88-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 11,2003
If you are looking for a recipe but can’t find it, send
your recipe request to Lou Ann Good, Cook’s Question
Comer, in care of Lancaster Farming, P.O. Box 609,
Ephrata, PA 17522. There’s no need to send a self-ad
dressed stamped envelope. If we receive an answer to
your question, we will publish it as soon as possible.
Check your recipe to make sure you copy the right
amounts and complete instructions for making the reci
pe. Sometimes we receive numerous answers to the
same request, but cannot print each one.
Answers to recipe requests should be sent to the same
address. You may also e-mail questions and answers to
LGOOD.EPH@LNPNEWS.COM
QUESTION Sandra Smith is looking for a
recipe for potato skin soup.
QUESTION A steady reader wants to know
how to make natural vinegar, which is a vinegar
that gets a “mother” in it. Is there a place to
buy such vinegar?
QUESTION Jane Freed, Mertztown, wants
a recipe for making homemade sauerkraut to
can. She wants two methods: the one that fer
ments in a crock and the one packed in quart
jars.
QUESTION A reader wants lowfat recipes
and diabetic recipes that other readers have
tried and liked.
QUESTION A reader wants a recipe to
make raisin bran muffins in which the mix can
be refrigerated up to 30 days and used when
needed.
QUESTION A Narvon reader writes that
she accidentally discarded two recipes, which
she had clipped from this column, that her fam
ily really liked. One recipe was for waffles, and
the lady who had submitted it wrote that she
sold them at a stand when she was young. The
other recipe was for biscuits that used cold
butter cut into the flour. Anyone know to which
recipes she is referring? Please send in to be
reprinted.
QUESTION - Pat Elligson, Millers, Md. f
wants a recipe for good, moist old-fashioned
fruit cake that is thick with fruit and nuts.
QUESTION June Martin, Oxford, N.J.,
wants a recipe to make venison hot dogs.
QUESTION - Frank Bonk, Perth Amboy, N.J.,
wants to know where to find fresh killed geese
and goose livers. If we do not receive an an
swer to this request within two weeks, we as
sume our readers do not know the answer and
will drop the request.
QUESTION - Nina Biddle, Tyrone, has iden
tical recipes for sugar cookies, one using Pil-
Isbury flour and the other Gold Medal. Why do
they taste differently if the identical ingredients
are used? If we do not recieve an answer to
this request within two weeks, we will drop it.
ANSWER A Lancaster County reader want
ed a recipe to make homemade cream cheese.
Thanks to Holly Lutz, Jonestown, for sending
two different recipes.
Homemade Cream Cheese
1 tablespoon sour milk or buttermilk
2 cups whipping cream
Mix 1 tablespoon sour milk or buttermilk into
2 cups whipping cream and let set at room tem
perature (in a warm spot) for 1-2 days, until it
gets thick. Now the sour cream has to be
heated to 35 C (90F) for about 30 minutes for
the whey to separate from the curds. The best
way to accomplish this is to heat on the stove
to 50 C (115 F), turn off the heat, and pour sour
milk into a bowl with the cream. Make sure milk
does not get too hot or it will be dry and crum
bly.
After about 30-45 minutes, line a sieve with a
cheesecloth (which has been rinsed with cold
water and wrung out). Place the sieve on top of
a bowl and carefully ladle the cream into it. The
whey drips in the bowl. Now knot the ends of
the cheesecloth together and hang over bowl
for about 2 hours. What’s left in the cloth is
now cream cheese. Don’t pour away the whey.
It contains lots of vitamins, minerals, and some
protein. It can be used instead of water for
bread baking, for waffles or pancakes.
Homemade Cream Cheese
1 gallon whole milk
1 quart cultured buttermilk
Vs teaspoon salt
Pour milk and buttermilk into a large pan and
suspend the thermometer in the milk. Cook
over medium heat, stirring occasionally until
temperature reads 170 degrees.
Keep the mixture on the heat and the tem
perature of the milk between 170-175 degrees.
After 30 minutes, the mixture should start to
separate into curds (the lumps) and whey (the
liquid).
Line a strainer with several layers of moist
ened cheesecloth and set it inside a large bowl
to lift the curds from the milk mixture and lay
them in the cheesecloth. Pour the remainder of
the whey through the cheesecloth and save the
whey for other recipes.
Let curds drain at room temperature for 2-4
hours. Remove the cheese from the cheese
cloth and place in blender with the salt. Blend
until creamy.
Store the cheese into small containers with
tight fitting lids and refrigerate. Cheese can
also be frozen, thawed, and beaten again in
blender until creamy.
ANSWER Because of early deadlines for New
Year’s Day, the B-section was printed early re
sulting in many soup recipes reaching us after
it was printed. But we know you love soup and
this is the time of the year when you are
searching for soup recipes. Here are some
yummy ones from our Priscilla Engle.
Italian Sausage Soup
(Treat the Teachers)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Vs pound hot Italian sausage
1 tablespoon oregano, fresh is best
1 pound mild sweet Italian sausage
t tablespoon basil
2 onions chopped
1 tablespoon parsley
1 green pepper chopped
Salt to taste
4 cups beef broth (I use canned if I have no
stock)
Pepper to taste
1 Vi cup red wine (red table wine)
1 (8 ounce) box corkscrew pasta
8 ounce can tomato sauce
Parmesan cheese, grated
28 ounce can tomato puree
Remove skin from sausage, crumble and
saute in a large heavy pot until brown. Drain.
Add the onions and the peppers, and saute
until tender, but don’t let it get mushy. Add
broth and red wine; and bring it to a boil. Add
everything but the pasta. Cook uncovered for
an hour on low. Add the pasta last with about
15 minutes to go. If it is too thick add a cup of
water. Serve with the grated parmesan on top.
This feeds about six people, but I think it
may only feed four hungry men. Serve garlic
bread or sticks with this meal.
Chincoteague Clam Chowder
On Bayfront Lane
This one takes a while but it tastes great by the sea
when you have just “key holed” a couple plus dozen
hard clams.
Let your fresh clams set in a bucket of water
to siphon out the sand.
You need 5 dozen clams. 3 dozen if you have
found larger clams. It all adds up to 3 cups of
chopped cooked clams.
Steam them (My Chincoteague neighbors re
ally boil them in an inch of water), remove them
from the pot and let them cool. Remove them
from their shells. Chop the clams and remove
the yellow snouts. Sit this in the refrigerator.
Save the broth and strain it through two lay
ers of cheese cloth. This is the true taste of the
true Chincoteague Chowder so they have told
me.
Other ingredients:
3 cups cold water (for the steamer)
8 tablespoons butter
1 large chopped onion
3 stalks diced celery, leaves and all.
Pinch of thyme leaves if you have it in your
spice patch! Dry will do.
3 tablespoons unbleached flour
3 large potatoes diced to the size of a dime
2 cans evaporated milk
2 cups half and half
2 cups broth from clam steamer
Fresh ground pepper
Salt if you want it (Chincoteague clams are
salty)
In another pot, not the steamer pot, melt but
ter over a low heat, add the celery and onions
and saute them. They should be soft and not
mushy. Don’t let them brown. Add the flour and
stir making sort of a lumpy roux. Slowly add the
reserved strained broth about 2 cups worth.
Stir. Add a cup of regular water. It should be
getting thicker. Add the potatoes. Reduce heat.
Cook potatoes until soft. Last add the clams
and the evaporated milk and half and half. Cook
carefully for about 5 minutes and do not let it
come to a boil. Season with pepper.
If you want it thicker, make another roux by
mixing 8 more tablespoons butter and 3 table
spoons of flour in a separate pan and keep add
ing it until the chowder is thick enough.
Buck and Barley
(Qlory View Buck) (It was a 9-pointer!)
2 quarts of water
Vfe cup barley, uncooked
1 onion, diced
1 cup of diced celery
1 cup of finely diced carrots
2 large cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of parsley
2 vegetable bouillon cubes or beef if you pre
fer
Salt and pepper
1 pound buck I use small stew scraps and
sometimes 4 chops
If chops are used they must be removed from
the pot deboned and chopped up. One pound of
the buck is needed as long as it is not ground.
Put all ingredients in the pot.
Boil for 30 minutes. Check for doneness of
the barley! Serve and enjoy.
Here are some favorite recipes from Linda
Matyas of Chilly Creek Farm, Bloomsburg.
Linda’s Country Soup
1 pound chopped beef or beef cubes, cut up
small
2 medium onions, cut into pieces
6 fresh carrots, peeled, sliced
1 package frozen com (canned vegetables if
you have salt)
2 stalks celery, cut up (you can include the
tops —very healthy)
1 large can V-8 Juice, or use plain spaghetti
sauce
Va head green cabbage, cut up
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 tablespoon tarragon
2 tablespoons parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste
Brown the meat and onions in a large soup
pot. Add everything else. Let it cook on low to
medium for a couple of hours, until meat is ten
der and cabbage is tender. It may be served as
is or with potatoes that have been cubed and
cooked; noodles may be added also. No fat:
very healthy and everyone loves it.
Linda's Cream Of Mushroom Soup
1 box fresh, sliced mushrooms (it's a time
saver to buy sliced but you can slice whole
ones
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Va cup butter
Milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed in 1 cup
water, stir well to remove lumps
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown mushrooms in soup pot with butter
and onion. When onion is transparent, add
enough milk to cover all; add nutmeg, thicken
with cornstarch mixture; add salt and pepper to
taste.
Leek And Potato Soup
3 leeks, cut into slices
4 potatoes, skinned, cubed
4 cups or more chicken broth
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
V* cup butter
Melt butter in soup pot; brown leeks; add
broth, potatoes, and herbs. Simmer until ten
der.
ANSWER Debbie Mullinix, Woodbine, Md.,
wanted the exact recipe for Jell-0 jigglers
made with liquor. Thanks to Holly Lutz, Jones
town, for sending several recipes.
Margarita Knox Blocks
1 large box lime Jell-0
1 package Knox gelatin
2 cups boiling water
% cup cold water
Va cup Rose’s lime Juice
Va cup Tequila
Va cup Cointreau
Stir boiling water into Jell-0 and Knox gelatin
until dissolved; add cold water and lime Juice.
Allow to cool a bit before mixing in the Tequila
and Cointreau. Pour into pan and chill until set.
Cut into blocks to serve.
Blue Margarita Jell-0 Shots
1 large box lemon Jell-0
2 cups boiling water
Va cup lime juice
3 A cup cold water
Va cup Tequila
Va cup Blue Curacao
Stir boiling water into Jell-O until dissolved;
add lime Juice and cold water. Allow to cool a
bit before mixing in the Tequila and Curacao.
Pour into pan and chill until set. Cut into
squares to serve.