Posted on: Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Readers respond and ask questions
By
Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Columnist
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We like to keep the flow going both ways, with readers both asking questions and providing answers. Here's a quick download.
Requests include:
Hau'ula bakery bread pudding: Vernetta Memea recalls a bakery at Hauula Shopping Center that made what she considers "the best bread pudding ever. To this day, everywhere I go, I always buy bread pudding trying to find that same taste — and have not tasted any that is close to that one. I don't know who owned the Hau'ula bakery, but their bread pudding had a crispy outer layer like a pie, and the inside was so soft and fluffy that I have no idea how they could bake a pie like crust that was so delicious ... Can you help?" I imagine the only ones that can help would be the past owners or bakers at this establishment. Anybody got any info so I can try to track them down?
Noninstant pudding, buffalo meat: Anybody know where a reader can reliably find old-fashioned mix for cooked pudding and/or buffalo meat? I know I've seen it but can't recall where.
And readers have offered help, too:
Overcoming beet hate: Nancy Nuli wrote to offer a gelatin salad that overcomes the inhibitions of those who don't care for beets. I haven't tested this, just passing it along. She said it's been in their family for years: Pineapple and Beet Jell-O salad: Drain into a measuring cup one (20-ounce) can of crushed pineapple and one (15-ounce) can of shoestring beets. Make one large package lemon Jell-O according to package directions, add water to pineapple and beat to achieve the amount of called-for liquid. Pour Jell-O into a bowl or baking dish. Add the beets and pineapple and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Refrigerate until firm.
FYI on ingredients: A reader kindly e-mailed to say she has been able to find instant lemon pudding (necessary for the lemon ice cream bars recipe that ran — corrected — last Wednesday; find it on www.honoluluadvertiser.com in the Jan. 14 Taste section) at Don Quijote in Kailua.
And, back in 2006, I wrote a little item about bamboo rice — short-grain rice infused with the woody and nutty flavor of bamboo — in a story about chef Joey Macadangdang, then at Maui's Pineapple Grill (now at Roy's). He made a memorable bamboo rice risotto. The rice wasn't widely available then, but an anonymous reader writes to say that he has found it at Kokua Market and Huckleberry Farms, selling for $5 to $7 per pound. You can also find it online at www.americanspice.com for $3.47 a pound, but the shipping would almost certainly bring it up to the retail price here.
Looking for blood sausage? Alberta Mendez, a former Islander who lives in San Bernardino, Calif., was so 'ono for the blood sausage she buys from KTA on the Big Island whenever she visits there, that she wanted to see if she could mail-order it. Tom Asano of Kulana Foods said they do ship blood sausage by FedEx both to the Neighbor Islands and the Mainland. If this Portuguese-style acquired taste is on your delicious list, contact Asano at 809-640-8317 or e-mail tom_klanafoods@hotmail.com.
Portuguese cabbage update: A reader named R. Gonda e-mailed to say that the Oahu Urban Garden Center has a monthly plant sale, and they have Portuguese cabbage (in Portuguese, couves tronchuda; in Latin, Brassica oleracea, var. costata. Gonda bought a couple but was wondering how long the cabbage would last, and how to propogate it. I called my brother, the source of all my meager garden wisdom, and he said "You just broke 'em." In other words, when the cabbage begins to get tall and leggy, strip the leaves down to a half dozen or so at the very top; leave about a foot of stalk in the ground (it will come out in leaves again) and take the broken-off piece and stick it directly into good, well-nourished planting soil and keep it watered (but not drowned), and it will grow. No need to soak in water first to cause it to root; it will root right in the soil. To keep your couves growing, pick larger green leaves from the bottom before they turn yellow and wither.
Send recipes and queries to Wanda A. Adams, Food Editor, Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Fax: 525-8055. E-mail: wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.
For more information about our 150th anniversary cookbook, call 535-8189 (message phone; your call will be returned). You can order the cookbook online.
