Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

As many of us are probably heading over the river and through the woods this weekend, let me be the first to wish everyone a happy holiday! May you enjoy yourselves with your family and loved ones. Cherish the moment, and when you get back, let me know what you all had for dinner.

Peace.

Merry Christmas To You!

Greetings Jafo,

May your Christmas be filled with all the love, warmth, and joy this hoilday season brings! And here's hoping that 2008 will find you and yours prosperous, happy, and healthy!

Happy Holidyas, Cathy

P.S. Went out and bought all the great "Munchies" for entertaining and snacking last night, can't wait just today & tomorrow then off for 5 wonderful days!!! CHEERS

Yeah, I am off to the grocery store in the next hour or so to get the xmas ham, and the rest of xmas eve dinner..

The last few xmas eve dinners were rather extravagant, this year I want it to be a bit more rustic. I think I will go with the traditional glazed fresh ham, whole roasted green beans, PLAIN OLD baked potatoes, and maybe another vegetable side.

The reason I capped the potatoes is, every year we seem to try to make some crazy mashed concoction, or twice stuffed, or roasted with this or that. I think for once, I am just going to make plain old baked potatoes, with butter, sour cream, and chives.

Maybe it is just me, but this year I just want a traditional xmas dinner without all the frills of the latest recipes. I mean, if you have been watching the Food Network this week, it is amazing what these chefs are putting out for the holiday programs. I cannot imagine throwing a turduckin on the table, much less stuffed squid, or oysters for xmas eve dinner.

Well, if you want to be really and truly technical, a traditional Christmas dinner would include a roast goose. And certain specified sides.

But who really cares? Plain or simple, it's the idea that matters: dinner with the family to celebrate the season of peace and joy.

And, to quote that widely acclaimed reconteur, Tiny Tim.....

God bless us, everyone!

Yeah, Christmas goose to me is more of an English tradition. I saw a lot of it for sale today in the supermarket.

I ended up getting a hickory smoked roast with the bone in (leg), and plan on using a home made glaze:

• 1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup pineapple juice
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 large orange, juiced and zested
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Boil & reduce for about 10 minutes and glaze during the last 45 minutes.

I decided on roasted green beans with garlic and red onion for one side, and a grilled ratatouille side. Basically just onion, summer squash, some bell (red, yellow, green) peppers, cherry tomatoes, and some baby bellas in it too.

Baked potatoes as I said before, and I will probably make up some sort of gravy from the drippings, and left over glaze..

Haven't even thought about desert yet, I figured we will just pick something up that day from the bakery.

Hi Jafo & KYH,

Lots of good eats this time of the year it seems! But with all of us loving to cook it's pretty much all year long!!! Just alot more special 'cause of all the holiday excitement that abounds!!!

Do either of you read? I like to read a good book on my days off for Xmas.
A book I would like to re-read this year is a charming story by Fannie Flagg titled "A Redbird Christmas". It is a heartwarming tale and there are even some recipes for dishes mentioned in the story found in the back of the book. (Which I think is a neat idea!) She even authored a cookbook with recipes from her book "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe".

Now for my question........Jafo what in the world is turduckin? Does not sound too appetizing I can just picture my Mom announcing to us kids "Here's your Christmas Turduckin" and we 5 kids would be laughing our heads off! It's like an English dish called "spotted dick", we kids always got a big kick out of that one But then when you got all 5 of us brats together we were just terrible; but only when Dad wasn't around.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone here a very warm holiday season, filled with peace and love. May 2008 be a prosperous year for all!

Mama

The Story of Turducken

Cathy, I'm surprised you haven't heard of this before. It's all the rage, right now.

Basically, turducken is a way for a chef to show off his/her carving and prepping skills. It consists of a boned chicken, inside a boned duck, inside a boned turkey. Each bird is separated by a layer dressing (stuffing), and the whole thing is then trussed and roasted.

Paul Prodhumme is credited with introducing it at one of his restaurants. Since then it's become a rather in thing, and there are several commercial sources for them around the country.

To me it seems an unnecessary show of opulance, reminding me much of the glory days of ancient Rome.

Thanks for the educational update KYH!

Wow I was envisioning "something" but never that. But after reading your explanation I get the name now...duh...turducken...turkey/duck/chicken shortened down to that name! How clever; but I must agree with you on the opulanceness of it! I can't even begin to imagine all the work involved. That Chef Paul Prudhome is a great chef though! And I'll bet it tastes neat! You know here I am 51 yrs old and never have tasted goose, it's been forever since I had duck (kinda greasy for my likes). Guess one of these years I'll get around to cooking and eating a goose, my English relatives would probably roll over in their graves!

Cheers, CCCathy

Paula Deen makes it on one of her Christmas shows. Honestly, it looks good, but I agree with Ky that it is a bit over the top. I mean, it is like wrapping butter with bacon, and frying it in lard.. (how much you wanna bet that is in the next Paula Deen show )

Hmmmmmmmm? Bacon-wrapped butter deep fried in lard. Sounds like a plan!

Cathy: Domestic duck and goose are both rather on the fatty side, and you have to really work at it to get all the grease to render out. Wild birds, on the other hand, are almost totally lacking in fat, and have a much better taste, IMO. Wild ducks (this varies by species, of course) have a sort of nutty underflavor. Wood ducks, in particular, have that nutty taste.

Fish-eating waterfowl, and sea ducks, on the other hand, have a strong, liverish flavor that most people don't care for.

Wild goose can be cooked more like roast beef than poultry. With Canada geese (note that one of them is a Canada goose, not a Canadian), for instance, I grill or broil the breasts to the rare stage, slice thinly, and seve with an appropriate sauce.

Swans are even more beef-like than geese.

Thank you KYH for clarifying the differences for me, I am not at all knowledgeable on fowl. But sounds like I would much prefer wild over farm raised duck or goose. But the thing that happens to me is I love ducks and geese in the wild so much that I am afraid I could not bear to eat them, and yet I will eat Venison...go figure! But if I ever get the inclination I will find a way to acquire wild fowl!
Once Again Thank you, Cathy

Duck is probably my favorite fowl. Raspberry duck is one of my specialties.

A very long time ago, I prepared a Christmas duck recipe in the microwave, no less!!!! It had a glaze of some kind with soy sauce and plum jam (or jelly, can't remember which). And it turned out amazingly good. Of course, I've long lost the recipe. But now, I pretty much just go with traditional fare.