"Chicken" Salad

Long after the special dishes and tablecloth were put away, a carcass with a lot of turkey remained.  My favorite use of these leftovers has always been turkey stew, but turkey salad is a close second!  This recipe comes from Granny, who always called it chicken salad - except when she made it with turkey.  However, even then, she would say, "I'm using that chicken salad recipe to make my salad."  I once asked Mom whether chicken salad had ever been made and she assured me that she often had chicken salad for lunch while growing up.  While in college, I made it with a can of chicken that I had laying about.  (The Miracle Whip should be significantly reduced when using canned poultry.)  Granny's chickens were snatched right off of the roost!

I likely wrote this recipe down when I was in college and in the possession of canned chicken.

Turkey salad was always made a few days after Thanksgiving (or Christmas.)  My first real memory of it being made was when Sandy and I were fairly small.  Max, my grandmother's German Shepard was scrunched beneath the kitchen table in the house on Cherry Street in Middlesboro.  To mince the meat, Mom and Granny used a pewter-colored, hand-cranked grinder.   The old refrigerator, which is in my basement and still runs, has "zones."  One of these undocumented zones will allow meat to almost freeze.  Chunks of turkey were placed in these zones and then were ground.  In retrospect, I think the meat may have been easier to grind that way.

My little Cuisinart makes short work of this job!

Granny would feed the grinder while Mom cranked.  Sandy sat with Granny's big blue bowl on her lap catching ground turkey.  Her feet may have been holding Max at bay.  (Max was the most awesome dog.  He was one of Sheena's puppies, stole toys from kids in the neighborhood, and adored Fig Newton cookies.)  In hindsight, I'm not sure why we did not put him on the back porch.  Evenings were Max's time to visit in the kitchen, so perhaps that is why. Needless to say, the floor was spotless around the grinder.

Only green olives and sweet gherkins (midgets were preferred.)

 I remember peeling eggs.  I also remember Mom chopping eggs, celery, pickles and olives super finely too.  I don't remember them being ground up, but they may have been!  I'm really lazy and I have a Cuisinart so I chop mine finely there!
 

Turkey, eggs, celery, olives, and sweet pickle.

Though I am certain that real mayonnaise was used when I was growing up, I don't remember any recipe that required anything but Miracle Whip.  I'll even admit that I did not realize they were different products until I was nearly grown and made something that required real mayonnaise, and I was sad to discover the two items are not interchangeable.

Add Miracle Whip a bit at a time.

Add a bit of salt and some Miracle Whip.  Then mix.

Now, I do enjoy my kitchen gadgets and toys.  However, when it comes to mixing, nothing beats clean hands!  A food processor will turn this into turkey glue.

Use your hands!  Seriously!

The turkey salad will absorb some of the Miracle Whip, but more is easier to add than it is to take it back out.  Once everything is well-mixed, put it in a covered bowl and let it rest for a few hours.

Resting in the bowl.

Sometimes, it would be molded by the bowl and served with Keebler Club Original Crackers.  Other times, we would have it on toast with tomatoes, etc.  In either case, it is just plain yummy.  (There are some rebels among us who like this on Ritz crackers, but I've always believed that nothing tastes better when sitting on a Ritz.  Nothing.)

Thanksgiving Salad

Thanksgiving Salad is on the plate with green olives and cranberry sauce.

Happy Thanksgiving 2014!  As you can see, I made most of the traditional items.  Needless to say I will be eating leftovers all week.  Most of the food pictured pre-dates Mom, Sandy, or me.  Thanksgiving Salad does not!  My sister may know the history of this recipe, but I am not certain from where it came.  It materialized on Mom's table shortly before I went to college and became an instant hit!

Granny always made a citrus salad, which I love, and a Waldorf salad, which I never found to my taste.  Citrus salad is easy to make.  A can of pineapple, supreme an orange, peel and chop an apple, slice a banana, and add some pecan pieces.  Mix and let it set in the fridge for a few hours.  Refreshing and delicious.  It was one of the first holiday dishes that I learned to make.  (I really should make it again.  Perhaps at Christmas!)

Daddy never liked Citrus or Waldorf salad due to the nuts in them.  He liked the Thanksgiving salad though.  We all did, and it became part of the table tradition!  I remember the first year that I had it.  Mom cooked, we ate, and then...we started to decorate for Christmas.  Mom was determined to deck the halls the day after Thanksgiving that year for some reason.  Thanksgiving day was chilly, but the following day was very cold.  While hanging decorations outside, we would dash inside to warm up, and I kept eating spoons of Thanksgiving salad on these breaks.

It's easy to make.  Here are the specifics.

Pineapple, Carrots, Sugar, Gelatin, and Water.

Add roughly two cups of canned, unsweetened, crushed pineapple, 2 cups of grated carrots, two packets of unflavored gelatin, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup of water to a pot.  Heat until mixed and bubbly stirring often to keep anything from sticking.

All mixed up

Once it starts to bubble and boil, turn it to a simmer and allow it to cook until the carrots are tender.  This will take about 20 to 30 minutes.

I need my timer.

Stir often to prevent the mixture from sticking.  Once the carrots are tender (but still have some bite to them,) turn off the heat and add two 8 ounce blocks of Philadelphia cream cheese.

Stir, stir, stir.

Mom's recipe says to mix the cream cheese with the whipped cream until it is creamy and then add to the carrot/pineapple mixture.  I simply dump the cream cheese in the hot pot and let the heat melt it while I stir.  Using my spatula, I smash up the clumps until it is creamy.  Then, add 2 cups of whipping cream.

Whipping cream added.

Now gently stir until everything is of an even consistency.  Scrap the sides to make sure that everything is well-mixed.  Then just pour it into a 9 x 13 glass dish.  (Obviously this could be halved and poured into an 8x8 pan.)

In the glass dish.

Using the spatula, evenly distribute everything and cover it with plastic wrap.  (I have yet to keep the plastic wrap from touching the salad.  It's my yearly game.)  Place in the refrigerator overnight.

I make this most years now.  An amusing side note: Every single person to whom I have served this has said, "This is more like dessert."  Then they take a second bite and a third.  I've had several people who return to join for Thanksgiving dinner.  Every single one of them asks, "We are having that white salad, right???"  I say, "Oh...well, sure.  For dessert."  I get this silent, dead stare until they realize that I am joking.  It continues to be a fun tradition that is clearly my own.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Granny's Fruitcake

In the days before malls, once Thanksgiving had passed, Christmas would appear almost overnight.  We knew this because a heavy box with a huge tin would arrive.  Inside, wrapped in foil, was brandy-soaked cheesecloth containing Granny's fruitcake.  This fruitcake was very moist, dark, and heavy.  There was only enough cake to hold the fruit together.  Mom and I could not wait to eat a bite, but a bite was all anyone could eat!  It's very rich. 

Freshly Baked Fruitcake Loaf

When Granny passed, the era of fruitcake went with her.  Mom did not make them - perhaps it is because they were so closely associated with Granny.  I also think other factors were involved.  First, fruitcake has a huge list of ingredients.  Secondly, it is expensive to make.  Third, one should start fruitcake in mid-October.  (Some people make them years in advance!)  Last of all, it needs 100 proof apple brandy.  (Just try to find the stuff!)

The thought to make fruitcakes would hit Mom about mid-December.  I guess she never thought to make them for the following year.  One year, she made a cookie called "fruitcake bites."  They were not bad, but they are a far-cry from Granny's fruitcake.  In retrospect, it was amusing to watch Mom dribble brandy on them!

This recipe has three different hand-annotations.  The misspelled words I believe are mine!

I'm sure that Mom knew how to make fruitcake, but I believe that, like me, she had not ever made them on her own.  Unlike me, I do think she made them with Granny a lot when she was younger.  Once, I helped to make them when I was in college and Granny was in Lafayette in October.  By "help," I used my hands to mix everything under the supervision of Granny while Mom lined pans.

Why I decided to make fruitcake this year bewilders me.  I just wanted to have it this year for Christmas.  So, in October, I started to collect ingredients.   It was obviously late in the year when I actually made the fruitcakes.  To be honest, the job suddenly felt overwhelming due to lack of clear directions.  For example, I decided that candied pineapple should be used, but I was not certain when I started.  I could not find it grated, so ended up cutting it up the best that I could.  (I'm still not 100% certain about the pineapple, but know it would not have been fresh and I believe that canned pineapple would mold.)  I decided this past weekend to simply go for it.  

These two pictures are the extent of the directions.

I started with the fruits and nuts.  They needed chopped.  As I chopped and chopped, I realized that my largest mixing bowl would not be big enough.  A quick flashback reminded me that we mixed everything in Mom's huge roasting pan.  I have an enameled dish pan that I've used in prepping veggies for canning, so that is what I used.  When purchasing ingredients, I was unsure what kind of nuts to use.  Granny bought mixed nuts in bulk, and we spent hours cracking and picking nuts until we had 2 pounds of nutmeats.

I ended up using a mix of pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts, and Brazil nuts.  I also remember that Granny did not use green candied cherries.  The dates and figs that she used came in a small, wrapped packages and felt more wet than what I found.  Granny used dark raisins only whereas I had a raisin medley on hand.  Once everything is chopped, I mixed the nuts and fruits until all was evenly distributed.

Dried Fruit and Nuts mixed.

The wet ingredients and the flour filled my largest mixing bowl.  I should have made sure that the butter was softened, before adding sugar, spices, butter, jelly, molasses, brandy and buttermilk.  Mix it well.  Then mix in the six eggs.

Making the batter base.

 Next, add the flour in two batches and mix until smooth.  I do remember that Granny never wanted to "work the flour too much."

Adding flour to the batter.

Then add the batter to the fruit and nut mixture and mix by hand until everything is coated.  The recipe says to line pans with wax paper and "double-strength brown paper."  I honestly remember using brown paper grocery bags!  I do not have a pan as big as Granny's fruitcake pan.  Plus, I wanted to make smaller fruitcakes as gifts.  So I used disposable, brown-paper loaf pans.  I baked at the suggested 225 degrees Fahrenheit.  With the smaller size, I kept testing the cakes and may have gotten them a bit overdone.  These baked for just under 3 hours.  There are 12 fruitcakes in total.

Amoebic-shaped Fruitcakes

After they cooled, I removed them from the paper loaf-pans and placed them on brandy-soaked cheesecloth.  Using a basting brush, I coated them with brandy.  (For the 12 cakes, I milked the dregs of an entire pint of brandy.  And I will need more to "feed" them every 3 or 4 days as they "age.")  I could have used much more brandy here.  (If I make these again, I will use more cheesecloth and fifth of brandy instead of a pint.)

Adding more brandy to the fruitcakes.

Once they were coated in brandy, I wrapped them tightly in foil.  I will flip them every day until the third or fourth day when I coat them with more brandy. 

I know the recipe used here came from Grandma Dora.  She loved dried fruits and had a huge round table with glass balls in eagle talons that sat in the corner of her dining room.  (Mary Jane, Granny's older sister, got that table and gave it to her son.)  At Christmastime, Grandma Dora always received a platter of dried fruit from her nephew Charlie Fuller.  The platter came with a "holiday" prong.  Mom always thought it was quite elegant.  Sometimes, I wonder if Grandma Dora did not make fruitcakes to use the leftover dried fruit.

All in all, the fruitcakes were very time consuming, but were not difficult to make.  If they are yummy, I will definitely reconsider why I never made these for Mom.  I would have loved to have surprised her with one.

[11/27/2014 Update: These little fruitcakes and gulped down more than a fifth of brandy at this point.]

[1/1/2015 Update: A friend teased that she was arrested for DUIF (Driving under the influence of Fruitcake.)  I'll make them a bit earlier next time!]