h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: How to Make Sugared Pecans, and How to Talk About Them - A87959029
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni - Not Banned in China - U1590784

Another recipe from the test kitchens of my relatives. This one came from Mrs McGillicuddy, who is discovering the joys of foodstuffs available in Georgia.

They are yummy.

Thank you! Particularly interesting that the pronunciation I am familiar with is PEEcan, which comes from the East Coast, but the majority of places say peeKAHN - I didn't know that

You can add the link to the Cooks' Measurements Entry A87797867 somewhere

" a few tablespoons" - a tablespoon is quite large, so I wonder if 'few' needs to be made more precise - is it 2 or 3 tablespoons, or more?

I can't visualise steps 3-5, sorry... Do you take the pecans out of the egg mixture, or put the sugar into the egg mixture, or is the egg mixture just the right amount to coat all the pecans with not much liquid left over?

I like that you've included the link to the Backyard Chickens, but the sentence doesn't have quite the right flavour, I think - seems to say "They are vegan if you substitute the egg white, but if you are vegan and keep chickens then you eat eggs and are not vegan" Maybe put the footnote on the first mention of egg white and say it is a good use of home-raised-chicken eggs?

"As This Researcher's Mississippi grandmother would have said, 'That little bit of sugar is not going to hurt you.'" -

I, of course, say 'pick-AHN' because as a child, all of my pecans arrived in a paper sack in a pickup driven by a relative from Mississippi.

I hope it is now reasonably clear. I shooed the chickens away from the vegans so as to avoid offending them.

Setting the oven to 3 decimal places will certainly be the most challenging aspect of this.


What is a cookie sheet? Does it have cookies marked out on it and do you have to place exactly one nut in each cookie outline?

No TC, it is what Brits call a baking tray.

I saw that wink, TC.

Okay, the word 'cookie' is gone, and it's a 'baking sheet'.

That's what I get for pasting in Mrs McGillicuddy's email instructions.

Nice little recipe with added information. Sounds delicious!

We've eaten most of the ones in that photo. They're yummy.

'121.111° C' Do you mean '120'? Many ovens, particularly if they're a basic dial like mine, will probably have nothing between 120° and 130° degrees anyway. Maybe a little dot or line for where 125° is. Certainly nothing for 121.111°

<BB<

Thank you. That's what I was fishing for. I was waiting until somebody told me what mark on their oven dial was closest to 121.111. (You people think I just do that to be snarky...)

What mark is closest to 120? I think it is a tomato sauce stain… It's difficult keeping an electric oven clean because it takes a while for the hobs to cool down so you can wipe them.

120 is also 394 Kelvin.

<BB<

Gas ovens have their problems, too.

You still have the enigmatic

"They are vegan if you use a substitute the egg white " in there. That's not a sentence!

I have no idea what a substitute for egg white would be, but I'm sure vegans do. Apple juice?

Thank you! (Bad typing - you have no idea how many typos I've found in the subject headings for next week's Post, I blame seasonal tiredness. Also 2legs.)

I don't know what the preferred vegan substitute for egg whites is. I'm seeing at least a dozen candidates on cooking sites. If anybody has one, I'll gladly include it.

I'm not vegan. I have celiac, and one set of food taboos is all I can handle. I can tell you how to make things gluten free.

This is very interesting and tempting, Dmitri. I think I might try this the next time I see pecans in the shops.

Your language map is fascinating. Do pecans grow naturally in all the orange area of the map? Does this mean that this is the "real" pronunciation?

I think vegans use the liquid that chickpeas come in as a substitute for egg white. You can even whip it up to make meringues (or so I'm told).

That's interesting about the chickpea substitute! I don't think I've ever bought chickpeas.

According to uspecans.org, 'Pecans are grown commercially in 15 states in the southern U.S. including Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.'

So yeah, they do grow naturally in all the orange areas of the map. I naturally think that's the 'right' pronunciation, because that's the one I learned.

The magazine 'Southern Living' says, 'How do you say pecan? It's an eternal question, much like "Do you put sugar in your cornbread?" or "Where is over yonder?" '

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Congratulations!