mere weight gain) by licking the sharp uneven lid after stripping it from the can opener.



So here is a candy recipe involving a menage a trois of marshmallow, butter and sweetened condensed milk.  I tore this out of a magazine approximately 1 to 20 years ago.  Says it's from the Ice Cream Parlor in Osceola, WI.


Salted Peanut Squares
YIELDS 4 POUNDS


4 C dry-roasted or (if you are an addict like me) honey roasted peanuts
1/2 C butter
1- 10 1/2 oz. bag tiny marshmallows
2 C peanut butter chips
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 C peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

Line a 9x13 pan with foil.  Massage it with butter.  Cover evenly with HALF of the peanuts.  Set aside.  In a 3 quart saucepan, melt butter with marshmallows on low heat.  Add chips and sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter. Stir until smooth.  Quickly pour over peanut layer.  Sprinkle remaining peanuts on top.  Cool and cut into squares.  Store candy in refrigerator.

Music, etc.

A reader pointed out that the music selection on my blog had him stumped.  Not my usual musical tastes, said he.  Let me explain- what I try to do is tie music to a blog post.  Pavarotti and Venus make a cute couple, was my thinking.  Cuban coffee- a natural for Cuban music (Go, Tito!).  This doesn't work for every post, however, because, who knew, even with a choice of thousands of songs, the one I want may not be available.  "I Love the Way You Cook" by Tim O'Brien being a perfect example.  I NEED that damn song on Belly's playlist, but it isn't available to post here.

And sometimes I have to stretch it a bit.  " Dude Looks Like a Lady" for a little alliteration, is a good example!  And sometimes I know of a song that jives with my recipe but I just can't bring myself to include it ("Hominy Grits" comes to mind).

So that's the way the cookie crumbles.  O.K. Mr. J?

Since I'm busy correcting confusion concerning my blog anyway, I thought maybe I should attempt to explain why I write" Mind Your Belly" the way I do.  Frame it, so to speak.  Explain why you might come across something that seems a little...naughty, maybe a double entendre or two.  It's o.k.  We're all adults here, no?  Besides, it ain't naughty, it's nice.  Read "Sensuous vs. Sensual" for my explanation.

Sensual vs. Sensuous

Food is sensuous.  The variety of textures, the brilliant colors, the enticing aromas, the sizzle, the taste - all the very essence of the definition of sensuous (food is sensuous in ways different than art or music so I mix in a bit of those for sensuous measure).

Food is also sensual.  There is undeniable physical gratification involved in cooking and eating.  Those textures, whether silky or crunchy, are sensual.  The colors, whether it's the pink of a vodka tomato cream sauce or those bold greens evocative of health and vitality, are sensual, tangible.  Whether aromas are sweet or savory, whether you hear a crackle or a pop, whether the taste is spicy or subtle, all are physically gratifying.  You can feel good food. 

I hope you're feelin' my blog.