Since I’ve decided to pretty much boycott watching television in the evenings, except for Leave it To Beaver and M*A*S*H reruns - BUT not before I thank President Obama for finally ending The Chimp’s War on Science by undoing a 2001 Bush directive that banned federal funding for stem cell research - I’ve been spending that time baking and reading more.
Also due to my previously mentioned “foodie tendencies” and my current search for the perfect Lane cake recipe, I stumbled upon a Lesson Plan for teachers recently created by the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in, where else, New Orleans, Louisiana http://thebigreadnola.com/lesson-plan.pdf.
In the Lesson Plan's Foreword, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is mentioned as “a classic example of a great Southern novel filled with culinary information.” It was then that I remembered Harper Lee’s character Maudie Atkinson and her Lane cake, the one with the alcohol kick so powerful that another character, Scout, remarks "Miss Maudie baked a Lane cake so loaded with shinny it made me tight" (Shinny being a slang term for liquor).
I dug out my copy at home and sure enough, Harper Lee breathed life into her characters with food, in fact 52 foods - all Southern favorites - are mentioned in the book like ambrosia, fried chicken, collards, peach pickles, turnip greens, crackling bread, etc. No wonder I loved this book so much, I was a foodie before I even knew what a foodie was!!!
Basically, a Lane cake is a type of white sponge cake made with egg whites that consists of four layers filled with a mixture of egg yolks, butter, sugar, raisins (sometimes coconut and chopped nuts), and whiskey. The cake is frosted with a boiled, fluffy white frosting made of water, sugar, and whipped egg whites and typically served (in the South) at birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and other special occasions. The recipe was first printed in Emma Rylander Lane's cookbook "Some Good Things to Eat," which she self-published in 1898.
So ya’ll should thank Rush Limpbrain for my foray into the Southern culinary world, if it weren’t for him becoming the Leader of the GOP (couldn't have happened to a nicer guy!) I wouldn’t have turned off the tube and took up reading the book again.
Two guesses what I'm making for dessert at Easter?
1 comment:
My mouth is salivating just thinking about your cake. I understand you make kitty litter cakes too! What a woman!
As a reading teacher in a past life, I have tons of lesson plans. Let me know what you need.
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