Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Culinary dispatches from the homeland

Via a friend from the motherland (aka Maine):

"Well, it has been a while since I heard from you. I am sure you are really busy, but I thought if I sent you a note, you might respond. And then I thought, maybe if I sent a note with a recipe for Pork Cake, you would definitely respond! Here goes:

Pork Cake
Recipe from Mrs. Joseph F. Landrigan
Hartford, CT

1/2 lb salt pork, ground fine
1 lb raisins
5 C flour
1/4 lb walnut meats, cut fine
1 C molasses
1 C Lincoln Dairy milk
2 C sugar
2 Lincoln Dairy Eggs
1 Tbsp soda in 1/4 C hot water
1 1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Bake 1 1/4 hours at 350 degrees.

(That's the whole recipe. I guess if you have the balls to make pork cake, you don't worry too much about nuances like how to combine ingredients or what size pan to use.) Enjoy!"

Seriously? Part of me wants to cook this thing. Raise your hand if you think I should. It totally reminds me of the recipes I got handed down to me by my grandmothers. I imagine women relied so heavily on these standby favorites that there was nary a need to elaborate on the preparation.

Oh, and by the way- I did respond. How could I not? A girl sends you a recipe for Pork Cake and I'm pretty sure even Emily Post would agree that deserves a thank you note.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've been thinking about trying it out, too. My one concern is where, oh, where to get salt pork. I mean, if this were the Oregon Trail we could just stop by the general store. (Which makes me think that you will have better luck finding it than me.) I have a hard time believing that they stock salt pork at my local IGA.

RP