The Return of Tony La Russa and an Eight-Year-Old Slice of Cake

British people have lots of wild traditions.

One of those traditions is to preserve slices of cakes that were served at royal weddings.  Not as in, "Let's wrap this up to take home and enjoy tomorrow."  More like, "Let's put this in a sealed container so that someday far into the future, people not even born yet will be able to look upon this cake and consider the wonders of our empire."

The article in this link takes a deep dive into the tradition of preserving royal wedding cakes, a tradition that goes back to 1840.  People with gentle constitutions may find some of the cake images upsetting.

Pivot to 2013, the year I launched this website.  It was originally built around the 1983 Chicago White Sox cookbook, and I set out to make every recipe and post the results here.

"La Russa Gastronomique" was the perfect mashup name for this blog, and the perfect recipe to start off with was the one from Tony La Russa.  

The recipe that he submitted for the cookbook was for Tropical Delight Cake, a fruitcake with a decadent cream frosting.  Here's the photo of the finished cake in 2013.

After posting the write-up and photo, I remembered British tradition and on a whim, stowed a slice of this cake in the freezer.  That was in April, 2013.  I never imagined that eight years later, La Russa would return to manage the White Sox once again.  I also never imagined that after eight years, the cake would still be sitting in my freezer, but it was.

To mark the stunning return of this blog's namesake, what more appropriate time to thaw that slice and see what eight years in a cryochamber had done to it.

Would it have held up in stasis?  Would it immediately break down and liquefy like Poe's Valdemar?  Would I dare put some eight-year-old cake in my mouth?  The photographic recap follows.

Commence the thawing!  A skeptical Tony La Russa looks on.

Released from its frozen tomb and plated, the cake maintained its structural integrity.

Tony noted that the golden raisins, once plump and soft, now resembled dried walnut pieces.

The moment of truth.  Even a grizzled veteran like Tony La Russa couldn't bring himself to watch.

The cake tasted old.  Just old.  No life to it, no freshness at all.  It was still light and chewable, and the frosting was sweet, but that first mouthful was punctuated by overwhelming staleness and agedness.

No second mouthful was necessary.  The remainder of the cake went into the trash.

But the memories will last as long as this website does!

Final verdict: don't expect much from an eight-year-old cake that's been sitting in a freezer.  Go out and get yourself something fresh and nice, or better still make your own.

Hoppin' John by Frank Thomas - from "The Big Hurt's Guide to BBQ and Grilling" (2016)

RECIPE

1 1-pound ham steak

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 celery rib, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups chicken broth

salt and ground black pepper, to taste

4 cups fresh black-eyed peas

2 cups uncooked long-grain white rice

2 tbsp unsalted butter

3 cups water

Preheat grill to high.

Rinse the ham under running water, then pat dry and trim off any excess fat.  Season both sides with salt and black pepper.

When your grill is hot, use tongs to dip a wad of paper towels in vegetable oil and run them a dozen times across the grates.  Grill ham over direct heat until grill marks begin to appear and the ham is cooked through, about 5 minutes on each side.  Allow the ham to cool, then roughly chop.

Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over direct heat, then cook onion, celery and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add broth, salt, black pepper, and peas and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer until peas are tender and creamy, about 45 minutes.  Add chopped ham and stir.

Add rice, butter, and water to a medium pot on your stovetop and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove pot from heat and allow rice to rest for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

Spoon rice onto plates and top with the peas and ham.

"A classic Southern dish" is how Frank Thomas describes Hoppin' John.  Sure enough, a quick online search comes up with a pile of Hoppin' John recipes that's almost as high as Stone Mountain.

Around the same time I prepared Thomas' recipe, I came across this near-rapturous exaltation of the dish in The Member of the Wedding by Georgia-born author Carson McCullers:

Now hopping-john was F. Jasmine's very favorite food. She had always warned them to wave a plate of rice and peas before her nose when she was in her coffin, to make certain there was no mistake; for if a breath of life was left in her, she would sit up and eat, but if she smelled the hopping-john, and did not stir, then they could just nail down the coffin and be certain she was truly dead.

Well, that's quite a statement, attesting to the powerful hold this simple dish has on people. It's one of those slow-cooking recipes that afford you time for contemplation of life and death, I guess.

But it is also delicious.  No southern cookbook would be complete without a Hoppin' John recipe, and the one presented by Thomas does not disappoint.  I could keep eating this until the time comes to nail down the coffin.  On that delightful note...

Put it on the board, yes!

Grilled Sweet Potatoes by Frank Thomas - from "The Big Hurt's Guide to BBQ and Grilling" (2016)

 

RECIPE

3 or 4 medium-sized sweet potatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp Kosher salt

1/4 cup cilantro, minced

1 tsp cayenne pepper

zest of half a lime

Poke about a dozen holes in each sweet potato.  

Line a microwave-safe dish with paper towels, then place two potatoes on the plate and set the microwave on high for 4-5 minutes.  Do the same with the other two potatoes.

When cool enough to handle, cut the potatoes in half and then into wedges (or simply cut them into 1-inch circular slices).

Preheat grill to high.

Brush the potatoes with oil and season with salt and pepper.  When your grill is hot, cook the potatoes until slightly charred, about 2-3 minutes per side.

In a small bowl, mix salt, cilantro, cayenne pepper and lime zest, then sprinkle over the potatoes.

Thanksgiving in the year 2020 is a very different proposal from what most people are used to.  However that's no reason not to enjoy some food that's traditionally associated with this holiday.

With this receipe, Frank Thomas takes a staple Thanksgiving side dish and gives it an upgrade, making them, in his own words: "crunchy and charred on the outside, sweet and creamy on the inside". 

If you have a microwave and a grill pan, you can make this dish without having to step outside. Finish the sweet potato wedges on a smoking hot grill for a couple of minutes per side and the final result can be seen in the photo above.

Frank's suggestion of finishing with cilantro, cayenne and lime is perfect. So if you are downgrading your Thanksgiving this year, you can still make this quick and simple recipe as part of your meal.

Quick Pork and Pasta - Billy Pierce (White Sox Old Timer)

 

 

RECIPE

 

6 loin pork chops

3 cans tomato soup (10 3/4 oz)

1 16-ounce package thin spaghetti

Brown pork chops in electric fry pan.  Pour two cans of soup over the chops and allow to simmer.  

Prepare spaghetti according to package directions, drain and add 1 can of soup to the spaghetti.  

Place spaghetti in fry pan with pork chops.  Mix together and heat thoroughly.  Ready to serve.



White Sox legend Billy Pierce was a slight, soft-spoken southpaw from Detroit who played the bulk of his playing career with the White Sox.

Over his 13 seasons on the south side, Pierce was a seven-time all star, and in different seasons led the AL in wins and strikeouts, and in 1955 he led the majors in ERA. Pierce's #19 was retired by the Sox in 1987.

In keeping with his calm demeanour, one can imagine him sitting down to dinner over a plate of this no-fuss, nothing-fancy pork and pasta.  The recipe calls for nothing more than three main ingredients: pork chops, pasta and tomato soup - although I substituted a favourite pasta sauce instead.  Went really elaborate and threw some shredded basil over everything when it was done.  Maybe too wild for Billy, but it was just the right touch for this delicious dish.

Mediterranean Christmas Eve Pasta by Jim Thome - from "Recipes From the Roster: Favorite Recipes From the Phillies" (2004)

RECIPE

1 cup sliced black olives
1 cup sliced green olives
3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
2 anchovies
6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 qt. bottle extra virgin olive oil
1 fresh orange slice
a generous amount of coarse ground black pepper, to taste
1 lb. angel hair pasta

Garnish: freshly shaven Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley, if available.

In a large saucepan, brown garlic in small amount of olive oil. Once garlic is browned, add the remaining olive oil, olives, anchovies and black pepper. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes over medium/low heat. 

After 45 minutes, add sliced mushrooms and orange slice. Cover and continue for 10 minutes, or until mushrooms are soft. Remove remainder of orange slice.

Presentation: pour over cooked and drained "al dente" angel hair pasta and serve with freshly shaven Parmesan cheese. Garnish with sprig of fresh parsley.

One more post for 2016, courtesy of former White Sox slugger and Renaissance man Jim Thome.  

I don't know if this "Christmas Eve Pasta" is a Thome family tradition or something he passed along that already had this name on it, but I love the images conjured by this dish. Picture big Jim and his family gathered in their ugly Christmas sweaters, chowing down on pasta and olives while awaiting Saint Nick.

I stumbled across the recipe while preparing to make the Holiday Country Soup recipe out of the Philadelphia Phillies' 2004 cookbook. 

One's eye could not help but be drawn to this amazing image while flipping through the pages.

A couple of tweaks: instead of buying green and black olives separately, I bought a mixed olive salad (green, green with pimientos, black and kalamata) with hot peppers in oil.  In keeping with the Mediterranean theme, I also threw in some chopped capers. Oh how I love the capers.

Apart from that, the recipe was very straightforward and I finally found a use for the angel hair pasta that had been kicking around the cupboard for too long than one should admit on a food blog.

But the dish turned out great.

A tip of the cap to Jim Thome for seeing off this strange and bizarre year of 2016 with a bang.

La Russa Gastronomique will be back with more culinary curiosities in the new year.

Turkey Soup by Carl Everett - from "Crowding the Plate: Favorite Recipes of the Boston Red Sox" (2001)

RECIPE

turkey carcass
1 onion, quartered
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 bay leaf
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups fresh carrots, diced
1 1/2 cups fresh celery, diced
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tsp. basil
1 tbsp. parsley
cooked rice or noodles

In a large pot place turkey carcass, onion, garlic salt and bay leaf; simmer for 2-2 1/2 hours.

Strain through cheesecloth and reserve broth; chill broth to remove fat.

Once the turkey is cool enough, break into bite size pieces.

Add can of diced tomatoes, vegetables, bouillon cubes, basil, parsley and turkey pieces; simmer.

Add cooked rice or noodles. [I went with rice.]

It's Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and here's a thematic soup from Carl Everett -- member of the World Series-winning 2005 Chicago White Sox.

When Frank Thomas went down with injury for most of the 2005 season, Everett stepped up as the club's starting DH.

Everett is also known for holding some peculiar beliefs and turning them into memorable quotes, like this one:

"God created the sun, the stars, the heavens and the earth, and
 then made Adam and Eve. The Bible never says anything
 about dinosaurs. You can't say there were dinosaurs when you
 never saw them. Someone actually saw Adam and Eve. No one ever
 saw a Tyrannosaurus Rex."

Anyway... Everett played for a slew of different teams over his career including a stop in Boston, where he submitted this recipe for the 2001 Red Sox cookbook.

I made a couple of tweaks to this recipe. Since I didn't have a turkey carcass kicking around the kitchen, I picked up a smoked turkey leg from the local market. This infused the broth with an amazing smokey aroma. Turkey legs are huge, so there was the added visual amusement of imagining a pterodactyl leg simmering on the stovetop -- just for you Crazy Carl!

The second tweak was to replace the can of diced tomatoes (of which I am not a fan) with half a jar of spicy salsa. This gave the soup more flavour and a bit of kick as well.

One turkey leg plus the above ingredients produced a lot of soup for a Thanksgiving meal, or for freezing and enjoying during the winter. This is one that I will definitely make again.

Clam Chowder by Vance Law - from "Home Plate: The White Sox Favorite Recipes" (1983)

RECIPE

2 6-oz. cans minced clams
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
2 cups chipped potatoes
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp. salt
dash pepper
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. thyme

Drain juice from clams.  Pour over chopped vegetables.  Add enough water to cover.  Simmer 20 minutes or until tender.  Melt butter, stir in flour, slowly add milk until mixture thickens.  Add salt, pepper, sugar and thyme.  Pour into the juice and vegetables.  Heat slowly and stir often.  Can sprinkle with crisp cooked bacon.

This turns out pretty thick.  I like to add milk to thin it down to where we like it.

Vance Law is remembered on the south side of Chicago for being a member of the 1983 White Sox team that made it to the ALCS.

A second generation major leaguer, Law also played for the Pirates, Expos, Cubs and Athletics, with a one season spell in Japan near the end of his career.

Here we have a made-from-scratch recipe for homemade clam chowder.  It didn't turn out as thick as the recipe implied.  It was also a lot less thick than the clam chowders that come out of a can ready made.

This one was definitely more "soupy" than "chowdery".  I guess if you want a thicker result, you can cook it longer or add more flour.

Either way, this is authentic tasty goodness.  Thank you Vance!

Minnie's Cuban Paella by Minnie Miñoso - from "Home Plate Cookbook" (1998)

RECIPE

12 clams in the shell
6 cups water
2 1/2 lbs. fresh shrimp
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
4 tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 tbsp. butter
1 cup white rice
1 tsp. salt
1 bay leaf
1 cube chicken bouillon
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 onions, finely chopped
2 green bell peppers, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, finely grated

Place clams in 6 cups water and bring to a boil.  Add shrimp and red pepper; boil five minutes.  Drain, reserving 2 1/2 cups stock.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a 3-quart saucepan.  Add rice and reserved stock; stir well.  Add salt, bay leaf and bouillon cube; simmer 25 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pour remaining 2 tablespoons oil into a 6-quart Dutch oven.  Add garlic, onion and green pepper; sauté 10 minutes.

Add cooked shrimp, clams and rice mixture along with tomatoes and olives; stir to blend.  Pour all ingredients into a Paella pan or oven-safe serving dish.  Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake 10-15 minutes.

Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Legendary White Sox outfielder Minnie Miñoso -- the Cuban Jackie Robinson -- was held in such esteem that the better part of the city of Chicago went into mourning when he passed away in 2015.

Miñoso's MLB career began way back in 1949 with Cleveland.  He spent most of his prime with the Indians and especially the White Sox, for whom he played for most of the 1950s.  He went on to attain unequalled status as the only man to play in the majors in five different decades.

The nine-time All Star had his number 9 retired by Chicago, where he is affectionately known as Mr. White Sox.  After his final MLB appearance in 1980, he worked as a coach and ambassador for the Sox organization for the rest of his life. 

You can imagine my excitement at discovering one of Minnie's very own recipes in the Home Plate Cookbook.  At first glance, "Minnie's Cuban Paella" looks like it might even be a personal, hand-drawn recipe from the old country.  Right until you get to the cheddar cheese.

Cheddar cheese on top of a paella?  That seemed an unlikely ingredient, so I asked my good friend Iron Chef Español for his opinion.  He immediately declared that putting cheddar on a paella is something only a heathen would do.

So out of curiosity I started googling around for "Cuban Paella" and "Cheddar Paella".  One of the search results uncovered this old McCall's Great American Recipe card from 1973, with the exact same recipe.

So the truth comes out!  Alas, "Minnie's Cuban Paella" was just a copy of an Americanized recipe for homemakers of the 70s.  

I guess one can still imagine Minnie enjoying this dish, perhaps as an easy-step paella to make at home, which it is.  Don't get me wrong, paella is still a multi-step process, but the end result of this one was decent enough.  After 10 minutes in the oven, the cheddar melted in between the grains of rice for a pleasantly gooey result, even if not authentically Cuban or even Spanish.

Ahh, it was fine, no need to be so critical.  If I had to do it again, I'd ditch the clams and throw in some spicy chorizo instead.  

Viva Miñoso!

French Silk Chocolate Pie by Bobby Thigpen - from "Home Plate Cookbook" (1998)

RECIPE

1 (8-ounce) stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 baked pie shell
heavy cream, whipped
slivered almonds

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Blend in chocolate and vanilla, add eggs one at a time, beating for 2 minutes after each addition.

Pour mixture into pie shell and chill for at least 3 hours.  Top with whipped cream and almonds.

In 1990, Bobby Thigpen came out of nowhere to shatter the MLB single season saves record with 57.  The previous record was held by Dave Righetti, who saved 46 games for the New York Yankees in 1986.

The 1990 season would prove to be a career year for Thigpen, who went into decline after that due to an offseason injury.  He was traded to Philadelphia in 1993, signed with Seattle in 1994, and ended his professional career in Japan.  Currently, he is back with the White Sox as bullpen coach.

This is one of two recipes that Thigpen submitted for the Home Plate Cookbook, the other one being for a shrimp spread.

French silk chocolate pie is unique in that it is a no-bake pie (aside from the crust), and it contains raw eggs.  That may freak some people out, but if you have the stomach for it, this makes for a nice, chocolately pie.  Silky too, as the name implies.

I got shy on the almonds when it came time to take some photos.  Later on I poured slivers all over the whipped cream for a nicer look and better contrast of textures.  The chocolate filling is very smooth, and this is an easy pie to make.

Frosted Old-Fashioned Amaretto Brownies by Ken Berry - from "Home Plate Cookbook" (1998)

RECIPE

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 sticks butter, melted
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. cocoa powder or 2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
2 tbsp. amaretto
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
frosting (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine sugar with melted butter; stir in eggs.  Add flour, salt, cocoa/chocolate, and amaretto; stir well.  Stir in pecans if desired (mixture will be thick).

Spread mixture onto a greased jellyroll pan.  Bake 12-15 minutes.  Frost while brownies are still warm.

FROSTING
4 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
4 tbsp. hot water
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. amaretto

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add cocoa powder and stir well.

Remove pan from heat, and stir in hot water.  Add powdered sugar and amaretto; mix until smooth.

Outfielder Ken Berry played for the Chicago White Sox from 1962-70.  

Those were some lean years for the Sox, with no postseason appearances during that stretch.  However, Berry made the AL All Star team in 1967 and enjoyed a 20-game hitting streak with the Sox that same year.  

After the 1970 season (one of the worst in Chicago history), he was traded to the California Angels.  He spent three seasons there, and was then traded to Milwaukee, where he played the 1974 season before being released again.  He signed on with Cleveland for the start of the 1975 season, but was released in June of that year and retired.

Berry offered up this tasty recipe to the Home Plate Cookbook for Amaretto-infused brownies and frosting, and it is fantastic.  Basically, it's brownies, but the Amaretto liqueur gives them a bonus hit of almond flavour.  I added the optional pecans to add some nuts to the mix.  

Overall this is an easy recipe that rewards you with a pan of distinctively dalashous brownies.

Cream of Shrimp Soup by Herm Schneider - from "Sox Appetît" (2001)

RECIPE

1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tbsp butter
2 cans cream of potato soup
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream (add more for a richer soup)
4 oz. cream cheese
2 cups frozen baby shrimp
8 oz can of corn, drained

Sauté onion and garlic in butter.  Add remainder of ingredients.  Bring almost to a boil.  Cook for approximately 1 hour.  Serves 4.

At every Chicago White Sox game, you can see a bespectacled, mild mannered man sitting in the Sox dugout, usually wearing a team jacket or polo shirt.  It's Herm Schneider, the team's head trainer.

Schneider has been a fixture in the Sox dugout for decades, literally decades.

I stumbled on this footage of Herm in action with the team way back in 1981(!).  If the video doesn't automatically go there, skip ahead to 2:28:00.

After working for the New York Yankees for a couple of years, Schneider became the Sox's head athletic trainer in 1979.  It's hard to think of many other people who have been with the organization continuously for that long.

He contributed this recipe for a rich and chunky shrimp chowder to the 2001 White Sox cookbook.  

The triple combo of canned cream soup, half-and-half cream, and cream cheese on top of that was a bit puzzling, but the ingredients make for a happy result.  So rich.  

As I continue this year-long series of baseball cookbook soups, I keep picking out simple, idiot-proof recipes and this one is no exception.  It's easy, but the result is dalashous.

Minnesota Wild Rice Soup by Jerry Koosman - from "Home Plate: The White Sox Favorite Recipes" (1983)

RECIPE

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. chervil
1/4 tsp. white pepper
2 cups half and half cream
2/3 cup dry sherry
chopped parsley or chives

In huge saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onion.  Cook and stir about 5 minutes or until golden.  Add mushrooms and celery.  Cook and stir 2 minutes.  Mix in flour.

Gradually add broth, stirring constantly for 5 to 8 minutes and slightly thickened.  Stir in rice, salt, curry powder, dry mustard, chervil and pepper.  Reduce heat to low.  Stir in half and half cream and the sherry.  Bring to simmer and stir occasionally.

Ladle into individual bowls and garnish with parsley or chives.  Makes 3 quarts.

From the American midwest comes this perfect-for-winter soup.  It's thick and creamy, earthy and boozy.

Minnesota native Jerry Koosman spent most of his career with the New York Mets, making his first appearance on the mound in 1967.  He was part of the Miracle Mets of 1969, and spent a dozen seasons in New York.  He pitched two-and-a-half seasons for his home state Twins before a 1981 trade sent him to the Chicago White Sox.  Koosman returned to the postseason as a member of the "Winning Ugly" White Sox of 1983, before wrapping up his career with a couple of seasons in Philly.

Koosman's recipe from Home Plate: The White Sox Favorite Recipes calls for massive quantities of ingredients, so I cut it in half and still got a lot of soup.

Rice and mushrooms are fast friends and go well together here.  I couldn't find any chervil, or tarragon, so I chopped up some sage as a substitute.  Everything else is pretty standard pantry stuff.  Neither the curry nor the dry mustard overwhelm the flavour of the soup, so don't be too leery.  The sherry adds another layer of flavour, but you can leave it aside and still get a tasty soup.

This variation of wild rice soup is definitely of the thick and creamy variety.  There are versions out there that call for more veggies and no cream.  I happen to have one of those recipes in another baseball cookbook so I might try that one down the road.  

EDIT: and here it is: Scott Sanderson's Wild Rice Soup.

For now, I've got tons of Kooz's soup here to last a while.

Recommended!