Fare Exchange: Time for pound cake, potatoes and a potent potable

Jane Henegar

It's May and here we are, full of foodie reasons to give thanks and not quite full of requests. We do need a recipe for lemon bars like those made at the old Gollywhoppers, and one for smoked duck and smoked turkey. And don't forget the plea for Fehn's clam chowder.

Betsy B. Hawthorne wrote, "Since Gollywhoppers closed and reopened, the new owner no longer serves the wonderful lemon bars that Mrs. Duane Hendrix (Durene) used to make. I have searched for the recipe to no avail. Would anyone have it?"

A man we will identify only as Farmer R, who is fast becoming Rancher R as well, is asking for help from those of you who are experts at smoking meat. How does a man, or a woman, smoke duck and turkey?

PEACH POUND CAKE

Margaret McNeil, whose cooking prowess you may learn more about on margaretsmorsels.blogspot.com, was the first to answer the query for a peach pound cake.

"I saw the request for Peach Pound Cake and thought I'd send in a recipe I found, ironically, in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution many years ago. Unlike the recipe mentioned by a former printer at the paper, this one had all the ingredients listed."

And by the way, note Ms. McNeil's easy crock pot potato soup on her blog; canned potatoes and heavy whipping cream are two of the ingredients.

I am guessing here that, until fresh peaches arrive, canned or frozen might work. Just guessing.

Peach Pound Cake

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

3 cups sugar

6 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups peeled, chopped fresh peaches, well- drained

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Fold in peaches. Stir in vanilla and almond extract. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 75 to 80 minutes, or until done.

SCALLOPED POTATOES

Linda Leake sent a recipe for scalloped potatoes in a recent sheaf of recipes from LaFayette, Ga.

Scalloped Potatoes

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons butter

4 cups potatoes, diced thin

1 cup onions, sliced thin

1 cup grated Swiss cheese

3/4 cup milk

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a casserole dish.

Combine flour, salt, pepper and butter. Place half of potatoes in casserole. Sprinkle half of flour mixture evenly over potatoes. Top with half the onion.

Measure half the butter and dot over potatoes. Cover with half the Swiss cheese, and then the remaining potatoes.

Sprinkle rest of flour mixture over all; add onion, remaining butter and Swiss cheese. Pour milk over potatoes. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake about 45 minutes more, until potatoes are tender and lightly browned.

Watch carefully, checking potatoes as they cook.

SPRING DRINK

Here's a lovely drink for warm weather from the Bright School cookbook, "Fork Knife Spoon," a drink credited to Taco Mamacita restaurant.

Strawberry Lemon Mojito

1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

2 whole strawberries, washed and diced

1 ounce simple syrup

6 to 7 mint leaves

3 teaspoons sugar

1 1/2 ounces Bacardi rum

2 ounces soda water

1/2 lemon, cut into quarters

Squeeze lemons into a pint glass and drop the strawberry pieces into the glass. Add all remaining ingredients except rum and muddle really well. Add rum and ice and top with soda water. Stir well. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

TART DESSERT

Another from "Fork Knife Spoon" is also right for the season, a tart made with two kinds of berries.

Berry Tart

1 large (or 2 small) thawed puff pastry sheets

2 1/2 cups raspberries and blueberries

2 tablespoons raw sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1/4 cup apricot preserves

1 teaspoon water

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place puff pastry on a cookie sheet and make fork marks inch around the shape of the puff pastry. Spread berries evenly around on pastry and sprinkle with sugar.

Whisk together egg, vanilla extract and cream. Pour carefully over berries.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Melt apricot preserves with water. Brush over tart and let cool.

GIN AND RAISINS - AGAIN

Today we'll finish the subject of a gin and raisins recipe to help arthritis. It has certainly gotten your attention, and today Clifford Burdette, Anne Cloud and Nancy Seale weigh in for the reader who wanted precise particulars (Is there another kind of particular, I wonder?) for the remedy.

Anne Cloud offered this opinion from home on Signal Mountain: "Does it work? Maybe. Place some white raisins (only white) in a small container. Pour in enough gin to cover the raisins completely. Cover with a paper towel and leave for several days until the gin is absorbed or evaporated, then you can put a lid on the container. Eat nine raisins every day."

Clifford Burdette sent a newspaper column from years ago whose unnamed writer said: "Let me assure you, this does work. It really eases our aches and pains. Some of our readers tell us it's worthless. Without a scientific study, people will have to try to for themselves to see if it works."

The writer cautioned that "those allergic to sulfite preservatives should avoid golden raisins."

Enter Nancy Seale with directions for how to prepare and when to consume.

"I had an older uncle who suggested that I try it for stiffness, swelling and soreness. I bought golden raisins and poured the box of raisins in a quart Mason jar. I poured gin over the raisins, making sure that the raisins were totally covered. In fact, I added enough gin to have about two inches above the raisins to allow for absorption. I let the raisins soak in the gin for two weeks before beginning to eat them. I ate eight raisins a day and shortly thereafter I could tell a difference in the stiffness and soreness in joints in my fingers."

Here's her caution: "I began to have a burning in my stomach after eating them at night. I quit for about a month and then resumed eating. I found that my tummy reacted better when I ate them early in the day and not at bedtime. Also, eat them with food. I do not think the size of the jar matters. What matters is that the raisins are golden raisins and that they are covered with gin."

I can imagine this remedy as a daunting one for the teetotaler who doesn't have gin around the house. Many years ago, one of Chattanooga's best-known preachers found a solution for such a dilemma when a doctor recommended something alcoholic, just a glass at night, for the preacher's wife. The preacher told the elders at his church that he needed the wine or whatever, but he didn't want to be seen going into a liquor store.

When the family sold their home years later, there was still a pantry stocked with alcohol from that one request.

Let's offer a toast, alcoholic or not, to the remedies that help us, the food that nourishes us, and the friends who supply us.