Readers question raw eggs in recipes

Upset. Ticked off. Teeth gritted and hands clenched. Ongoing arguments about this, that or the other. Not a good way to finish off the 2003 holidays, and not a totally heartening way to wade into the start of 2004.

Let’s get right to it:

First, eggs. Raw eggs. When we recently began what would become a delicious and varied exploration of homemade eggnogs, I had a scary, sneaking suspicion some readers would gritch and moan at the use of "raw" eggs …

One reader, for instance, putting pen to paper on Dec. 19, writes, "What’s the deal? This is the second time that uncooked egg recipes have been in your column. I thought uncooked eggs was a no-no for the past several years.

"Am I wrong? Please answer in your column."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has found uncooked eggs to be a potential carrier of food-borne illness and recommends that infants, the elderly and immuno-compromised people avoid raw eggs. There it is, in black and white.

However, here also in black and white, are alternatives. Pasteurized eggs are now available at some supermarkets in this area. And so are egg substitutes. And so are packages of powdered egg whites. For those who choose not to use raw eggs, nor pasteurized eggs, surely it would be possible to use an egg substitute for the yolks in a recipe, and then prepare the packaged whites for the egg whites. If not, why not?

Next, let’s tackle turkey. Everett reader Loretta McCann tells us, "Every time we have turkey, Mom wants to keep eating it till it is all gone. I have a three-days-and-it’s-out rule. What do you say? She loves your column and would listen to you!

"Also, my grandfather used to have a gumdrop cake that he made, but it was lost somewhere along the way. Can you help with this, too?"

Well, uh, maybe. At the Kruse household, our plan is to have turkey once. For the main event. And we try hard to have a turkey big enough to not only feed all of us at the table with as much as we want, but to have enough leftovers for two more favorites — turkey sandwiches on homemade buns and turkey enchiladas.

So, yes, I guess — it’s three times and out.

At the end of the main event, the way we do it, and the way my mom and gram did it, the remaining meat on the turkey carcass is sliced off and divvied up, some for turkey sandwiches, some for turkey something else, and then the turkey carcass is wrapped and refrigerated, to turn into soup the next day — or nowadays, wrapped, stuffed into a self-sealing freezer bag and frozen until needed for soup.

How’s it at your house? And what about the gumdrop cake?

Please share your thoughts and recipes. Write to Judyrae Kruse at the Forum, c/o The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.

We are always happy to receive your contributions and requests. However, all letters and all e-mail must include a name, complete address with ZIP code and telephone number with area code. No exceptions, and no response to e-mail by return e-mail; send to kruse@heraldnet.com.

Meanwhile, among other things, we hear from Granite Falls reader Willo Davis Roberts, "The son-of-a-gun-in-a-sack recipe from your great-grandmother, Lucy Barrett, sounds a great deal like the ‘plum pudding’ my grandmother used to make. I never got the recipe for it when she was alive, and always regretted it. It had no plums, only raisins.

She had a translucent sauce — mostly water, vanilla and cornstarch, I think — rather than whipped cream."

What I think is that if my great-gram’s recipe for son-of-a-gun-in-a-sack looks right, then maybe this recipe, handed down to me by my late mother-in-law, Echo Reece Kruse, will look "right," too.

Mother K made some great steamed puddings I was crazy about, but she also made what the family called apple pudding. It came with its own sauce, and I think it might be what Roberts is looking for.

Since there is no name for this sauce, let’s just call it: