Q: In the '60s I believe there was a recipe on the back of the Lipton onion soup package for short ribs. I am not sure if it was barbecue.
Dale Ray
A: The unlikely but somehow delicious combination of soup mix, ketchup and brown sugar shows up in many recipes, from topping meatloaf to perking up a pot roast. Some versions of the short ribs recipe call for as much as ½ cup of brown sugar.Q: A friend visited Barbados and brought us a bottle of ''Mixed Essence -- A Caribbean Tradition.'' She said it was a seasoning that truly personifies ''island life.'' How do you use it?
J. U. Guerry
A: Mixed essence is used as you would use vanilla extract, so think of it as an enhancer for pound or rum cake, sweet breads and the like. A friend in the Virgin Islands made an unbelievably delicious dessert -- what she called shingle cake -- with her own mixed essence, which was a blend of homemade vanilla, almond and orange extracts and prickly pear cooked down to a concentrate. I'm sure the commercial blends have similar roots.Q:I read your column every Wednesday in The Hunstville, Ala. Times, and like a lot of the good recipes. I also buy the Taste of Home recipe books every month at Wal-Mart. In the May Issue, a lady was asking for a recipe for sweet potato butter. Is this a jelly or sauce to serve with meat?
Ann Hastings, Hazel Green, Ala.
A: Sweet potato butter is probably the invention of a frugal farmwoman looking for away to use a bountiful crop, and is similar to apple butter. Some versions are spiced with curry to be used as a condiment with meat, and I've seen recipes that mix mashed sweet potato with peanut butter and nutmeg to make a spread, but I think this recipe has the most appeal. It's from the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission.ROMANIAN BEANS
A reader in Glenfield, N.Y., asked for help finding a recipe his grandmother, whose roots were Romanian, used to make. He described the dish as similar to refried beans, but made with Navy beans. He thought it was called frasolle.
J.P. of York, Pa., whose great-grandparents immigrated from Romania, sent the recipe here. She says the beans traditionally were augmented with parsnips or rutabaga.
SLEUTH'S CORNER
Q: Why are canned sardines the Rodney Dangerfields of the fish world? These little fish are rich in calcium, good quality protein and omega-3-fatty acids. I prefer them with chopped onions and a squirt of lime juice on pumpernickel. Do readers have more ways to prepare them?
