[Sca-cooks] s'mores?

Mike C. Baker kihebard at hotmail.com
Wed Aug 30 04:47:11 PDT 2006


> I'm hoping that my questions are because I'm Australian, and 
> not just that I'm clueless, but I don't really understand 
> this thread at all...can someone help?

I'll try, ma'am.  Preface with the knowledge that I was raised in
Oklahoma (different expectations than, frex, Alabama).  Also, I was not
introduced to s'more construction until I was an adult...
 
> Huette von Ahrens wrote:
> > I make a really good sweet potato souffle.  I brought it once when I

> > first joined the SCA to a pot luck.  I put it in the veggie area
when I arrived.
> > I looked later and found it with the desserts.  So I moved it back
to the veggies.
> > I later saw someone moving it back to the desserts, upon which I
told 
> > them that is was sweet potato, not pumpkin.
> >   
> 1) why would this make a difference?

Pumpkin is dessert, sweet potato can be either side dish or dessert
depending on preparation. (Yam, which *IS* different biochemically than
sweet potato, is less likely to appear as dessert than a sweet potato
dish.)

> > As much as I like marshmallows, I hate marshmallows on 
> sweet potatoes...
> 2) is this a joke I haven't heard?

Difference of tastes.  A number of sweet potato dishes appear with
marshmallow as part of the glazing / topping / candying process. Pecans
or other nuts are also common in forming a top crust or mix-in. One
common variation has a layer of miniature marshmallows, or snipped
pieces of large/jumbos, completely across the top of the casserole,
toasty brown & maybe even slightly crunchy when "perfect".
 
> 3) what are s'mores? I gather they involve graham crackers, 
> marshmallow and chocolate, but I'm finding it hard to envisage

Traditionally, 
1. roast/toast "large" marshmallow (roughly double the size of the first
joint of my thumb)
2. when hot & gooey or otherwise to your own taste, remove from heat
directly to a prepared stack of graham cracker and chocolate bar (two or
four squares of a "standard" Hershey's milk chocolate regular-size bar,
depending on whether you are using a single rectangle or a square of the
cracker) and top with second cracker
2a. Smoosh the stack together, hot marshmallow directly in contact with
chocolate.
3. Wait long enough for residual heat of marshmallow to partially melt
chocolate -- which theoretically avoids burning your tongue.
4. Enjoy immediately (zero shelf life after preparation)

Typically, the chocolate is already softened a little from having been
out in the heat

> 3a) what are graham crackers? A savoury biscuit of some sort?

Graham crackers are more a sweet than a savoury.  Relatively soft,
thicker than a saltine, typically stamped out in squares / rectangles
scored down the middle into easily separated small rectangles roughly
two finger-widths by a finger length in size.

> Margaret/Emma
> clueless from Lochac

No, m'lady:  at least you are willing to ask the questions where you are
uncertain.  You've at least got your own ticket to the bus!

Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe (Mike C. Baker)
SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA
"Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC (the DreamSinger Bard)
Opinions? I'm FULL of 'em | alt. e-mail: KiheBard at hotmail.com OR
MCBaker216 at cs.com
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http://www.livejournal.com/users/kihebard/




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