Date I made this recipe:
December 16, 2015 – Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party
Published by: MFA
Publications, a division of the Museum
of Fine Arts , Boston
ISBN: 0-87846-5596-6
Purchased from Barnes and Noble Used Books, Roseville , MN
Recipe: Tangy Bourbon Mixed Nuts – p. 158
I must say, the artwork on the cover of this book – artist Mary Cassat's "The Tea,"
cracks me up. I mean, look at how
refined these ladies look, how proper (please note the pinky pose). I'm pretty sure the Boston Tea Party– as in
the tossing of tea over the sides of ships –
242 years ago, was not this refined.
I studied a lot of history back in the day, first in high
school and then in college (it was my second minor), but you know, this is one
of those events that didn't stick with me even though it should because without
it, we wouldn't have separated from Britain and gained our independence a few
years later. At least I know that much
even if specific details are sketchy.
What I do know for sure is that tea was involved. The Brits do so love their tea, celebrating
it daily. There's your regular tea time
(not to be confused with golf tee times), and then there's also high tea which
I gather is a big event, featuring fancy sandwiches and fancy desserts and fancy
whatnots and tea that is brewed the right way which is to say the British way
of using scalding hot water and letting the tea steep. The use of something so gauche and common
Lipton's tea bags is highly frowned upon.
In the U.S. ,
we have never been a nation of using scalding hot water, perhaps in defiance of
the British rule, and after the famous McDonald's scalding hot coffee lawsuit,
you would be hard pressed to find many restaurants that will do justice to a
"cuppa." And even coffee and
tea establishments have dared to serve lukewarm tea and coffee which is a
mortal sin (I'm pretty sure) given that's what they do all day. In fact, the cups from one of the local
places I frequent says "Our coffee is always hot" and I just want to
impress upon them the danger in making false claims because my coffee is not
always hot. If it was, I wouldn't have a
tongue left, but details, details.
I don't generally drink tea because it is hard to find decaffeinated
tea that floats my boat out there in the world at large. Sure, there are your herbal teas, but frankly
drinking some of them is the equivalent of sucking on a rose bush and that
won't do. Recently though, I found some
decaffeinated green tea and so have been drinking that from time to time
although I can't say I do somersaults over it.
But then again, I'm the gal who grew up drinking Lipton so what do I
know?
So anyway, here is your historical recap of the auspicious
Boston Tea Party: three ships moored in the Boston Harbor lost their tea
supplies in a taxation protest, the Boston Tea Party became famous as did
"rogues" like Samuel Adams (he of beer fame!) and Paul Revere, our
country embarked on a course of independence, Boston became famous for tea and
lovely museums and beautiful scenery and eventually, the Boston Red Sox and the
Green Monster, and all was well with the world.
I love it when things work out this way (although I am a lifelong Yankees
fan – sorry, Boston ).
Now then, in addition to tea recipes and instructions, this
book contains recipes for tea sandwiches, tea breads, all kinds of sweets as
well as a section for potpourri which is where I found this nut recipe. I decided on something simple and nutty
because having just put on our annual holiday bash, I was not in the mood to
make (sandwich) spreads or sweet treats so these nuts seemed like a nice
compromise. All the recipes sounded good
and looked pretty easy so if you are in a sandwich or sweet kind of mood, there
are plenty of recipes from which to choose.
And then there's the artwork – drawings, photos, clay
figurines, etc. – that are fun to look at.
My favorite though, has to be the very unique tea table found on page 6.
The wooden table is carved into 16
resting spaces for a tea cup and saucer.
It looks like a pool table only smaller and without holes – very
clever! Plus, it's sort of the precursor
to the cup holder in our cars so there's that.
As to the making of the nut mixture, let's just say it was
as rife with peril and injury. First,
let me share that while making some holiday cookies, I had to shell quite a few
pistachios and a good portion of pistachios flew all over my kitchen while
doing so. I was quite peeved and vowed
to buy them shelled ("Give me shelled or give me nothing") from now
on. Plus, I shredded a few fingernails
and well that irks, doesn't it?
Weeks later, I made this recipe for mixed nuts and the
recipe had two main steps. First, I was
to boil some water, add the nuts, then cook the nuts for 1 minute. And then while I was boiling the water, I
decided to start step 2 which was to reduce ¼ cup bourbon to 3 tablespoons and
I did that, no problem.
So I turned off my gas burner where the bourbon once boiled
and then tried to add the nuts to the boiling water on the next burner, but my
bag broke and nuts scattered all over the floor and all over the burner I had
just turned off. But I forgot this
important detail and so started grabbing nuts off the burner and of course
burned my hand in the process. And then
hopped up and down on top of the nuts that fell on the floor, thereby crunching
them. Meanwhile, the pot kept boiling
away, just waiting for me to get my act together from my near-emergency. It was a total comedy of errors moment if
there ever was one.
So I stuck my hand under cold water for a couple of minutes
(thankfully, it didn't blister) and then got a broom and swept the floor, then
stuck the remaining nuts into the water, boiled them for a minute, took them
off the stove, strained and drained them and then went to my computer to tell
my good friends, The G's, the latest saga of Woman versus Nuts. It's a TV show in the making.
Now then, if you survive the boiled nuts portion of our
program, the rest of this recipe is easy.
You mix part of the coating (sugar, bourbon, Worcestershire sauce,
Angostura bitters* and corn oil) with the nuts, bake that mixture for 35
minutes, then roll all that in cumin and cayenne pepper and salt and pepper. And...done!
And now a few words about Angostura bitters. A few drops of this concoction is added to
drinks like Manhattans and since only a few drops are needed in drinks like
that or recipes like this, I did not want to buy an entire bottle because I
know it would sit and sit and sit.
Instead, I went online and found a recipe that most closely approximates
what you need and will post it below.
Basically, you combine either rum or vodka with a few spices added to it
and then some lemon or orange to add more flavor. And I must say, it worked out pretty well and
I saved myself a couple of bucks to boot!
And since the tea party was all about saving money in the
form of no taxation, I think that is a fabulous way to show my support all
these 242 years later. I am just that
kind of patriot. And this is a really
good mixed nut dish.
Enjoy your tea party!
Tangy Bourbon Mixed Nuts – Yield: 4 cups
1 pound unsalted assorted nuts
¼ cup bourbon
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon Angostura bitters* (Ann's Note: see recipe below)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon corn oil
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
*To make your own bitters, take 1-2 tablespoons of vodka or
rum and add a sprinkling of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and mace. Then add finely diced lemon or orange peel,
or, in the alternative, a splash of orange extract (I had this on hand). The recipe I found also said to add finely
diced prunes but I didn't have any. If
you are really in a pinch, you can just add more Worcestershire but I wanted to
at least attempt to make this on my own and did. (Recipe adapted from one I found on ehow.com)
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