Potatoes & Baby Jumping
Plus uniting Hawai'i, Father's Day gifts, and a meaty cookbook of the month
A Festival for the Little Ones
Constantly researching food and cultural events worldwide often reveals some very unique practices, which are always a lot of fun to share. I have heard of Spain’s Baby Jumping festival, but only learned while looking into it more closely that it’s held solely in the small village of Castrillo de Murcia in northern Spain. Called Salto de Colacho, it’s a Catholic-adjacent ritual intended to cleanse babies born in the town of their original sin—something many Christians believe all humans are born with stemming from the story of Adam and Eve. The Catholic church has been known to disapprove of this festival, but it’s been going strong since at least the 1600s, and some believe it originated as a pagan fertility practice. Early in the day, Devil-outfitted men run around town causing mischief and townsfolk shout insults at them to ward off bad luck—all this to gather everyone and get them ready for the main event. Once everyone is gathered in the town square, parents of babies born over the past year lay them on mattresses and the devils proceed to jump over them. It’s kind of a chaotic event—there are cathedral bells ringing, drums drumming, people shouting—and out of all the videos I’ve seen, the participating babies seem extremely calm about the whole thing. Afterwards, they are blessed by attending priests and are sprinkled with rose petals.
Next Friday (the 17th) to talk more about this fest, I’ll be making patatas revolconas, a potato-paprika dish popular in the Castilla region of northern Spain. It’s a hearty peasant dish enhanced by good quality torreznos, or crisped slab bacon. I am not a pig-product person, though I’m going to give torreznos a whirl with some nice pork belly. This potato recipe comes from Miriam Garcia of El Invitado de Invierno, and the recipe is in Spanish but Google translate does a decent job if you’re Español isn’t up to snuff.
Jumping back to this week, Saturday is the 150th King Kamehameha Day in Hawai’i, honoring the leader who united the Hawai’ian islands in 1810. Although he defeated and brought warring tribes together in the early 19th century, the holiday celebrating his achievements wasn’t established until 1872 by King Kamehameha V. The holiday was originally supposed to honor King K V and take place on his birthday Dec. 11, but being a humble leader, he decided to direct the celebrations toward his ancestor and picked the celebratory day to be as far from his birthday as possible—hence, June 11.
There are a number of festivities packed into the days surrounding King Kamehameha Day, including flower parades, a world-renowned hula competition, races, and more. Arguably the most important ceremony is the lei draping. Hundreds gather around the King Kamehameha statue in downtown Honolulu to witness a handmade 40-foot lei be draped around it. The ceremony begins with men blowing conch shells and groups playing traditional instruments. Then the lei, which is made of plumeria flowers from all over the Hawai’ian islands, is draped over and around the statue.
For this occasion, I’m making luau stew, and the video drops Friday. It’s a very simple stew using taro leaves, an ingredient abundant and important to traditional Hawai’ian cuisine. Heads up, it’s not the prettiest food, and the leaves have to be cooked for quite awhile before they are edible. With pork, ginger, and sweet onions, it’s a simple stew packed with nutrients and sustenance. There are a number of ways to make this dish, and I followed the recipe from Onolicious Hawai’i. Give it a whirl—you can usually find taro leaves at Asian markets. If you are lucky enough to have a Polynesian market nearby, they will be in the refrigerated section.
Last Chance for a Foodie Father’s Day!
June 9! That’s the cutoff day for ordering a Family Cookbook gift box for the dads in your life who are culinarily inclined. Start planning your custom cookbook experience with your dad in mind. Once you give your gift, you have an entire year to get your photo session on the calendar. With Dallas, the Bay Area, Utah, and NYC on the list for 2022 travel, that’s a lot of potential kitchen sessions we can get through. Gift boxes include a voucher, an session guide with all the details about how we go about setting up your photo session and creating your custom cookbook, and a bunch of goodies to munch on.
An entire custom cookbook too big of a project to consider right now? Vouchers for 1-hour photo sessions are also available. Those must be used 6 months after purchase.
Check out The Family Cookbook pricing & information guide or reply to this email to request a gift box or learn more about the process.
Cookbook of the Month
Meatballs: The Ultimate Cookbook
I normally like to highlight books with deep cultural roots or a knack for storytelling in this spot, but this month I want to feature a book I’ve been cooking a lot from lately. From this 800-page beast I have learned that meatballs are pretty underrated. I didn’t really used to make them all that much, even on pasta nights, but started to experiment with them a lot more since grabbing this book on clearance and needing to bring something easy and portable to our weekly mahjong potluck nights. Meatballs fit the bill and our playing companions have raved about the different variations we bring every week. I do admire an author who dedicates themselves to obsessing over a single type of dish, and Ellen Brown precedes herself here with The Complete Meatball Bible. The woman loves round foods. And this book isn’t just cover-to-cover meatball recipes—it also has accompanying sauces, sides, and other accoutrements to make a full meal. All in all, a handy cookbook where a dud recipe has yet to be found.
Recipe: Post-Shavuot Cheesecake
I was sick all weekend and completely forgot to post about Shavuot. Which is a shame, because I really wanted to make this cheesecake recipe from a family I worked with last summer. Instead, I share it here for you to make as you please. This family says this double ginger cheesecake recipe is adapted from The Essential Book of Jewish Festival Cooking, and has won them the top prize at a local Jewish bake off. Have at!
Double Ginger Cheesecake
INGREDIENTS
For the crust:
3 cups favorite granola
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
Filling:
2 pounds cream cheese at room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
⅔ cup heavy cream
Topping:
1 cup dairy sour cream
2 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
DIRECTIONS
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven. Preheat oven to 350. Cut a circle of parchment paper to line the bottom of a 9” or 10” springform pan. Affix to the bottom with a little butter or nonstick cooking spray. Cut a 3” wide strip of parchment paper and affix to the side of the pan.
In a food processor, finely grind the granola and transfer to a bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon, ground ginger, and melted butter. Mix well and press evenly into the bottom and halfway up the side of the prepared pan. Chill in the refrigerator.
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer on low speed, gently beat the cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar until smooth, scraping the bottom and side of the bowl often to make sure cheese is blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating lightly after each addition. Pour in the heavy cream and mix briefly. (Overbeating the filling will make the finished cake crack). Pour the batter into the chilled crust and level out the top with an offset spatula.
Bake the preheated oven for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean but still slightly moist. Do not overbake. (The center will sink and the cake will shrink slightly from the sides of the pan). Turn off heat and let the cake sit undisturbed in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
Lower oven temperature to 300. In a small bowl, beat sour cream and sugar, and pour over the top of the cake. Level with a palette knife or small offset spatula and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely Sprinkle with the crystallized ginger and chill the cake until firm. Cover with plastic wrap after the top has firmed up, and chill at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.