Jaymes

No. "Soft ball" definitely meant the temperature the cooking candy reached. Having made this and many other recipes for years before I ever bothered to buy a candy thermometer, I can tell you that what you did to determine what temperature the boiling candy had reached was to get a glass (in our case, a glass measuring cup) and fill it with ice water. You dropped a spoonful of the candy into that ice water and then plied it with your fingers. "Soft ball" was when it would just hold together and form an, um, "soft ball." It went up to "firm ball," "hard ball," "soft crack," and "hard crack." The "crack" referred to the sound it made when you hit the ball against the side of the glass. "Soft ball" is about 236-240 on your candy thermometer and is exactly what my mama's Date Nut Loaf called for. Reading through the all posts for this topic, it seems that the take on this recipe is at least somewhat generationally bound; my own understanding of 'date roll' is the same as Chris A's, both because of the sorts of date sweets I recollect eating when I was a kid, and the recipes I'm familiar with that refer to various 'ball' stages, all of which have the sugar syrup alone reach the desired stage, before any other ingredient is added. I'm sure you're right about the generational thing. That Date Nut Roll/Loaf candy was popular when I was growing up, in the 50's and 60's. And, as I said, it remained my mother's very favorite sweet all her life, even until her death about five years ago at the age of 90. In fact, that's one of my favorite memories of her - standing at the open fridge, digging around in the freezer (that's where she kept it, hidden from the rest of us under the frozen peas or something), and cutting off a piece. In those days, we saw that candy fairly often at gatherings, potlucks, etc. But the only place I've seen it in several decades has been in my own kitchen, where I often made it for her. And, I've taken it to some group get-togethers a time or two and nobody was familiar with it at all. What became more popular, probably for ease of preparation, transport, serving, etc., were a plethora of date bars, date squares, date cookies, and the little rolled up date balls that CA mentions. And of course because these things come and go in and out of fashion. I would not have been so positive about that candy if it had not been for the instructions to roll it up in a wet cloth. That's fairly distinctive. And for me, that's the definitive clue. I don't think that's the sort of thing that would get inadvertently added to a sketchy recipe one was trying to reconstruct from long-forgotten and incomplete notes. I agree about boiling the sugar, butter, cream by itself. But as far as the exact moment when "Ma" added the dates and nuts, that is exactly the sort of thing that Ma might have just known and for which she might not have written down explicit instructions. Or perhaps she did, but they got lost over time.

Adding maple syrup (and I've got a jug of the really good stuff) sounds utterly sublime. I think that, as Andie says, having cooked rice always at the ready is a huge advantage. I never thought of freezing it. I now can think of little else. Must. Freeze. Rice.

Well, she's boiling sugar and milk and butter until it will "form a soft ball." Whereupon you beat it. And then she says, "Pour over wet cloth and roll." And since I watched my mother and grandmother and aunts do the EXACT SAME THING for decades, and since I've never heard of another recipe wherein you pour it onto a wet cloth and roll, it sounds like candy to me. But whatever... For the sake of argument, she also never stated that she was sure it was a complete recipe. She did say that it was copied by hand from a steno pad of notes. What if the recipe is missing some amount of flour and it is really a cake of some sort? Right. That's an excellent point. It quite likely might be a cake, and just missing the mention of flour. And any sort of pouring into any sort of baking container. And any sort of baking. And it's probably just coincidence that the list of ingredients that IS there, and the methodology, including the boiling of the ingredients to the "soft ball" stage, and the pouring onto the wet cloth, and the rolling up, and the chilling, is exactly identical to a candy recipe that, as HungryC mentions, is one of "beaucoup date candy recipes with nearly identical ingredients and even similar 'roll in a towel' instructions" and "is a super common recipe in community cookbooks from the 40s onward." Although I suppose one could have poured the "cake batter" into the wet towel and rolled it up just as easily. Obviously, I jumped to the conclusion that it is a candy far too hastily.

We buy them from Sam's. The label says "Hass from Mexico." They're nicely-sized and really very good.

Well, she's boiling sugar and milk and butter until it will "form a soft ball." Whereupon you beat it. And then she says, "Pour over wet cloth and roll." And since I watched my mother and grandmother and aunts do the EXACT SAME THING for decades, and since I've never heard of another recipe wherein you pour it onto a wet cloth and roll, it sounds like candy to me. But whatever...

And right you undoubtedly are for whatever it is your family makes. But in the original recipe posted above, "Ma" was making candy. Candy that she, just like my Ma, poured onto a wet cloth and patted into something of a log shape, and then rolled up and chilled, and then after it was chilled and firm, sliced into rounds about the size of a small cookie. Candy that would not properly "set up" until it was cooked to a "soft ball" stage.

No. "Soft ball" definitely meant the temperature the cooking candy reached. Having made this and many other recipes for years before I ever bothered to buy a candy thermometer, I can tell you that what you did to determine what temperature the boiling candy had reached was to get a glass (in our case, a glass measuring cup) and fill it with ice water. You dropped a spoonful of the candy into that ice water and then plied it with your fingers. "Soft ball" was when it would just hold together and form an, um, "soft ball." It went up to "firm ball," "hard ball," "soft crack," and "hard crack." The "crack" referred to the sound it made when you hit the ball against the side of the glass. "Soft ball" is about 236-240 on your candy thermometer and is exactly what my mama's Date Nut Loaf called for.

I am SOOOO impressed. Well, golly, thanks. But seriously, there's absolutely nothing to it. Nothing whatsoever, but planning. It's certainly nowhere nearly so difficult as the things that many folks on eGullet do routinely that require such knowledge and skill - turning out fine pastries, souffles, expertly roasting a juicy, moist, crispy-skinned chicken, etc. - even baking a perfect loaf of bread are all far more difficult. Like I said, all that is required to turn out a flotilla of Bananas Foster is a little advance planning. And that, anyone can do. Maybe you should even consider giving it a go for your dog parties!

It was "Date Nut Loaf" in our house and was my mother's very favorite sweet. We never, ever had a Christmas without it. My mother also loved pecans and her version was chock-full of them, so all those nuts cut a lot of the sweetness. She rolled it up in a damp dishtowel and into the fridge, or freezer, it went.

In Panama, our trees were two different varieties: Haas, and one that the Panamanians called "butter avocados." I don't know the generic name of those, but they were larger, and when you cut into them, you had no doubt where they got the name. They were indeed as smooth and rich and buttery as could be imagined and the flesh even had a slightly golden hue. They were considered to be the primo avocados, though, and since we had no fence around our back yard, and it backed right up to the jungle, that tree often had a Panamanian or two up in it collecting avocados. Those avocados did hold well in the fridge, but probably not so well as the Haas, which seemed to last forever. That sounds like a Reed avocado. Very large and buttery. Wow, good job! I've often wondered what the "official" name was. And that does indeed sound exactly right. We also lived in Orlando for several years and ate those large watery avocados they grow in south Florida. Some people have said that those must be the same variety that we ate in Panama, but I strongly disagreed. Those big avocados from Florida are not, in my opinion anyway, particularly flavorful. And the watery texture isn't to my liking. It's certainly nothing like butter. Those buttery avocados from Panama were the best-tasting ones I've ever had. Before or since. Thanks so much for your efforts!

Actual "rice pudding" it ain't, but even when I was a little girl, and then for my own children, and now my grandchildren, having steamed white rice for dinner means a delicious treat afterwards. We put about a half-cup or so of the cooked rice into a coffee mug, add a pat of butter, a spoonful of sugar, the merest pinch of salt, a dusting of cinnamon, raisins if you like them, maybe a drop of vanilla if you're in the mood, and a generous splash of heavy cream. Stir and heat in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Quick enough? Like I said, it might not be the same sort of rice pudding one gets after a long cooking, but it's darn tasty. It sure satisfies my cravings for rice pudding in-between making the longer version, and definitely fills the bill for 'desperation dessert.' Especially since your DH doesn't like rice pudding, you should give this Instant Rice Pudding For One a try.

In Panama, our trees were two different varieties: Haas, and one that the Panamanians called "butter avocados." I don't know the generic name of those, but they were larger, and when you cut into them, you had no doubt where they got the name. They were indeed as smooth and rich and buttery as could be imagined and the flesh even had a slightly golden hue. They were considered to be the primo avocados, though, and since we had no fence around our back yard, and it backed right up to the jungle, that tree often had a Panamanian or two up in it collecting avocados. Those avocados did hold well in the fridge, but probably not so well as the Haas, which seemed to last forever.

Yes. My MIL taught me this (and me, living all those years in So. Cal!) and it works wonderfully well. If you put them in the fridge before they're ripe they just sit like rocks, but if you wait until they're just about ripe, they hold wonderfully. And great at sale time, as you say! I do something similar, but find the fact that they "sit like rocks" to be an advantage. We eat a lot of avocados in our large family, and got accustomed to always having them around after having lived in Panama for four years where avocados were a ubiquitous staple in the markets. In addition, we had five avocado trees in our yard. They produced way more than we could eat, so we gave them away by the barrelful to anyone that wanted some. Of course, like all seasonal fruit, we would go from having barrelsful to having none. We learned that we could put those hard avocados into the fridge where they would indeed "sit like rocks" for several weeks - even months - and then take them out a few at a time and leave them on the counter, or in our fruit bowl, where they would ripen. If we needed to hurry them along for some reason, we'd use the "paper bag" trick. This is still basically what we do. Buy them hard, and in bulk. Into the fridge. Take them out a few at a time to ripen as we need them. Yesterday, we ate three - two in sandwiches at noontime and one in last night's salad, so I got three more out of the fridge to ripen. I feel pretty sure that's how they ship them, after all. Refrigerate the hard avocados until they arrive at the store where they slowly ripen on the produce shelves. Goodness knows how many weeks that takes. I dunno. This works for us. They will ripen very slowly in the fridge, but in my experience anyway, they don't ripen evenly or well in there. I can't imagine that being anyone's advice as to the best thing to do.

Did this dressing turn out to be merely good... Or as fabulous as it sounds?

That is the method I was taught eons ago and have continued to use with success. I try for the sausage almost completely cooked as the water has evaporated and then just a quick time in the dry pan to brown them. We like them outside on the barbie best but, when I cook them inside, I do the water/liquid boil-down thing, and then a quick fry in the fat that has accumulated. But rather than just water, I like to add something like beer, or maybe fruit juice - apple or pear or whatever I have handy.

Bananas Foster used to be my "go to" dessert for large dinner parties, and by large, I mean up to 80. Sometimes I would have the entire dinner in my home, but sometimes, I would volunteer for just the dessert portion of a large progressive dinner. The recipes as written are all very generous in so far as how much sauce they make per person. I'd figure on having enough sauce for 4-6 people with the standard recipe that is supposed to serve two. The day before, I'd spoon a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream into short, fat, on-the-rocks glasses that I had bought at a restaurant supply house just for this dessert. After spooning the vanilla ice cream into the glasses, I stacked them on trays in my freezer. I bought a very large copper chafing dish so that I could make this at the table while my many admirers ( ) gathered 'round. I pre-measured everything and had it at the ready, so I wouldn't have to do anything but grab and pour the rum and creme de banana. I actually had saved several empty bottles of varying sizes so that I could pre-measure the alcohol and have it sitting there, but still have it in the attractively-labeled original bottles. I had the butter and the brown sugar measured and in the chafing dish, and piled the bananas on a copper tray alongside. The whole arrangement looked really wonderful, and portended great things to come. Then, while everybody stood around and oohed and aahed, I'd make the sauce, flaming it almost to the ceiling. At those large dinner parties, somebody always offers to help, so as soon as someone offered, I'd ask them to retrieve the glasses with the ice cream from the freezer. It went like clockwork. I'd ladle a little sauce into each glass and my impromptu helpers would stick a spoon into the glass, add a cocktail napkin, and then pass them around to the guests. Oftentimes, I'd also have some of those Pepperidge Farm rolled cookies at the ready, and I'd stick a cookie into each glass as well. I had done it often enough that I was practically on autopilot, but it always seemed so special and festive. I heartily recommend it to anyone that would like a fun and easy and spectacular and delicious dessert to make for large, or small, crowds. I honestly think "party trick" describes it perfectly.

A Louisiana-style restaurant that we frequent here in Houston sells fried 'gator po boys. They seem to be pretty popular. To me, they're just okay. I like shrimp and oyster and mudbugs better.

My eldest son is also going to the Mobile World Conference, as an exhibitor. And my middle son was just there on business as well. The middle son did bring back some jamon, and asked the oldest son to bring back some extra. But they were/are flying directly back to the US. And, the middle son said that he managed to eat one or another of the best varieties of those fabulous jamons at every meal, including breakfast at the airport on the last day. I believe that ham is the number one "foodie souvenir" and lots of folks manage to get some back, so surely there's some way that your BF can do it, too. In my personal experience, anyway, few of the other things that make dining in Spain so delicious (cheeses and sausages, tortillas and tapas, churros and chocolate, sangria, and that freshly-squeezed orange juice you can get everywhere, including gas stations out on the highways) can be easily brought back. I had a rather unpleasant incident with a chunk of cabrales that left everything in my suitcase stinking for weeks. But maybe some bomba rice and saffron? You can't go wrong there. And, if you're a girly girl, some boxes of Maja Powder for you and the grandmamas. All of the Spanish ladies love their Maja. And I do, too.

Now I'm really intrigued. I also don't like things that are too sweet, but find that I can just reduce the sugar in most recipes. Hope PC doesn't mind sharing. Or you, Darienne? But in the meantime, I plan to do some crazy-mad googling.

"Nanaimo" Bars? Are they something you invented and decided to name after the town on Vancouver Island? Or are they something fairly common there and everybody makes them and has a personal recipe? Or do they have nothing to do with Nanaimo BC at all? Regardless, I would very very much love that recipe, if you wouldn't mind sharing. Golly, they look good. And "sweet, chocolatey and oaty" are three of my favorite words!

Another good thing about that slow cooker is that you can just let folks serve themselves right out of it. So, for example that bolognese sauce will stay warm without everyone having to monitor it as closely as they would have to if it were sitting over an open flame.

Yes. I usually do both - add strips of scrambled egg 'omlet' and the beaten egg at the penultimate moment. Probably don't need to do both, but I do. Just habit I guess.

I'm pretty sure it's a regional thing. But I've forgotten which region.

That's terrific, as herbs and spices are expensive. And it's understandable, because most likely everyone that passed through that kitchen brought in a few favorites, which they left behind. But on the other hand, herbs and spices lose potency over time, some more quickly than others. I'd wager that a great many of those in your "massive spice rack" have been sitting there since God was a boy. One of the first things I'd do if I were going to be cooking there regularly would be to go through that spice rack and take inventory. And throw out any that are too old to be of much good. Using old herbs and spices can really undermine your efforts and you won't know why.

As somebody said, good, thick, commercially-prepared Thousand Island is much easier to find than Russian. And as it's basically the same flavor profile, that's what I go with. I like Marie's. That's the thick salad dressing you find with the chilled produce. Someone mentioned Dijon mustard. Particularly interesting to me is the fact that the recipe for the mini-Reubens that I always make for football/Superbowl watching parties (the exact recipe is in one of those "Superbowl" threads, if anyone's interested) call for the traditional Reuben ingredients arranged on slices of party rye bread and then run under a broiler for a few minutes for the cheese to melt. That recipe calls for Dijon. I decided to try it with the more traditional spread for Reubens - Thousand Island or Russian - and it was nowhere nearly so good as with Dijon. I was quite surprised at that. I like my sandwiches much better with the Thousand Island/Russian, but those mini-Reuben bites just didn't come out as flavorful with the traditional as they did with the Dijon. Not sure why, but I think it might be that the mini-Reubens have no top piece of bread, so you've got half as much dressing and you need it to pack more of a flavor punch.