From neworl Fri, 26 Aug 1994 14:16:16 CDT remote from mintir Received: by mintir.new-orleans.la.us (1.65/waf) via UUCP; Fri, 26 Aug 94 14:16:17 CDT for elendil Sender: neworl@mintir.new-orleans.la.us To: "New Orleans Mailing List" From: rex!media.mit.edu!mbl Reply-To: "New Orleans Mailing List" References: <9408261640.AA13147@media.mit.edu> Message-ID: Date: Fri, 26 Aug 94 12:40:42 -0400 Organization: Minas Tirith BBS (Public Access Usenet for New Orleans) Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Calas X-MailServer: Waffle File Server (WFS), Release 3.0.2 X-Article: 226 >> Talk about coincidence... yeah, let's! i was wondering the other day about what to do with a huge tub of rice that was left over from my dinner-party gumbo the other night, and i remembered that recipe from... >> my special edition Times Picayune Creole Cookbook... ditto. >> my TPSI cookbook is... in Massachusetts... oooooo eeeeeeee [scary music]. MINE TOO! ah, but so am i, so here's the recipe. half a page of Calas history is left out for the sake of my fingers. Calas "Belle Cala! Tout Chaud!" Under this cry was sold by the ancient Creole women in the French Quarter of New Orleans a delicious rice cake, which was eaten with the morning cup of cafe au lait. The "Cala Woman" was a daily figure on the streets till within the last two or three years... 1/2 Cupful of Rice 3 Cupfuls of Water, Boiling 3 Eggs 1/2 Cupful of Sugar 1/2 Cake of Compressed Yeast 3 Tablespoons of Flour 1/2 Teaspoon of Grated Nutmeg Powdered White Sugar Boiling Lard [YIKES!] Put three cups of water in a saucepan, and let it boil until hard. Wash a half a cup of rice throroughly, and drain and put it into the boiling water. Let it boil until very soft and mushy. Take it out and set it to cool. When cold, mash well and mix with the yeast, which you have dissolved in half a cup of hot water. Set the rice to rise overnight. In the morning, beat three eggs thoroughly and add to the rice, mixing and beating well. Add a half cup of sugar and three tablespoons of flour, to make the rice adhere. Mix well and beat thoroughly, bringing it to a thick batter. Set to rise for fifteen moniutes longer. Then add about half a teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, and mix well. Have ready a frying pan, in which there is a suffiecient quantity of lard [NO!!!] boiling for the rice cakes to swim in it. Test by dropping in a small piece of bread. If it becomes a golden brown, the lard is ready, but if it burns or browns instantly it is too hot. The golden brown colow is the true test. Take a large, deep, spoon, and drop aspoonful at a time of the preparation into the boiling lard, remembering always that the cake must not touch the bottom of the pan. Let it fry to a nice brown. The old "Cala Women" used to take the Calas piping hot, wrap them in a clean towel, basket or bowl, and rush through the streets with the welcome cry "Belle Cala! Tou Chaud!" ringing on the morning air. But in familys the cook simply takes the Calas out of the frying pan and drains off the lard by laying in a cloander or on heated pieces of brown paper [Paper towels are fine in lieu of brown paper.]. The above quantity will make six cakes. Increase in proprtion. [more history and background, including rice cakes made with more flour and which are not true Calas, deleted] -- from the "Picayune's Creole Cookbook" N.O. Times-Picayune (c)1901-1987 by the T-P (reprinted by Random House in 1987) damn people wrote long, boring recipes before they had TV to fulfill their lives! ;-) as always when using recipes from 1901, replace lard with vegetable oil, season to taste, etc. enjoy! (i've never tried this, BTW, but i might do it tonight to finish off all that rice and have something with my cafe au lait in the morning.) Marc ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Marc LoCascio + mbl@media-lab.media.mit.edu Young Chang R&D Institute + locascio@pan.com Waltham, Mass. + marcl@ycrdi.com