Date I made this recipe:
September 4, 2017 – A tribute to a funny food writer
Caramel Knowledge –
Bostess Bupcakes, Peanut Butter Coffee, Herring in a Cloud, Wienie Zucchini,
and More Food and Culinary Musing for the Twisted Mind (Expanded Edition)
by Al Sicherman
Published by Harper & Row, Publishers
0-06-096232-1; © 1988
Recipe: Black-Bottom
Banana Cream Pie – p. 128
First, some of you may not be old enough to get the pun in
the title: Carnal Knowledge was a 1971 movie starring
(singer/songwriter) Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margaret, Jack Nicholson, and Candice
Bergman. The story takes place at Amherst College
That's about all I know of this movie (thank you, internet)
but I do recall that the movie raised eyebrows, even back when it was released
in the free-wheeling 70's.
Second, the writer of today's featured cookbook, "Caramel" Knowledge, Al Sicherman,
passed away last week and I am really sad about this. In observance of his passing, I give you this
cookbook.
"Uncle Al," as he was known, was a food columnist
for the local newspaper, StarTribune. Well mostly food. Sometimes he included stories about other
things: Hmmm, I wonder who that remind
me of?
Al's columns were hilarious.
I used to just laugh out loud when I read them, probably because I
always felt we shared the same perspective of things which is to say, if
something went wrong, surely there was a comedic moment to mine; Al did a lot of mining.
During the course of his 26-year tenure with the
"Strib," Al wrote two columns, his main one, sample titles of which
you will see below, and a second one, "Tidbits," and authored two
books, Caramel Knowledge and Uncle Al's Geezer Salad. The Strib noted that even after Al retired
from the Strib, he continued to write the "Tidbits" column until
2016. Very impressive, Al!
All this from a man who started his career as an electrical engineer!
True story.
I'm very happy that Al switched careers (engineering was
apparently not for him) and got a masters in journalism so he could go on to
write his column. And while I enjoyed
his "Tibits" column, a column where he commented on new food products,
it was the longer column that drew me.
Caramel Knowledge
is a curated collection of Al's columns.
Like the book's title, the chapters are equally hilarious and often
tongue-in-check. Here's a sampling of
his narrative style:
"Carrots,
you will no doubt remember hearing, are supposed to give you good
eyesight. I can attest to the truth of
that contention. I was always able to
spot carrots being prepared – even at very great distances – and try not to be
home when they were finally served."
His "chapter," Popovers (and Bagels) is funny
because of the ending(s), titled "Follow-Up;" "More
Follow-Up;" "Still More Follow-Up," and "Final
Follow-Up."
Uncle Al was very thorough.
Right from the start, the book's Table of Contest gives us a
glimpse of more humor to come.
- "Using Up Parsley"
- "Things That Go Bump in the Oven"
- "Food for the Twisted Mind"
- "Great Culinary Expectations"
- "An
Here though, are some recipes that I thought worthy of my
time:
- "Chocolate Bread Pudding" – p. 14
- "Eggplant Casserole Deluxe" – p. 27
- "Cornbread-Topped Bean and Bratwurst Bake" – p. 34
- "Mocha Brownies" – p. 35
- "Six-Legume Soup" – p. 53
- "Arroz Con Pollo" – p. 182
- Herring in a cloud (of blended sour cream and yogurt) – p. 135 (from the Food In A Cloud chapter). Cloud or no cloud, I don't "do" herring.
- Kippers (Cured herring. Brits eat it for breakfast – gaaaaa!) – p. 187 (from the chapter, A British-Mystery Dinner. How appropriate as it remains a mystery to me why the Brits enjoy the food they do!)
- Steak and Kidney Pie – p. 189 (same chapter above) Never, ever.
- Spirals of Starch (lasagna noodles + mashed potatoes + cheese + butter) – p. 212 (from the chapter, Food for the Twisted Mind) These ingredients would be fine if sold separately but not so much when combined.
- Cold Lime Cream Soup – p. 216 (from Great Culinary Expectations) Maybe it's just me, but the "lime" in this equation is a record-scratch moment. Now, lime and tequila, that's another story!
I am happy to report that the recipe we selected, "Black-Bottom
Banana Cream Pie" (p. 127-128), was delicious. This might have been the first time I ever
made the "cream" portion of a cream pie and was very happy with the
outcome even though I had way more filling than I had room; my finished pie
looked like a volcano!
Although this recipe is fairly easy, it will take a bit of
time to assemble as you have to melt the chocolate, scald and add some milk,
then eggs, then mix again, etc. but it was worth it. The only minor critique I have is that I
pictured the chocolate layer mixing in with the banana cream layer for some
total creamy goodness but that is not what happened. After refrigeration, the chocolate layer sort
of separated from the banana layer and so I felt like I was eating two
different desserts, not that I cared but that's what it felt like.
No worries. We love
bananas, we love creamy custard fillings, and we love chocolate. I could have
done without the pie crust but that's just me:
I'm also a person who prefers frosting over cake, no apologies.
In conclusion, you were a good man, Uncle Al, and I'm glad I
purchased your cookbook a long time ago so I had it at the ready to pay you
tribute. And how fitting really, that
your book's title is Caramel Knowledge, seeing as how my
last attempt to make caramel went haywire, leaving me with scars. After the
tears were gone though, I laughed about the incident because as you know, food
and kitchen disasters can be funny.
Really funny. Thanks for sharing
your humor with us.
Black-Bottom Banana
Cream Pie – makes one 9-inch pie; serves 6-8
Bottom Filling:
1 ½ one-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate (Ann's
Note: A while back, baking chocolate
makers switched from one-ounce squares to ¼ ounce squares. Although I am often math-challenged, this
means you will need 6 of these little squares!)
6 tablespoons milk (Ann's Note: You'll also need another 2 ½ cups milk for
the filling)
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 baked 9-inch pie shell
Banana Filling:
½ cup sugar
6 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups milk
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 ripe banana's (or bananas)
½ cup heavy cream, whipped
Prepare the bottom filling:
Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan; set aside. Scald the milk in a saucepan. (Ann's Note: To
scale milk, bring milk to a near-boil (i.e. bubbles start to form), then pull
it off the stove.)
In a mixing bowl, beat together the egg yolk, sugar,
cornstarch, and salt. Gradually beat in
the scalded milk.
Pour the mixture into the saucepan in which the milk was
scalded and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard is
smooth and thick – don't boil it. (Ann's Note:
It seemed to take an awfully long time to thicken this mixture. What felt like days was probably 10 minutes;
be prepared!)
Stir the melted chocolate and spread over the baked pie shell.
Prepare the banana filling:
Combine the sugar, flour and salt in the top of a double
boiler over boiling water. Gradually
stir in the milk and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is
thickened. Cover and cook 10 minutes
more, stirring constantly.
Beat the egg and egg yolk and beat in a small amount of the
hot milk mixture. Lower the heat under
the double boiler so that the water stops boiling.
Pour the diluted egg into the hot milk mixture, stirring it
in rapidly. Allow the mixture to cook
over the hot water for two minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the butter and
vanilla. Cool.
Slice 1 banana and arrange on the chocolate layer. Immediately slice a second banana into the
warm custard mixture and pour into the shell.
(If you wait a long time before you cover them, the first banana slices
will darken.) Chill.
Just before serving, whip the cream and pipe or spoon it
over the top of the pie.
Slice the last banana and arrange the slices around the edge
of the pie, inserting them into the whipped cream at a slight angle. Serve immediately.
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