I was rather pleased with Christmas dinner, especially with the pheasant, which were easily the best cooked that I have had this year. They do, of course, roast beautifully in the classic English way, but getting it right is so difficult, and all too often teh result is dry and dull. I stuffed these with prunes and almonds, garlic and spices (lots of cloves) enriched with butter to avoid dryness, and cooked them slowly in an earthenware pot, and am still pleased with the result - especially my mother, who is generally vegetarian, wanting more. The birds were moist and flavousome, and the jus needed no enhancement. Sprouts and red cabbage with apple, of course. Lady Balfour potatoes roast well, and organic parsnips with butter and honey ate well. I stand astonished too at my own moderation - Christmas and the solstice are about excess, but my wife and mother do not relish it on the plate or in courses, and I managed tnot to overload a groaning board.
Having discovered late in time that bubble and squeak is de rigeur on Boxing Day I am congratulating myself of having judged the quantities sufficiently well to have its ingredients now to hand.
Should I look up to the heavens like an angel? It is a long way from Arcadia.
Having discovered late in time that bubble and squeak is de rigeur on Boxing Day I am congratulating myself of having judged the quantities sufficiently well to have its ingredients now to hand.
Should I look up to the heavens like an angel? It is a long way from Arcadia.
Lady Balfour? I don't know those. Maris piper were ok as chips, but alas both fish and chips, while nice, were not as nice as ones I have I had in the past. Cue the Proust quotation, I think!
ReplyDeleteThey are very good potatoes, named after the Lady Balfour who was a foundress of the soil association, and available in Sainsbury's organic range. They roast and mash very well indeed. Fish & chips sound like a professional; dish to me, and bring back many memories indeed, of Sabbath walks on winter afternoons in Bromley, then Hastings, and fish and chips for tea. More grown up recollections too of superb fish & chips at Rock a' Nore.
ReplyDeleteBut you of course are at least quasi-professional at cooking, and so will attempt things that the rest cannot aspire too.