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RECIPE ROUNDUP
Make It Pop with Soda
By Shannon Oelrich
Soft drinks can add a special flavor to a dish that nothing else can impart. It’s that “sparkle” from the carbonation, along with a drink’s signature flavor. A lemon-lime soda can add extra punch to a citrus recipe; cola can add a caramel flavor; and root beer can add a mix of tastes that’s completely unique.
Chef Martha Hall Foose says, “Root beer is an effervescent blend of infusions and extracts slightly fermented to produce carbon dioxide. Sassafras roots and bark, dandelion, wild cherry, burdock, spruce, wintergreen, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and anise are flavorings found in root beers.” Root beer makes a sweet glaze that complements the saltiness of ham in the following recipe from Foose’s soon-to-be-published book, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook (Clarkson Potter, April 2008).
Foose penned this book to share her wealth of knowledge in baking and Southern cooking. The Mississippi native studied pastry in France before beginning her career at a renowned bakery in Los Angeles. She has worked for The Pillsbury Company in Minneapolis and has cooked in restaurants from Austin to Burlington, Vermont. She is now the executive chef of the Viking Cooking School in Greenwood, Mississippi, her home town.
BARQ’S ROOT BEER GLAZED HAM
1 whole or butt end, bone in, “city” cured ham
1 can root beer
2 cups root beer glaze (recipe follows)
Whole cloves
Heat oven to 250 degrees. Line a large roasting pan with foil. Place ham in roasting pan fat side up for shank end or whole hams or cut side down for butt end hams. Add 1/2 cup root beer or enough to cover bottom of pan by 3/4 inch. Let sit a while to come to room temperature. Tent ham loosely with foil. Bake undisturbed until thermometer inserted in center reads 110 degrees (1 to 3 hours depending on size and cut of ham.) Meanwhile, prepare glaze. Remove ham from oven. Increase oven temperature to 325 degrees. Pour off accumulated pan juices and reserve for sauce. Cut away excess fat. Score ham in diamond pattern. Spread glaze over scored surface of ham. Insert whole cloves at intersections of cuts.
Bake at 325 degrees until center temperature reaches 120 degrees, approximately 1 hour. Let ham rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.
Root Beer Glaze
1 cup root beer
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Simmer stirring often over low heat 10 minutes until a thin saucy consistency. Use to glaze ham. Pour accumulated ham juices into saucepan of glaze. Return to a simmer and cook until thickened. Defat and serve as a sauce with ham.
Note: A “city” ham is smoked and wet cured. A “country” ham is dry cured and smoked. Steer clear of hams that have been injected with saline or other additives. These are sometimes labeled “water added.” Look for a ham that has the majority of its fat cap intact.
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HOME COOKING
Recipe Contest Winner: Laurie Dopson, CoServ Electric
Prize-Winning Recipe: Cocoa and Cola Cake
You can tell a really good recipe by how popular it has become, and the Cola Cake leads the pack! We received more than 25 similar recipes for it. If they differed, it was in the directions, as most of the ingredients were the same. Some people added their baking soda to their buttermilk first; others melted the margarine in the cola. Most of the icings were boiled and then poured over warm cake, but we were able to choose our winner on this point. Laurie Dopson uses a creamed icing, rather than a boiled one, and the testers preferred it.
We also got tons of recipes for Cherry Cola Salad and Apple Dumplings (made with citrus-flavored soda). You can find versions of these below.
COCOA AND COLA CAKE
Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons cocoa
2 sticks margarine, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup cola
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9x2-inch pan. In medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and cocoa and set aside. In large mixing bowl, cream margarine and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla and mix. Add flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk; blend at low speed, then beat 1 minute at medium speed. Add cola and blend well. Stir in marshmallows by hand. Pour into greased pan. Bake 40–45 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool about 30 minutes, then spread with icing. Serves 20.
Icing
1/2 cup margarine, softened
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup cola
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans
Cream margarine with powdered sugar and cocoa; add in cola and beat until smooth. Spread on cooled cake and sprinkle with pecans.
Serving size: 1 piece. Per serving: 430 calories, 3.3 g protein, 20.2 g fat, 59.9 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 189 mg sodium, 21 mg cholesterol
Cook’s Tip: Be sure your baking soda is fresh. If you think the box has been sitting in the cupboard for a while, transfer it to the fridge to soak up odors and buy a fresh box for baking.
COLA COOKIES
Cookies
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cola
Cream brown sugar with margarine and butter; beat in egg until fluffy. Stir in baking soda, salt, flour, vanilla and cola. The batter will be stiff. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper (or coat with spray release). Drop dough by teaspoons onto prepared sheet. Bake 6–8 minutes. Ice when cooled. Makes about 40 cookies.
Icing
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cola
1–2 tablespoons water
Cream butter and powdered sugar; beat in cola and water to desired consistency.
Serving size: 1 cookie. Per serving: 111 calories, 0.7 g protein, 4.7 g fat, 16.1 g carbohydrates, trace fiber, 67 mg sodium, 12 mg cholesterol
Idell Brimer, Farmers Electric Cooperative
SLOPPY JOE SANDWICHES
1 medium onion
1 pound ground beef
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
2/3 cup ketchup
3/4 cup cola
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon dry mustard (or 1 tablespoon prepared mustard)
Salt and pepper to taste
12 hamburger buns
Chop onion and brown with beef in skillet. Drain excess fat. Mix remaining ingredients well, then add to beef, cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Serve on buns. This is best the next day after all the flavors have melded. Makes 12 sandwiches.
Serving size: 1 sandwich. Per serving: 230 calories, 11.6 g protein, 6.7 g fat, 28.6 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 587 mg sodium, 25 mg cholesterol
Susan Head, Wood County Electric Cooperative
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WEB-ONLY BONUS RECIPES
CHERRY COLA SALAD
1 can (1 pound) dark cherries
1 large can (1 pound, 4 ounces) crushed pineapple
2 small packages (3 ounces each) cherry-flavored Jell-O
12 ounces cola
1 cup of pecans
1 cup of marshmallows
Drain juice from canned fruit into a measuring cup, then add enough water to make 2 cups. Heat juice to a boil. Add Jell-O, stir until dissolved. Let cool to room temperature. Add cola and fruit. Pour into 1 1/2-quart mold or pan. Refrigerate until firm.
APPLE DUMPLINGS
2 cans crescent rolls
2 green apples (peeled, cored and cut into 8 pieces each)
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
12 ounces citrus soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1 apple piece in each triangle of dough. Roll up from large end to small end. Place dumplings in large dish. Melt butter and mix with cinnamon and sugar. Pour mixture over dumplings, then pour citrus soda around dumplings (not on them). Bake uncovered for 40 minutes.
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RECIPE CONTEST
The June recipe contest topic is RUBS. How do you prepare those super fresh veggies plucked from the garden or purchased from the farmers’ market? The deadline is MARCH 10. The top winner will receive a copy of 60 Years of Home Cooking and a Texas-shaped trivet. Runners-up will also receive prizes.
Send recipes to Home Cooking, 2550 S. IH-35, Austin, TX 78704. You may also fax them to (512) 486-6254, e-mail them to recipes@texas-ec.org, or submit online at www.texascooppower.com. Please include your name, address and phone number, as well as the name of your electric co-op.
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