[Houdini]

Well?

'Tis almost the season to be jolly.

What will be cooked / poached / foraged?  And served this Xmas in your home?




The kraut-side will be roasting goose this weinachts!  I am pleased for them (apparently I have tofu  think I'll try the goose...)

Myself?  I shall be serving MDMA to a select group of diners. 

[Houdini]

An aquaintance informs me I offered to roast a duck for him soon...  Ah...


I've roasted nothing of worth before, so, tips welcome vis-a-vis trimmings, sauces, wine, strippers.

[GCW]

Get a really nice bottle of wine.

Drink it while the misses roasts your dinner.

Sorted.

[grumpycrumpy]

strippers.

I tend to use a hot air gun , but people of my acqaintance swear by nitromors .....

[Houdini]

Wine idea good, Gareth... 


The Frau is a shit cook, like...

[Jim]

duck = loads of fat, so roast it on a rack above a dish or empty the dish regularly and baste often

[soapy]

roasting, basting, roasting, basting




*reaches for recipe book

[slackline]

*Cough* (fourth pic)

You might gain some inspiration from...

[Yossarian]

i am eating out on xmas day.

on boxing day i am going to cook an enormous pot-au-feu.  (well, i will actually prob start it off the day before)

a huge piece of brisket
some shin of beef too
lots of oxtail
marrow bones
onion
leeks
turnips
various herby delights

a double magnum of a rather obscure but really fucking heavenly 82 barolo.

then hopefully a blowjob followed by a bond film.

[Houdini]

Sounds outrageous Yoss, especially the double magnum. [envy][/envy] Photo's?  Mode of aquisition.

We're prepping the goose now: it's soaking in saltwater in the cellar as I speak.  Though I've just watched HFW and his River Cottage 10 bird roast, which is just bonkers in the prep dept..

[Houdini]

Had some of this for the 1st time today, a seasonal plant here on the mainland.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_salsify


Does this grow in the UK?  Had some boiled, some roasted.  The roast won hands down.  Astonishingly, incredibly  gufftacular.

[GCW]

To resurrect a typically off topic topic.

Any good Christmas Pud recipes?

Just steaming a couple of these:

6oz caster sugar
2oz fine brown sugar
8oz suet
12oz sultanas
12oz raisins
8oz currants
4oz candied peel
4oz plain flour
4oz breadcrumbs
2oz flaked almonds
1 lemon zest
5 eggs
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1 level tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt
5fl oz brandy

Any classic recipes?  I tried Delia's one a couple of years back but wasn't impressed.
And no semen based recipes thanks.

[fatdoc]

duck = loads of fat, so roast it on a rack above a dish or empty the dish regularly and baste often

I disagree,

The ONLY recipe that Nigela has impressed me with ( alas nor persoanlly) is the duck recipe in her tome *how to cook*

Boil it for  30 mins submerged in water.

then take 1/3 off the oven time.. sauces dressings etc.. up to you.

really makes it simple, the meat goes soft and the skin all crunchy with far less fat  one the bird.

[Joepicalli]

duck = loads of fat, so roast it on a rack above a dish or empty the dish regularly and baste often

I disagree,

The ONLY recipe that Nigela has impressed me with ( alas nor persoanlly) is the duck recipe in her tome *how to cook*

Boil it for  30 mins submerged in water.

then take 1/3 off the oven time.. sauces dressings etc.. up to you.

really makes it simple, the meat goes soft and the skin all crunchy with far less fat  one the bird.

Shit that's clever, wonder where the Tory's mother / whore substitute of choice got it from?

[lagerstarfish]

Shit that's clever, wonder where the Tory's mother / whore substitute of choice got it from?

standard Cantonese recipe

[Joepicalli]

Shit that's clever, wonder where the Tory's mother / whore substitute of choice got it from?

Standard Chinese recipe

Ahhh, I was going to ask Echo if she'd heard about this but as ever Lager's is a good cute Chinese girl substitute

[lagerstarfish]

The only Echo I know is a very cute half grown husky. I could probably function as a substitute for her too.

[Sloper]

This year, as with most years we'll be having game.

I'm going to try and get some Woodcock and Snipe again, if not it will be Grouse

For the medics a =>3 bird roast should be a piece of piss, even I can knock one up in under 30 minutes.

Take 1 partridge, I mallard, 1 pheasant and 300g of belly pork,  100g breadcrumbs, 1 onion, garlic, seasoning eg nutmeg, juniper, pepper, herbs.

Turn teach bird over and cut down the spineand work the meat from the bone, except for the pheasant snip off the legs and wings.

Take the meat from the legs of the two small birds and chop roughly with the belly pork, breadcrumbs etc.

then stuff the boned partridge with a bit of the stuffing, then stuff the duck with thin layer of the mixture and the partridge, then use the remainder of the mixture to stuff the pheasant and the two other birds.

Make stock with the bones, some root veg, cellery and then use this to make a bread sauce finished with brandy.

Roast the bird for about 90 mins in a hot ove and test by running a metal skewer into the depth of the roast and test on the back of your hand.

[GCW]

To resurrect a typically off topic topic.

Any good Christmas Pud recipes?

Just steaming a couple of these:

Right, admittedly without maturing and being fed brandy- those were nice but not superb.  Having made a second set I feel the new ones are far superior- richer, moist, and full of flavour.  This is great:

3oz plain flour
5oz breadcrumbs
5oz suet
1 ¹/₄lb mixed dried fruit
1 orange- zest and juice
1 lemon- zest and juice
1 cooking apple- grated
2 eggs
1 tbsp treacle
¹/₂ tsp mixed spice
1 tbsp whisky/brandy (I used the latter)
¹/₂ tsp cinnamon
¹/₂ tsp nutmeg
1 carrot
6oz sugar (I used fine brown)
4oz candied peel
pinch salt

Mix it all up, let it rest for 24 hours then steam for 6 hours.  Leave to mture (add your spirit every now and then), then steam for 2 hours (or microwave) on Christmas Day.   

[Houdini]

It's nearly Xmas again, and I'm mightily impressed w/ Slopers 3 bird roast.


Despite not digging flesh, I'm up for getting the ingredients together and persuading the father-in-law to get it on.

What do Woodcock & Snipe taste like?  Anything like Partridge?  I enjoyed Partridge, if I remember correctly.

[GCW]

Not had snipe, but I've had Woodcock but I believe it is very dependant on cooking method to avoid it tasting awful and having the texture of old boots.  I didn't think it was that great, very iron in taste and a bit stringy in the legs.

I'm not sure how you'd do the traditional whole bird on toast and suck out the brains method using a 3 bird technique though.

[Houdini]

This looks well-Henry VIII



But I see no Hummingbird.  Surely one can squeeze more in a Turkey?  And that into an Emu and that into an Ostrich?


The technique for making roast birds golden was favoured by Henry VIII and was the ultimate sign of wealth and opulence in the 16th Century.

Real gold leaf was occasionally used for the task. It made little difference to the taste but showed off the host's wealth - and fortunately it is non-toxic.

But more frequently, the gilding would be made from a saffron butter, spread over the roasting chicken or turkey for the last 30 minutes of cooking.

It gave the bird a beautiful colour as well as a subtle flavour. Saffron was the most expensive spice available - it costs up to £500 a pound today - so using it still gave an indication of the host's affluence.

Last week, Asda* launched £1 pots of gilding glaze containing saffron.



*Get in there Jasper!

[GCW]

I would have thought that Saffron would be more valuable than gold in Henry VIII's day.

[tomtom]

Roast potatoes..

I seem to have converted out family to following Heston Von Blumenthals (or whatever his name is) way of cooking them...

First par boil your peeled spuds for c.15 min in really salty water ( ~ tablespoon of salt)
Then when drained shake them about in the pan for a few seconds to rough up the outside...
Drizzle with copious amounts of olive oil and season.
Place in baking tray with the roast for 45min - 1 hour.
Lovely.

parboiling in salty water and roughing the outside gives them a really nice crispy outside - whilst retaining the light fluffy (and not sodden/vapourised) centre...

You can of course put them in with the turkey/goose/beef so you get all the animal fat in them, but I really like them done separately...

[Jim]

i was with you up to the coating of cold olive oil 
when you have roughed up the par boiled spuds, have a mixture of plain flour, mustard powder, black pepper and some ground saffron and chuck that in and give the spuds another good shake round. in the meantime have some beef dripping getting really hot in the oven in a roasting try, get this out and put on to the hob with the hob on full to make sure the fat is hotter than the sun. then add the spuds and give them a good coating of the hot oil before putting back into the oven on the top shelf (never attempt this naked).
never under any circumstances buy frozen roast potatoes - are you listening mother!