Pecan Torte

Cake:
4 eggs, beaten well
1 lb brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla


Filling:
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons flour
1 cup whipped cream
5 teaspoons sugar
1 cup chopped pecans


Icing:
2 cups sweetened whipped cream
1/2 cup chopped pecans


What we did: Preheat oven to 325°. Grease two nine inch cake pans. Mix ingredients for cake in a large bowl, beginning with eggs and vanilla and gradually beating in dry ingredients and then folding in nuts. Pour into cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

When finished, remove cakes from oven and allow to cool completely, otherwise they will be very difficult to remove from the pan. The layers will be thin, so be careful. To create the filling, melt butter in a double boiler (a regular saucepan will suffice, too). Add flour and whipped cream and stir until thick. Allow to cool before adding sugar and nuts. Then, spread the mixture between the thin layers of cake (again, make sure that these are completely cooled).

Once assembled, prepare icing by mixing whipped cream and chopped pecans. Apply the icing to the top and sides of the torte (or as you see fit) and sprinkle with extra chopped nuts.


The Harvey Way: Ours is the real deal (minus the double boiler), but let us remind you once again to take care when removing the cakes from their pans. Caution will produce the following...

Mayonnaise

1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
a pinch cayenne pepper
1 egg yolk
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 cup oil


What we did: Mix the spices in a small bowl. Add the egg yolk and beat well. Follow by mixing in oil, little by little, until an emulsion is formed. Then, alternate between oil and lemon juice, until both are used up. 

The Harvey Way: Fred calls this mayo; ours looked more like Caesar dressing, so we put it on a salad. 

New England Pumpkin Pudding

1/2 pint cream
3/4 stick butter, melted
5 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 pounds pumpkin pulp
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg


What we did: Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix cream, melted butter, and sugar. Add eggs, beating until smooth. Once fully mixed, add pumpkin pulp and spices. 

Pour 1/4 cup of water into a shallow cake pan. Place a souffle dish inside the pan and pour pumpkin mixture into dish. Place in oven and bake 45 minutes, or until center is firm — to check, insert a knife or toothpick and remove. If the knife comes out clean, the pudding should be ready. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. 

We would've liked this pudding to be firmer. To achieve this, beat the eggs beforehand, as in a souffle. 

What Fred did: Fred's New England Pumpkin Pudding called for the use of a bain-marie, a cooking instrument whose name translates to English as "water-bath." We didn't have one, hence the combination of cake pan and souffle dish. Essentially, the bottom compartment of the bain-marie serves to insulate the contents in the top. 

Fred's suggests that the pudding be served with lemon sauce. 

Want other Thanksgiving recipes from Fred? 

Try these:

CRANBERRY SHERBERT

Place one quart of cranberries in three cups of boiling water and let boil about ten minutes. When the berries are well softened, strain through a sieve. Let one and one half cupfuls of sugar boil twenty minutes in a quart of water. Add one tablespoonful of Knox gelatin that has been soaked in two tablespoonfuls of cold water. When cool, strain and add the cranberries, with more sugar if desired. Then freeze as usual. 

BABY TURKEY A L’ALBUFERA

Singe and clean a baby turkey, stuff with risotto. Place in casserole dish, season with salt and pepper, and cover with water or chicken stock. Add a few sliced vegetables. Slowly poach until tender. Remove and serve on platter. Garnish with crustades filled with mushrooms, diced truffles, cock’s comb, and kidneys, combine with sauce.

ALBUFERA SAUCE: Prepare a supreme sauce using the broth from the turkey and reduce. Add meat extract and finish sauce with sweet butter.

APPLE HORSERADISH

4 ounces grated horseradish 
4 ounces. milk soaked in fresh bread crumbs and gently pressed 
1 tablespoon of sugar
4 ounces grated apples 
2 tablespoons of vinegar 
1 cup of rich cream 
1 tablespoon of salt

CORN CAKE

Mix one cupful of sifted bread flour, one half cupful of yellow granulated corn meal, two level teaspoons baking powder, one-half level teaspoon salt and one rounded teaspoon sugar. Stir in one cup milk, one well-beaten egg and two tablespoons melted butter. Beat thoroughly and turn into greased muffin pans. Bake.

Hot Strawberry Sundae

2 cups strawberries, quartered
four tablespoons Jamaican rum
3/4 cup honey
four tablespoons lemon juice
one orange rind, cut into strips
vanilla ice cream


What we did: Allow strawberries to marinate in rum. 

In a saucepan, bring honey, lemon juice and orange rind to a boil. Then, remove the rind and combine the citrus-flavored honey with the strawberries. 

Scoop vanilla ice cream into a bowl and pour strawberries on top; serve immediately. 

The Harvey Way: This recipe, inspired by a sundae a Harvey restaurant manager tried at the 1933 Chicago World's fair, called for strained honey. These days, most honey is sold pre-strained; back then, Harvey's honey probably included much of the comb, hence the extra step. 

Bacon and Scrambled Rice

1 cup cold white rice 
several strips thick cut bacon
2 eggs beaten well
2 tablespoons milk or cream
tomato sauce (optional)


What we did: We followed this fairly simple recipe almost exactly as Fred designed it. Begin by cooking bacon in a heavy cast iron skillet. Once cooked, remove strips and cook rice in leftover grease, using a fork to separate the grains. 

When rice is hot, add eggs and milk, as if in scrambled eggs. Tomato sauce can be substituted if eggs are not desired.

Once fully cooked, spoon onto a plate or platter and serve with bacon.


The Harvey Way: Just like ours; it's the "novel dish for a cold morning."

O'Brien Potatoes

3 cups Russet potatoes, sliced finely crosswise
1 jar pickled peppers
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter, finely cubed
1/8 cup light cream
Salt


What we did: Preheat oven to 350°


Slice potatoes crosswise, creating very thin disks. Parboil in a heavy skillet, about three minutes. 

Place one layer of parboiled potatoes in a large dutch oven. Follow with a layer of peppers. On top of the peppers, sprinkle flour and cubes of butter. Then, repeat the process, layering potatoes, peppers, and then flour and butter, as one would with scalloped potatoes.

Finally, pour cream and remaining liquid from pepper container over top. Season with salt and broil until lightly browned, about two minutes. Spoon and serve. 

The Harvey Way: We used pickled roasted red peppers, but this dish was prepared originally with what Fred called Jamaica peppers — we think these are Scotch Bonnets, available from speciality stores, and usually not canned or jarred as they seem to have been in Fred's day. 

Rich Raisin Cupcakes

Two cups raisins

Two cups water

Two teaspoon shortening, plus extra to grease the pan

2/3 cups sugar

3 cups all purpose-flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon of cloves

Two cups chopped nuts

Makes a dozen cupcakes or muffins

What we did: Preheat the oven to 350°.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.

Combine raisins, water, shortening and sugar in a saucepan — we used a small Dutch oven for this. Bring to boil and allow ingredients to incorporate for several minutes, stirring frequently.

When incorporated, allow mixture to cool. Then, add dry ingredients slowly, stirring all the while.

Grease a muffin tin with the extra shortening. Distribute the batter evenly, filling each cup a little over halfway. Cook on 350• for about eighteen minutes. Use a fork or toothpick to check that the muffins are finished, and remove from oven. Allow to cool before removing from tin. They should have the look and feel of bran muffins. 

The Harvey Way: Harvey’s recipe called for 1 ½ cups of sugar. We found this to be way too much — nevertheless, these are cupcakes, so if you’re looking to go sweeter, follow the original. Cream cheese frosting wouldn’t hurt.

Fried Chicken, Castañeda

Amended from Dan Tachet, Chef, Castañeda, Las Vegas, New Mexico

1 medium yellow onion, chopped very fine

4 tablespoons butter

¼ cup flour

¾ cup chicken broth

½ cup cream

2 egg yolks, well beaten

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

2 chicken cutlets, sliced at an angle into one inch strips

bread crumbs

2-3 large brown eggs

Vegetable or canola oil

What we did: Place a large, heavy pan over high heat; to test temperature, scatter several drops of water over the pan and see that they sizzle. For this, a nonstick pan would work best. Melt butter and add chopped onion, stir, and then reduce heat. Allow onions to cook until golden, but do not brown. Later, add flour, creating a roux. Let the roux thicken briefly, but be careful not to burn. Add chicken broth and cream. This will create a thick, aromatic sauce, approximately the consistency of a pancake batter. Stir frequently, about six to eight minutes. 

Have both chicken strips and a plate of breadcrumbs nearby and ready. Reserve about ¾ of the breadcrumbs for later. Add egg yolks and parsley to the sauce, stir until mixed, and remove from heat. Immediately, begin dipping the chicken strips in sauce and placing on breadcrumbs, so that they adhere. Sprinkle extra breadcrumbs on top. Allow strips to cool.

Once cooled, dip the strips in beaten egg and again into breadcrumbs (use the rest of the crumbs for this part) Now, the strips should be completely covered and appear much like chicken fingers.

Clean the pan and return to stove. Add enough oil to fill the pan a little over half way. Heat oil until bubbling gently. Using tongs, add chicken strips and reduce heat. Cook until lightly browned — about five minutes — and flip. Before finishing, remove one strip from the pan and slice open; the meat should be a bright white. If pink or grey, return to heat.

When finished, place strips on a plate or platter covered with paper towel. This will help to absorb leftover grease.

The Harvey Way: In order to serve a larger crowd, the original version of this recipe recommends the use of one three pound hen, sliced into pieces about one third of an inch thick. “If handled properly,” the recipe reads, the hen should provide for 10-12 orders. Tachet suggests the addition of tomato sauce and the accompaniment of French peas.