DEAR SUN SPOTS: This recipe that I cut out from the Lewiston Sun 25 to 30 years ago met up with a flame, so I lost the ingredients that I need to make the cupcakes. I made them many times; they were good. Is there any way you might find the recipe? I sure hope so.

Also, I need buttons the size of a nickel or a quarter if anyone has any would be pleased to have them. 

I love Sun Spots. It’s the first thing I read in the paper every morning. — Ethelyn Gorey, 4 Campus St., Lisbon Falls, ME 04252

ANSWER: Sun Spots tried searching from the information that remained on the unscathed portion, but nothing popped up. However, perhaps readers will recognize the people, which may lead to additional information.

The scrap shows a picture of a 30-something woman in a striped sweater at a counter with a mixing bowl. The text says she is Mrs. Everett Goodwin, an unemployed hairdresser with three teenagers, Scott, Tracey and Jimmy Gardner. Her husband was an assistant manager at Sampson’s Supermarkets. 

The part of the recipe you can see mentions topping the cupcakes with marshmallow fluff, whipped cream or confectioner’s sugar.

Sun Spots is glad you read this column first. She’s usually behind the obituaries!

DEAR SUN SPOTS: Many years ago the Sun Journal printed a lobster pie recipe from the Korn Haus Keller on Lisbon Street in Lewiston, and I was hoping that maybe you, or someone in the area, might also have the baked stuffed fillet of sole recipe. It was delicious. It was served with a sauce, possibly a Newburg sauce. Other friends I have spoken to miss it also. Thank you for your help. — No Name via email

ANSWER: Sun Spots did not find either recipe online. Also, she was asked for another Korn Haus Keller recipe in 2010, for coleslaw, but got no response.

DEAR SUN SPOTS, In regard to the Jan. 22 inquiry about an ingredient for fish chowder, could the important ingredient be “quenelle”? My French dictionary defines “quenelle” as “very finely chopped mixture of fish or chicken cooked in stock.” This seems a logical ingredient for fish chowder. Hope this helps. — Dolores Hoeh, dhoeh@megalink.net

ANSWER: Lorrie in Bethel and another reader also offered this explanation, but there are other possibilities.

DEAR SUN SPOTS: The Franco-American Collection at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College has a number of recipes and anyone is welcome to stop by and browse them.

Based on the recipes in our collection and some work consulting the dictionary, although I can’t find an exact match for the ingredient your reader was seeking for fish chowder (soupe de poisson), I have a few suggestions:

Le cabillaud = cod

Les coquilles = scallops

Le colin = hake

Alternatively, it may not be an ingredient at all, but a measurement or description of the ingredient:

Une cuisse = a thigh or a leg

Une cuiller or cuillere = a spoon (cuiller a the is a teaspoon; cuiller a table is a tablespoon)

Cuit(e) = baked or cooked

My final suggestion would be creole, which would indicate a spicy, tomato-based sauce, popular in Louisiana cooking.

It’s difficult to translate anything based only on the sound of a word, and not the spelling, but hopefully these help. Good luck! — James Myall jmyall@usm.maine.edu

DEAR SUN SPOTS: Someone wanted to know the french word for an ingredient in a chowder. Coquille is the word I think she is looking for, and it means scallops. — Pauline E. Labonte, lablynp123@myfairpoint.net

DEAR SUN SPOTS: In reference to the person who was inquiring about a fish chowder containing “quiole” or “quieule.” I think that the answer to her inquiry is creole fish chowder. Many recipes can be found for this dish online. Creole cooking is French cooking of a kind. Hope this helps. — Roland Courtemanche, RlcrtmnchRl@aol.com

DEAR SUN SPOTS: In regard to the inquiry about the ingredient that was added to fish chowder as made by French families, I believe it may have been “griad” (not sure of spelling). It was a thick slice of real salt pork, rind included, that was fried to a crisp and used as a base for the chowder, much as bacon is used today.

Also, when my grandfather came home from the lumber camps during mud season, he would fry some up and use it as bacon. It was a staple in the camps. Hope this helps. — Stan, Bucksfield

DEAR SUN SPOTS” I believe that No Name looking for the ingredient for the French fish chowder was looking to add quahogs (chowder clam) which in French are pronounced “kwa-hoy.” My father, a French Canadian, used to put them in his fish chowder when they were available. They look similar to our native Maine clams but are much larger in size and a much chewier version. Hope that helps. — Rev. L. J. via email

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