Recipes For The Laird’s
225th Anniversary

LAIRD FAMILY BLACK BEAN SOUP
(Laird Family Records)
1 Pound black beans
2 Quarts water
1 large onion, sliced
3 green peppers, cut in strips
1 clove garlic
½ cup olive oil
¼ hambone
3 bay leaves
1 ounce white bacon or fat back
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup vinegar
½ cup Laird’s AppleJack

Wash beans thoroughly and soak overnight in water. Save water for cooking.

Sauté onion, green pepper, and garlic in olive oil. Combine all ingredients except vinegar and AppleJack. Cook over low heat until beans are tender and liquid is of a thick consistency.

Add vinegar and AppleJack just before serving.

Garnish with raw onion rings.

Yield: 8 servings

SALAD OF MIXED GREENS
(John Nott, “A Cook’s Dictionary” , 1726)
Mix of spring lettuces and greens
Small white onions, sliced
Salt to taste

DRESSING
1 Tablespoon mustard
½ cup vinegar
1 cup olive oil

Wash greens thoroughly and drain. Beat dressing ingredients until well blended and pour over salad directly before serving.

Entree

FRICASSEE CHICKEN BROWN
(Susannah Carter, “The Frugal Colonial Housewife, 1772)
2 frying chickens, cut into pieces, (Thighs, wings, breasts, legs)
6 tablespoons AppleJack
2 teaspoons nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter
8 Snippets (toasted bread points)
parsley

Fry chicken pieces to a light brown. Remove chicken to stew pot. Add AppleJack, nutmeg and salt to drippings in the frying pan, deglazing pan. Add flour and butter and turn up heat until gravy is thickened. Add chicken to stew pot on medium-low heat until tender (10-15 minutes). Serve garnished with snippets and with crisp parsley.

Serves 8

OR

ROAST PORK WITH APPLES
(Evan Jones, :American Food:The Gastronomic Story” , 1975)
5 pound pork loin roast, chops cracked
¾ cups Laird’s AppleJack
1 tablespoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 or 3 allspice berries, crushed
6 medium-sized potatoes
6 large tart apples
½ cup brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Marinate pork in AppleJack for at least 4 hours, or overnight, spooning liquid over meat several times.

About 3 hours before serving, drain and save marinade. Pre-heat over to 325 degrees. Rub pork on all surfaces with salt, a generous amount of freshly ground pepper, a liberal grating of nutmeg, the ground cloves, and allspice. Put the meat on a rack in a roasting pan and roast for 2 hours.

About 1 hour before serving, peel potatoes and boil in salted water for about 5 minutes. Drain, cut into quarters, and pat dry. Pour off fat from roasting pork into a shallow metal pan. Toss potatoes in pan beside pork.

Core apples, then slice. Remove pork from pan and spread apples around bottom. Sprinkle them with brown sugar and cinnamon. Warm the marinade, add a little extra AppleJack if you choose; set it aflame, and pour over apples. Return pork to bed of apples and continue roasting for 45 minutes or until pork is very tender. If meat seems too dry, cover with foil. Turn potatoes about 30 minutes after they begin to roast; if they are not really crisp, turn oven to 500 degrees. Remove tender roast and apples, and cook potatoes for about 5 minutes more, while roast rests.

Yield: 8 servings

Side Dishes

FRIED POTATOES
(Susannah Carter, The Frugal Colonial Housewife), 1772

5 Pounds Potatoes
Vegetable oil
½ cup melted butter
2 tablespoons Laird’s AppleJack
½ Teaspoon Sugar

“Cut them into slices, as big as a crown piece, fry them brown, lay them in the plate or dish, pour melted butter with sack and sugar over them. These are a pretty dinner plate.”
Modern Adaptation: Fry Potatoes in Vegetable oil until browned and cooked through. Use proportions of melted butter and AppleJack with sugar. Suggest serving this on the side rather than pouring over the potatoes.

Yield: 8 Servings

GLAZED CARROTS
(Laird Family Records)
1 bunch young carrots
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt

Wash and brush the carrots. Melt the butter and sugar in a heavy skillet large enough to contain the carrots without cutting. Stir in the salt. Add carrots. Cover tightly and cook on low heat until tender. Turn the carrots to glaze on all sides.

OR

CARROT PUDDING
(Susannah Carter, “The Frugal Colonial Housewife, 1772)
3/4 pounds carrots
1 pound grated bread
4 eggs
½ pint heavy cream
½ pound butter, melted
¼ cup Laird’s AppleJack
3 Tablespoons Orange flower water
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons sugar
Prepared pie crust (Optional)

“You must take a raw carrot, scrape it very clean and grate it. Take a half pound of the grated carrot, and a pound of grated bread, beat up 8 eggs, leave out half the whites, and mix the eggs with half a pint of cream, then stir in the bread and carrot, half a pound of fresh butter melted, half a pound of sack, three tablespoons of orange flower water and grated nutmeg. Sweeten to your palate. Mix all well together, and if it is not thin enough, stir in a little milk or cream. Let it be of moderate thickness: Lay a puff paste all over the dish and pour in the ingredients. Bake it, which will take an hour. It may also be boiled. If so, serve it up with melted butter, and put in white wine and sugar.”

Modern Adaptation: Grate 3/4 pounds of carrots and 1 pound bread (or use 1 pound bread crumbs). Beat 4 egg yolks and 4 whole eggs. Add half a pint of cream to beaten eggs. Stir in grated bread and carrots. Add ½ pound of melted butter, ¼ cup of AppleJack, three tablespoons of orange flower water, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, and 2 tablespoons sugar. The bread will absorb the liquid. If the mixture is too thick, add some milk or cream. The pudding can be baked in a pie crust or boiled as an 18th century pudding. An 18th century pudding bag is a yard square of linen. The pudding cloth should be wet and floured lightly before adding the pudding. Have a pot of water boiling to suspend the budding bag in for boiling. Tie the bag with twine and make the twine a length that can be loosely tied to the cover of the pot. This prevents the pudding bag from touching the bottom of the pot. It should boil 1 hour. It needs to drain in a colander and set a few minutes before inverting onto a serving platter. Pour melted butter over it with proportions of ½ cup melted butter, 2 tablespoons AppleJack and ½ teaspoon sugar.

Dessert

APPLE BREAD PUDDING WITH HARD CIDER SAUCE
(EMERIL LAGASSE, 2003)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large eggs
3 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup apple cider
¼ cup Laird’s Applejack
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
6 cups cubed stale raisin-cinnamon bread
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and cubed (about 1 cup)
1 cup dried apples

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease a 10 by 14 inch baking dish with butter and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add the cream, cider, applejack, sugar, melted butter, salt, and cinnamon, and whisk to combine. Add the bread, fresh and dried apples, and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until bread is well saturated, up to 1 hour. Bake until the top is golden brown and the center is firm, about 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and let sit on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Cut into pieces and drizzle with Hard Cider Sauce. Serve immediately.

Hard Cider Sauce
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup hard cider (Laird’s Apple Brandy)
4 large egg yolks

In the top of a double boiler, melt the butter over simmering water. Add the sugar and whisk to combine, whisking for 1 minute. Add the cider and whisk until the sugar is dissolved, 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the egg yolks, 1 at a time, whisking constantly. Return to the heat and continue whisking until the sauce is pale and slightly thickened, 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Spoon the sauce over the pudding and serve immediately. (Note: The sauce will thicken and set up as it cools. If you desire a thicker consistency, serve the sauce slightly cooled.)