Around the Table

Don't Show Up Without It!

“It” refers to the best Mandelbrot in the whole world. Pure and simple. I know what you are thinking: your Grandma Rifka, your sister Sarah or your Aunt Leah makes some pretty darn good Mandelbrot- those crispy biscotti-like cookies filled with nuts, raisins, perhaps dried cranberries and maybe even some chocolate chips. But I am a purist and so I insist that my mother-in-law, Rhoda Weston’s Mandelbrod is better. Almonds, raisins, almond flavoring and a custom mixture of cinnamon and sugar are all she uses to achieve that perfect blend of crunchiness but not tooth-breaking consistency and sweet but not overly sugary flavor, ensuring a perfect compliment to a cup of tea or coffee. If you are one of Rhoda’s kids, grandkids, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friends, nurses in her doctors’ offices, household help, clergy or favorite retail vendors, you know exactly what I am talking about. And I know that even if you haven’t actually said the words to her, you never want her to show up without it!

While there is no agreement as to its origin, the word Mandelbrot has German/Yiddish roots: mandel (nut) and brot (bread) and was a favorite of Eastern European Jews. The recipe below appeared in a newspaper some sixty years ago but has since become a Weston tradition and we now simply call it Rhoda’s Mandelbrot. We know that whenever we walk into Mom’s kitchen, a tall, clear glass jar with a stainless steel hinged top will be filled with these delectable cookies. The only thing we don’t know is how many “ends” we’ll find. After all, there are only two ends to every log. We keep hoping that one day she’ll present us with a jar full of those extra crispy ends.

Recently, another beautiful grandson entered our world and we attended his naming. Of course great grandmother Rhoda sent an aluminum tin full of Mandelbrot in honor of the occasion. Or so we thought! Nino, the baby’s father refused to put the cookies out for the guests and hid them on top of the refrigerator. Apparently, like precious gold or coveted drugs, this batch was his private stash!

I can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday: baking Mandelbrot (only my second time!); putting them in a tin to send to my boys in Chicago and St. Louis, and connecting with a time-honored and treasured family tradition. Excuse me while I go make myself a cup of tea and steal a couple of pieces.

Rhoda Weston’s Mandelbrot

Yields: 48 pieces

3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
6 oz. corn oil
¾ cup sliced or slivered almonds
¾ cup golden raisins
2 tsp. almond extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
Cinnamon and sugar mixture (more cinnamon than the commercial blend)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat the eggs, sugar and oil together in a large mixing bowl. Add almonds, raisins and extract and mix well. Add flour; mix well and form into a glossy ball.

Divide the ball into four quarters. Form each quarter into an 8-inch length bar. Place two bars on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Repeat procedure with other two bars.

Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly.

While still warm, slice each bar on the diagonal. Turn slices on their side and sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Return to oven for 5 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cherished Recipe; Cherished Friend

I have a friend named Willa who lives in Louisville, Kentucky. Willa is a special friend. We didn’t grow up together; we didn’t go to college together; we have never lived in the same city and I have only known her for about five years. But Willa is a kind, gentle, caring soul and although we come from diverse backgrounds and lead different lives, we share similar values. And when I launched my idea for a cookbook exploring the connection between food, family and tradition, Willa was one of my greatest supporters and was the first to respond to a request for family recipes. It seems only fitting to honor Willa and her family’s tradition by posting her Swiss Cake recipe today, as she fondly recalls making these fried cookies a week before Christmas with her grandmother, Lena.

Sharing a little bit about Willa’s family history will bring this recipe alive for you. Willa’s great grandmother came from Switzerland to New Albany on Silver Creek but the details of her family are sketchy as the family bible with birth and death records (along with her house) was destroyed in the Great Ohio River flood of 1937. Her great uncle Ebby and his wife Lorine lived in Louisville not very far from Willa’s house. Uncle Ebby was a cook by trade and enjoyed making these swiss cakes (also known as kekle). The recipe originated in Switzerland and became a family tradition every Christmas in Louisville.

As you will observe, this is a very large recipe. It took great uncle Ebby, great aunt Lorine, grandmother Lena, Willa’s mother, Willa and sometimes Lena’s boyfriend, Roy all evening to mix the dough, roll it into thin sheets and lay it out to dry. Willa explained to me that they would spread the pastry sheets out on her great aunt and uncle’s bed so they could dry overnight. Willa laughingly and fondly recalls that if the pastry was on the bed, where did they sleep? For Ebby and Lorinne lived in a one-bedroom house! The next day Willa would return to her aunt and uncle’s house to fry the dough and put the cookies in large tins to eat throughout the Christmas holidays.

Willa hasn’t made this recipe in years, but perhaps with the arrival of a new granddaughter, I suspect she sought to rediscover the joy, comfort and love of her much cherished and treasured family tradition. Judging from the pictures she sent me, the three generational culinary experience will be one that will be repeated for years to come.
Thank you Willa for understanding the importance of family traditions, supporting my project, and sharing your family’s history, stories, traditions and recipe with me and my readers. I only wish they had the opportunity to taste the finished product. Evan and I were the lucky recipients of one of those beautifully adorned Christmas tins, filled with lots of lightly browned kekle, topped with powdered sugar- perfect fare for sitting by the fire with a cup of tea. A cherished recipe; a cherished friend.

This post is being submitted to Susan at Food Blogga; Christmas Cookies from Around the World

Mom's Signature Dessert

Rehrϋcken is a classic Viennese chocolate cake, recipes for which are easily found in most traditional Viennese cookbooks. For example, check out Viennese Cooking by Olga Hess (a well-worn version was always displayed prominently on my mom’s kitchen counter). Rehrϋcken was my mother’s signature dessert. She made it for every occasion –birthdays, Jewish holidays, secular holidays and “just because.” Some family members liked it with frosting; others did not. My brother just plain loved it. Every so often, mom would make it and serve it with home made whipped cream, which is called “schlag” in Viennese slang. I loved the word schlag and remember making fun of the pronunciation when I was a little girl. Speaking of pronunciations, saying the word “rehrϋcken” was a favorite pastime of mom’s grandchildren. We all decided that my brother’s daughter, Kelly (four years old at the time of the “contest”) had the best rendition - in the most guttural German you could imagine.

The German word “rehrϋcken” literally means the saddle of the venison or as my mother used to tell us when we were little, the spine of the deer. If you use your imagination, the finished cake with the almonds sticking up, looks like a deer’s spine. At least, this is what my mother had me believe.
I have since learned that the almonds actually represent the strips of bacon or salt pork inserted into the saddles of venison to lard them. I imagine this information was a bit too graphic for a young girl and mom’s story worked just fine for our family.

I never tried to make the cake while mom was alive. I didn’t need to because she always did. I am not even sure which recipe she used to develop her version as my paternal grandmother’s recipe is different from my mother’s finished product.

This picture is taken from my Nani Elsa’s collection. The recipe below is my mom’s English translation of what I suspect is a conglomeration of recipes. Here is exactly where the frustration comes in. I wish my mother was here so I could ask her about these details but she just isn’t. And that is why I am so adamant that you talk to your family members NOW in order to preserve their recipes and precious memories.

A couple of years after mom died, I finally summoned up the courage to make a rehrϋcken. Somehow it was the ultimate testament to my mother’s legacy. My brother and his family came over for dinner and after putting his dessert plate in front him, I anxiously waited for his reaction. After the first bite, he said that it tasted just like mom’s cake. I didn’t think so, but thanks Len for making us feel that mom was still around the table.

SYLVIA LEIGHTON’S REHRÜCKEN

Cake:
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
5 large eggs separated
4 oz. sweet butter
5 oz. sugar
¼ cup coffee
6 oz. all purpose flour (for Passover, use 4 oz. cake meal)
Chocolate frosting:
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
2 oz. water
2 oz. coffee
2 oz. milk
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Almond slices

Peheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt chocolate over hot, but not boiling water in a double boiler. Beat egg yolks, butter and sugar until thick and lemon colored. Add chocolate and coffee and mix well.
Beat egg whites until stiff; fold flour and egg whites alternately into chocolate mixture.

Butter rehrϋcken pan or if not available, 11” x 4” mold tube pan. Put mixture in pan and bake 50 minutes. Cool slightly and then turn out on to wire rack.

Procedure for frosting:
In top of double boiler, melt chocolate with water, coffee and milk.
Remove from heat. With a rubber spatula, stir in unsalted butter, two pieces at a time.
Continue to stir until perfectly smooth. Let cool. Spread frosting on top of cake. Place almond slices in two parallel rows down the top of the cake.

Ronnie’s Notes:

 Rehrϋcken can be served with or without the frosting but is most impressive when served with the frosting and home made whipped cream.

 Molds made in the shape of a stylized saddle of venison have been manufactured for making this cake. They are fluted and have deep indentations down the middle. I have finally found one of these molds/pans and they can be ordered online: http://www.fantes.com/loaf_pans.htm#moravian.

This stroll down memory lane is being submitted to the "nostalgia tastes bitter sweet event"