November 28

Dick Morris's  Birthday
 

Dick Morris was an adviser to the Clinton administration after Clinton was elected president in 1992. Dick encouraged Clinton to pursue so-called third way policies of triangulation that merged traditional Republican and Democratic proposals, rhetoric, and issues to achieve maximum political gain and popularity. He worked as a Republican strategist before joining the Clinton administration, where he helped Clinton recover from the 1994 midterm elections by convincing the President to adopt Republican policies.

Dick went on to become Campaign manager of Bill Clinton's successful 1996 bid for re-election to the office of President. His tenure on that campaign was cut short two months before the election when it was revealed that he had allowed a prostitute to listen in on conversations with the President.

Since leaving the Clintons' employ in 1996, Dick has said he has become profoundly "disillusioned" with the actions of the Clintons in the late 1990s. He has reinvented himself as a political commentator and critic of the Clintons (particularly towards Hillary), primarily appearing on Fox News programs. Dick once said that he would leave the United States if Hillary Clinton were elected president in 2008.

Dick was featured on cover of the September 9, 1996 issue of Time The firing was detailed in an article titled "Skunk at the Family Picnic."  A week earlier, Eric Pooley took deadly aim at Morris in the Time article  "Who us Dick Morris?" in which he described Morris as ""a gleeful genius who preaches what he's paid to preach, who can teach it round or teach it flat. He is someone lost so far inside the game that he breaks its most basic rules--Don't leak to the other side, Don't sell out your clients--and doesn't seem to notice."

Dick subsequently become better known as one of the regular commentators on the Fox Network until his hatred for the Clintons and eventually all things Democratic severely colored his political commentary and prognostications even beyond those of Fox's other  nutty commentators such as Glen Beck. So as with Beck and Sarah Palin,  Fox finally pulled the plug on Dick's contact after a series of what Media Matters called  a “vast array of ethical conflicts,” such as the time  when he auctioned a tour of the Fox News headquarters at a Republican fund-raiser. But the  final straw that broke the Fox's back was Dick's predication the night before the 2012 US Presidential election that, “We’re going to win by a landslide. It will be the biggest surprise in recent American political history. It will rekindle a whole question as to why the media played this race as a nail-biter, where in fact I think that Romney is going to win by quite a bit. My own view is that Romney is going to carry 325 electoral votes.” For those with an Alzheimer's-tinged memory, Mitt Romney won 206 electoral votes; President Obama 332.

Ee suggestserving Spotted Dick when you invite Dick over for dinner on his birthday, a dish that perfectly mirrors his career. Spotted dick is a steamed pudding with raisins or currants which give it a spotted appearance.  It is a popular dessert in the United Kingdom and CanadaAnother ingredient in spotted dick is beef suet which is raw fat found around the loins and kidneys.  Specialty butcher shops often carry it, and it can occasionally be found in the freezers of some upscale grocery stores. One can always ask a butcher to order it. Store the suet in the freezer until ready to use.

According to The Times of London, sales of  canned Spotted Dick have plummeted in recent years. In 1991, the British Tesco supermarket chain conducted a survey and found that shoppers were embarrassed to be seen purchasing the product or asking for it by name. Efforts to change it's name to Spotted Richard failed  Although there are several brands of canned Spotted Dick, Heinz apparently has cornered most of the British dick market and the pudding may be one of the more infamous members of the Heinz 57 family. It has also become one of the more popular items in the Amazon.com Grocery & Gourmet Food division.

 

Spotted Dick

 
Special Equipment
 
Parchment paper
Wok
Bamboo steamer
 

Ingredients
 

1&1/2 cups flour
1&1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 TB grated fresh ginger
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1 cup raisins
1&1/2 cups grated suet
I TB grated lemon zest
1 tsp grated orange zes
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2/3 cup milk

 
 
Instructions
 
 
  1. Sift the dry ingredients including the sugar, into a large bowl.
  2. Add the breadcrumbs, raisins, suet, grated ginger and zests, mixing with a wooden spoon, thoroughly.
  3. Combine the egg and the milk and add to the dry ingredients, mixing together well, adding a little more milk if necessary, then set aside for 5 minutes.
  4. lay a sheet of parchment paper on the work surface and for the pudding mixture into a roll shape, about 8 inches long.
  5. Roll the pudding in the paper and fold up the ends (do not wrap it too tight as it has to expand as it cooks.
  6. Wrap the roll in a clean tea towel, and put in the top of a bamboo steamer, placed over a wok filled one third full of simmering water.
  7. Cover and allow to simmer for 1&1/2 hours, being careful not to let it boil dry (add  water as needed).
  8. Unmold the pudding onto a serving plate, cut into slices and serve with custard sauce.

Serves 6

 

Custard Sauce
(
Crème Anglaise)

Special Equipment
 
A fine medium-sized strainer
Stainless steel bowl
 
 

Ingredients
 

 

2 cups half and half cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
 

1/3 cup granulated white sugar
5
large egg yolks

 

Instructions
 
  1. Stir sugar and yolks together in a stainless steel bowl with a wooden spoon until well blended.
  2. Heat cream in a small saucepan just to the boiling point.  Remove from heat and whisk a few tablespoons of the cream into the yolk mixture.  Gradually add the remaining cream, whisking constantly.
  3. Pour this mixture into a medium sized saucepan and, gently heat the mixture over medium heat until sauce thickens enough to coat back of a wooden spoon and registers 170° F on an instant thermometer.
  4. Immediately remove from the heat and pour through the strainer, scraping up any thickened cream that settles on the bottom of the pan.  Add vanilla and stir until until cool. Cover surface with a piece of wax paper to prevent a skin from forming.

© 2013 Gordon Nary and Tyler Stokes