does not compute
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Add banananas and whipped cream for banoffee pie. 
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Weâre having our Christmas meal tomorrow, since Iâll be away over Christmas. Today we bought two geese to roast, and I made the cranberry and apple stuffing with my mum.
You know what? I think weâre going to have Christmas earlier every year. Christmas creep has been going on for a while with all the crap in the stores before Halloween, so itâs time to go on the offensive.
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Boiled cans are the bestâŚ
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We did Christmas in July one yearâŚ
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Heck, we did that THIS year! The annual extended family celebration is always held at a cousinâs house, and her dad (my uncle) had the temerity to die the day before.
They actually think he willed it to happen then on purpose, to make it easy for everyone to be at the funeral since they were already coming to town anyway. I find that hard to believe, but it seemed to give them comfort.
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My brother and I decided not to make gingerbread together, but weâre nearing the end of a two-day cooking spree to provide frozen meals for my family while Iâm away. So far weâve made:
- Bolognese sauce
- Lasagna
- Shepherdâs pie
- Chicken pot pie
- Moroccan lamb tagine
- Chicken curry with coriander
- Butter chicken, but with goose
- Vegetarian lasagna
-
HamburgersFrikadellen with horseradish sauce
Weâve also made about four litres of goose stock and collected 1.5 litres of goose fat, and Iâll be making some pastry this evening for fruit pies. Apparently goose fat makes great pastry, but unfortunately just for savoury food.
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speaking of savory pastry, I just tried making Jamaican style patties for the first time this weekend. I used a recipe from serious eats but slightly modified & made vegetarian.
It was an explosion of turmeric deliciousness. Strongly recommend.
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Sounds interesting⌠I wonder if itâs related to the rotis you can get in Barbados, except with pastry rather than a roti/chapatti?
They come wrapped up and often contain meat and potatoes.
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the differences IMO:
- roti filling tends to be pretty â â â â â . patty filling is more on the dry side
- roti is usually a lot bigger. To me a roti is a serious meal. One or two patties are a snack.
- roti has a higher ratio of filling to wrapper
â as a side effect of the different ratio, the patty filling should have a stronger flavor, to keep up with the wrapper. and no potatoes
But yeah, in terms of flavor and concept, there are definitely some similarities. Itâs like a tiny portable cross between a curry roti and a British meat pie
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Yorkshire puddings? Equal amounts egg flour & milk by volume (put 3 glasses side by side, crack the eggs into one & put flour & milk up to the same level in the others then combine), tiny bit of lard in each section of pudding tray, pre-heat in oven on top setting til lard is almost on fire, pour in batter, return to oven til giant and fluffy.
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i had congee last week because of the cold weather as wellâŚyummy time of year for something simple and hot and delicious.
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chocolate covered baconâ
this recipe is designed for working up around one pound of bacon. all temperature measurements are in degrees fahrenheit.
ingredientsâ
one pound thick cut, applewood smoked bacon
1-1.5 pounds bittersweet chocolate (54-63%)
1 heaping teaspoon cocoa butter
slice one pound of thick cut, applewood smoked bacon into thirds. carefully fry the bacon until it is very crispy. place on paper towels and allow to cool.
finely chop 1-1.5 pounds bittersweet chocolate (54-63%) and place in a microwave-safe bowl.
microwave on high for 30 seconds, then stir with a spatula.
repeat two more times.
microwave on high for 15 seconds then stir. begin testing the temperature with a candy thermometer.
repeat the 15 second routine 2-4 times or until the temperature reaches 100 degrees.
microwave on high for 10 seconds then stir.
repeat this up to 5 or 6 times or until the temperature reaches 115 degrees.
remove from microwave and stir until the temperature reaches 95 degrees.
add the cocoa butter and stir until the cocoa butter has melted and the temperature reaches 90 degrees.
maintain the 90 degree temperature by periodic 5 second microwave bursts.
lay out cooling racks with wax paper underneath.
carefully dip the bacon in the chocolate until it is coated and lay on rack. continue until all bacon is coated or chocolate runs out. if you have a silicone basting brush you can smooth out any rough spots on the bacon. allow to cool thoroughly before handling, about an hour. i prefer to store this in a flat storage container in single layers separated by wax paper. the cocoa butter helps to crystallize the chocolate in a good form. it should cool to a glossy finish and not begin to immediately melt the second you touch it.
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Itâs so thick! That looks amazing.
I made a holiday savory bread pudding with caramelized onions and bacon and, while delicious, I ate a small portion with dinner and couldnât eat anything else. Itâs basically homemade stuffing, but instead of broth you mix the bread with egg yolks, cream, milk, and Parmesan (though I used a Honduran hard cheese).
Of course, our holiday dinner is slowly being overtaken by cream. Brussels sprouts braised in cream, mashed potatoes, cream biscuits, etc. Iâm glad I didnât combine this thing with a huge holiday feast because I hit the tipping point.
At least I made fresh cranberry sauce to go with it?
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Fresh cranberry sauce (well, not really a âsauceâ since we eat it by itself with a spoon) is a must for holiday dinners. For Thanksgiving, my spices of choice are cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and cloves. For Christmas, freshly crushed cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla. Both are divine but I always look forward to making the Christmas variation. Today was that day.
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Yeah, turned out a bit thicker than usual, but fit the bill that night. Thinned the leftovers with chicken stock for a more traditional consistency at breakfast.
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Wowâvanilla in cranberry sauce, I would not have thought of that. But yeah, vanilla goes with fruit, doesnât it?
My cranberry thing for the holidays has become Cranberry Pie. A two-crust pie filled with with chopped cranberries, dried currants, chopped walnuts, orange juice and zest, sugar, butter, and a little flour to thicken it like any other fruit pie. Family and friends request it now.
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taking a break between stages of prep for tomorrow. my wife makes dressing with a 50-50 corn bread/dried baguette mixture. she cooks chopped scallions into the cornbread, crushes that up, adds a cup or two of fresh chopped parsley, then fries 2 pounds of bacon in pieces to crispiness to add to the dressing. she softens celery and white onions in butter, then uses commercially prepared chicken stock in which she simmers fresh sage to moisten the dressing. she also uses 3-4 eggs to bind it for baking. her primary seasonings are mccormick poultry seasoning, rubbed dalmatian sage, lawryâs season salt, and black pepper. she makes one portion of the dressing with chopped toasted pecans in an 8 x 8 dish because thatâs how i like it. iâve been prepping brussels sprouts, radishes, and lettuce, and iâve cut the kernels off of 24 ears of fresh sweet corn and bagged it for tomorrow.
our older son will be deep-frying the turkey in the morning. i;ll make a large green salad, steamed brussels sprouts, and fried corn. iâll also be responsible for prepping and cooking rhodes rolls, a really excellent frozen roll which undergoes extensive rising before cooking. my wife will cook the dressing, and make english style roast potatoes, a recipe she got from her mother who was born and reared in england where she lived until she was 30. for snacks for the guests while waiting for lunch, iâve made two kinds of chex mixâregular and ghost pepper, two kinds of marshmallowsâcherry and peppermint, as well as a selection of cheese on crackers-- triple creme brie, red leiscter, mature gouda, brillat-savarin, and a mature gruyere. weâre expecting 12 guests so it should be quite a feast.
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I love trying new combinations and I decided to try vanilla for this very reason. Definitely not the first spice that comes to mind when I think about berries and other tart fruits but I just had to try it. You donât need much, just enough to add some warmth and roundness to contrast the sharp, high notes of the cardamom.
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