Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Complete List of Words of the Week from 2008

Throughout 2008 Rattling Books has brought you words of the week from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English both here on this blog and through our sister facebook group.

More recently the word of the week has also been announced each Sunday morning on the CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Along the way we took tangents and had a recipe contest.

Here is the complete list of words of the week from 2008.

ballicatter
beat
bedlamer
brewis
britches
calavance
carey chicks
cross-handed
dotard
duff, figgy duff
elt
empter
faffering
fairy squall
firk
gaffer
gawmoge
gilguy
glauvaun
gommel
hag
hare's ears

laddie-suckers
larrigan
livyer
maid
maiden vein
maggoty
mauzy
pea
pelt
penquin
quintal
racket
rattling
rawny
scrunchins
scurrifunge
sish
slob, slub
slut
tickle
tuckamore
twillick

vang
wag

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Word of the Week Dec 21-28: racket

Word of the Week Dec 21-28

racket

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

racket1 n Comb racket bow: the wooden frame of a snowshoe.

[1786] 1792 CARTWRIGHT iii, 150 At two o'clock one of the Canadians came here from Muddy Bay, with a new Mountaineer sled, a pair of rackets, and a pair of racket-bows; being presents [from] captain Gabourit to me.

racket2 n OED ~ sb3 2 b (1745-) for sense 1; DAS 3 for sense 2.

1 A social gathering, party; TIME; freq with defining word kitchen (1924 ENGLAND 319). P 245-66 Kitchen racket [is] an impromptu house-party. P 121-67 We had a kitchen racket last night. M 71-39 They gathered at the homes of more liberal hosts and had what was most likely a very innocent party. These illicit gatherings were called by the more pious parishioners 'kitchen rackets.' . . . The host of the party, or 'racket,' was named and branded as the Devil's Advocate.

2 Habitual activity or occupation, freq with defining word fish, sealing, wood, etc.

1924 ENGLAND 30'T'ings is ahl in a fruz, now,' he added, 'but you'm goin' to like dis racket.' Ibid 262 One who knows how poor their food resources are at home and during the cod fishery can perhaps understand why the 'swilin' racket' attracts so many.

1960 FUDGE 12 March month came on and we fished tub racket. We took two tubs of gear baited and sat one tub at a time, lay on the end and fish until a dory load of Haddock was secured, then go on board. T 141/60-652 They got it renamed since that woods racket was started up there. T 187/9-65 He said 'This swilin' racket is a hell of a hard racket.' T 410-67 That's something is goin'out—the wood racket. Most people use oil now.

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The word of the week is brought to you each week by Rattling Books and released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Word of the Week Dec 14-20: gaffer

Word of the Week Dec 14-20

gaffer

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

gaffer n JOYCE 259. A boy, young fellow, esp one capable of assisting older men at work.

1896 J A Folklore ix, 31 ~ as applied to children only, must have been derived from Ireland.

1937 DEVINE 23 ~ A boy, between ten and fifteen, able to help at the fishery.

1966 SCAMMELL 106 "Tommy Decker's Venture": Three smart young gaffers right enough, I know it for a fact, / Or else they'd never have the nerve to start the like o' that. / And we old codgers wish 'em luck and all the folks around / Will feel right glad if lots o' fish strikes on the handy ground. M 68-24 ~ This was the name given to any young boy who could pick berries fast, could catch fish fast, could split wood fast, who really could work fast.

1975 RUSSELL 1 Must have been almost thirty years ago. I was just a young gaffer then—spending my third or fourth summer in the bow of the banking dory.

1979 Salt Water, Fresh Water 83 The wind had come down and was blowing us hard and we two young gaffers were sayin': 'Let's go in.'

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The word of the week is brought to you each week by Rattling Books and released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Word of the Week Dec 7 - 13: larrigan

Word of the Week Dec 7 - 13

larrigan

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

larrigan n [phonetics unavailable]. Cp O Sup2 ~ 'a long boot' (1886-). Jocular term for leg, from the knee-boot worn by woodsmen and fishermen. P 43-67 Stretch your larrigans [to the fire]. C 71-103 ~s: legs. It was commonly used by the fishermen when I was a child.

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The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our sister facebook group.

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Monday, December 1, 2008

The Old Hag: a scientific explanation and Sheryl Crow a victim?!

THE 'OLD HAG' SYNDROME"

The Scientific Explanation

The medical establishment is quite aware of this phenomenon, but has a less sensational name than "old hag syndrome" for it. They call it "sleep paralysis" or SP (sometimes ISP for "isolated sleep paralysis").
So what causes it?

Read the rest here.

Sheryl Crow Battles The Old Hag

Rock singer Sheryl Crow is a victim of sleep paralysis, as she revealed in a 1996 interview with Rolling Stone magazine. "It's a bizarre and twisted feeling where you feel completely paralyzed. You are sure you are going to die."

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Hag was our latest word of the week from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. Brought to you by Rattling Books.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Word of the Week (November 23 - 28) : hag

Word of the Week Nov 23 - 28

hag

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

hag v Cp HAG n: HAG-RODE. To torment (in a nightmare).C 70-25 If you think or talk badly of someone who is dead, the dead person will hag you. The person hagged will become light headed and will talk in his sleep. The way to get him out is to slap him across the face. C 71-6 As a young girl she got hagged. That night she woke up screaming, she had felt the young man's hands around her throat but she couldn't scream or move.

hag1 n [phonetics unavailable]. Cp OED ~1 1 c obs (1632, 1696) for sense 1; OED hag-ridden 1, EDD hag sb1 2 (4) hag-ride esp Do So D Co for comb in sense 3. See D Hufford, 'A New Approach to the "Old Hag" [Nfld], 'in WAYLAND D HAND American Folk Medicine (1976), pp. 73-45.

1 The nightmare; freq in form old hag. Cp DIDDIES.
1896 J A Folklore ix, 222 A man ... told me he had been ridden to death by an old hag, until a knowledgeable old man advised him to drive nails through a shingle, and lash it to his breast when he went to bed.

[1929] BURKE [6] "No Short Skirts": For her skirts are so tight round the hips, Jennie, / It's no wonder she got the old hag.

1924 ENGLAND 216 A sufferer from nightmare is supposed to be ridden by something called 'the old hag,' and the only way to free him from torment is to call his name backward.

1937 Bk of Nfld i, 230 Nightmare is called by fishermen the 'Old Hag.' T 222-66 Well, by this time it would be bedtime, and perhaps after such an exciting day you would probably have bad dreams; in fact you might have the old hag, or a nightmare. C 69-22 He often gets the hag. Usually he is dreaming that someone is chasing him [or] he may be falling from somewhere. C 70-23 If you sleep on your back you'll have hags.

1975 Evening Telegram 20 Dec, p. 3 Christmas for many has moved beyond the yearly sufferable nightmare to the realm of that particularly exquisite nocturnal terror called, in Newfoundland,'The Old Hag.'

2 Part of inner organs of a lobster, discarded in eating (P 127-73); OLD WOMAN.

3 Comb hag-rode: (a) troubled by nightmare; (b) bewitched (see P 51-67 quot).P 213-55 Hagorid: [afflicted by] a nightmare, especially one in which the victim feels someone sitting on his chest. P 51-67 When he couldn't catch any fish, he said he was hagrode. C 67-10 ~ [Hagrode is when] she awakes in a sweat and feels pinned to the bed by some unseen force.hag1 n DBE ~ 2 for sense 1.

1 [1886] 1910 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 23 'Oh' said he, 'Cole has got the Old Hag Sir, thats all.' ... He tried to call out but could not, but just as they were giving him the third and last swing [over the cliff] he made one desperate effort to screech.

1985 A Yaffle of Yarns 94 She frequently announced...that she had had the 'old hag' the night before and described the symptoms in great detail.

1985 JOHNSTON 66 The air itself was black and thick and wrapped like arms around me. The hag, to those who have not known her, cannot be described.

3 Comb, cpd ~ rode, ~ wind: a gale at sea.

1981 SPARKES 166 A person having a nightmare was said to be hagrode.

1977 MOAKLER 22 So blew the hag winds till a mauzy dawn/That left the Banks as peaceful as a bawn. P 308-88 'That's no way to call a man when he is egg rod.

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our sister facebook group.

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Word of the Week Nov 16 - 22: hare's-ears, hazures

Word of the Week Nov 16 - 22

hare's-ears, hazures

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

hare's-ears, hazures: a pair of pointed rocks protruding above the surface of the water; twin peaks (of a hill).

[1773] 1971 SEARY 224 Two rocks, known as Hare's Ears, 40 feet high, lie close eastward of [Branch] head.

1909 Nfld Qtly Mar, p. 3 Now at our Ferryland, we have an excellent specimen of a Forillon, in the well known rock called The Hazures.

1951 Nfld & Lab Pilot i, 159 Two smaller peaks, about 350 feet high, in the southern part of the island are known as Hare's ears. Q 67-84 Hasures [is the name given to] a rock split in the middle looking like hare's ears.

1971 SEARY 87 Hare's Ears ... is a descriptive which occurs in at least seven localities in Newfoundland to describe two steep, adjacent, pinnacle-like rocks, standing offshore.

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT! The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We invite you to visit our sister facebook group.

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Calavance sighting: Mediterranean Vegetables by Clifford A. Wright

The following entry for calavance (our word of the week from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English) appears in a book about mediterranean vegetables by Clifford A. Wright:

Calavance
Dolichos barbadensis and D. sinensis etc.
(Leguminosae)

Calavance is the name given to several varieties of pulse in the Dolichos genus, a genus that includes the hyacinth bean. it is not known how the word calavance entered the English language. Athenaeus relates that the Spartans could serve green calavances, beans and dried figs at kopides, feasts given for strangers. Today this vegetable is eaten by Bedouin and Berber tribes in North Africa.

Mediterranean Vegetables: A Cook's ABC of Vegetables and Their Preparation in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa with More Than 200 Authentic Recipes for the Home Cook
By Clifford A. Wright
Published by Harvard Common Press, 2001
ISBN 1558321969, 9781558321960
416 pages

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Sunday, November 9, 2008

November 2 - 8 Word of the Week : calavance n also callivance, cavalance

November 2 - 8 Word of the Week

calavance n also callivance, cavalance

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

calavance n also callivance, cavalance OED ~ obs (1620-1880); DAE (1682-); DJE sb (1634-1794). Type of small bean used esp for soup (Dolichos barbadensis, D. sinensis).

1895 J A Folklore viii, 38 Callivances: a species of white bean ... in contrast with the broad English bean.

[c1904] 1927 DOYLE (ed) 67 "The Kelligrews Soiree": There was birch rhine, tar twine, / Cherry wine and turpentine; / Jowls and cavalances. P 245-61 ~ small bean.

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT! The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

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The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

November 2 - 8 Word of the Week : scurrifunge n

November 2 - 8 Word of the Week

scurrifunge n

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

scurrifunge* v [phonetics unavailable].. Cp EDD ~ v 'to lash tightly, coïre'; fung v 3 'to do anything briskly ... to work or walk hurriedly' Sc, Ki1kenny Lexicon scurryfunge 'to scrounge, cadge or wheedle.'

1 To clean thoroughly, scour (P 108-70). P 272-57 ~ as to clean out a dirty sink.

2 To scold, reprove. P 108-79 To scurravunge someone,

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT! The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our sister facebook group. The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

word of the week sighting: slut according to Wikipedia

Oddly enough, Wikipedia's entry for our word of the week, slut, makes no mention of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English of the making of tea.

Slut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Slut (disambiguation). Slut or slattern is a pejorative term for a person who is deemed sexually promiscuous. The term has traditionally been applied to women and is generally used as an insult or offensive term of disparagement. Slut has also been reclaimed as a slang term in the BDSM, polyamorous and gay and bisexual communities.[1] It may be used by the person concerned as an expression of pride in their status, or to express envy at the "success rate" of others.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 Common usages
3 Alternate usages
4 See also
5 References
6 External links //

Etymology
Although the ultimate origin of slut is unknown, it first appeared in Middle English in 1402 as slutte (AHD), with the meaning "a dirty, untidy, or slovenly woman." Even earlier, Geoffrey Chaucer used the word sluttish (c.1386) to describe a slovenly man; however, later uses appear almost exclusively associated with women. The modern sense of "a sexually promiscuous woman" dates to at least 1450. Another early meaning was "kitchen maid or drudge" (c. 1450), a meaning retained as late as the 18th century, when hard knots of dough found in bread were referred to as "slut's pennies." A notable example of this use is Samuel Pepys's diary description of his servant girl as "an admirable slut" who "pleases us mightily, doing more service than both the others and deserves wages better" (February 1664). In the 19th century, the word was used as a euphemism in place of bitch in the sense of "a female dog."[2] Similar words appear in Dutch, German and Swedish dialects meaning "a dirty woman," indicating a common ancestor in Germanic languages. The word entered the colloquial Yidish as "akhsluttishkha" meaning "a hag". It exists in Ukrainian too as slutyj as a loan word from Yidish or via the mediaeval Scandinavian Varangian colonists in Kievan Rus'. A popular theory connects slut to earlier Germanic forms meaning "slush" or "mud puddle," but this derivation remains in question.

Read the rest of the Wikipedia entry here.

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REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is brought to you by Rattling Books.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

October 25 - November 1 Word of the Week : slut

October 25 - November 1 Word of the Week

slut n

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

slut n 1 A tin kettle, often one with a large flat bottom and tapering to the top, used to boil water on an open fire; cp PlPER, SMUT.

1924 ENGLAND 11 Some were drawing water at an icicled faucet near the cropping shed, bringing 'sluts' (kettles) aboard, and brewing tea.

1937 DEVINE 46 ~ A large tin teakettle. P 102-60 Everybody would line up 3 times a day for salt meat, potatoes and figgy duff or saltfish and brewis and a slut full of boiled tea, no milk but good old Barbados molasses, no sugar. P 54-67 A hotwater kettle, of the familiar type locally made by tinsmiths and much used on outdoor picnics, hunting trips etc, is called a slut—especially the very large sort, holding about 4 gallons and made of sheet copper, used on board the old sealing steamers, being always kept full of boiling water on the galley stove, whence sealers would take small kettlesful to take to their bunks and brew tea with.

1973 MOWAT 69 Twice a week ... we got duff, made out of condemned flour put into bags and boiled in a slut—a big kettle—with a bit of salt pork.

2 Attrib slut kettle: see sense 1 above.
T 181-65 An 'we had a large kettle [that was shaped] up like that. They used to call 'em the slut kettle. slut tea: strong tea brewed in the kettle in which the water is boiled. P 145-74 There was nothing on the table but bread, molasses and slut tea.

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The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our sister facebook group.

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Monday, October 20, 2008

laddie sucker sighting: Sex and the Island Blog

Kids grow up so fast these days [Sally Sucker and Laddie Sucker]
April 3, 2008


Rumex acetosella, or Sheep’s Sorrel, is a common weed found through out… well… the entire Northern Hemisphere of Earth. It has hardly a quality that gives it value, except as a curdling agent for cheese, which I assumed just happened naturally, given… you know… that it’s dairy.

read the rest at the Sex and the Island Blog

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Laddie-sucker is our word of the week.

REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is brought to you by Rattling Books.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Oct 19 - 25 Word of the Week: laddie-suckers

Oct 19 - 25 Word of the Week

laddie-suckers n

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

laddie-sucker n Sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella); SALLY2.
1975 SCOTT 15 Most children in Newfoundland have enjoyed the refreshing taste of the Sheep Sorrel and it is too bad that this habit is lost with childhood. The Sheep Sorrel is known as Sweet Leaf or Laddie Suckers or Sally Suckers.

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

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The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Galloped Golly Gob Recipe from the St. John's Suzuki Talent Education Program (STEP)

Galloped Golly Gob
(aka Galloped Gob O’Golly)
Recipe from the testing kitchens of the Suzuki Talent Education Program (STEP), St. John’s;

First off, clear the place of any connivers who will covet a drop.
Stock up on charmers to chew the fat and grease the time.
Gaffle out the gear for mixing up a gob of dunge.

Mang together the following:

4 cups of confloption of whatever dried fruit you can firk out of your cupboards (eg. Prunes, apricots, raisens, sultanas, currants, dates etc. according to your preference) and including 1 lemon and 1 orange, each entire which you are after chippling up.

5 cups further of dried fruit confloption wed to grated parsnip and carrot (1 of each if gurrr size; if puny, a couple each)

3 cups Screech

teaspoon each of cloves, ginger, nutmeg and salt and 2 of cinnamon

Mang, mang and mang.

On the side caudle together 4 cups of bread crumbs, 2 cups of brown flour and 1 cup chopped almonds or whatever other nuts you can scare up.

Mang it all up with the other crowd and 4 eggs and 1 cup of oil.
Cover tight with a plastic bag or rig up some other scheme for storing the whole mess in the fridge or other cool place where it can bide for a day or two while you make like jack-easy with the choicest charmer and just for badness kill the rest of the screech , one pleasant grog at a time.

Somewhere between the final mang and the next step, offer all jinkers and other hangashores the chance to make a wish and improve themselves by hanging off a wooden spoon while they cut the curwibbles through the dunge according.

When you’re feeling jonnick, move on. Grease two large pudding bowls or a mess of tins and put to gallup for 3 hours.

Cool and wrap for keeping, somewhere cool and dry, to bide til Thanksgiving.

To serve, reheat and offer with rum sauce after dousing in brandy and putting to blaze. Guttle it down with choice company. If you forget it, no odds, it’ll keep til Christmas.

Leftovers make awful good company bread, guaranteed to beat out any other fairy bun for effectiveness.

Submitted by STEP (Suzuki Talent Education Program) to our Recipe Redux Contest and selected as a part of our alternative Thanksgiving Dinner Menu.

Winning Entry to Recipe Redux from Lesley Davis

My ancestors arrived in Greenspond, Pool's Island and Pinchard's Islandin the 1790s.

Although I knew my grandparents were born in NL, our family lived in Toronto. Until 2006, when I began doing my family history, I didn'tknow that I had relatives in Newfoundland.

My husband, Richard and I spent 3 weeks here in 2006. By happenstance,we found, not only relatives but property! We have spent two full summersin our cottage in Greenspond with our cocker spaniel, Billy. Now it iswith heavy hearts that we are preparing to leave our "newfound" relatives and friends.

In Ontario, we sometimes find puffballs, the size of dinner plates, in the woods. We fry them in butter and have a good feed! What a surprise tofind that my relatives in Newfoundland have been doing the same thing!

Recipes for our "hungered" Newfoudland friends:

Bring a "light" of wood in for the fire.

Put on a "priny" and go to the "kitchen place"

SOUP COURSE

Pea soup floating with "bang bellies".
Make bang bellies with flour, fat, molasses some hot water and a "joog"of salt.
Float on soup to cook.

MAIN COURSE

"Baccallao"

Soak salt fish overnight in water and drain.
"Hotten bake pot" on "kettlestick" over fire.
Add lightly floured fish and fry until browned on both sides.

Serve with "rumpers" "tatties" and a "Joanie" (bread dough cooked onstove top lid) and..."Smokey Jacks aka Horse Farts" or Puff Balls.
In a "bake pot" "hunk" some salt fat and "hotten" over "ampering"fire.
"Hunk" the "horse farts" and add to the "bake pot"
Stir with a "fark" until golden.
May add a "joog" of butter and some chopped onions.

DESSERT

"Bang Belly Pudding (if it falls it's called a "slam bang"!)" aka"Joanie" or "Hurty""Squat" blueberries or partridge berries, add flour, baking powder, sugar,molasses (seal fat optional!) hot water and a "joog" of salt.Drop "poon"fulls into hot water until cooked.

BEVERAGES:

Take fresh water from "staneen"Heat water in a bibby, tin kettle, hurry up or slut over an open fireof "blasty boughs" on a "kettle stick".
Add tea. sugar and milk.
This is dfinitely not "bare-legged tea"OR"Squatum or HurtWine"Home brewed wine from the juice of "squatted" berries and lots of sugar.

"Scoff it up or "guttle" it up, if you're really hungery!

ENJOY!

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Submitted by Lesley Davis to our Recipe Redux Contest and selected as a part of our alternative Thanksgiving Dinner Menu.

Bonnie Morgan’s Stuffed Cod

Thanksgiving Fish Dinner

Get yourself a good-sized round fish. The size needed depends on how many hands you plan to feed and their appetites. A rounder might feed one or two, but a larger fish is needed for a crowd.

Head your fish, then gut him in one of three ways:

1. Split him down the belly. This makes cleaning easier, but adds to the sewing.

2. Split him in the back and take out part of the sound-bone to get at the offal, leaving his belly intact.

3. Don’t split him at all, but clean him through the hole where his head used to be. This option is best left to the highly skilled, because the fish must be awful clean before you stuff him.

Scrape your fish and take off his tail and fins. Wash him carefully in several waters and pat him dry inside and out with paper towels. Let him bide on a tray or cookie sheet until ready to stuff.

Make dressing as you would for turkey, chicken, turr, grouse or squid. The amount you need depends on the size of your fish. Roll sufficient day-old white loaf in your hands until fine crumbs form. Seasoning the crumb is highly subjective. Add in savory, salt, black pepper, butter, and fresh or dried minced onion and mix with your hands until it smells just right and holds its shape when you squeeze a small amount gently in your hand. Pack the dressing into your fish through his back, his belly or the hole where his head used to be. Don’t put in too much or you won’t be able to sew him up. He could also burst asunder while baking.

Once the dressing is in his gut, thread a darning needle with twine and sew up his back, belly, and neck hole, as required. You may want to put a small square of tinfoil inside the neck before you sew him up, similar to the treatment you give the over-sized arse of a stuffed turkey. This will keep every bit of dressing inside as he bakes. Once sown up, heave him in a greased roaster and surround him with chopped onions. Cut paper thin strips of fat pork or fat back, and lay them across the fish. Salt and pepper to taste, or to as much as your blood pressure will allow. Add a bit of water, cover the roaster and bake him in a hot oven (400 degrees) until done.

In the meantime, cook praties, carrot, turnip, greens or cabbage enough for all hands in your boiler with a small junk of watered salt beef. Cook until vegetables are fork tender, falling apart, or can be sucked through a straw, according to local tradition.

To serve, hoist the cooked fish onto a serving platter, making sure to leave the bits of fat pork and onion in the roaster. To keep the fish from breaking this must be done very carefully, using two or more metal spatulas and calling in help if needed. Lift out the cooked vegetables into serving bowls, keeping everything separate but the carrot and turnip. Put the beef on the platter with the fish. Leave the cooking water in the boiler. Make up gravy in the usual manner, using flour for thickening and incorporating the pork, onions and drippings. Add water from the boiler as needed. Stir up and cook your gravy in the roaster or use a dipper if preferred. Don’t forget the browning!

Place the platter with the whole stuffed cod in the middle of your dining table, surrounded by the bowls of vegetables and the dipper of gravy. Don’t count on leftovers but the bones and twine.

End the meal with cups of tea, berry pie, tinned cream, and yarns about how big fish used to be when you were youngsters.

Dictionary of Newfoundland English words used:
Arse
Awful
Berry
Bide
Boiler
Dipper
Fat back
Fat pork
Fish
Hands
Heave
Junk
Loaf
Offal
Pratie
Round
Rounder
Salt beef
Sound-bone
Split
Turr
TwineWater

Submitted by Bonnie Morgan to our Recipe Redux Contest and selected as a part of our alternative Thanksgiving Dinner Menu.

Nicky Hawkins' Bottle Arse Squid On a Bed of Cavalance Pummy Garnished With Saddiesuckers

Bottle Arse Squid On a Bed of Cavalance Pummy Garnished With Saddiesuckers
Gallop a cup of cavalances in four cups of water until soft.Shawl and mash to a pummy.
Steel a knife.
Pip, slouse and scurrifunge a funk free bottle arse squid.
Cut into small pieces and fry in bang.
Mang pummy and squid.
Scrob and slouse three cups of laddiesuckers and gallop briefly preferably in a slut.
Add a sketch of pinky,salt and pepper to taste.
Layer the pummy, squid and sallysuckers artfully on a plate and lash it down.
Wash the fog -meal down with more pinky and give the skig to the cat.
Submitted by Nicky Hawkins to our Recipe Redux Contest and selected as a part of our alternative Thanksgiving Dinner Menu.

Announcing the winners of our Recipe Redux aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick Recipe Contest



ANNOUNCING
The Winners & Alternative Thanksgiving Dinner

RECIPE REDUX
aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick Recipe Contest
AND
our selection for an alternative Thanksgiving Dinner

MENU

Thanksgiving Eve



Thanksgiving Day Dinner

Hors d'œuvre
Nellie Strowbridge's
Entrée
Bonnie Morgan’s
with
Nicky Hawkins'
Garnished With Saddiesuckers
and Leslie Davis' sautéed horse farts

Dessert

Suzuki Talent Education Program's (STEP's)

The Grand prize winner of a Dictionary of Newfoundland English is Leslie Davis.

Each of the contributors to our menu win their choice of three Rattling Books each.

Thank-you to everyone who sent recipes in to Rattling Books and CBC Radio's Weekend Arts Magazine.

Recipes will be posted here
on the REDEFiNE iT Blog
Bon Appétit
Give thanks for each glutch and guttle!


Thursday, October 2, 2008

Recipe Redux Contest Deadline Extended to October 8



RECIPE REDUX
aka Not Much Meat on a
Carey Chick Recipe Contest

New Deadline for Submissions is October 8

To enter:

submit one or more recipes that comply with the following guidelines:

1. must include atleast 3 ingredients found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English

2. must include directions to do things to those ingredients that include atleast 3 additional words found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English

3. must be fit for human consumption or be of some other use to people eating a Thanksgiving Dinner.

You may redefine existing recipes, renew old acquaintances or go where no cook has gone before.

By submitting your recipe you agree that we may post it on the internet, read it on the radio or feed it to the gulls.

Deadline for Submissions is October 8

The Fruits of your labour:

We will announce a multi-course Recipe Redux Menu composed of selected entries.

Any entries making it into the Menu will get their pick of 3 Rattling Books.

A Grand Prize Winner will be pulled from the Chef's Hat on CBC Radio's Weekend Arts Magazine (WAM) by host Angela Antle and recieve a copy of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

Submission Deadline : October 8

Where to Submit:

Post your recipe here or send us an email on the Rattling Books Contact Us page


Deadline : October 8

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REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is brought to you by the Newfoundland based audio book publisher Rattling Books.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Bitch and Dogbody: Recipes from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English




Until we announce the winner of our Recipe Redux Contest we're posting recipes found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English to inspire you. Here's one, reproduced as found in the online Dictionary of Newfoundland English. (cartoon by Jennifer Barrett)


bitch and dogbody


A cake made of flour, fat pork and molasses; also comb bitch and dogbody. 1924 ENGLAND 152 'Ye mind, sir,' asked Roberts, 'we used to have a kind o' cakes made o' fat pork, flour, an' molasses, called "bitch and dogbody"? An' de broken hard-bread was called "slut"?' T 156/7-65 They went aft to get some flour to bake what they calls a bitch—that's what we call a bangbelly.


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Rattling Books is running a recipe contest inspired by the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. We call it Recipe Redux, aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick, Recipe Contest. Deadline for Entry submissions is October 1.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

word of the week (Sept 28 - Oct 4): scrunchins

Sept 28 – Oct 4 Word of the Week

scrunchins n

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

scrunchins n pl also cruncheons, scrunche(o)ns, scrunchings, scrunchions [phonetics unavailable]. Cp EDD scrunching(s) I 'the remains of a feast; remnants of food, broken meat, scraps,' 2 'refuse of any kind' Y, and also crunch Sc Lei Gl, crunshon Y Ha, scrunch 7 Ox, 8.

1 Bits of animal fat or fish liver, esp after its oil has been rendered out.

1792 PULLING MS 8 The only substitute I can find they have for bread is eggs, mixed up with deer's and swile's cruncheons which forms a kind of paste.

[1844] GOSSE 114-15 The advancing heat of spring melts the fat from the cellular tissue, which, when the oil has been drawn off, is rejected under the name of scruncheons.

1861 DE BOILIEU 158 After taking out as much oil as possible, and placing it in a tank, the remainder in the boiler, called 'scrunchens,' is collected, and undergoes the process of being pressed with a strong screw.

1897 J A Folklore x, 208 Scrunchings, the fibrous part of seal blubber and cods' livers, after they have been boiled or tried out and the oil pressed out of them.

1937 DEVINE 43 ~ the residue in a cask or boiler of cod livers or seal fat after the oil has been drawn off. P 218-68 ~ squares of whale fat after the oil has been rendered from them. Often used as fuel to keep the fires going under the oil vats.

1981 HUSSEY 21 When the cod oil was all rendered out and sold, we used to go over across the harbour to the factory and get the scruncheons (the residue that remained after all the [cod liver] oil was pressed out ... and although it didn't burn quite so well as the cod livers ... it helped ... to keep us warm in the fall.

2 Fatback pork, cut into cubes, often fried and served as a garnish, esp over FISH AND BREWIS.

1920 WALDO 160 'Bruise' is a very popular dish of hard bread boiled with fish, and with 'scrunchins' (pork) fried and put over it. P 245-55 ~ small, finely cut bits of fat pork, fried and eaten with fish and bruise. They are in the form of little cubes, 1/8 in. thick or smaller, and crisp on the top. T 92/3-64 And cut it real fine. What we used to call scrunchins, the little chunks. You cut them up and you put that in the flour. P 207-66 We're having scrunchins with our fish and potatoes.

1966 SCAMMELL 23 'Fish and brewis?' Uncle Jasper's tone was reverent. 'And scruncheons?' 'And scruncheons. Mary needn't know. And if she does, what odds?

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!
The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English facebook group.

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.
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REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is brought to you by the Newfoundland based audio book publisher Rattling Books.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Brewis tangent: Hard Tack and ship's biscuit

According to Wikipedia:

Hardtack (or hard tack) is a simple type of cracker or biscuit, made from flour, water, and salt. Inexpensive and long-lasting, it is and was used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages and military campaigns.[1] The name derives from the British sailor slang for food, "tack". It is known by other names such as pilot bread (as rations for bush pilots), ship's biscuit, sea biscuit, sea bread (as rations for sailors) or pejoratively "dog biscuits", "tooth dullers", "sheet iron" or "molar breakers".[2]

Because it is so hard and dry, properly stored and transported hardtack will survive rough handling and endure extremes of temperature.

History

To soften it, it was often dunked in brine, coffee, or some other liquid or cooked into a skillet meal. Baked hard, it would keep for years as long as it was kept dry. For long voyages, hardtack was baked four times, rather than the more common two, and prepared six months before sailing.[3]

.....

Modern use

Alaskans are among the last to eat hard tack as a significant part of their normal diet, especially those in or from around Alaska. Interbake Foods of Richmond, Virginia produces most, if not all, of the commercially-available pilot bread under the "Sailor Boy" label — 98% of its production goes to Alaskans. Originally imported as a food product that could stand the rigors of transportation throughout Alaska, like powdered milk, pilot bread has become a favored food even as other, less robust foods have become available. Alaskan law requires all light aircraft to carry "survival gear", including food. The blue-and-white Sailor Boy Pilot Bread boxes are ubiquitous at Alaskan airstrips, in cabins, and virtually every village.
Commercially-available pilot bread is a significant source of food energy in a small, durable package. A store-bought 24-gram cracker can contain 100 calories, 20% from fat, 2 grams of protein and practically no dietary fiber. Two-pound boxes sold by Wal-Mart, Costco, Fred Meyer and other local stores in Anchorage cost roughly $4.00 in late 2007.
In the fall of 2007, rumors spread throughout Alaska that Interbake Foods might stop producing pilot bread. An Anchorage Daily News article[4] published November 6, 2007, reported the rumor was false, to the relief of many. Alaskans enjoy warmed pilot bread with melted butter or with soup or moose stew. Pilot bread with peanut butter, honey, or apple sauce is often enjoyed by children.

Those who buy commercially-baked pilot bread in the continental United States are often those who stock up on long-lived foods for disaster survival rations. Hardtack can comprise the bulk of dry food storage for some campers. Pilot bread, sometimes referred to as pilot crackers during advertising, is often sold in conjunction with freeze-dried foods as part of package deals by many freeze-dried survival food companies.
Hardtack was a staple of military servicemen in Japan and South Korea well into late 20th century. It is known as Kanpan in Japan and geonppang (건빵) in South Korea, meaning 'dry bread', and is still sold as a fairly popular snack food in South Korea.

Many people who currently buy or bake hardtack in the United States are Civil War reenactors.[citation needed] One of the units that continually bakes hardtack for living history is the USS Tahoma Marine Guard Infantry of the Washington State Civil War Association. British and French reenactors buy or bake hardtack as well.

Hard tack is also a mainstay in parts of Canada. Located in St John's, Newfoundland, Purity Factories currently bakes two varieties. A cracker, similar to a cross between an unsalted saltine and hardtack, is the "Crown Biscuit". It was a popular item in much of New England and was manufactured by Nabisco until it was discontinued in the first quarter of 2008. It was discontinued once before in 1996, but a small uprising by its supporters bought it back in 1997.

Read the rest here.

Don't forget our current Recipe Redux Contest. How about a few contemporary recipes for hard tack to make the brewis?

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REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is brought to you by the Newfoundland based audio book publisher Rattling Books.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Sample Recipe Contest Entry from Nellie Strowbridge


Here's an entry to our Recipe Redux (aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick) contest to get you all inspired!


Basket Soup (Step One)


First: (I’ll get to the soup, directly)

set a rabbit snare, preferably in the woods.

Wait for a full moon on a frosty night

when rabbits are running

getting their exercise for the big event.

When you find a plump rabbit flicing (thrashing) in the snare,

bring it home still warm, and so fresh the memory of its run

is still imprinted on its eyeballs.

Sculp (skin) it and relieve it of liver, lights and grand piece (pancreas).

shuff the rabbit in the oven until it’s cooked. Have a scoff.

Don’t be greedy. Leave a little meat on the basket (skeleton) for a pot of:


Basket Soup (Step Two)


Pour a slut kettle full of iceberg water into a large pot (not a chamber pot) on the damper of a bogie stove.

Bring to a boil, then sling in the rabbit basket.

Now that the rabbit is lighter than when it wore fur and flesh, it can do a dance while you cut up navel beef (or substitute a horse’s navel), pickled in a bucket of bloody brine (forcing your lazy arteries into doing a bit of exercise to get your blood circulating).

Keep boiling until you have a nice, unbroken greasy surface.

Throw in the grand piece (pancreas) for a relish.

Wash new taties. Cut pieces out of them to make chip potatoes. Don’t use spuds that have been around so long their eyes are popping white snakes.

Sling in tootree chibols (mild onions).

Lastly but not leastly, heave in a cup of freshwater rice (dampened flour rolled into tiny balls).

In between the whiles slurp a little liquor off the soup.

Drop in puff-ins of dough for white boys. Smother them with a tight lid.

When the doughboys raise the cover, they are tipping their hat to say, “It’s time to slurp soup!”


For a real fog meal (big meal) you’ll have the rabbit, then the basket soup. Then you can go on to having a drop of flip (concoction of liquor, eggs and sugar or a drink of spruce) while someone else from facebook cooks the goose for the turkey dinner.

Make a blueberry grunt or lemon curd (a soft custard) for afters. Have a second cup of tea to mimpse (drink slowly).

When the full-course meal is done,let out a gark (burp) to show you appreciate the grub.

Save some coudins (couldn’t eat) for quality (visitors), and only the bones for the gulls’ beals (bills).


Nellie Strowbridge


N.B. Nellie Strowbridge is a Newfoundland writer and author of The Newfoundland Tongue.

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REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is brought to you by the Newfoundland based audio book publisher Rattling Books.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

brewis sighting: Vikings of the Ice by George Allan England, first edition page 117


"Fish an' brewis, how many youse?" It rhymed, for brewis is pronounced "bruise." "Anny man don't get up to braffus got to go widout un!" As the men told how many portions they wanted for themselves and for those they were serving, the cooks slopped out the famous dish renowned in Newfoundland lore: hard-bread boiled with cod. "Putt a little grase on un, b'ys. An' gi's us a drap o' tay, too, ye sons o' guffies!" Liberally the cooks drenched the fish and brewis with liquid pork grease and bits of crackling. With this, the sealers jostled away to their foul, underdeck quarters, to crouch and eat.


An old, familiar provender to me was fish and brewis, from previous rambles in "The Oldest British Colony." You can boil the hard-bread and fish in water or milk; condensed milk if you can't get fresh, which generally you can't. To thousands of Newfoundlanders it furnishes a staple, the hard-bread substituting for vegetables. As for "fish," that always means cod. The story is time-worn of the old livyere exclaiming: "if ye can't gi' us fish, gi' us haddock!"


The above excerpt is drawn from Vikings if the Ice: Being the Log of a Tenderfoot on the Great Newfoundland Seal Hunt by George Allan England, Doubleday, Page & Company 1924. An upcoming unabridged audio book release from Rattling Books.

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REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is brought to you by the Newfoundland based audio book publisher Rattling Books.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Recipes from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: tatie pork-cake




Until we announce the winner of our Recipe Redux Contest we'll be posting some recipes found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English to inspire you. Here's one, reproduced as found in the online Dictionary of Newfoundland English. (cartoon by Jennifer Barrett)


tatie pork-cake:


variety of cake or bun made with flour, mashed potatoes and pork; freq in children's rhyme when playing ducks and drakes. P 267-58 ~ s. Small baked cakes of potato, pork, flour. C 66-7 In Grand Bank they usually have pea soup for dinner on Saturday, [but] sometimes they substitute titty pork cakes made of potato and pork fried in a pan. 1976 Daily News 24 Feb, p. 3 It was considered a respectable effort if your stone skimmed the surface long enough for you to recite, not too fast: 'A duck and a drake and a tatey pork cake and a dory's stern'. . . The recipe, if I remember correctly, called for potatoes, fat back pork, flour and baking powder.


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Rattling Books is running a recipe contest inspired by the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. We call it Recipe Redux, aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick, Recipe Contest. Deadline for Entry submissions is October 1.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Word of the Week (Sept 21 - 27) : brewis

brewis n

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

brewis n also brews(e), broose, bruis, bruise, bruse [phonetics unavailable]. Cp OED ~ 2 " 'bread soaked in boiling fat pottage, made of salted meat" [1755] (J.)'; cp EDD sb 2 'bread or oatcake soaked in hot water'; DC Nfld (cl850 [sic = 1960], 1906-). See also FISH n: FISH AND BREWIS, FISHERMAN'S BREWIS.

1 Sea-biscuit or 'hard tack' soaked in water and then boiled; such a dish cooked with salt cod and fat pork. [(1766) 1971 BANKS 137 It is a Soup made with a small quantity of salt Pork cut into Small Slices a good deal of fish and Biscuit Boyled for about an hour.]

1858 [LOWELL] ii, 273 Putting a check upon their own curiosity, they had some tea and brewse [L's note: ship-bread soaked into a pulp in warm water] made in the best art of the ship's cook.

1895 J A Folklore viii, 28 Brews ... is a dish which occupies almost the same place at a Newfoundlander's breakfast-table that baked beans are supposed to do on that of a Bostonian. It consists of pieces of hard biscuit soaked over night, warmed in the morning, and then eaten with boiled codfish and butter.

1905 DUNCAN ix-x 'Broose' is a toothsome dish resembling boiled hard-tack.

1908 HUBBARD 242 'Bruise' for breakfast. Hard tack, fish, pork, boiled together—good. 'Two more early risin's, and then duff and bruise,' is said to be a Thursday remark of the fishermen.

1920 GRENFELL & SPALDING 23-4 All right-minded Newfoundlanders and Labradormen call it [brewis] 'bruse.'

1924 ENGLAND 117 'Fish an' brewis, how many youse?' It rhymed, for brewis is pronounced 'bruise.'

1933 GREENLEAF (ed) 250 "Change Islands Song": No sign of salmon on that shore; discouraging was the news; / No pirate money could be found, and not a fish for brewis.

1936 DULEY 56 Isabel had a chicken to draw, a jam tart to make, brewis to put in soak for the Sunday morning breakfast.

1937 DEVINE 5 'Brewis,' a once popular morning meal composed of broken hard biscuit soaked in water over night, boiled with small pieces of salt codfish and served up with melted fat pork, evidently came from Scotland... In the old days in St John's, when the merchants lived over their stores on Water Street, they all used to have brewis for breakfast on Sunday morning. It was a light meal, palatable and easy of digestion... The fisherman followed the merchant more from necessity than choice ... and most days of the week, as well as Sunday, saw brewis used all over the country.

1955 DOYLE (ed) 11 "A Noble Fleet of Sealers": Tho' Newfoundland is changing fast, / Some things we must not lose, / May we always have our Flipper pie, / And Codfish for our brewis. T 75/6-64 [We'd] carry a stock o' hard bread, and [when] the soft bread'd be gone make brewis out o' the hard bread. T 43/8- 64 There was no fresh meats, no baloney, no fresh fish—you'd get salt fish Fridays, salt fish and brewis and fat.

2 Phr have a head like a brewis-bag: to be empty-headed, forgetful. C 67-14 'He has a head like a brewis bag' [meaning] could not 'hold' or retain anything. stiff as brewis: dignified, unbending. C 65-2 ~ said about a person who walks [in a] dignified [manner] and is supposed to be proud.

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English facebook group where we explore tangents on the Word of the Week.

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Figgy Duff sighting: Rock Recipes Blog

The following is recipe is found on a wonderful blog site dedicated to recipes and cooking lore.It's called Rock Recipes and here is a bit of what it says about Figgy Duff (our word of the week):

First for those of you reading without benefit of Newfoundland experience, Figgy Duff has nothing to do with figs, dried fresh or otherwise. Raisins are historically referred to as figs in many parts of the province.A recent email request and this mornings brunch prompted me to add my standard recipe for Figgy Duff. A young lady from the southern US who is married to a Newfoundlander asked for assistance in preparing this dish. I was reluctant to answer with a definitive recipe because I don't believe that one actually exists. I have encountered many variations of what people call Figgy Duff here in Newfoundland. Family history and local variations of the recipe account for many differences in both opinion and experience of what Figgy Duff actually is. It is a close cousin to the traditional English Spotted Dick where, I suspect, a part of our English and Irish heritage has survived over the centuries in this dish.This is a slight variation on my grandmother, Belinda Morgan's recipe, where I remember having it at many a Sunday dinner in her Port-de-Grave kitchen. A similar recipe with the addition of molasses and spices I have heard referred to as Labrador Duff. Other recipe variations I have seen include breadcrumbs, orange zest or currants but I have never attempted any of those.

Read the rest including the recipe at Rock Recipes Blog.

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REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is brought to you by the Newfoundland based audio book publisher Rattling Books.

Figgy Duff : recipe from Newfoundland Recipes website

Figgy Duff

The following recipe is found at the Newfoundland Recipes website.

Ingredients: 2 cups bread crumbs, made from bread crusts

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp hot water

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp ginger, allspice, and cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Water Molasses Coady: 1 cup molasses, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 tsp vinegar

Method: To make bread crumbs, soak dry bread crusts in enough water to soften; drain and squeeze gently to remove excess water. Break bread into crumbs and measure out 2 cups. Grease a 4 cup mold. Mix crumbs, raisins, molasses, and melted butter together. Combine baking soda and water and add to crumb mixture; mix well. Sift together flour, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and salt; stir into crumb mixture. Pour mixture into greased pudding mold. Cover the top with a large piece of greased foil and fold snugly over sides of mold to keep steam out. Remember to leave some slack in foil because pudding will need room to expand. Place mold on rack in a steamer or large pot. Add boiling water to halfway up the sides of pudding mold. Cover and steam for 2 hours or until firm to touch. Serve topped with Molasses Coady. Pudding can be placed in a cloth pudding bag instead of mold. Place bag in pot with enough water to cover bag. Pudding can be cooked in a pot with Jigg's Dinner.

Making Molasses Coady: In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients. Heat until boiling; simmer, stirring ocassionally, for 10 minutes. Serve over steamed or baked puddings.



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REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is brought to you by the Newfoundland based audio book publisher Rattling Books.

Figgy Duff sighting: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada

Figgy Duff is our word of the week.

It's also the name of a Newfoundland band. Here is what the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada has to say about it.

Figgy Duff. Newfoundland folk group. Named for a raisin pudding popular on the island, it was formed in 1975 in St John's by Noel Dinn (piano, drums) and Pamela Morgan (vocals), with Philip Dinn (vocals, percussion), Kelly Russell (violin), Art Stoyles (accordion), and Dave Panting (mandolin, bass guitar). Dinn (b St John's 25 Dec 1947, d St John's 26 July 1993) and Morgan (b Grand Falls, Nfld, 25 Nov 1956) have been constant to Figgy Duff.

Personnel otherwise varied with each of its three albums to 1990: Figgy Duff (Posterity PTR-13014, issued in 1980) with Panting and the accordionist Geoff Butler; After the Tempest (Boot BOS-7243, issued in 1984) with Panting, Butler and the bass guitarist Derek Pelley; Weather Out the Storm (Hypnotic 71356-1000, CD and cass, issued in 1990) with Kelly Russell, Frank Maher (accordion, harmonica), Bruce Crummell (guitar) and Rob Laidlaw (bass).

Based in St John's, save for a period 1977-8 in Toronto .....

Read the rest here.

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REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English is brought to you by the Newfoundland based audio book publisher Rattling Books.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Recipes from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: pipsi n also pipsey, pipshy




Until we announce the winner of our Recipe Redux Contest we'll be posting some recipes found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English to inspire you. Here's one, reproduced as found in the online Dictionary of Newfoundland English. (cartoon by Jennifer Barrett)


pipsi n also pipsey, pipshy DC pipshi (Labr: 1771-);
PEACOCK English-Eskimo Dictionary 225 Fish, dried: pipsi; Labrador Inuit 101 pitsik 'dried fish.' Cod-fish and trout preserved by drying in the sun and wind without salt. [1771] 1792 CARTWRIGHT i, 138 I was greatly pleased with [the Eskimo] method of curing codfish without salt; which, in that state, they call pipshy. The fish is split down the back. the bone taken out, and the thick parts scored down to the skin, an inch asunder; two of them are then fastened together by their tails, and hung across a pole to dry in the open air. 1895 GRENFELL 63 To prevent scurvy in winter, when fresh fish is not attainable, salt meat must be avoided, even if they can afford to buy it. The following recipe is invented with that end: 'Dry the cod in the sun till it is so hard none can go bad. In winter powder this, rub it up with fresh seal oil, and add cranberries if you have any.' This dainty is known as 'Pipsey.' 1966 BEN-DOR 50 Dried fish, 'pipsi,' is the Eskimo technique of preserving cod and trout for future use. 1977 Inuit Land Use 123 Char caught in the spring make the best dried fish (pipsi); later in summer, their flesh is more oily, and it quickly becomes rancid if left long in the sun.


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Rattling Books is running a recipe contest inspired by the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. We call it Recipe Redux, aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick, Recipe Contest. Deadline for Entry submissions is October 1.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Word of the Week (September 14 - 20) duff; figgy duff

duff; figgy duff



Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

duff1 n EDD ~ sb1 1 esp Co quot; DAE 1 (1838-) for sense 1; for comb in sense 2: Cent duff-day 'on board ship, Sunday.'

1 A pudding made of flour and water, sometimes with suet and raisins added, boiled in a cloth bag; CLOTH PUDDING. FIGGY DUFF, STOGGER.

[1856] 1975 WHITELEY 56 Today we have chowder (cod) breakfast, duff (flour pudding) for dinner (with W.I. Molasses).

1883 HATTON & HARVEY 305 On three days of the week dinner consists of pork and 'duff,' the latter item consisting of flour and water with a little fatty substance intermixed 'to lighten it.' When boiled it is almost as hard as a cannon-ball.

[1886] LLOYD 36 The fare usually consists of salt pork, duff, molasses, tea, and codfish; on which the changes are rung from January to December in each year.

1924 ENGLAND 151 Then they got pork an' duff three times a week, an' hard biscuit an' tea.

[1926] 1946 PRATT 174 "The Cachalot": The weather fair, the weather rough, / With watch and sleep, with tack and reef, / With swab and holystone, salt beef / And its eternal partner, duff.

1936 SMITH 52 Ready or raw give the men their 'duffs' and let us get on the ice.

[1960] 1965 PEACOCK (ed) i, 141 "On the Schooner John Joe": We ate a bang-belly, we had Sure enough, / We made a good meal of the fat pork and duff. T 178/9-65 A duff and a pudding is two different things. A pudding is cooked into a pudding cloth and tied up; a duff is [made in] a bag about so long, and you put your dough in the bag, and he's small down under and big on top. When you'd take un out of the pot, you would untie him and take hold by the end and the duff would shoot out in the pan. That was the rig of a duff!

1977 BURSEY 24 The duff was made of water and flour and a generous addition of raisins and all saturated with molassses. We called it a figged duff and it was indeed a luxury.



2 Comb duff bag: cloth bag in which pudding is boiled (1924 ENGLAND 315). duff day: day of the week when a boiled pudding is customarily served at the main meal. C 70-15 Dinner was at 1 p.m. and again there was a heavy meal designed for a particular day; Tuesday and Thursday were 'duff' days when the meal was vegetables of different kinds, salt beef or salt pork, and pease pudding. M 71-103 Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays were 'duff days.'

1977 BURSEY 24 Tuesday was 'duff day' and we must buy the necessaries.

duff 2 n EDD ~ sb1. A blow, esp a kick in the backside.
[1968] 1976 Culture & Tradition 37 [He] comes up and gives him a good swift duff in the hole. P 148-79 He's so stubborn that I want to give him a duff.

Supplement:



duff1 n 1 1984 WRIGHT 15 These meals usually consisted of salt fish or meat, with 'duffs' of steamed flour. Sweet duff--with a bit of molasses--was served [the sealers] Sundays.


duff2 n P 301-83 'I'll give you a hard duff.'

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our facebook group .The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Recipes from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: old scripture cake




Until we announce the winner of our Recipe Redux Contest we'll be posting some recipes found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English to inspire you. Here's one, reproduced as found in the online Dictionary of Newfoundland English.


(cartoon by Jennifer Barrett)


old scripture cake: Christmas cake made from recipe drawn from biblical texts.


M 69-7 Here is a recipe for an Old Scripture Cake used [at Christmas]: 1 cup Judges 5:25 milk, 2 cups Jeremiah 6:20 sugar, 3½ cups 1st Kings 4:22 flour, 3 cups Samuel 30:12 raisins, 1 cup Genesis 43:11 nuts, 1 cup Exodus 3:8 honey, 5 Isaiah 10:14 eggs, a little Leviticus 2:13 salt, a few kinds of lst Kings 10:2 spices, 1 large spoon Genesis 24:20 water. Follow Solomon's advice for making a good boy, Proverbs 23:14, and you will have a good cake.


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Rattling Books is running a recipe contest inspired by the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. We call it Recipe Redux, aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick, Recipe Contest. Deadline for Entry submissions is October 1.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Recipes from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: Hamburg Bread or Hard Bread


Until we announce the winner of our Recipe Redux Contest we'll be posting some recipes and references to recipes found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English to inspire you. Here's one reproduced as found in the online Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

(cartoon by Jennifer Barrett)

hamburg bread: hard thick biscuit; HARD BREAD.

1852 Morning Post 12 Feb, p. 4 800 bags No. 1, 2, and 3, Hambro' Bread.
[1879] 1898 Nfld Law Reports 185 [The plaintiff] being dissatisfied with the quality of the machine-made biscuit of Newfoundland, as compared with that imported from Hamburg, he introduced into his establishment a process known amongst bakers as hand rolling ... and a biscuit is thus produced which ... in the words of one of the witnesses, has driven Hamburg bread out of the market.

1906 LUMSDEN 68 'Hamburg bread,' or hard biscuit (not to be confounded with pilot or sailor biscuit as popularly known, being thick and cake-like in shape and extraordinarily hard), is in constant use on the vessels and in the houses of the fishermen.

1936 DEVINE 92 He laid his plans to get the formula or recipe for making Hamburg bread and succeeded [in making hard bread].

1964 BLONDAHL (ed) 97 "Red Cap's Hole": When they came to dine at dinner-time, / Some joyful words were said... / Of days of yore when the pots boiled o'er, / With brewis from hamburg's made.

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Rattling Books is running a recipe contest inspired by the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. We call it Recipe Redux, aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick, Recipe Contest. Deadline for Entry submissions is October 1.
Posted by Rattling Books at 8:35 AM 0 comments

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Recipes from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: Fisherman's Brewis


















Until we announce the winner of our Recipe Redux Contest we'll be posting some recipes found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English to inspire you. Here's the first one, reproduced as found in the online Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

(cartoon by Jennifer Barrett)


fisherman's brewis: cod-fish cooked with hard tack or sea biscuit and pork fat. See also BREWIS, FISH AND BREWIS.

T 80/2-64 He keeps up the old tradition. Every Sunday morning—fisherman's brewis, just as regular as the mornin's comes.

P 9-73 A recipe for fisherman's brewis, schooner-style, for five or six hungry men: two cakes of hard bread per man, two plump codfish with head off and entrails removed, one piece of fatback pork.

1978 Evening Telegram 7 Aug, p. 4 [He] promises [visitors to Bonavista] a parade, races and feeds of fisherman's brewis.

1979 TIZZARD 278 In the boat sometimes my father carried a cooking pot and a frying pan, and with that a piece of fat back pork in the bread box. This meant that he could have fish and brewis or fisherman's brewis, whichever was preferable... The pork would be fried out in the frying pan. When the codfish was cooked the brewis and pork fat would all be thrown in the pot together and mashed up, thus making fisherman's brewis.

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Rattling Books is running a recipe contest inspired by the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. We call it Recipe Redux, aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick, Recipe Contest. Deadline for Entry submissions is October 1.

Monday, September 8, 2008

RECIPE REDUX: aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick Recipe Contest Details


RECIPE REDUX
aka Not Much Meat on a Carey Chick Recipe Contest
Deadline for Submissions is October 1
To enter:
submit one or more recipes that comply with the following guidelines:
1. must include atleast 3 ingredients found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English
2. must include directions to do things to those ingredients that include atleast 3 additional words found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English
3. must be fit for human consumption or be of some other use to people eating a Thanksgiving Dinner.
You may redefine existing recipes, renew old acquaintances or go where no cook has gone before.
By submitting your recipe you agree that we may post it on the internet, read it on the radio or feed it to the gulls.
Deadline for Submissions is October 1
The Fruits of your labour:
On October 5 we will announce a multi-course Recipe Redux Menu composed of selected entries.
Any entries making it into the Menu will get their pick of 3 Rattling Books.
A Grand Prize Winner will be pulled from the Chef's Hat on CBC Radio's Weekend Arts Magazine (WAM) by host Angela Antle and recieve a copy of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English.
Submission Deadline : October 1
Where to Submit:
Post your recipe here on the Wall or below in the relevant TOPIC belowor send us an email on the Rattling Books Contact Us page
or leave a comment on our REDEFiNE iT Blog
Deadline : October 1
Ponder this while you pick your blue berries.

"rattling" sighting: The Blueberry Ball

Here is use of the word "rattling" that is not included in the definition found in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. It is also a use of the word "rattling" that I was personally unfamiliar with until informed by people that it was a common adjective in Britain. The following song makes me wonder if it was also common on the west coast of Newfoundland. I'd love to hear from anyone from out there or elsewhere in Newfoundland where the term is used in the way it appears below.

The Blueberry Ball

On the tenth of September as you all may remember,
I'll sing you a short line or two;
He stuck to the tiller like a girl loved a feller,
A-pushing the Jubliee through.
We went to Daniel's Harbour, the truth I will tell,
We was there on a rattling good time;
We stayed there three days and we landed our freight,
And I tell you that we drank the wine.

There was old Mrs. Biggins to pour out the wine,
And Sam House to carry it 'round;
Phil Decker was there collecting the money,
Will Keough to pass it around.
We started a dance about half-a-past eight,
And we never knocked off until four;
And many of those girls that danced there that night,
Said they'd never dance there any more.

There was lots of strange faces that night on the floor,
And some I can't never name at all;
Such a rattling racket I never beheld,
As the night at the Blueberry Ball.
We started a scuff about half-a-past two,
And every man stood to his share;
We danced till broad daylight and then went on board,
And the sharemen went out to their gear.

Oh, now to conclude and finish my song,
I hope I haven't said anything astray;
We'll haul up our anchors and reef our shank-painters,
And prepare for a time in the Bay.


Collected in 1958 from Freeman Bennett of St.Paul's, NL, by Ken Peacock, and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, pp.43-44, by The National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.

Kenneth Peacock noted that this native ditty was composed in Daniel's Harbour just above St. Paul's on Newfoundland's northwest coast. Mr. Bennett was not sure of the composer's name. One of the men mentioned in verse 2, Sam House, was a well-known composer in the area.

From the dictionary of Newfoundland English:
Scuff - a dance held in somebody's house, barn or stage.
Reef our shank-painters - roll up our lines; figuratively: to depart.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Sept 7 - 13 Word of the Week: rattling

Sept 7 - 13 Word of the Week: rattling

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

rattling ppl See also RATTLE1 . Of a river or stream, noisy, clattering, swift.
[1783] 1792 CARTWRIGHT iii, 15 We rowed along [the lake] for a mile and an half, when we arrived at the mouth of a strong, rattling brook. [1811] 1818 BUCHAN 5 [It lay a] mile above the rattling Brook. 1842 JUKES ii, 136 We soon reached the mouth of the Great Rattling Brook, a considerable stream coming down from the north. 1953 Nfld & Lab Pilot ii, 294 Rattling brook descends in a waterfall into Corner Brook cove.

rattling ppl
[1768] 1989 Nfld Qtly lxxxv (1), 21 Great Rattling Brook. 1983 Gazetteer of Canada: Nfld 142-3 Rattling Brook [etc, high frequency in river names]. 1984 POWELL 101 Soon I was heading up the Big Lake, about four miles long, and then I had to go down a very rattling brook about one mile where the water emptied into the river.



Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our facebook group .

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.