mace

Marian Burros brought this cake to The Times in 1988, but election cakes are part of a rich tradition that predates the Republic. In May 1771, Ezekiel Williams submitted a bill to the Connecticut General Assembly for the cost of making the “cake for the election.”

Connecticut elections were held in early spring, and representatives gathered in the capital in May for the vote count. These Hartford election cakes were made to serve out-of-town lodgers.

“Every woman had her own recipe, but election cake is a specific type,” a Connecticut Historical Society researcher told The Times in 1983. “It was generally a yeast cake, to which was added spices and fruit such as raisins and citron and sometimes wine and brandy, depending on a household’s resources.”

Election Cake

160 milliliters warm water

(4 1/2 teaspoons 13 grams) active dry yeast

(470 grams) plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

unsalted butter

eggs, beaten

firmly packed light brown sugar

buttermilk

baking soda

cinnamon

cloves

nutmeg

salt

raisins

110 grams chopped pecans

Pour the warm water into a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Stir, then let stand for 5 minutes to dissolve.

Add 1 cup/130 grams of the flour and beat until well blended. (The mixture will be quite stiff.) Add the butter and beat until smooth. Add the remaining 2 2/3 cups (340 grams) flour, plus the eggs, light brown sugar, buttermilk, baking soda, spices and salt; beat for 3 minutes.

In a small bowl, toss the raisins and pecans with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour until coated, then stir them into the batter until distributed.

Using butter, grease two 8 1/2 -by-4 1/2-inch loaf pans. Divide the batter evenly between both pans, then cover loosely with towel and let rest for 1 1/2 hours.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center tests clean, about 1 hour or up to 1 1/4 hours. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack and let cool completely before slicing and serving.

In India, just about every home has its own recipe for garam masala, which is the most common spice blend in the country and a cornerstone of the cuisines of South Asia. This recipe, which is sweeter and more minimalist than many other versions, is adapted from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/dining/floyd-cardoz-dead-coronavirus.html">Floyd Cardoz</a>, the pioneering Indian chef who opened Tabla and Bombay Bread Bar in New York. Versatile and aromatic, this blend can be used in everything from curries and dal to pumpkin pie and gingerbread.

Garam Masala

green cardamom pods (1 gram)

black cardamom pods (5 grams)

(1 gram)

cinnamon sticks,

mace blades/arils (3 grams), see Note

star anise pods (2 grams)

bay leaves, preferably Indian

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Spread spices on a small rimmed baking pan and toast until fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack and let the spices cool.

Using a spice grinder, clean coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle, grind the spices until fine. If you like, you can strain the mix through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any coarse bits, but this is optional. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.

Serve this vegetarian dish made with Indian cheese, paneer, as part of a curry night or with rice as a midweek supper

Paneer with broccoli & sesame

sprouting broccoli

vegetable oil

asafoetida

tsp cumin seed

sesame seeds

green chilli

brown mustard seeds

curry leaves

onion

paneer cheese,

tbsp grated ginger

garlic

lemon juice

½ tsp ground mace

Trim the broccoli and boil or steam for 5-6 mins until tender but firm to the bite. Drain and cool under cold running water. Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan, then add the asafoetida, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, chilli, mustard seeds and the curry leaves. Cook for 1 min until fragrant, then add the onion and cook another 2 mins.

Throw in the paneer, ginger and garlic, and season. Cook on a medium heat for 4-5 mins until the paneer turns golden. Add the broccoli and mix through the paneer and spices, then add lemon juice, mace and twist of pepper.

Mace, nutmeg’s peppery sister, is what makes the difference in these crab cakes. The recipe, adapted from “Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes From the Matriarch of Edisto Island,” comes from Emily Meggett, one of the most well-respected cooks in the Gullah Geechee community, whose food traditions are built largely on the crabs, shrimp and fish they pull from the water near their homes along the southeastern shoreline. She has made thousands of these using freshly cooked blue crabs, but meat that has already been picked and processed works as well. Be sparing with the bread crumbs, which should just hold the mixture together, then add more if the cakes are falling apart. Make sure the pan is very hot, then reduce the heat the minute they hit the oil. Keep a close eye while they brown. These are lovely bites to start a meal, or can star as supper, alongside rice and fresh vegetables. Ms. Meggett serves them with what she calls pink sauce, which is similar to this <a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1022373-fry-sauce">sauce</a>, with the addition of grated onion and lemon.

Crab Cakes

bread

onion,

self-rising flour (see Tip)

355 milliliters whole or 2-percent milk

eggs,

white vinegar

lump crab meat, drained if needed

120 milliliters vegetable oil, plus more as needed

Heat the broiler to 500 degrees (or its highest setting). On your oven’s highest rack, broil all the bread slices on a baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden and crisp but not burned. Flip all the slices over and broil for another 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the broiler off and allow the bread to crisp in the oven until totally dry, 15 to 20 minutes. 

Remove the bread from the oven and let cool. Using a box grater or rolling pin, coarsely grate and crush the bread slices into bread crumbs (or, pulse them in a food processor). The crumbs should look and feel like sand; you should get about 4 cups. Set the bread crumbs aside.

In a large cast-iron skillet, melt the butter over high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. 

Pour the butter and onion into a large bowl. Whisk the flour into the melted butter and onion, then slowly whisk in the milk to make a creamy sauce. Once the sauce is smooth, whisk in the eggs, lemon juice, vinegar and mace.

Add the crab meat to the cream sauce and mix lightly with a fork; don’t break up the pieces of crab meat. Gently fold in just enough of the bread crumbs so that the mixture holds together (about 2 1/2 cups). Divide the crab mixture into 12 equal portions, setting them on a baking sheet as you go. They should be thick rounds — about the size of the palm of your hand, and roughly 1 1/2 inches thick.

Using your hand, take a scoop of the toasted bread crumbs and coat each crab cake. 

Wipe out the skillet and heat the oil over high. Once the oil is hot, place a few of the crab cakes in the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or until browned and cooked through. Place the cooked crab cakes on a paper towel to drain. Working in batches, cook the remaining crab cakes, adding more oil as needed.

Serve crab cakes immediately, or set aside in a warm oven (see Tip) while you cook the remaining crab cakes.

Peach Kuchen is a delectable German peach cake made with either fresh or canned peaches. Simple custard cream and cake batter is baked together creating moist and delicious cake

Peach Kuchen (German Peach Cake)

all-purpose flour

sugar

tsp baking powder

tsp salt

mace (or nutmeg)

butter

milk

(850 grams) peach

heavy cream

tsp flour

tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan and set aside.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, mace in a mixing bowl and stir well with a whisk. Add the cold butter pieces and incorporate to blend with the flour until it becomes fine crumbs.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk milk and egg well. Pour the milk mixture over the flour mixture. Mix with a fork just until it becomes wet.

Spread the batter on the bottom of the prepared pan. Arrange the peach slices on top.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

To make the custard cream, combine 1/4 cups of cream with flour in a medium mixing bowl, and whisk together to get rid of big lumps. Add the rest of the cream, sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt; whisk well to mix.

Take the cake out of oven, and pour the cream mixture on top. Put the cake back in the oven, and immediately reduce the heat to 350˚F. Continue to bake the cake for 35-40 minutes.

When the cake top is puffed, the edges are deep golden and starting to separate from the pan, the cake is done. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove it from the pan and let it cool completely on a cooling rack.

We grow a type of celery that has a strong beef flavor, grandpa brought it over from Russia, kept the roots wet in his hankerchief in his pocket. You can grow it indoors in a planter pot, it is called lovage. We harvest it year round, but when lovage bolts, we cut the stalks and make a supply of vegetable broth concentrate with lovage, meat flavor mushrooms, celery, water cress, radishes, winter carrots, fermented beets and celeriac, mace, brewers yeast, onion, summer savory, parsley and tomatoes. No salt, no monosodium glutamate.

California Farm No Salt Vegetable Broth

lovage root

Cups celery stalks, chopped,

Tbs italian parsley, chopped,

Cups wintercarrots, chopped, for sweet veggie flavor

Cups over ripe tomatoes, chunked,

Cup dried woods ear mushrooms sliced (amazon) for beef flavor

Cup fresh watercress, chopped,

celeriac

Cup roasted red onion, sliced, for sweet flavor

radishes

Cup vinegar

soy sauce

Tbs mace, dried, for beef flavor

Tbs smoked hot paprika powder,

Tbs turmeric for golden color

tsp brewers yeast per quart of concentrate, salt substitute

Twigs summer savory, bundled

Ferment the beets, radishes and the celeriac root with lacto-fermentation, a natural, safe way to make flavor enhancers that do not overpower. Scrub, slice veggies 1/4” thick, put in quart jar, cover with cabbage leaf, put 6 Tbs soy sauce and cup of apple cider vinegar over veggies, put rock weight on top. After one week, rinse veggies, dispose of cabbage leaf, and start your broth.

Bring slices of 1/4” vegetables to rolling boil in 12 cups of water: wintercarrots, celeriac, celery, beets, radishes, with chunked tomatoes, chopped water cress, parsley. Brown lovage and onion in dry cast iron skillet, add. Skim off foam, turn to simmer overnight. Condense to 3/4 volume, add soaked woodear mushrooms, condense to half.

Sieve out all ingredients, cool, run through food processor, put back in broth. Add herbs and spices, brewers’ yeast, bring to boil, ten minutes, remove savory. Taste, add Maggi seasoning to increase lovage flavor, if desired. Pour hot in quart sterilized mason jars with fresh lids. Tighten, immerse in 194 F degree waterbath, boil 15 minutes. Cool in waterbath. One quarter cup of dark brown concentrate makes 1 cup of vegetable soup broth. Label and date.

Get your doublet and hose ready for a right Tudor knees-up. These traditional Tudor biscuits are flavoured with prized spices – caraway, aniseed and mace. 

Top 7 mace recipes from across the web

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Election Cake

Garam Masala

Paneer with broccoli & sesame

Crab Cakes

Peach Kuchen (German Peach Cake)

California Farm No Salt Vegetable B...

Jumble biscuits

Top 7 mace recipes from across the web

The most viewed mace recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Election Cake

Garam Masala

Paneer with broccoli & sesame

Crab Cakes

Peach Kuchen (German Peach Cake)

California Farm No Salt Vegetable B...

Jumble biscuits

The most viewed mace recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine