Christmas
What can be said about Christmas that has not been said already a thousand times? Our festive
season starts too early and goes on too long. There is too much pressure to spend, the TV is usually
rubbish, then there’s unwanted works parties or other gatherings you daren’t miss, old quarrels
remembered, ghastly Xmas muzak (at least we are now spared Garry Glitter's 'Rock and Roll
Christmas' which surely was one of the worst), indigestion and hangovers. However, Christmas is the
best festival we’ve got, and the traditions can bring good cheer regardless of your beliefs, so let’s make
the most of it and enjoy some special food and drink with loved ones. And you can rage against the
machine by turning the telly off and having friends and neighbours round for mulled wine and carols.
As the man of the house, I say you will have a happier Christmas if the woman doesn’t have to do
all the work. Planning reduces Christmas stress and enhances happiness. Make a plan and shop
sensibly. Have a ‘Christmas present reduction treaty’. A lot can be done in advance. This chapter is
written as a single essay rather than a collection of recipes.
Spiced Beef
I always start making this a week or 10 days before Christmas. It keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge, but
you’ll eat it all by then.
4lb piece of beef (brisket, silverside or topside) (the cheaper Irish beef that's a bit too lean and
tough for satisfactory roasting which Sainsburys or the Co-Op usually has quite cheap will do just fine, I
bought some today 7th December 2009 which I'll keep in the fridge before starting to sugar and spice it
14 days before Christmas)
6 ounces of muscovado sugar (preferably Traidcraft)
3 oz of sea salt
2 oz allspice berries
Dozen cloves
1 oz each of juniper berries and black pepper
Large stainless, glass or earthenware pot with lid
Remove and discard any string or big lumps of fat. Place the beef in a casserole or suitable stainless
steel saucepan with a lid. Rub in the sugar and leave for 2 days, turning every 12 hours. The sugar will
draw liquid out of the meat and add colour. After 2 days add the salt and ground spices, rub in all
round. Keep in a cool garage or shed, not the fridge-don’t worry, if you follow my recipe it will NOT go
bad, this is an ancient pre-refrigeration preserving technique.
After 8-10 days, discard the liquid, wash off the spices and cook the spiced beef in a lidded casserole
with 2 inches of water in a low oven, mark 2, for 3 hours. Leave to cool in the liquid overnight. If you
overcook, it will still taste great but be crumbly when sliced. Remove when cool, discard the liquid. Wrap
in greaseproof paper and store in the fridge until required. Slice thinly and serve with bread and butter
and gherkins, or mashed potato and red cabbage. I find people are impressed by this and comment
favourably on it months later. It can be cooked at any time of year, but is perfect at Christmas.
Christmas Eve
Giblets If you have a duck or goose (see below), Christmas Eve is a good day to process the giblets
for a terrine and the gravy. You will then have less work on Christmas Day.
Wash and chop the liver, discard any green bits. Slice the heart thinly and put with the liver. Slice what
meat you can from the neck, a fiddly job but you should get up to 100g of good meat if your filleting
knife is as sharp as I hope it is. Put the neck bones and gizzard (washed and sliced) in a saucepan with
500mls water, a sliced onion, 6 peppercorns and 2 bay leaves, simmer and reserve.
Goose liver terrine
Chopped giblets (see above)
Equal amount of chopped pork
1 shallot or small onion chopped fine
Salt, black pepper, coriander, mace
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1 glass of port or sherry
6 rashers unsmoked streaky bacon
De-rind the bacon and lay the rashers symmetrically across a small ovenproof dish, half in, half out as
per drawing. Mix the other ingredients, add to the dish, then fold the bacon over. Cook in a Bain Marie
(a tin with half an inch of water in the bottom-this helps even cooking) in a low oven for 2 hours. When
cool, wrap in greaseproof paper and refrigerate up to a week. Eat with thin toast.
On Christmas Eve we sit and watch the service of carols and nine lessons from Kings
College, Cambridge on the TV, and so should you. Smoked salmon and fizzy wine is our
alternative to sherry and mince pies to accompany this seasonal ritual. I like mustard mayonnaise with
smoked salmon, stir a teaspoon of English mustard into half a teacup of mayonnaise. A nice trick with
smoked salmon is to roll it round some soft cream cheese with chopped chives and slice into bite sized
rounds, (easier if chilled). This goes well with wholemeal bread and butter. It’s nice to have some nuts,
Satsumas and quality English apples if you can get any.
Christmas roast goose with all the trimmings
Goose is a once or twice a year treat. The texture and flavour are fantastic, the crisped up skin is
very tasty, and the fat makes perfect roast potatoes for months to come. Goose must be ordered in
advance, expect to pay £50. This seems extravagant, but when you consider it will give 6 adults an
exceptional gourmet feed plus terrine and soup later, its not so bad once a year. Turkey is cheaper but
unless you find an outdoor reared bronze turkey, it’s dull stuff. As Auberon Waugh wrote about that
other expensive treat Vintage Port 'if a man cannot drink Vintage Port at Christmas, then when on earth
can he drink it?' You may decide on duck instead of goose (wise if there are just 2 of you) or have 2
joints, say duck and pork or beef, for a choice. Anyhow, this is how I cook a goose.
Christmas Day in the morning
Rising at 7 am, I place the unsalted goose on a grill in a large roasting tin in the middle of the oven
which is set at gas mark 4. The first priority is to cook the fat out and not waste it. A 10 pound goose
yields about 3 pounds of perfect oil for roast potatoes. It must be separated from any meat juices and
stored in jars, used and cleaned 200g mustard or jam jars are good, make sure they are ready in
advance. See 'Goose fat and Garlic' by Janet Strang or Lizzy David’s work for further insight on the
role of goose fat in the cooking of south west France. I was in Sainsburys today and they are selling
goose fat for 'perfect roast potatoes' for £3 a small tin, they also had decent sized frozen geese for
£29 each, which is a lot less than we usually pay for a fresh one. When you consider the cost of a
goose, which is quite dear I agree, think about the 4 or 5 jars at £3 each of fat you will get, which
actually really does make perfect roast potatoes.
With the goose in the oven I return to bed for a while. 90 minutes later, before we go to church if we
didn’t go at midnight, I pour the first run of goose fat into a Pyrex jug and turn the oven down to mark 2.
After church, run more fat off and salt and pepper the bird. Don’t season earlier as it just runs off with
the fat, which won’t help the gravy.
Skirted sausages (pork chipolatas wrapped with bacon) are essential, you can prepare these on
Christmas eve. Take 250g or unsmoked streaky bacon and twice the weight of pork chipolatas, de-rind
the bacon, slit each rasher in half lengthways and wrap half a rasher spirally round a chipolata. I like to
soak them in shredded garlic, ginger and teriyaki sauce before baking for 40 minutes.
Roast Potatoes
Peel and cut the potatoes, allow about 4 x 5cm potato halves per person, boil in lightly salted water for
10 minutes and drain. Spoon into in a roasting tin with some goose fat, warmed in the oven first,
replace in the top of the oven. Shake and turn them twice during the hour they need at about mark 5.
They should be crisp when served. If timing is out and they aren’t ready in time, put the heat to
maximum for the last few minutes. Roast parsnips are done the same way, instead of or as well as
potatoes. Halve or quarter them and treat as potatoes.
Vegetables
Brussels sprouts are traditional, remove the stalk and outer leaves, slit the base crosswise and boil
for 10 minutes. I also like some French beans from the freezer, frozen peas and a few thinly sliced
carrots.
When is the goose cooked? My rule is that if over 2 pints of fat has run out and the skin is crisp, the
goose is cooked and can be taken out of the oven and left to rest. Expect this to take 4 or 5 hours at
mark 4-5. This is the time to boil the carrots, peas, French beans etc-the carrots will need about 12
minutes, the frozen peas and beans about 3 after coming to the boil. You will have removed the
chipolatas before now, they should take about 40 minutes in a medium oven -keep an eye open and
use your own judgment which improves with experience. Getting all this together requires planning,
timing, experience and a tidy kitchen, and should not be the first meal the student male cook attempts.
Have a trial run with a duck in November.
Stuffing (or forcemeat) extends and compliments the main meal. Here are 2 traditional recipes.
Apricot and Walnut Stuffing
Chop some dried apricots in quarters and soak overnight in water, or a sweet white wine like Premieres
cotes de Bordeaux. Mix with chopped walnuts, juice of an orange, an egg and breadcrumbs. Put this
inside the bird or arrange in egg sized balls in an pan and cook for about half an hour, not too long or
you'll dry them out.
Potato, sausage and apple stuffing
I did this stuffing for Christmas 2005, it was very good.
500g mashed potato
500g raw sausage meat
150g raw pork, chopped medium fine (4-5 mm)
10 leaved fresh chopped sage (or 1 tsp dried sage)
3 dessert apples (Ashmead’s Kernel, Reinettes or Cox)
Juice of an orange
2 tsps of crushed coriander berries
Medium onion chopped very fine
2 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped
Salt and pepper
Fry the onions and meat in a big frying pan. When done, mix with all the other ingredients, adding
water if necessary. Cook inside the bird or in shapes or tins, cooking time about an hour.
Gravy
To make gravy with any roast meat dish, try this approach
1) Drain the cooking juices from the meat
2) Skim off any fat (see roast beef recipe)
3) Simmer with a glass of wine
To extend the gravy, add the water the vegetables have been cooked in, especially green vegetables
and carrots, keep the water volume low and go easy on the salt. I often start gravy off by frying a finely
chopped shallot. A dash of Worcester, Teriyaki or soy sauce adds colour and flavour to anaemic
looking gravies. A dollop of redcurrant jelly can work wonders and counterbalance excessive saltiness.
The finished Christmas roast goose dinner
Timing is crucial, as is self control so go easy on the fizzy wine and sherry. A helper can put the
vegetables on the table in bowls or serve on to plates in the kitchen depending on space. The goose
skin should be crisp and is a delightful delicacy. We’re not dieting today. Slice and serve the breast
meat, remove the legs and wings and serve these whole. The wings can be picked up and chewed.
As far as drink goes, I like a big heavy red such as Penfolds Coonawarra Shiraz, Torres Gran Sangre
de Toro, oak aged Rioja, something heavy from the lower Rhone and for white, a Gewürztraminer or
Riesling from Alsace or maybe a Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc. Share and enjoy.
Dessert
Buy a Christmas pudding from Traidcraft or other noble charity. Get someone to put it on to steam an
hour before you want it. Serve with double cream and brandy butter. Brandy butter is made by
gradually stirring 200g of icing sugar and a glass of brandy into 200 g of unsalted butter you have
previously mashed with a fork. Brandy butter keeps well, try it with warm mince pies.
The best drink with Christmas pudding is a sweet white wine, whether Muscatel, Monbazillac or sweet
Italian fizz. Sauternes is perfect, but too expensive for people like us.
Goose soup
Leftovers (see relevant chapter) are a valued part of Hayes household cuisine, particularly at
Christmas. On Boxing Day, remove all meat from the (covered and refrigerated) goose. Break up and
simmer the carcass in 1 litre water (or cheap white wine or cider if you have it to spare) with some
carrots and onions for an hour (see chicken stock recipe) and strain. Fry some diced potatoes, carrots
and chopped onions in a little goose fat, add bacon or pork if there’s not enough goose meat, add the
stock, season to taste and once the vegetables are well cooked add the reserved goose meat. Cook
for another 10 minutes and serve.
Reheated goose
Depending on numbers, there may be a decent amount of meat left over. Slice and arrange the best
bits in a pan, put the left over gravy and any skin over that and warm in the oven for half an hour at
mark 4. Serve with mashed potato and pickles for Boxing day lunch.
So that's our goose, 3 times the price of turkey but worth it once a year.
Turkey-a new approach
A turkey as a rule is too big, too dry and lacks flavour. Often, half is thrown away. People cook the
whole thing at once, have a good serving on Christmas day, some cold on Boxing Day, then stare in
horror on December 27th at a huge pile of cold meat and wonder what to do with it. As the cliché goes,
‘I wouldn’t be starting from here’.
here’s 2 cool tips for turkey…
(1) Get a smaller bird to start with
(2) Don’t cook it all at once!
Divide up your turkey
Using a heavy cook’s knife or cleaver, bone out the whole turkey breast with the skin on. Start from the
lower end of the chest, cut back through skin and muscle until you come to bone, then use the cleaver.
Get the whole of the breast meat off still attached to the bone. Then remove the legs as per chicken.
You now have a large ’turkey crown’ breast joint, 2 legs and a carcass with 2 wings attached.
The meat below the knee has stringy tendons; these can be removed by sliding a thin sharp knife
along them. The thigh meat above the knee is easier to use and can be made into curries, stir fries,
mince or nuggets. (A mincer is ideal for mincing meat for burgers etc, but you can do it now and then
with 2 cook’s knives worked together like scissors on a chopping board).
Roast turkey crown
Slide rindless buttered streaky bacon under the skin all round, the adds moisture and flavour. Salt
pepper and garlic (if you like), and roast in a tray with a glass of white wine in a medium oven for 3
hours, cover with aluminum foil, remove this for the last half hour, turning up the heat if necessary.
Turn the joint round in the oven at half time, baste 2 or 3 times. Variations substitute pancetta or other
ham for streaky bacon, herbs and spices of your choice. Serve with vegetables, skirted sausages etc
as per goose.
Turkey Nuggets
Slice thigh meat into bite sized chunks. Season to taste with salt and pepper, mixed herbs, cumin and
coriander, or other spice mix, coat with batter and deep fry for 10 minutes.
Turkey stock for soup
Although this is a ‘by product’ which you probably won’t eat today, it is convenient to make this the day
you joint the turkey. Use the paring knife to remove any meat attached to the carcass, reserve this.
Remove the wings, you can season and cook next to the main roast or put them in the stock pot with
the carcass. As per chicken soup, simmer the cleavered up carcass gently for 40 minuets or so in 2
litres (4 pints) of water with a coarsely chopped onion, some carrot and celery, a dozen peppercorns
and a bouquet garni and 30g root ginger if you have any. Add NO salt at this stage. After 2 hours,
strain off.
You can make soup from the stock today, or cover and make it tomorrow. Use the recipe for goose or
chicken soup. Like I said, there’s only really a dozen or so basic recipes in the world, all the others are
variations or showing off.
NB if instead of making turkey soup, you prefer to make stock to freeze for later, use less water for a
more concentrated product which takes less freezer room.
Turkey drumstick suggestions
Braise for 2 hours in a covered dish with white wine, cider or water with onions, carrots and seasoning,
e.g. salt and pepper, garlic, ginger, hoi sin sauce, curry paste.
Roast with streaky bacon and white wine as per breast.
Casserole in liquid with chopped pork belly, onion and carrot, celery and garlic to taste, plus hoi sin
or oyster sauce and sesame oil or what you like.
Curry-see relevant chapter for curry recipes
Leftover cooked turkey
My big idea, expounded above, is to joint the turkey and cook in different ways on different days.
However, if you find yourself with cold cooked turkey, here are some ideas.
Turkey sandwiches are good on Boxing day especially with pickled gherkins, chutney and leftover
stuffing. Keep the meat wrapped in the fridge and slice fresh to use straight away, don’t keep sliced
meat more than 3 days, in fact there is a strong case for only slicing as much as you will definitely eat
in one session. There is a food poisoning risk with cold meat that is handled, left at room temperature
for several hours, and returned to the fridge and eaten later, wash hands and handle with care
Cooked meat from the previous day sliced and warmed in the oven with gravy is good with
mashed potato, leftover skirted chipolatas etc, as already said re Christmas goose. Theresa Waugh
recommends mincing dry cooked turkey and warming with a béchamel sauce. A curry sauce, or frying
in butter and garlic, would I’m sure be good too.
On the subject of having too much to drink, of course this is a bad idea. I once heard a TV comic
say, on hangovers, 'Of course, there is a school of thought that advises against having too much to
drink in the first place, but I don't want to give it the oxygen of publicity'. The curse of Christmas
catering is the fact that we have so many lovely things in the house, and want to enjoy them all-so in a
'worst case scenario' you could have bucks fizz (Champagne and orange juice) for breakfast, sherry
with mince pies, the rest of the Champagne as an aperitif, heavy red wine over lunch, part later, than
start on the 12 year old Scotch, brandy or Calvados before moving on to vintage port with Stilton, etc.
Ask yourself, is this such a good idea? Prevention is better than cure, as the Book of Proverbs says on
finding honey 'eat only enough to satisfy yourself, why should you vomit it up?'
Should over indulgence lead to headaches, or you wake up at half past 3 with sweats and a rapid
pulse, I recommend orange juice and fizzy water or lemonade mixed in a pint glass, two pints.
Christmas is incomplete without Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' on TV or radio, or you
could even read the book. Remember Scrooge’s narrow escape from Judgment and how he became a
better person. You will enjoy Christmas better if you write a gift-aided cheque for a sum commensurate
with your seasonal spend on luxury food and drink to Farm Africa, Water Aid, Oxfam or the
development/relief charity of your choice. I mean that, if you spend £200 extra on goose, sherry,
Champagne, walnuts etc, write a cheque out for £200 to relive famine and disaster. Its a nice tradition.
Happy Christmas and a bright New Year.
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