Villainous Company

Have we forgotten to acquire an ingredient for an experimental holiday confection?

...or is this just another example of my lady's wide-ranging intellect (run amok)?

Silly girl:

It is clear from Old English and Old Norse sources that ale (Old English ealu, Old Norse öl) was produced from malted grain. However, literary analysis shows that Old English beor and Old Norse björr are terms used for sweet alcoholic beverages. Until the last ten years or so, philologists thought that beor and björr were derived from the word for barley, and it is only recently that it was realized that the term almost certainly referred to cider (whether from apples or pears) during the Viking Age.

In a pinch, use this. Or, failing that, mead of any sort; or, failing that, hard cider.

They sell that at my local Shop-Rite. In cans. Made by Goya. Its like, boiled pear juice or something like that. You can get Guava paste too.

But hard cider is good too. I'll be having some on Turkey-day.

Have we forgotten to acquire an ingredient for an experimental holiday confection?

No, I was just mad because I broke my toe :p

Hmmm...it almost sounds like someone's been watching Top Chef...

Man does that bring back some memories! Some of my best memories of being a kid were pear harvest time at Mammaw's in Palmetto, LA. The whole family came from everywhere to put up the pears and make pear nectar. All the women would descend on the kitchen and you'd best not get caught stealing bites out of the pears! Heh!

Mammaw had some of the best cumquats you've ever tasted also and I used to get many, many belly aches from pilfering them. Sleeping in the attic with a dozen cousins. Squirrel and rabbit hunting. Calling in mallards on a crisp morning on Bayou Rouge. Easing down Bayou Jack in a pirogue shooting woodies on the wing. The ladies taking a break from putting up the pear preserves to cook what we'd cleaned. *sigh*

Ah, those were the days! But then we didn't have TV, A/C, or much of anything else kids today are into. Shame they miss some of the finer things in life! You've never lived 'til you've skinned a swamp jack! And the smell thereof! Life was GOOD! ;-)

I don't even know what Top Chef *is*.

I blame Williams Sonoma. This is what happens when you start going all uptown... before you know it you find yourself using recipes calling for *&^% PEAR NECTAR for crap's sake and limping around sipping unpronouncable wine with a *&^% broken toe at ten o'clock at night.

Ridiculous.

It was good, by the way.

But I can't believe I made a recipe with pear nectar in it. I have officially lost my mind.

JHD, you *so* owe me.

When I start censoring my own comments because of you, you are really in trouble...

Let 'er rip!

I ain't skeered! :-o

Yeah, but I was, when I read it :) You should be ashamed of yourself.

Heh.

Stepping over the little traps JHD set in comments..
Top Chef is a cooking competition show and the judges complained a few episodes ago that every chef was using pear nectar.

Damned daughters got me hooked on all of those reality show/competitions..

I remember when it took 2 weeks to find Apricot Nectar for a recipe I used. Juice kind of stuff that I mixed with apricot preserves, ginger, and honey. Stir in pan over medium heat - then put in the turkey cavity. The drippings from that make the best darn gravy! My dad - who is not a poultry fan due to bad experiences in the mess hall at Camp Hale in the 1950's actually likes this particular turkey recipe!

What in the hell is pear nectar?

Ambrosia, almost. GOYA makes it, et al. We always had apricot nectar when I was a young'un. Mmmm!!!