[Sca-cooks] Fw: more food challenges!- Angostura Bitters

[Phlip]

OK, guys, my mother is asking again. Now, FYI, Mimi is my grandmother, her
mother, Ahmie is her mother's sister, Mom's aunt and my great aunt (just
discovered I'm a great aunt, btw) and this missive is discussing things that
happened 40 years ago- both of them died in 1965. Aunt Janet Fish was our
neighbor and good friend (yes, THOSE Fishes) and used to sneak both of us
tastes of whatever concoction she was serving at the current cocktail
party.- she passed away in the early 70s. And THAT tells y'all how long
those bitters have lasted- I suspect if we find any, we won't be buying them
by the case ;-)

Adamantius, with your Serious Interest in NY foods, I'm thinking you might
have a clue....


Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

NOW, I have one for you that is a REAL killer! In the "good old days," when
I was young and Mimi was very much into the cocktail party circuit, people
used to drink a bourbon or blended whisky drink called an "Old Fashioned."
In it was liquor, a maraschino cherry, usually a slice of lemon or orange
(or both) and a small amount of sugar (which was the first item placed in
the bottom of the Old Fashioned glass.) That is why those short, wide
glasses that we use today, be they plastic, crystal, or paper mache (just
kidding about the last) - how do you put an accent ague over the e in mache
on one of these machines? - became popular in the beginning. They were big
enough to hold all that fruit plus the ice plus a hearty shot of straight
booze without looking like 10 pounds of shit being forced into a 5-pound
bag. Ahmie would LOVE that description. She wasn't a drinker!

At any rate, once the demi-spoon of granulated sugar was put in the bottom
of the glass, Angostura bitters (a liquid) was dripped onto the sugar - just
a small little squirt of it - and mixed up with the sugar as best as it
could be. Then all the rest of the garbage and the booze and ice, etcetera,
etcetera, etcetera (to quote Yul Brynner in THE KING AND I) was added.
Voila! An Old Fashioned! They were very popular in Mimi's day and (according
to Mimi) Aunt Janet Fish didn't make them properly! The reason I am such an
authority on that particular drink is because I not only got pressed into
service at Aunt Janet's cocktail parties to serve up all the booze and
canapes, etc., (which I am sure you did, as well) but I learned to make
them, too. Correctly, I might add. At least, Mimi never complained about any
that I made for her, but she might have been being polite!

The point of this long diatribe on Aunt Janet and Old Fashioned drinks is
that I am almost out of Angostura bitters, which can be used for seasoning
things other than rich old ladies' liquor. The bottle in my possession,
indeed, came from Mimi (and is, probably, rightfully yours instead of mine)
but maybe not because she gave it to me when she was moving somewhere, I
forget where, and I haven't used it that much all these years. Used
sparingly, it is a pleasant and unusual addition to fruit, soups, and salads
(and the label claims it's good in mincemeat pies, as well, but I hate
mincemeat pies, based on the only one I ever tasted, so  I wouldn't know.)

At any rate, the company that used to import it from wherever - I believe it
was Italy - is mentioned on the internet but has long been gone. The bottle
I have in my possession, whose label is not completely intact, claims that
it was imported/made/ invented by a company in Elmhurst, N.Y., the
Angostura-Wuppermann Corp. If there is a replacement-type for this sturdy
little condiment, I don't know how to find it and I suspect that, even if
there is some place that makes something similar, the fountainhead of its
source is not located around Greenville, N.C. No fatback is incorporated in
this concoction, you see. Much love, Mom


Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....