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I love fruitcake. My grandmother was quite a remarkable baker, so I never had the horrible commercial fruitcake that many of my friends grew up with.
This recipe is a compilation, but is the absolute best I’ve ever had, mainly due to the long maceration of the dried fruits and the ripening. Theoretically, it would have been better to start this right after Halloween for Christmas consumption, but it’s still possible to make it for New Year’s Day, if you don’t dawdle, but longer ripening is better. Oh, and the first step takes a week. Hop to it!
This makes about 4 standard loaf pans, but you can adapt it to any baking vessel. Just make sure you keep an eye on it and don’t over bake.
Properly attended to, fruitcake can be stored safely for literally years. We recently finished eating the last fruitcake of my batch from last Christmas. I store my fruitcakes in the wine cellar and bathe them with alcohol throughout the year.
Best Damn Fruitcake Recipe on the Interwebs
Give up on all other versions. This is the one you need.
- 2 cups pitted dates
- 2 cups candied lemon rind
- 2 cups candied orange rind
- 1.5 cups dried apricots
- 1.5 cups dried figs
- 1.5 cups candied cherries
- 1.5 cups candied pineapple
- 1.5 cups candied citron
- 1 cup crystallized ginger
- 3 cups raisins
- 3 cups dried currants
- 2.5 cups Grand Marnier
- 3 cups Cognac
- 2.5 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 3 tbsp. cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. ground cloves
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground mace
- 3 tsp. powdered instant espresso
- 1 lb. butter
- 2.25 cups dark brown sugar
- 9 eggs
- 1.25 cups molasses
- 6 cups pecan halves
- 6 cups walnut halves
-
Using a large knife, chop the dates, lemon rind, orange rind, apricots, figs, cherries, citron, and ginger. Place in a large bowl and add the raisins and currants. Pour 1/2 cup Grand Marnier and 1 cup cognac over the ingredients in the bowl and stir to mix well. Allow to rest in the refrigerate for a week.
-
Preheat oven to 225. Grease 4 or 5 standard loaf pans. Line with parchment baking paper. Grease the parchment paper.
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Sift the flour, cocoa, cloves, cinnamon, mace, and espresso powder to combine.
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Cream butter and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. One at a time, beat in eggs, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next.
-
Add dry ingredients and molasses a bit at a time, mixing well. Don’t worry if the mixture seems to curdle. It’s fine. Transfer batter to a very large bowl.
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Stir in marinated fruit mixture with the marinade, and nuts.
-
Distribute batter into prepared pans. Press down to eliminate any air pockets.
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Bake about 5 hours or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
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Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto racks. Cool completely before proceeding.
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Brush the tops of cakes with 1 tbsp each of Grand Marnier and cognac. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and allow to ripen at room temperature for one week. Each day, unwrap and brush the cakes with 1 tbsp of each of the remaining liquors.
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After the week is up, wrap tightly in new plastic, wrap in foil and refrigerate for several weeks before serving.
Other orange-flavored liquors can be used in place of the Grand Marnier.
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Comments
220 responses to “Best Damn Fruitcake Recipe on the Interwebs”
Kentucky Jam Cake
Just in case anyone wants a fruit cake substitute
SP’s recipe looks excellent, tho
I could eat that.
I can personally attest that it’s Teh Awesome.
My aunt-in-law does a butter cake, speaking of Kentucky. I’m a fan.
Yes ma’am.
If I’m forced to eat it, don’t blame me when I throw it back up on you.
What happens if we swap krupnik for the cognac ?
Generally speaking, one can sub in any liquor depending on the flavor profile one desires (I like this combination). Rum, brandy, etc spring to mind first. But you are the king of your fruitcake endeavors. Go nuts!
that sounds tasty reading through the ingredients,
and a lot of prep, wow
Not really. It’s just chopping, soaking, and making a basic cake. Long list of ingredients, admittedly.
I love fruitcake, too, but I’m the only one in my family that does. Seems like we’re more of a Christmas pudding type of family, and even then we don’t get to it half the time ’cause we’ve eaten too much turkey the day of. We roll the pudding out on Boxing Day, suitably steamed and with hard sauce and brandy sauce, of course…
I’m still looking for a decadently rich and sinful carrot cake recipe, the kind that makes Catholics hurry to confession afterwards to unburden themselves of their error and waywardness. Haven’t found it yet, even with the Awesome Power of The Goog on my side. **HEAVY SIGH**
Have you tried the Silver Palate Cookbook Carrot Cake? It’s my default.
Googling now…
With cream cheese frosting..?
Your question implies that there’s some other type of frosting for carrot cake.
Does not compute. Does not compute. Does not {!BAZORCH!} hjaslkwsrhizx %^*(&%$. .. lljs ..!* . . .
Right?
If you can’t find that recipe, I’ll send it to you, but I bet it’s out there.
There are a number that purport to be from that cookbook. Haven’t had the time yet to compare and contrast.
Thanks, SP!
There isn’t but idiots can slather all manner of incorrect frostings on the cake.
Well, that’s true.
I don’t like fruit, which is probably weird, but I love vegetables, even if they’re paradoxically sweet. Carrot cake is my jam, but don’t sleep on zucchini cake. You can pretty much swap the carrot out for zucchini and wind up with something in the same taste neighborhood, but green.
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
(but fuck you Alabama for fellating FDR)
Looks like my old standby (from my mom’s red and white plaid Betty Crocker Cook book) but turned up to eleven.
The last batch lasted two years,but now it’s gone ?.
Next year repost this before Thanksgiving.
I know this might be heretical, but one can eat fruitcake at other times of the year.
True, but there is something special about fruitcake with hot-buttered rum at Christmas.
BTW, I was in a long, long string of work travel, so I wasn’t around much to post near Halloween. I didn’t even get any fruitcake started for us then, which is unlike me.
Amazing Editorial gets amazing comments,
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/06/editorial-striking-oakland-workers-killing-the-goose-that-lays/
I’ve always loved the argument that “government employees are taxpayers too!” as if that should silence their critics. My counter to that is “No, I’m a taxpayer — you just recycle ’em.”
The interesting thing about being a government employee is that you’re paid with tax money, and then you pay income tax on that tax money because it’s income. It’s like when you put two mirrors opposite each other.
Libertarian moment?
Police and fire still on the job. They could sell off those fire stations and clean up a huge part of their problem right there.
Years ago my sister sent me a fruitcake for Christmas as a joke. I put it in the drawer under the oven for 5 years and then mailed it back to her. Good times. Good times.
It’s those special family memories that make the holidays such a heart-warming time of year.
1.5 cups candied pineapple
Whoa!
I love pineapple in appropriate places.
Go on. We’re listening . . .
I can’t believe Doom hasn’t tried to use this against you yet.
Dessert pizza?
He’s angling for that coveted Get Out of Cat Butt Free card.
Oh yeah! He’s been working overtime for one of those. Well, that’s good. It keeps the kid out of trouble.
Fruitcake is secretly a communist plot and if you like it they’ve already taken hold of you.
It has fluoride in it!
It’s turnin’ the freakin’ frogs gay!
Fruitcake is superior to Jello with fruit in it.
That is an extremely low bar.
I was just about to say that.
Truly, you are My Son.
I’m just trying to look on the bright side.
Jello with fruit in it and Cool Whip on top is the white people of deserts. But, I happen to like white people.
What is the Asian people of desserts?
Rice pudding
Pineapple Pizza?
Nah, we hate pineapple pizza, judging by our opinion of the geisha photo that can’t be the case.
I don’t know about overall, but ambrosia is the obvious Asian people of potluck desserts.
Something with tentacles and soy sauce
My mom used to mix the Cool Whip into the Jell-o/fruit mixture. Yummy!
I forgot about that option. I have an aunt that does that. That is the superior way.
It’s the rich, white people of deserts.
The Wife still makes that crap, Frozen Grapes and Cool Whip,
Where is banana pudding on the ethnic analogy table? My wife swears it goes hand-in-hand with trailer parks and meth, but of the two of us she’s the only one with family in a double-wide and they never had banana pudding before. Of course, their trailer is nicer than our house, but whatever.
My mom and stepfather traded up to a double-wide – that place was NICE.
One of the properties I looked at had a double-wide. I didn’t even realize at first glance. They had sunk in the ground with landscaping to disguise it. The inside was updated with granite counter tops, jacuzzi tub, etc. Overall, it was nice place on 10 acres with a stocked fish pond, orchard, and a deer feeder by the house hidden by a 10 concrete wall (since such things are illegal in VA).
We passed on that and chose a house that looks cosmetically from the 70s, but has a solid frame built with seasoned hardwood. The kind where you have to predrill holes to get a screw in and nails just bend.
Both my wife and I love fruitcake. Strangely enough we also like the Movie Waterworld.
Included is footage of threedoor.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GEStsLJZhzo
We are different.
*looks around* welcome to the club.
I’ve been lurking for some time, TOS and here. Looking for a new host.
*looks around* since no one else is taking it…
Fuck off Tulpa!
Now that you mention it I only recently quit beating my wife.
The cookies my Mom always makes around Chrismukkah. They are the best.
DOUBLE CHOCOLATE TREASURES
1 (12 oz.) pkg. (2 c.) semi sweet chocolate pieces
1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. powdered sugar
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In heavy saucepan over low heat, melt 1 cup chocolate pieces. Stir until smooth; cool slightly. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs, vanilla and melted chocolate. Add combined dry ingredients except powdered sugar, stir in remaining chocolate pieces.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in powdered sugar, coating heavily. Place on greased cookie sheet; bake 10 to 12 minutes. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack. Store in airtight container. Makes about 5 dozen.
Chocolate Oatmeal God Cookies! Awesome Mom!
These are awesome. There’s also a no-bake version of these. I’ve usually heard them called, oddly enough, No-bake Cookies.
We should do a Glibs cookbook. With a (I assume quite large) chapter for beverages.
Oh, those look great! Thanks, Q. (You finally posted something in which I am interested.)
Those sound really good.
I’ll add my personal favorite: “Mind taking a look at this suppurating boil on my back? It’s really itching.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/holiday-party-ice-breaker-questions-2017-12/
If I got invited to parties I could show off my scar.
The NFL should quit worrying about Colin Kapernick. The fucking referees are destroying the game.
Any particular game?
I was not watching when the Minnesota TD was overturned
SP, here is my Holy Mole brownies recipe:
Melt together 4 oz chocolate (I like 72%) and 3/4 c butter. Stir in 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp habanero powder and let cool. Beat 3 eggs with 1/4 tsp salt, then beat in 2 c sugar and the cooled chocolate. Then stir in 1 c flour. Put in greased, floured pan and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.
I preferred a version with 1/2 tsp habanero, but all my taste testers preferred the less spicy version.
See below! GMTA!
Not enough habanero, but otherwise looks fantastic!
Man, those sound awesome, but neither my wife nor my daughter like anything spicy.
Divorce and disown them.
This.
These sound really good
So when do I put the pot in?
After the Mexicans, but before the ass sex.
So glad that meme migrated over from TSTSNBN.
The unions and city officials agree that the negotiations have not reached impasse, a key legal requirement before workers can strike. But workers walked off the job anyway.
The council met Wednesday afternoon in closed session to discuss the negotiations and will meet again Thursday. The only responsible option is to stand firm.
The only responsible option is to fire the strikers.
If I did that, it would be called Voluntary quit, No UI benes, welfare etc.
They are Crooks
I’ve always been a little afraid of fruitcakes. probably because media tells me they can’t be good.
(I do like pineapple upside down cake *readies for more internet punches*)
I don’t get why they call it ‘upside down cake’ a lot of cakes, just regular cakes, get inverted between the pan and the frosting station to provide a level surface.
Isn’t it because the pineapple is on the bottom during baking and then is brought up top by upside-downing it?
But my point is, inverting cakes is fairly common. There’s nothing special about needing to flip pineapple cake.
This from the guy who only likes bland pound cake.
I try to avoid potentially copywrighted materials when writing articles for this site. A traditional pound cake is public domain.
Fun Fact: recipes can’t be copyrighted, only the prose description for the procedure.
But my point is that in the other cakes, the ingredients are all mixed completely together. Whereas in an upside down cake, the pineapple is not thoroughly mixed in, necessitating the need to flip it to get the pineapple to the top.
If this is to believed, you can thank the power of marketing.
It’s the damn kkkorporations again!
I never had any idea for why, but that sounds right.
I see your point, but the entire cake would be completely different without the caramelization effect of cooking the pineapple on the bottom. Most other, plain, cakes, it doesn’t matter which side is up when baking.
I do enjoy putting that much brown sugar on the pan , knowing how delicious it’ll be.
I asked for a pineapple upside down cake pretty much every year for my birthday as a kid. some other kids thought I was weird.
That wasn’t why, Doom.
*under breath* shit
I used to ask for lemon meringue pie. Especially dark of the moon pie where you put a layer of dark chocolate on the crust before putting in the pie filling.
oh that sounds really good. I’ve never had it with the chocolate.
Oh, yum. I could eat that, too!
I love pineapple upside down cake. One can make an upside down cake with nearly any fruit, too.
Well, now you’ve done it, Doom.
I need to make a pineapple upside down cake this afternoon.
Doom: trendsetter.
They’re just so good! You could share your recipe for that, too. I’ll dig mine up to compare.
I’ll say it again; we need a Glibs cookbook
AoS just did one. I can’t think of a reason we couldn’t.
We could do it in e-book format and set it up with one of those services that prints-on-demand for those that want a printed version. (I have no idea how feasible all that is, but it sounds easy when I type it)
I’d be willing to help collect, collate, re-type…whatever.
So easy that even I can do it – and have. Admittedly I chose to cede a share to Amazon to avoid any capital investment.
In fact, I already own all of the software to assemble and prepare the files – the hard part is the content. Then the relevent stakeholders can choose whichever provider they want to usse for production and distribution of the book proper.
Oh yes…I forget that we have people here who are very experienced with that sort of thing.
As an aside; that’s one of the reason I love this place. There are people here that have experience with damn near anything one would have a question about.
Yes, it’s a good idea, but we would need a LOT of content. I’ve written, tested, edited and published two printed cookbooks with online communities of which I’m a part (food and wine centered). We did not use any of the POD services, but for this project that would be ideal. EBook, POD, and even a pdf version are super easy.
I have nutritional analysis software, because that matters to many people with special dietary requirements.
(One of my enterprises is a small press publishing imprint.)
So we definitely have the technical expertise. Now we just need LOTS of recipes!
*hops in car and starts heading for Chicago*
What time does Waze think you’ll arrive? I can’t get a flight till the morning.
It should take only take me 13 hours with a few pit stops.
We’ll make up the guest room bed. You guys don’t mind sharing, I’m sure.
Any particular game?
I was not watching when the Minnesota TD was overturned
That’s the call I was referring to. I wasn’t even paying particularly close attention, and all of a sudden I found myself saying “wait, what? I thought they scored on that last play.”
There are just too many instances of torturous pretend-scientific replay dissection of what is or is not a “catch”. It is incredibly disruptive to the flow of the game.
The only traditionally-proper use of fruitcake i have witnessed has been to
– pour brandy on it,
– set it on fire,
– then parade it around a room,
– before you put it aside and everyone proceeds to eat apple and pecan pie and politely ignore the smoking pile of agglomerated comfit (usually placed on a side table, out of the way, so no one is forced to look directly at it), which will eventually be boxed back up and shoved in the back of a freezer until it is needed for a repeat performance the next year (unless anyone should be so unfortunate as to have someone gift them a new one, in which case the old one is then used as ballast at the bottom of a winter dumpster)
I don’t hate the Packers, but the Browns getting their sole win against them would be amusing (don’t cat butt me SP)
I want Capers fired. Of course, I’ve wanted that for years now.
Trevor Davis sucks all day on punt returns, and rips off a 65-yarder.
I’m trying to hold her back. I may not succeed.
Looks like it’s not going to happen.
I have never issued a cat butt. if someone has sinned so egregiously that it is needed, I just delete their account and ban them from returning.
But I might make an exception. This seems worthy of a cat butt.
That interception should help.
:O
*think I might be in a hole best to say nothing*
And T&T was never heard from again!
The End.
Woohoo! You narrowly escaped!
*whew*
You lucked out- if they had lost, I could not have protected you.
And the Browns lose in the Browniest of ways.
By shitting the bed?
let the packers force OT, get the ball first, throw in interception on their 35 or so.
After giving up a ~65-yard punt return to set up the tying score.
I was expecting a *narrowed gaze* in response, but that is pretty close to the definition of “shitting the bed.”
huh, I feel dumb for missing that joke.
Fuck that noise. I want the Browns to get their perfect 0-16 season. I want to hear some of the local newspeople start bitching about how celebrating an 0-16 team with a parade isn’t in the spirit of being a Clevelander.
I’ll reflect on that as I sit down to a Burning River pale ale, as I wear a CLE shirt. Self mockery is how we cope with the Cleveland traditions.
Who’d they beat last year?
sort of related, I like this video from SB’s chart party about each teams last several years seasons. It’s a little long.
Seems about right for Panthers
The Chargers in the second to last game of the season.
Ah, that’s right. for some reason I thought washington, but that didn’t seem right.
I thought last year should have been better for the browns. they didn’t get blown out in every game, it usually came down to the wire.
Looking at their schedule, I’d say they have a very good chance to get a perfect season. If that Bears game was at home, I’d give them a 50/50 chance.
I remember watching part of the first game against the Steelers (it was on at the bar I was at), and I think they had a chance that game if they didn’t just fail completely on their first drive. It was just insane to me last year reading and hearing the people complaining when a local put up a crowdfunding campaign to get the funds for the parade permit (which were donated to charity since the Browns won a game).
My grandmother made awesome fruitcake; dense, moist, delicious.
I just saw a 2 pointer in Buffalo, in a Huge Snowstorm! real Foosball!
Yes! I grew up not far from there. All Superbowls should be played either in Buffalo (if lake effect if possible that year) or Lambeau. None of this dome nonsense.
I’d take Gillette in that list as well.
No, those people are not nice.
I’m a nice person! they are better than Philadelphia fans.
Who *isn’t* nicer than Philadelphia fans?
ENB?
Millwall?
I’m not a fan of fruitcake, but this actually sounds good. I am intrigued by the cocoa.
The cocoa and espresso powder help add some depth, without standing out at all.
Man, that Buffalo game is bringing back memories of living in Syracuse, and the lake effect snow.
And the Bills win!
Woohoo!
Completely off-topic – since the accident my dog has been afraid/ nervous at the dog park. She stands at the gate with her shoulders hunched and tail tucked under or is pressed against my leg with her tail tucked. The picture of misery. We have only gone a few times due to weather and my being out of town. Today, she seemed to be getting over it. Her tail came back up a few times and she ventured away from me. Whew. I don’t want to find another dog park.
What happened?
I’m glad I live in the middle of nowhere and have a lot of space for the dogs.
This.
She was running with other dogs and ended up colliding with a great Dane and hurt her shoulder. She was limping for a few days. She’s fine now, just scared of the dog park.
Not a big fan of the dog park. I have no real trust in my fellow dog owners. My sheepdog got attacked by a Golden who “has never done that before”.
Whatever, lady, I needed a tetanus update anyway…
You never know what weird-ass quirks the dogs will have. For example, our Scottie is fine with most dogs, except for high energy big dogs. He gets intimidated by them. Didn’t figure that out until he snapped at some over-friendly lab at the dog park.
I’m not much of a dog person, but I’m also not much of a fan of the dog park. I’m not the one who raised our dog, so I didn’t get to train him on appropriate and inappropriate behavior around other dogs. Going to the dog park is always a stressful experience for me because of that.
I’ve had dogs my entire life. I’ve trained a bunch of them. I am around dogs all the time. There are soooo many ways to socialize and exercise your dog that don’t involve other people’s shortcomings. YMMV.
I usually only go on weekends, always at the same time, and it is a really good group of owners. That’s why I don’t want to find a new dog park. None of the dogs in the collision were misbehaving. They were just running and not paying attention to their surroundings. The great Dane’s owner carried my dog to the car for me. My dog isn’t scared of the other dogs. Her tail came up when one of the collision dogs came to sniff her and she went and sniffed another today. She seems to associate the place with the problem.
Our dog is the white people of canines.
Awww.
I’m glad she is coming back!
And now…. The Shameless Sanctimonious-Horseshit-Hackery of the Year Award, goes to….. (drum roll)
Not *uck Schumer?
Schumer is a politician and everyone knows everything he says is 100% bullshit political propaganda, spin, and outright lies.
“Hacks” are members of the media who wrap themselves in the pretense of serving ‘Public Interest’ and ‘the truth’…
… but proceed to do exactly the same thing
So you’re not buying his about-to-be-released sure-fire bestseller “Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic” then?
Also, Jesus Christ, I’m glancing through his fucking Twitter feed and Frum is retweeting fucking Dave Weigel pimping his own book. Sometimes this shit just feels unreal. A alliance based upon dual lack of journalistic and moral integrity.
Speaking of fruitcakes, here is an article about Audre Lorde:
“Earlier this year, this newspaper examined test scores and discovered that at more than 100 American colleges, at least one-third of seniors were incapable of making an argument or weighing evidence, among other tasks of critical thinking. Lorde’s influence would seem to match her popularity.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/lorde-of-the-flies-why-college-students-reject-reason-1512775038
How about some more nuts?
“10 Things Every Intersectional Feminist Should Ask On a First Date”
https://everydayfeminism.com/2017/12/intersectional-feminist-first-date/
EF;DC
How about the predate questionaire? So you don’t have to waste spend time or money on a “date”.
Screw that, just buy 5 more cats and save inflicting yourself on some hapless soul.
Poor kitteh
a) Spit
b) Swallow
c) Take it on the face
d) Like I’m going to ever do this? It’s problematic male dominance!
e) Suck on it like it’s her job then accuse of rape 15 years later
Exactly the group and region I think of when I think of biggest proponent of women’s rights
“support them how?” would be my follow up.
“I’ve got two invisible ones on my shoulders right now!
Out of all the things that “intersectional feminists” think … this is the weirdest. I mean, they do know how women are treated in Israel versus in Muslim countries, right? And how gay people are treated in Israel versus in Muslim countries, right?
I’ve always assumed that it’s just about hammering on any Americans who are to the right of Saul Alinsky. These third-wave feminist types couldn’t care less about Islam, or women in Muslim countries, or anything beyond their own power and privilege.
https://twitter.com/RonPaul/status/939628244915097600
LOL
Speaking of nuts:
” Woman rips out ex-boyfriend’s testicle after he refuses threesome”
https://www.rt.com/uk/412366-woman-testicles-bite-sex/
“An Edinburgh woman who ripped out her lover’s testicle with her teeth, leaving the man with 15 stitches, has avoided jail and been ordered to pay the victim £500.”
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/edinburgh-woman-who-ripped-out-man-s-testicle-with-teeth-avoids-jail-1-4633430
W. T. F.
She avoided the penalty enhancer by not using arms.
ban assault jaws!
No one needs incisors!
“Rachel Dolezal is back and now this time she’s trying to commercialize her status as an alleged black woman by selling calendars urging people to “get woke.”
Dolezal, a white woman claiming to be black, is now selling a 2018 calendar of herself on her personal website. Dolezal’s calendar, which has already sold out, features various pictures of her striking poses with a collection of inspirational quotes Dolezal came up with.
“2018 Calendar featuring photos of Rachel Dolezal by four portrait photographers & her own inspirational quotes. With dozens of important birthdays and Black History facts throughout the year,” the website description reads.”
http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/08/rachel-dolezal-is-trying-to-commercialize-her-fake-blackness-just-in-time-for-christmas/
here’s a neat toy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_EMB_314_Super_Tucano
It’s designed for ground attack, but it carry air-to-air missiles as well. Iranian Cobra helicopters shot down a few Iraqi MiGs. If a helicopter can shoot down a jet, a prop plane can too.
today I learned
***
J-CATCH, short for Joint Countering Attack Helicopter, was a joint US Army-US Air Force experiment in dissimilar air combat between jet fighters and attack helicopters. To the surprise of many involved in the program, the helicopters proved extremely dangerous to the fighters when they were properly employed, racking up a 5-to-1 kill ratio over the fighters when fighting at close ranges with guns. The lesson was that fixed-wing aircraft should not attack helicopters except at long range and/or high altitudes with long range missiles. This was worrying for forces based primarily on fixed-wing assets, leading to several design studies for helicopter-hunting aircraft.
***
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-CATCH
Air-to-Air combat is all about gaining an advantage over the opponent. If your opponent is good at going fast, get him into a turning fight. If your opponent likes to turn and you are faster than he is, use slashing tactics. You allow me to choose the conditions of the fight, I’ll take a Sopwith Camel over the F-22.
True. Combat in general is about gaining an advantage. For every weapon, tactic, or strategy, there is a countermeasure.
On a larger scale, logistics and morale are decisive.
I got to interview the only B17 waist gunner who shot down a Me262 for a high school project.
“Properly attended to, fruitcake can be stored safely for literally years”
I have been hungry. Truly hungry. I am not going to turn my nose up at any food that has been subjected to preservation.
*pushes aside fruitcake and takes a bite of chicken and sausage gumbo*
Oh, look at that. Yum.
Brand new tune from Shannon & the Clams https://youtu.be/Hm3cf3jsWNw
Also from Oakland, the Oh Sees playing a remarkably faster version of “The Dream”. https://youtu.be/TYiYf-30HkQ
The Lavender Flu https://youtu.be/TgrsPB7e8J0
That fruitcake recipe looks incredible.
My daughter and I made this cake pan giant chocolate chip cookie an hour ago. Almost never bake desserts. It will taste extra good since it’s been flavoured with Tuaca. Wedge plus vanilla bean ice cream.
This is about the only time of year that I really make a lot of desserts. Yesterday I made a pound cake to bring to a party, and I’m going to make up at least one or two batches of cookies for Christmas.
I make mixed boxes of cookies to give to random humans who have been nice to me throughout the year, like my good neighbors, my mail drop people, professional contacts etc. Have I mentioned I love baking? 🙂
Yum! Good job, daughter!
Never had a fruitcake. Then again, I’ve only seen commercial ones, not homemade versions, and the ubiquitous nuclear green chunks of pretend fruit in the commercial ones always seemed too weird to eat. Then again, I make boiled cake, so I’m not sure I have a leg to stand on when it comes to weird cakes. Which reminds me, I need to buy some raisins.
What’s boiled cake?
Put a hands-off sign on the raisins so OMWC doesn’t eat them, along with all the other dried and candied fruit ingredients in the house.
random thought
Once a country has nuclear weapons, it is unlikely that it will fight a conventional war, especially with another nuclear power. The last time two nuclear powers fought a conventional war was the border clash between China and the USSR in 1969. That lasted a few months and left a few hundred dead. The main reason Israel has not had to fight a conventional war in decades is because of nuclear deterrence. The same goes for Pakistan and India.
Seems to me the sensible thing for a nuclear power to do is to re-tool its military for asymmetric warfare. There’s not much need for vast numbers of jets, ships, subs, and tanks
once a country has ICBMs. And all those things aren’t much use in asymmetric warfare.
So what is useful for asymmetric warfare? I think the main requirements are infantry, transport aircraft, attack aircraft, drones, helicopters, and light vehicles. Pack animals are also useful. There should be a bias towards infantry, since only infantry can occupy. Historically, the necessary ratio for defeating an insurgency is about 10 to 1.
Artillery is mostly useful against fixed targets in the open. These things are rare among insurgent forces.
It’s fine to keep small numbers of jets, ships, tanks, and subs. They may be important again. But for the time being, a lot of them could be safely mothballed.
500,000 people in NOVA are having a heart attack reading this.
Yes I recall a discussion with rather useless looking fattened female mammal that claimed to work on the Osprey. I informed her that enforcers hate that aircraft due to its minimum hover altitude. When decending by rope, they were forced to drop a much farther distance resulting in a high risk of injury before a single shot could be fired.
The empty look on her face enraged me to the point that I almost broke cover to rip her throat out. You mammals really need to keep your engineering class in check.
I think I am going to pulverize the peppermint candies and use it to replace part of the sugar in a sponge cake. Has anyone ever tried that?
Works a treat if not taken to excess. You don’t get exactly the same benefits as from sugar, but it’s a delicious twist!
Thanks. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
interesting
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Nuclear weapons are instruments of peace. Airmen and sailors nobly ensure that nuclear conflict will be deterred by being ready to use them. Americans may feel guilty for possessing such terrible capacity to destroy life. Despite their distastefulness, however, nuclear weapons probably have saved lives. A new day dawned on Aug. 6, 1945. Many who worked on the Manhattan Project believed that they had condemned the world. They could not have known that they might have liberated it. Since Aug. 9, 1945, approximately 7 million to 10 million people have died from conflict. Before the introduction of nuclear weapons, two world wars alone led to the deaths of 70 million to 100 million — a difference of a decimal point.
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Nuclear weapons are an affordable deterrent. The cost of the triad represents less than 3 percent of the $526 billion Defense Department budget. In 2012, the U.S. Postal Service lost about $16 billion, or three times the amount it cost U.S. taxpayers for intercontinental ballistic missiles and bombers, two-thirds of the triad. Although the nuclear budget needs to rise to offset the more than 20 years of neglect in modernization, a modest increase would barely register in the overall defense budget.
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