 
Tponetom
Member
Username: Tponetom
Post Number: 373
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2009 - 5:04 pm: |    |
Eriedearie and Jams, et al: Trees? Tponetom
What does an old man do when he is totally exhausted, from ‘cooking’ all day long. He fires up his new computer and goes ‘surfing’ the archives of Detroit Connections.
And Oh! What inspirational BLACK GOLD I just ran across. I’ll set the stage:
October 20, 2008. Eriedearie’s post
# 3764.
Re: Black Walnuts.
Jams comment about his Hungarian Mother’s Black Walnut Tort!
Jams Quote:
“Mom's already been strongly hinting, she'd like some for her Hungarian Walnut Torte which was part of my motive, as it is one of the very few cakes I eat. I'm not really a sweet eater, but those cookies of yours sound delicious, hope you post that recipe on the food thread.
I find it somewhat funny my neighbors, who own the property the trees are on, think the nuts are just an irritant, not realizing the treasure trove they have, (Priced Black Walnuts in the grocery store lately?) while you and I for a few days work will share and enjoy fabulous flavor for free.”
End of Quote.
Peggy’s mother was Hungarian. She was a ‘Pastry Genius.’ Her “piece de resistance” were TWIN TORTS. Namely, Dobas Torte and Dora Torte.
9 eggs (separated), 1 lemon, 2 cups of sugar made fluffy with Cream and flour
made 3 flat layers. After baking and cooling, the layers were cut (horizontally) to provide 6 skinny layers.
The ‘filling and frosting’ required:
1 bar of German chocolate mixed with 2 tbs cocoa and 3 tbs of Cream. And also, 1 Pound of unsalted butter, the above mentioned chocolate mix, 3 tablespoons of sugar (???) 3 raw egg yolks and vanilla.
The Dora Torte was pretty much the same except for the addition of 2 cups of finely grated WALNUTS. A half pint of coffee cream was heated and then poured over the walnuts, and then left to cool.
Now you might think that the caloric count would be high with either cake. I estimated it too be about 150 calories,,,,,per finger tip. It was always funny to see 12 people seated around the table, using their finger tips to wipe their plates clean.
The treasured written recipe suggests it is imperative to place the leftovers in the refrigerator. In all the family parties and dinners that we went to, nary a crumb of those cakes ever seen the inside of one.
I am sorry I cannot divulge the entire recipe for those cakes. Family secret and all that. There are two ingredients that, when combined, cause a cataclysmic euphoria, bordering on the criminal.
Now. Black Walnut Trees. The wood ( read lumber,) of the BWT, is possibly the most expensive and the most utilized wood for different things.
From “Michigan Trees Worth Knowing” by Norman F. Smith.
“Strong, durable and coarse-grained, it is easily worked, checks and warps very little, and takes a high polish. A cubic foot of the seasoned wood weighs 38 pounds. It is used principally in the manufacture of fine furniture, cabinet making, interior finish both solid and veneer, and for gun stocks. Some of the most beautifully figured walnut for veneers comes from the swollen butt logs of trees cut off below the surface of the ground.
Nearly all of the annual cut of walnut is shipped out of the state.” End of quote.
Walnut wood is also used as sounding boards on musical instruments.
A single, mature Walnut tree can be worth thousands of dollars.
I wonder if Maple syrup would go with those Tortes’ A few extra calorie perhaps..
“I think that I shall never see, a poem lovely as a tree.”
Joyce Kilmer.
I learned that poem/song when I was seven or eight years old. I thought my own older sister, Joyce, was the author.
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Eriedearie
Member
Username: Eriedearie
Post Number: 3739
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, February 28, 2009 - 9:26 am: | |
Tp - that Dobas Torte and Dora Torte sounds delish!
Yes, can you believe it? My daughter-in-laws mother's neighbor has the tree and when the walnuts fall they both pick them up and put them in garbage bags and sneak them in their garbage to be picked up and taken to the DUMP! The garbage men won't just take the bags full - they have to put a little bit at a time in their regular trash. They go through all that trouble and planning to get rid of them. And I just recently found this out so I asked if I could rescue the pests from them. One man's trash is another man's treasure!
We've enjoyed black walnuts all winter in several different recipes and we still have a lot of them waiting to be cracked open. I actually enjoyed the process and am looking forward to doing it again this fall - HA!
My grandparents in PA had two trees in their yard that they would use the nuts from and they'd share with the family and friends. When it was time for the trees to come down, my friend's brother did it for them and he harvested the wood. He built some beautiful furniture from those trees. This was over 30 years ago and he treasures that furniture. He knows what he has there. And that wood couldn't have gone to a nicer guy. My grandparents thought the world of him and his family.
Oh, I did let the squirrels around here steal some of the nuts from me. And we've enjoyed watching them forage them out of their hiding places and come sit on our porch and eat them. It's been a win-win situation for this household!  |
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