Holiday Porter Cake, Hobbit-Style

Holiday Porter Cake

A recent watching of The Hobbit reminded me how much I love the Lord of the Rings movies.  A couple of Christmases ago I decided to watch all of the extended versions in a row... and not just the movies, but also a Hobbit-style feast to go along with them.  Hobbit culture is all about food - growing it, preparing it, preserving it, and especially eating it.  Heck yes!

Tolkien wrote a passage describing the delicacies that abound in Bilbo's many pantries, and it was from this that I pulled inspiration.  I made scones and jam, an apple tart, drank herbal tea and dark beer (um, not at the same time), and generally reveled in spending the entire day watching movies from the kitchen.  My favorite discovery was this Victorian-Style recipe for Porter Cake, originally from a website called Historical Foods that has since been taken down - I am happy to discover that the full collection is once again available at Recipe Wise: Food In The Hobbit.  Victorian Era recipes are not the easiest sets of instructions to cook from, so I updated it to US measurements and swapped out some ingredients to be more Utah-local.  Did you know that golden currants are a native Utah plant?  You can pick them up fresh at the farmers markets in the summer.  Or plant some!

Winter is the perfect time to use dried and preserved fruits, to make up for the lack of fresh ones available.  Technically, this is a fruit cake.  Before you run screaming, this dark and hearty cake bears zero resemblance to the travesties that are filled with candied neon things. Once you try this, you will never refer to those things as fruitcakes again. 

If, while you are baking one of many Porter Cakes, the last of the baking powder goes into waffle batter, do not go ahead and make the cake without it.  Baking powder is very important.  But eat the delicious waffles first. 

Local highlights:
King's Peak Porter - Uinta Brewery - Did you know that this brewery is solar- and wind- powered?
Black Cherry Mediterranean Market - Where I found the wonderful golden raisins, currants, and dates.  This is a lovely local market full of international specialty goods. Check them out!

Brown Sugar Topping on Porter Cake

Holiday Porter Cake (Hobbit Fruitcake)
Makes 1 cake

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup dried currants
3/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup chopped dates
1/3 cup applesauce (or zest and juice of one medium orange)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cups Porter beer (a bottle minus a couple of sips)

3 eggs, beaten
2 2/3 cup white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground mace

Topping (both optional)
About 1/8 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sliced almonds


DIRECTIONS
1.  Preheat oven to 320 degrees F.
2.  Prepare a cake pan (a 9" round spring-form pan or a 9" square baking dish works well, whatever you cook brownies in is probably good) - line with parchment paper, including the sides.  This helps the cake retain moisture.  Note: parchment paper is *not* the same as wax paper. 
3.  Put the butter, dried fruit, zest, apricot juice, sugar and porter in a large saucepan. Bring it slowly to a boil, stirring until the butter has dissolved, then turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.  (It's okay to put the mixture in the fridge overnight at this point if needed)

4. Stir the beaten eggs into the hot fruit mixture.
5. Add in the flour, baking powder, and spices, and mix well. 
6. Pour the thick batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top to distribute evenly.  Sprinkle brown sugar and/or almonds over the top and press the almonds slightly into the batter.
7.  Bake at 320 for 75 to 90 minutes.  Use the toothpick test to determine done-ness (toothpick will come out clean when it's done).  If the top browns too fast, cover it with foil for the rest of the baking time.

Beer Shakes and Chocolate Ice Cream

Beer... shakes?  That's the response that this phrase usually gets.  YES is the answer.  It isn't complicated.  It's a milkshake, with beer and ice cream.  The art is in the pairing.  Dark beers go perfectly with a rich chocolate ice cream.  Strawberry ice cream with a cherry beer?  I think so, yes.  Making a beer shake is as easy as putting both in a blender, or putting both in a cup and stirring vigorously (careful, beer gets pretty excited and likes to make a mess!).  Our chocolate ice cream below went well with a Uinta Hoodoo Kolsch-style ale. 

Hooray for iPhone cameras!  This beer shake didn't last long.

If you have one of your own wonderful ice-cream making contraptions this is an even more pleasing dish, as this chocolate ice cream is amazing.  Yes, Alton Brown with Food Network again!  Almost 150 reviews, all five stars?  That's the one!

After cooking the mixture, there may be some clumps at the bottom - you can strain these or pretend they don't exist and get out a spoon because they are a delicious taste of things to come.


Chocolate Ice Cream
From the Food Network
Special equipment: Ice cream maker.  A candy thermometer is also helpful.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder, approximately 1/2 cup
3 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
9 ounces sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Place the cocoa powder along with 1 cup of the half-and-half into a medium or medium-large saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine. Add the remaining half-and-half and the heavy cream. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and remove from the heat.

2. In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and whisk to combine. Temper the cream mixture into the eggs and sugar by gradually adding small amounts, until about 1/3 of the cream mixture has been added (this cooks the eggs without having cooked eggs).  Pour in the remainder and return the entire mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon and reaches 170 to 175 degrees F. Pour the mixture into a container and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

3. Stir in the vanilla extract. Place the mixture uncovered into the refrigerator and once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid, cover and store for 4 to 8 hours.

4. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. This should take approximately 25 to 35 minutes. Serve as is for soft serve or freeze for another 3 to 4 hours to allow the ice cream to harden.

5. Mix with a beer of your choice and enjoy!

Brown Gravy from Pan Drippings with Ale and Cider

The perfect accompaniment for roasted meat is gravy made from the pan drippings.  My favorite recipe, below, is from the 1981 Joy of Cooking book.  Besides, what else would you use the pan drippings for?  It's free gravy!  No preservatives and it goes with everything.  This works for roasted chicken, turkey, beef, pretty much any meat that gets roasted.

For this recipe I roasted a small chicken, generally following the Winning Turkey recipe from Thanksgiving.  It did not need thawing and I didn't have a ton of planning time so I put the salt on and let it rest on the counter at the same time for about 45 minutes.  This was enough to give it perfect crispy skin.  I stuffed the cavity with quartered onion and apple, and used apple juice for about a third of the cooking liquid. 

After roasting is when the gravy begins!  Carefully remove the meat from the pan.  That part isn't strictly necessary but it makes it a ton easier to get the drippings out of the pan without trying to tip the pan on its side while holding the hot meat in place.  Place the meat where it will remain hot.

Take out 2 Tbsp drippings and put in a small saucepan.  (Note, SAVE the rest, you will need them too) Using a wire whisk, blend in the flour until the mixture has thickened and is well combined and smooth.  Congratulations, you just made a roux! 

Cook slowly and stir constantly, while adding 1 cup of liquid: as much of the pan juices as possible, plus either milk, beer, stock, cream, or water.  I used 1/4 cup of Cutthroat Pale Ale (mostly for an excuse to open one) and the flavor blended perfectly with the apple-stuffed chicken.  Add an extra Tablespoon of flour to increase the total liquid to 1 1/2 cups - I really like gravy so extra is always good. Add spices to taste, if desired.  The spices will vary depending on what the gravy will be served with.  I didn't add anything extra for this version.

Continue to simmer while stirring until the gravy has reduced a little, then turn off the heat.  It will thicken as it cools. 


Brown Gravy from Pan Drippings with Ale and Cider
from Joy of Cooking, 1981 edition
Makes 1 cup


INGREDIENTS
Pan drippings from roasted meat (as much as is available, up to 1 cup)
1 to 2 Tbsp flour
Additional liquid to make one cup including the pan drippings: milk, beer, stock, cream, or water (enough to make 1 1/2 cups total if you want extra gravy)
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Fresh or dried minced herbs
Grated lemon rind, etc.

DIRECTIONS
1. Remove the meat from the pan.  Place it where it will remain hot.
2. Take out 2 Tbsp drippings and put in a small saucepan.  Using a wire wisk, blend in the flour until the mixture has thickened and is well combined and smooth.
3. Cook slowly and stir constantly and stir constantly, while adding 1 cup of liquid: as much of the pan juices as possible, plus enough liquid to total 1 cup. Add spices to taste.
4. Continue to simmer while stirring until the gravy has reduced a little, then turn off the heat.  It will thicken as it cools.