Speedy's Cafe - General Chat about anything you like!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I believe that the baked-beans-on-weekends tradition comes from the prohibition against working on the Sabbath.  You could mix up all the ingredients in a stoneware pot and set it on the hearth the night before, where it would slowly cook itself (the original crockpot dinner).

 

Added:  Or maybe not.  (See my later post.)

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Sabbath being Sunday isn't it? Here it's Saturday that was bake bean night.

[Undead Medic]

Sabbath being Sunday isn't it? Here it's Saturday that was bake bean night.

 

I believe it is a Jewish tradition, and the Jewish Sabbath is on the Saturday, and by orthodox beliefs all manner of work on the sabbath is forbidden, including such things as switching on lights and cooking meals.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Okay, got ya. Didn't see baked beans in Israel so didn't know that's where they came from.

[Undead Medic]

It may not be where the dish itself originates (I believe that may be the US), but the tradition of not cooking on Saturday sounds Jewish inspired to me.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Rural New England when I was growing up were small family run farms. There was church on Sunday for those who had the inclination to go, but even Sunday's were working days. Cows to be milked, hayed, mucked out and such. Saturday night was just Baked Bean night. It still is around our house any way.

[Carol the Dabbler]

It may not be where the dish itself originates (I believe that may be the US), but the tradition of not cooking on Saturday sounds Jewish inspired to me.

There are also some Christian denominations (e.g., Seventh Day Adventist) that keep the original Sabbath (i.e., Saturday).  The tradition of Sunday as the Christian holy day apparently derives from Easter being a Sunday.

 

But I have no idea why the current baked-bean night would be Saturday.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Maybe I should research it.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I've just checked where I thought I'd read about it originally, in Mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook, and the "Boston Baked Beans" recipe there actually says:

 

Really "Indian" Baked Beans, as they were originated by the Indians 3 centuries ago ... baked in earthen pots as we bake them today.  In early New England, they were traditional Saturday night fare.

 

So either I misremembered where I read it, or I misremembered what I read -- sorry!  Hearth-baked beans would certainly work as a no-work Sabbath dish, though.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I did know that the natives grew them, one of the Three Sisters. The custom must have been transported to England, not the other way around.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I was pleasantly surprised just a few years ago to realize that persimmon pudding, a dessert I've enjoyed all my life, is a handed-down native recipe.  It's fairly similar to Indian pudding (which you're probably more familiar with there in New England, Fox), in that it's stirred occasionally while baking, and ends up with a thick-porridge consistency.  But the ingredients include American persimmons, the small local cousins to Asian persimmons or kakis.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

It's fairly similar to Indian pudding (which you're probably more familiar with there in New England, Fox), i

 

  Oh yes, even had Indian Pudding ice cream. Love the stuff but it takes hours to make. Will have to look up your persimmon pudding. Then hit the grocery store to see if they carry the little fruits.

[sherlockandjohn]

Benedict Cumberbatch with an American accent in 'The Whistleblower'... Just watching it now... It doesn't sound right

[Carol the Dabbler]

Oh yes, even had Indian Pudding ice cream. Love the stuff but it takes hours to make. Will have to look up your persimmon pudding. Then hit the grocery store to see if they carry the little fruits.

I promise you, they don't. Groceries don't even carry them here, mostly because they don't keep. The only options hereabouts are to collect your own (if you have some trees or know someone who does) or keep your eyes open in the fall for roadside signs saying "Persimmon Pulp." (The latter is much easier!)

 

Even though the trees should be hardy in your area, they're not native. You might be able to mail-order the frozen pulp, but I'm sure that would cost you dearly.  So -- your best and possibly only bet would be to use Asian persimmons from the grocery store. The flavor isn't as strong, but if they're good and ripe, they should work. Of course, they're not cheap, either, and you'd need a pound of pulp, probably about two pounds of the whole fruit.

Then there are the recipes. There are two kinds of persimmon pudding. One is baked in a brownie pan without stirring, then cut into squares for serving -- no idea where that came from. The traditional native-American way takes more time but it's not any more work, you just have to be home for a few hours to stir it now and then. I'd be glad to send you Mom's recipe.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Thank you, sounds good.

[Ruthyone]

I watched 'Study In Pink' - the pilot - much shorter and not as slick, different and enjoyable. I don't know if this was released before the longer version was shown.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

No it wasn't. BBC didn't think it was good enough to pull in a good audience, to short I guess because they wanted to know if it could be done in a 90 minute format. Obviously they loved the acting and the actors, the writers and production crew.

[Ruthyone]

I thought I hadn't seen it!! The shown version was more edgy and dynamic plus the wonderful backdrop of London in the title.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Alex and I just watched a filmed conversation between J.K. Rowling and Daniel Radcliffe.  The subject arose of readers' reactions to the Epilog -- she said some people complained that it made Harry ordinary, no longer a hero.  But it seems to me that an ordinary life was exactly what Harry had spent his entire youth fighting for.

 

What do y'all think?

 

[Caya]

My problem with the epilogue was less that it made them ordinary but, more generally, that it fit neatly into Rowling's lockbox lifestyle plan for her chars ... either you find true love at school, then you marry them and start getting kids by the time you're twenty (at the latest), or you don't, then you spend the rest of your life mourning (see: Dumbledore, Snape), for a century and half if need be. Rare examples like Lupin who dare break that pattern get killed off.

 

Why couldn't Harry have, say, a couple years of fun becoming an international Quidditch player? But no, it's whatever the wizard equivalent of a white picket fence is for him and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione, and even Draco.

[Janie]

Well, the epilogue took place 19 years later and Harry's eldest son was something about 12 or 13,  so it means that Harry still had a few years without children. He could easily spend the time being a Quiditch player and then become an Auror and have a family. I don't see a problem with that.

 

 

[Caya]

Nothing wrong with someone marrying their school sweetheart and having children young (and for wizards and witches, who have twice our lifespan, twentysomething is really young). But in Rowling's world, almost everyone does it. Or they stay single throughout their lives. That's what bothers me. No one has a couple heartbreaks before finding their one love, or gets divorced, or spends a couple of decades in wizarding research before settling down, or anything like that.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Little hard to do all that in a (what was it? two or three pages?) short epilog.  But yeah, I see what you mean.

 

Of course, "the wizarding world" is a small, somewhat closed society.  So it's like a small town where you've already met everyone by the time you're in your teens, which presumably does tend to limit one's options.

 

[Ruthyone]

Those missing years of Harry Potter could be put into a new novel - you never know with JKR!

[Ruthyone]

Hi everyone,

 

I won't be able to post as much as my flat burnt down on Tuesday. I am okay and waiting to be rehoused.

 

Take care,

 

Ruthy xx