ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 25, 1996 TAG: 9612260011
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: HOLIDAY
COLUMN: Du Jour
At some point or another, probably everyone has learned the lesson that patience pays. That was certainly the case for Bernice Eubank of Roanoke, who in November 1994 sent out a request to readers asking if anyone had a recipe for Jezebel Sauce. All Eubank could remember was that it contained crushed pineapple and horseradish.
No readers responded, but I kept the request on file. Then, one recent day while trying to hone my ability to find food subjects on the Internet, I decided to search for the elusive sauce and guess what? I found a recipe for Jezebel Sauce (see Page 5).
Eubank, who is 81, said that for the first 70 years of her life, nothing but mint jelly would suffice as an accompaniment to lamb. But once she tasted the sought-after Jezebel Sauce, all that changed.
"Would you believe, only yesterday I bought some lamb chops?" Eubank asked when told that the elusive sauce recipe soon would be published. Rather than wait any longer, she got a pencil and jotted down the ingredients over the phone.
An Internet search also yielded a recipe for Snickers Candy Bar Cake, which reader Kathy Costigan of Roanoke only had to wait for since September. Actually, the version Costigan wants has caramel ice cream topping poured over it, but if she's got the time and patience to do a little experimenting, the recipe printed here should work out nicely.
Reader Mary Key of Roanoke said she hadn't lost patience, even though it took me five months to find a mint jelly recipe she requested in July. Key said she had mint growing everywhere and thought she'd make use of it. She'd originally hoped to make red and green jellies for Christmas, but she said with a laugh, considering the timing, "There's always St. Patrick's Day."
Actually, the delay wasn't entirely my fault. I had no mint jelly recipes on file and had to find some from outside sources. Jennipher Lommen, owner of Passionflower Herb Nursery in Christiansburg, got her recipe to me by mid-August, but Ball's canning instructions didn't arrive until early September.I really appreciated Lommen being so diligent, what with just having birthed son Zia on July 2.
"We've now done A to Z," Lommen quipped, referring to her husband, Tom Nelson, and the names of their new son and his 3-year-old sister, Acacia.
Lommen said that Passionflower, site of a popular Renaissance Faire in previous years, is moving toward becoming an all-herbs nursery. It plans to present in May a Spring Festival, with lots of emphasis on using herbs for crafts and cooking, to replace the previous faire.
Lommen said that although hardly anything salvageable is growing in gardens at this time of year, she does have fresh mint growing in the nursery's greenhouse. She also suggested that reliably fresh dried mint probably can be found in health food stores, but she said she wouldn't use the dried mint in supermarkets for making jelly. Passionflower can be reached at 382-2653.
I thought that time- and patience-pressed cooks probably would like a quick, easy, inexpensive recipe for Tomato-Bacon Rabbit that I recently received from a public relations company. Except the dish contained no "rabbit," so why was it so named? Again, a little patience paid off. Brona Cosgrave, director of member services for the Kentucky-based International Association of Culinary Professionals, explained that the suspect word is a Welsh colloquialism that is actually pronounced reb-bit. Speaking with a lovely lilting accent, Cosgrave said that she grew up in Ireland, where rabbit was frequently "thrown together" at the end of a long day. She said she was thrilled to have recently discovered in local supermarkets an English toasting bread on which to serve the cheesy topping. The denser, weightier bread closely resembles the dish she was accustomed to at home, Cosgrave said.
Mary King Rapoport, consumer affairs/educational director for the Virginia Egg Council, recently sent in a recipe for Fresh Fruit Fruitcake that requires a little time and patience to make, but she assures that the end product is worth waiting for. If you find yourself strapped for a last-minute "little gift," you might copy Rapoport's cute idea to encase flavored or coated nuts - she made meringue-coated almonds - in colored plastic wrap and placed them in a bright red cup decorated with a red poinsettia and red bow.
Finally, if WVTF radio's public service/promotions director Jeff Hunt can be patient a little longer, his quest (since July) for a recipe for the now-defunct Davis Pizza may soon find fruition. Lance Copperman, Davis Pizza landlord/owner, said it's doubtful that the popular grease-engorged pizza will return. But he promised to try in the near future to duplicate the formula and let me publish it so that readers, such as Hunt, can try their hand at recreating the pizza at home.
As this newspaper's food editor, I get lots of calls and letters requesting or sharing favorite recipes. And even though I can't always process them right away, they are noted and appreciated because they reflect what interests our readers. So don't give up, and don't stop writing. It may take awhile, but your patience eventually will pay off.
recipes for:
MINT JELLY I
MINT (OR HERB) JELLY
COCONUT POUND CAKE WITH COCONUT FROSTING
LIGHT AND CREAMY TOPPING
FRESH FRUIT FRUITCAKE
TOMATO-BACON RABBIT
SNICKERS CANDY BAR CAKE
JEZEBEL SAUCE
DuJourruns occasionally in the Extra section. If you have an interesting food item or event, tell us about it. Write to DuJour, c/o Features Dept., The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010.
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Tomato-Bacon Rabbit makes for a time-saving dinner.by CNBThe recipe and others can be found on Pages 4-5. 2. Coconut Pound
Cake with Coconut Frosting is an elegant favorite.