I began this A-Z with the evolution of an appetite and wrote how by being made to try the foods I initially refused I learnt not only to like but to appreciate them. How these dreaded foods of childhood became favourites of adulthood. I finish the challenge with an opposite story.
We were never ‘made’ to finish any pudding or dessert which we did not like. These were treats, they were special it was unnecessary for us to finish the plate. We could refuse them with nothing more than a ‘you don’t know what you are missing’ and an alternative piece of fruit or jelly and custard.
I still do not like those. I have never learnt to like or appreciate them. It still doesn’t matter. They added nothing to my health and I still ‘don't know what I am missing’ - don't care.
What I didn’t like then: desserts with alcohol in them. Desserts such as
Trifles. Mum made hers with sweet Sherry. When I grew up I drank Sherry, sweet through to dry and enjoyed the drink - however I do not like Sherry trifle. I began to use Sherry to enrich gravies and sauces in my cooking and the drink added an extra depth which I really enjoyed - but I do not trifle.
Rum Baba. Many of our guests remember Mum’s Rum concoctions with pleasure, I hated them. These were proper home made Babas, rich in the alcohol of the navy:) not the rum flavoured stuff of the supermarkets nowadays. It has never been a drink of choice, I favoured Gin in my drinking days.
There were strange sounding desserts such as Sabayon and what she called Savarins, this last which appears to be the same as the Rum Baba, except I think she distinguished the difference because the first was Rum and the second a liqueur of some kind - Grand Marnia springs to mind.
Christmas cakes I enjoyed as long as Mum did not make them beforehand and add alcohol to the stored cake. I know it helped to keep them moist but it ruined the taste for me. As did the Brandy poured over the Christmas pudding, if it wasn’t lit in time and burned off.
When I grew up I could add Tiramisu to this list of disliked desserts.
As I said I have nothing against alcohol, I have used it a great deal in my savoury cooking, with meats and fish of all kinds, in the sauces and marinades. In my youth I have consumed a fair amount from glass and bottle! The desserts though - no, no, no.
When I began thinking through this challenge I was chatting with friend from forever and we were discussing my mothers culinary skills. Our favourite dishes from our past, produced in Mum’s kitchen, as well as trying to fit food into the more difficult letters of the alphabet.
The last letter is always the most difficult - so few words in the English language beginning with Z. However friend from forever conjured up yet another dessert from our past she liked, I didn’t.
I don't like Zabaglione either.
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