Rhubarb Kuchen (pretend there's an umlaut over the u in kuchen)

[curious aardvark]

Never could be bothered to work out how to do those :-)

Anyway one of the slingers recently said he'd got a whole bunch of hand written recipe cards from his grandmother and nobody could decipher them.

I said post a couple and I'll have a go.

He posted this:



Well I come from a family with appalling handwriting and mine is the absolute worst. So this to me was fiarly plain written :-)
And I've made a few cakes in my time.

I turned it into:

Rhubarb cake


2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg slightly beaten
1/2 cup unsalted butter - 115 grams
4 cups stewed (tinned) rhubarb - pour off syrup
3 tsp baking powder
1 packet strawberry gelatin (sugar free jelly - sufficient to set 1 pint of jelly)

Crumble (streusel) topping
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter - 60 grams
1/2 cup flour
Mix well in bowl until well blended - fine bread crumbs.

Method
In medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, butter and baking powder.
Mix with pastry blade until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal (fine crumbs). Or rub between fingers, what I'll do.
Mix in egg and milk and blend.

Press mixture into bottom of 13x9 lightly greased baking dish.
Spread rhubarb evenly over mixture and then sprinkle the strawberry gelatin over the top (weird - But I can see where it's going)

Then evenly sprinkle the streusel topping over the whole mixture.

Bake in medium oven: 350f/176c/gasmark 4 for 40 minutes.

And before any of you smart alecs tell me I couldn't possibly mean sugar free strawberry jelly - Yes I do. Look at the first picture


Okay as this was a cake with elements I'd never seen before and I love rhubarb, had to make one. The base was interesting, I can't remember the last time I opened a tin of evaporated milk. And sprinkling jelly powder over rhubarb

grabbed some ingredients from the supermarket.



And went at it.













Great cake. The base and filling isn't that sweet, the strawberry doesn't overwhe,m the rhubarb and the sugary topping becomes slightly chewey and crunchy and holds the whole thing together.

Now a couple of tips (lol) use a deeper tin than I did, damn thing nearly crawled out of the tin and did a runner. Had to clean up the oven drip pan
Also when you the press the pastry into the tin, try and get it even. Mine could have been better
Some bits were mostly topping and some bits were mostly base.
I'll use a knife next time and make sure it's more even.

I was surprised that the jelly (it's what we call it here - get over it) didn't set the rhubarb that much. Guess the acid inhibited it somewhat. But the result is fantastic !

I let it cool before cutting and eating but I might have a bit hot with some ice cream tonight

I'm hoping he'll post some more of his grandmothers recipes - if they're anything like as good and unusual as this one I'll be well impressed.

Give it ago - very easy to make, unusual and good both hot or cold.
Though if you're going to have it hot - let it go cold first and nuke it to re- heat.
Until it'#s gone cold and the rhubarb jelly mix has set - you wouldn't get it out of the tin in slices.

One other thing I'll probably do next time is cut all the amounts in half and use an 8 inch square brownie tin.

[THE ICEMAN]

Lööks gööd CA. I hävën't häd rhübärb in yëärs, my grändmöthër mädë ä killër rhübärb pië.

[TasunkaWitko]

Looks very good, Alex - I'm liking it...

It's ironic: I'm over here buying smoking wood chunks, and you're over there buying cans of rhubarb, which I have in my back yard!

This really does look like something my German grandmother in rural North Dakota would have made. Do you have any ideas as to the time frame and the location where this recipe came from?

[curious aardvark]

Lööks gööd CA. I hävën't häd rhübärb in yëärs, my grändmöthër mädë ä killër rhübärb pië.

bloody showoff

I did look for fresh rhubarb (none in the shops) - and in fact there might be some champagne rhubarb in the garden. But as I wasn't entirely sure how this was going to turn out with the jelly and all - figured tinned was quick and cheap :-)

[Mark R]

Cool post CA!
I thought it was pretty readable too.....butt I stole your version!

[Fishawn]

Looks mighty tasty mate

[SmokinOutBack]

Lööks gööd CA. I hävën't häd rhübärb in yëärs, my grändmöthër mädë ä killër rhübärb pië.

Priceless.

[SmokinOutBack]

My grandmother grew rhubarb every year when I was just little and made pies out of it. I couldn't stand them then because it was so bitter, but I bet I would now. Never saw it in a can however. Talk about a different post, wow, brought back some fond memories. I would love to taste this version sometime.

[THE ICEMAN]

bloody showoff

Heh, heh, heh... It's easy on a Mac, CA. All you have to do is hit alt u & go from there.

Priceless.

Thank you sir!!!

[curious aardvark]

Heh, heh, heh... It's easy on a Mac, CA. All you have to do is hit alt u & go from there.

Thank you sir!!!

Well I guess there has to be some advantage to owning an operating system with so many other flaws

No doubt there's an easy way to do it on windows as well - I just can't be arsed to find out what it is.

So next question: what do i do with 3/4 of a tin of evaporated milk

Cheers for poiints

[rbranstner]

I've never seen rhubarb in a can either. But I've never looked for it either. I guess we are lucky around here as someone is always trying to give it away this time of year because the plant is going nuts out in their yard. I love rhubarb pie, or anything for that matter.

[curious aardvark]

It's the first time I've ever looked for it as well :-)

Like I said couldn't find and fresh rhubarb - either too early or too late, I'm no gardener

Figured given it's relativity short season, it had to be available in tins - and it was :-)
Popular too - had to drag the cans from way back of the shelf - only a few left.
Cheap as well. About $1.60 a can - after pouring the syrup off and blitzing a bit, there was 1.5 cups in each tin.

But what do I do mwith this evaporated milk ? it's not very thick and it's not great tasting by itself.
Any idea's welcome :-)

[Ryan]

Looks good CA!! Love rhubarb, only had two dishes with it this year and didn't get any jelly made.

http://www.allthecooks.com/pioneer-w...-brownies.html
Try that recipe with your milk. Made these this weekend. Really good!!

[curious aardvark]

cheers mate - but commercial boxed cake mix ?
Not in my kitchen :-)

[eDJ]

Re:

Wow, I haven't seen Tinned Rhubarb either. Then so many things I used to see when I went with my Grandmother as a kid no longer exist on the shelves. Only on occasions do I see Tinned Figs, or Damson Plumbs, etc
at the liquidation stores here. That stuff comes in from distant markets
as surpluses.

My Texas Grandmother used to call her Rhubarb "Pie Plant". I've spoken
with people north of myself in Pennsylvania and those regions who
use Blueberries with their Rhubarb pies. Here it is usually Strawberries
as they are in season together. But down south east I've seen Rhubarb
used with Orange and Pecans in a pie.

My typical Rhubarb Pie goes like this.

In a 9" Pyrex Pie Plate I fit a bottom pastry of rolled out pie dough.
Into that 6 cups of Rhubarb stalk cut in 1/2" to 3/4" cuttings of the stalk.
2 Cups of sugar with 1/2 flour mixed in with it. The Rhubarb is quite juicey so the flour helps thicken the juice. I've also used that "Minute
Tapioca" product and it thickens quite well. (about 1/3 Cup of it). Last
1 tsp of Cinnamon. Cover with a top pastry and pinch it to seal with the
bottom. Cut some slits in the top to vent steam.

I bake in a 450 F oven for 15 minutes and then reduce to 350 F for another 40 minutes watching the top so it doesn't get too well done.

The pie needs to rest so that all the juice will set.

When I made the Rhubarb Orange Pecan pie I used a small container of
Orange Juice concentrate. About half of it and a cup of coarse ground Pecans. I've used some vanilla extract 1/2 tsp and 1 tsp cinnamon.

My Grandmother like to put a few drops of red food coloring in and a few
dots of butter too. She believed that the butter carried the flavor through the filling. It was never enough to notice but her pies sure were good.