For as long as I can remember, I’ve made the Christmas gifts for my family. These gifts have taken various forms, but have always been something that I truly enjoyed making.
The writing of The Pudge Factor began in 1986 with the idea that a cookbook would be a great Christmas present for Susan and me to give to family members. Since that time, it has been a work in progress, with the first edition printed in 1997. As time has shown, this will always be a work in progress, for as different recipes are experimented with and meet with the approval Chris, the master taster, they are added to a notebook which serves as the addendum to The Pudge Factor. In addition, as successful variations of established recipes are tried, changes are made and put in the notebook. Finally, as Susan continues to expand her expertise in the kitchen, new recipes are added.
The time came when the combination of the first edition and the notebook of additional and amended recipes became unruly. This meant that it was time for the printing of the second edition which occurred in 2004, with three copies printed. Unfortunately, the second edition was not properly edited, and therefore contained numerous errors. Susan took on the task of proofing the recipes that were contained in the second edition and thus the third edition began to take shape. Since 2004, Susan completed her culinary training, and I experimented even more. Rather than produce hard copies of the third edition, we decided to go digital, and publish the recipes to pudgefactor.com.
The word “pudge” has been used for sometime around our house to indicate that the person is stuffed, presumably because the food was so good! Thus, as used here, “pudge” means to stuff in a very positive manner.
The Pudge Factor will probably never be a Christmas gift as originally envisioned. It does, however, contain recipes that over the year have “pudged” us. The creation of this blog is merely an extension of “the work in progress.” In addition, Susan now has her blog – Desserts by Susan – which will showcase her exceptional culinary talents. Finally, Chris has his blog – The Lazy Man Cooks – which will showcase his “lazy man” techniques.
You can access the “original” Pudge Factor, here.
Enjoy!