My mother and her creative food 'substitutions' - historic syllabub with mum's interpretation
By Boingboing
@boiboing (13153)
Northampton, England
December 23, 2015 5:28am CST
My mother will be doing a buffet on Christmas eve for the family, her neighbours, and her friend Sue. Regulars will know to take care before they dig in to some of her favourite dishes as they might not be what they look like. I refer especially to mum's syllabub dessert which tends to look a lot like taramasalata.
Syllabub is an historic alcoholic cream-based pudding that's been around for many centuries. I first had it as a child on a camping trip on the south coast where the local farmers wife sold it to unsuspecting campers. I'm sure I shouldn't have been allowed to eat it but perhaps the alcohol content was toned down for family use.
A classic syllabub consists of whipped cream, sugar and booze. Normally the booze is sherry or white wine but my mother never has sherry in the house and so, on a number of occasions, has made another of her creative 'substitutions' and used Port instead of sherry.
This produces a dish that looks entirely like the pink Greek fish roe based dish called taramasalata. It has caught out many buffet grazers at mum's house.
For those who are tempted to ask me what the heck a syllabub is, I've attached a recipe from the BBC Good Food website - I hope you can see it. If you're tempted, it's not a bad way to whip up a light but very indulgent pud with a potential kick.
Recipe uses 275g/9¾oz caster sugar, 3 lemons, rind and juice only, 275 ml/9¾fl oz sherry or wine, 150 ml/5¼fl oz brandy, 725 ml/1 pint 6fl oz...
7 people like this
5 responses
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
23 Dec 15
"the pink Greek fish roe based dish called taramasalata" - it's there in the text.
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
23 Dec 15
You'll find Taramasalata explained in the ever-helpful Wikipedia. I'm a little surprised that the Greek name seems to predominate, since I'm sure that something similar has been done with fish roe all over Europe (apart from eating it as it is, like caviar).
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "Tarama" redirects here. For the village in Okinawa, see Arama, Okinawa. For the song by Eggstone, see Vive La Différence!. Taramasalata A plate of taramasalata garnished with cucumber, oliv
2 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104632)
• United States
23 Dec 15
Hopefully her regulars also know that it is not always about the looks but about the taste. Does it taste too awful in comparison? Though I would enjoy seeing the faces of those who might have thought it was a different sort of pudding or potato dish even!
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
30 Dec 15
thanks, never heard of any of that, but the Russian food roulette sounds funny
@HebrewGreekStudies (1646)
• Canada
25 Dec 15
I have a very difficult time cooking-but I am kinda creative...last week I cooked chicken with Maple Syrup:). Um, it wasn't good:/.