radiator tangerines made mostly in the traditional manner

if you do not know MFK Fisher you should and if you do know her then you may know her recipe for radiator tangerines from the 'Borderland' chapter of Serve it Forth

i usually make these when it starts to be consistently cold and the radiator needs to be turned up a bit. ideally they are to be made on a newspaper of french provenance. thats the one thing i didnt have tonight so i used a section of paper grocery bag.

from Serve it forth pp.26-28 of 'The Art of Eating' published by the World Publishing Company, 1954

1 tangerine

1 radiator (hopefully reasonably clean but very hot)

1 snowy day or night

carefully peel a tangerine and place the sections on a piece of yesterday's newspaper or piece of paper grocery bag.

place on a hot radiator for at least an hour (she recommends 3 to 4).

the tangerines will plump up and the skin will get very papery and crackly.

when ready taken them outside on the piece of paper and place them on a snowy place (window ledge is the prescribed method) for 10-15 minutes.

bring them back in and eat. they are curiously snappy and pulpy and tangerineish.