"Newfie" Homestyle Cooking and Baking

[caribougrrl]

Linda made an "Orange Creamcycle" cake for her husband's birthday. She made it yesterday. Her husband's birthday is Tuesday. Just so we're all clear about all the things.



At any rate, I don't think I should worry about it getting stale or anything, because it seems to be packed full of stuff that does not go off:

Orange Creamcycle Cake recipe: I can’t find orange cake mix, so I just use a white and add one pack of orange jello powder, dry to the cake mix. When the cake is done and cooled you can add another pack of jello and add just one cup of hot water, let it cool a bit and poke holes in the cake then pour the jello in. Refrigerate. Topping two pack of dream whip and a pack of dry orange jello. Mix the same as the directions on the dream whip box. It’s delicious and tastes just like creamcycles .

[caribougrrl]

Debbie made a corned beef casserole. When I viewed it on my phone, I figured the photo was pre-baking. I am not so certain anymore.



I mean, on the one hand, it looks not cooked. On the other hand, there is evidence of recent cooking on an otherwise very clean baking dish, roughly mimicking the outline of the casserole.

Reading the comments has not really cleared up the issue of cooked or not cooked. It has, however, introduced some interesting tips for corned beef casserole.
- All is in the recipe is corned beef, potatoes, onions, and salt and pepper
- Gordon makes his just like that except he put a can of gravy on before baking
- Carol makes it just like Gordon except she uses a can of tomato soup
- Donna uses tomato soup mixed with barbeque sauce
- Roger likes to eat this with a big side of baked beans
- Vivianne forgot all about corned beef casserole and is excited to try it on Sunday, maybe with some carrots mixed in
- Emma definitely adds carrots
- NOT ONE PERSON suggested sauteeing the onions before baking

[Run Amok]

I bet linda's hair, nails, and tendons are in GREAT shape. 

[radial]

I bet linda's hair, nails, and tendons are in GREAT shape. 

Yeah, that's a LOT of jello!  I would eat a slice anyway, just for the experience.  But then I ate a pan full of sautéd cicadas once just for the experience. 

[ihop]

A lot of jello.  What is dream whip?  It is fake whipped cream?  Also, I am curious about the texture of the cake and the frosting.  Huh.

[caribougrrl]

Dream whip is like powdered cool whip.

[bookworm1]

Newfoundland seems to be a strange and inscrutable place.

[onawhim]

I both want and don't want to see what that cake looks like on the inside so so badly

[caribougrrl]

Newfoundland seems to be a strange and inscrutable place.

inscrutable is an excellent word for this place

[caribougrrl]

Canned corned beef was popular this weekend.

Susan made meat cakes.

I cook mashing potatoes. Let them get cold. About 6 potatoes. A can of corned beef hash. Mash it in the potatoes. Fry an onion. Mix that in. You can use an egg to hold it together. Make into balls & flatten. Then fry till there browned. There crispy that way.

Dorothy made a corned beef casserole, kind of like Debbie's from earlier in the week, except she added shredded cheese, peameal bacon, and what I think might be cheese strings.
(uncooked)

(cooked)

[seattlegirl]

I'm starting to think that Newfoundland might be in the midwest... 

[caribougrrl]

I'm starting to think that Newfoundland might be in the midwest... 

white rural north american cuisine... but, plus cod tongues

[caribougrrl]

so, for balanced reporting, here are some things I think of as actual regional foods... but would be interested to learn if they show up in other places:

Three-Bun Bread - I mean, it's just regular home made bread, but cooked as three small loaves in one loaf pan, which I have not encountered anywhere else, but is the default here. No one bakes it as a single loaf. The best part of three-bun bread is the tipping slice, which is when you get the last part of one bun and the first part of the next bun in the same slice. I will fight you for the tipping slice.


Pan-fried Cod Tongue - Exactly that, the tongue from the cod. Traditionally, split cod was salted and dried and sent overseas as an export. So   it was rare to eat fresh filleted cod, because that would eat into your profit (or, more likely, slow the rate at which you repaid the company store).  Heads and entrails were kept, entrails to fertilize the garden, heads for the soup pot. Before the soup pot though, the tongue and cheeks were removed for eating. Even now, if you hire a kid to fillet cod for you after a day of fishing, it's courtesy to let them keep the tongue and cheeks if they want them. If you go on a cod fishing tour, filleting is usually part of the service. If the skipper is doing the filleting, it's okay to ask to keep the tongues and cheeks... if it's hired out to a kid on the wharf, you should give them first refusal. Commercial fish plants will package the tongues and cheeks separately, so you can also buy them for sale in grocery stores. All that said, I don't like cod tongue. They've got a weirdly gelatinous texture, and when you fry them, they puff up like they are trying to say something and it just puts me off.


Salt Fish Cakes - In Newfoundland, these are made with salt cod (or a mix of salt cod and fresh cod), potatoes, and dried savoury. If there is no dried savoury, they are not "newfoundland" fish cakes. Typically served with mustard pickle (mixed veg sweet pickles in mustard sauce).


Toutons - These are fried bread. Like bread dough, shaped into disks and fried to cook. Fry in rendered pork back fat*. Served with molasses. Maybe molasses butter if you are fancy.


*speaking of pork back fat, this is a major condiment in traditional Newfoundland cooking... cube brined back fat, render the fat out, leaving behind a pile of crispy squares of pork scrunchions... spoon hot fat and crispy scrunchions over pretty much anything that includes cod (salted or fresh) and either potatoes or hard bread... maybe sautee some onion in the fat first, if you are fancy




stay tuned for fish and brewis when I find a good photo...

[seattlegirl]

None of those dishes made it to my part of rural Wisconsin.  The Jello salads, "goulash" and various casseroles do seem familiar, though.

[diablita]

All so fascinating 'bou.  Thanks for sharing that.  The tipping slice sounds fight-worthy.  I bet I'd love it. 

When my sisters and I share a black & white cookie, one sister gets the chocolate side, one the vanilla and I like the thin sliver from the middle where they meet.

[witchypoo]

i agree that cod tongues have a strange texture.  and three bun bread (though i can't say i ever heard it referred to as such) does provide the maximal crumb to crust ratio.

[Chasing Amy]

I never knew cod had tongues. Huh.

[radial]

I don't like cod tongue. They've got a weirdly gelatinous texture, and when you fry them, they puff up like they are trying to say something and it just puts me off.

[Magic Microbe]

Newfoundland seems to be a strange and inscrutable place.

Its a lot like the church recipe books I have from North Dakota in the 1950s.

[ihop]

Right?