Thursday, February 6, 2014

February is Cherry Month; Chef Ron Duprat

Chef Ron Duprat
Duprat is a restauranteur, cookbook author and humanitarian. He was born in Haiti, and cooks with a French-Asian fusion flair. You may know him from his appearance on Top Chef. His humanitarian causes include Haiti disaster relief, ending childhood obesity and the Black Culinary Alliance. His cookbook is My Journey of Cooking.

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Celebrate February with cherries! (Because of the story of Washington chopping down a cherry tree?) However it came to be, cherries are a delicious and healthy fruit, rich in antioxidants. They probably become a bit less healthy once you put them in desserts. (But we'll pretend we don't know that.)

One of the recipes that was in my paternal grandmother's recipe box was for "Dump Cake." I've recently seen ads for a dump cake cookbook, and had to laugh at this "new" way of making cake because Mabel's recipe for it is an old one. Because this recipe has been around for such a long time, it's one of the ones you make get more than one of when you call out for recipes. One way to make sure everyone is acknowledged for their contributions is to include a contributor's index. For instance, if you have a contributor's index, and you get 3 recipes that are all the same (or maybe have slight variations), your index could read:
Dump Cake: Johnson, Nancy; Smith, Mary; Smith, John -- 32
And then with the recipe itself, if there's a variation to the ingredients, add it as a recipe note with whose variation it is.

Dump Cake
Ingredients:
1 can cherry pie filling
1 can pineapple chunks, drained
1 box yellow cake mix
1 C. melted butter or margarine
1 C. flaked coconut
1 C. chopped walnuts

Directions: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spread pie filling evenly in the bottom of a greased 9x13" pan. Arrange the pineapple chunks over the cherries. Sprinkle with the cake mix. Pour melted butter over the cake mix, and top with coconut and nuts. Bake for 1 hour or until done.
Notes: John Smith's version of this recipe uses pecans instead of walnuts.


From my dad's mom's box. Note the use of "oleo." How many young people today would know what that is?
Be sure to include a "translation" for younger generations.


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