Another Christmas dinner menu

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34026, 15 December 1975, Page 6

Another Christmas dinner menu

(By

CELIA TIMMS)

This is a traditional Christmas dinner with aj bird, a ham and plum pudding. I recommend a sparkling red wine to go with the main course and a port wine to sip with the mince pies, muscatels, ginger and nuts. All dishes will serve eight persons. MENU Consomme or whitebait cocktail Roast turkey or roast goose Sausagemeat stuffing Prune and apple stuffing Apricot stuffing Plum pudding Brandy Sauce Mince pies Muscatel Raisins Preserved ginger Almonds.

BEEF CONSOMME You will need:— 2 lb shin of beef (on bone) 1 lb beef meat (shin or stewing steak) 1 large onion 1 tin tomatoes 1 tablespoon salt 4 sticks celery with ! leaves bunch parsley (about a I cup unchopped) 4 carrots Small packet Dozen ■ green beans 2 quarts water Method: Place all in a large saucepan and simmer for about 3 hours. Strain and chill. Remove any fat. Reheat before serving, tasting for seasoning. Sherry can be added after removing from heat, to taste, or thin noodles or vermicelli, broken into small pieces can be added and cooked in the soup for 10-15 minutes before serving. WHITEBAIT COCKTAIL 2 glasses whitebait (tinned) J cup mayonnaise ' I cup tomato soup (undiluted) Curry powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Method: Cook the washed and drained whitebait in a very little milk seasoned lightly with salt and pepper and nutmeg, until whitened. Drain very thoroughly and chill. Blend salad dressing with soup and flavour to taste with remaining ingredients. Divide fish between cocktail glasses and pour over prepared sauce. Chill well before serving, garnished with a tiny parsley sprig or a slice of lemon on the rim of the glass. ROAST' TURKEY From the taste and texture point of view smaller turkeys, weighing about 101 b make better eating and a hen bird is said to have more delicate flesh than the cock. Remove neck close to body but leave the loose neck skin. Wash well inside with warm water to which a little bicarbonate of soda may be added. Dry with cloth and rub well inside with salt. Fill crop with prepared sausagemeat stuffing (see below) and the body cavity, loosely, with prune and apple stuffing (or another of your choice). Secure both ends with skewers. Bend wings behind back and, if necessary, tie the legs close to the body. Place, breast upwards, in a roasting pan and brush] breast, legs and wings with! melted butter or fat.

Sprinkle lightly with black pepper and envelop bird I completely in a double layer of foil, folding it so that the juices cannot escape but not too tightly. Put dish containing bird in oven pre-heated to 325. If it weighs under 141 b allow 25 minutes for each pound in weight, weighed after stuffing. Half an hour before the cooking time is completed, fold back the foil and covering to allow bird to brown. The breast can be covered with I fat bacon pieces or rashers \ before wrapping in foil. This I can counteract the natural 'dryness of turkey flesh. Boil the neck and giblets with a small carrot, onion, parsley, stick of celery with leaves and about 2-3 cups of water and seasoning of salt. When well-cooked, strain and i reserve the stock for making I brown gravy, using a little also for the stuffing. Sausagemeat stuffing You will need: 4 cups stale breadcrumbs (toasted bread is excellent) i teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons grated or finely chopped onion 3 tablespoons chopped parsley 6 tablespoons melted butter J teaspoon pepper or paprika 11b sausage meat 1 cup chopped celery. Method: Mix all ingredients thoroughly and moisten lightly with a little giblet stock. The stuffing should be crumbly when filled into the crop, or neck of the bird. Prune, apple stuffing 3oz boiled rice 4 apples, peeled, cored and coarsely grated About 18 prunes (soaked, cooked, stoned and halved) The raw liver of the bird Stick of celery, chopped finely Grated rind of half a lemon Salt, pepper and mace Chopped parsley 2ozs butter, melted 1 egg. Method: Combine all the ingredients, adding the beaten egg last of all, and fill the body cavity of the bird loosely. If possible, stuff the bird at least 12 hours before cooking to enable the flavours to permeate the flesh. ROAST GOOSE A goose is an extravagant bird for the housewife as nearly two-thirds of its bulk is bone. However, an 8-101 b goose should provide Christmas dinner for 8 with perhaps a little left over for eating cold. Season inside of bird with salt and after filling with the prepared apricot stuffing, prick all over with a large needle and rub with salt. Lay bird, breast upwards, on a grid shelf of the oven, preheated to 450 deg. Place a baking dish containing a piece of orange peel, or a cut clove of garlic on the shelf immediately below to catch the fat.’ After about 10-15 minutes, when the fat has started to run, lower heat to 400, and 15 minutes later lower it to 325. Baste every 20 minutes and allow’ 20-25 minutes a lb cooking time. When half done, sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper and about J teaspoon ground ginger. Apricot stuffing You will need: Jib dried apricots 4oz fresh breadcrumbs (day old) 4 small sticks celery 1 apple | green pepper 2 eggs 3oz butter Salt and pepper Method: Soak apricots overnight, chop and combine with the finely chopped celery, apple and green

pepper. Add breadcrumbs, beaten eggs, melted butter and seasonings. Stuff goose and seal cavity with skewer. It is preferable to stuff the bird at least 12 hours before cooking. NO-EGG PLUM PUDDING You will need:— 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (day old) 1 cup flour J cup brown sugar 1 cup each raisins, sultanas and currants. 2 tablespoons each chopped mixed peel, butter and treacle i teaspoon each nutmeg and mixed spice. 1 teaspoon each: Bicarb, soda, Grated lemon rind, White wine Vinegar. 1 cup milk Pinch of salt 1 small grated carrot. Method: Sift dry ingredients, except the soda, and rub in butter, add lemon rind, breadcrumbs and fruit. Warm the trade, add milk and mix these into dry ingredients. Dissolve soda in vinegar, add together with finely grated carrot. Blend thoroughly. Put into well greased basin, with circle of greased paper in base. Cover with more greased paper and steam for 4 hours. Brandy sauce You will need:— 1 cup sugar 2 teaspoon cornflour 1 dessertspoon butter j cup brandy 1| cups boiling water. Method: Put sugar in pan over low heat and stir continually until a light brown colour. Add boiling water, replace over low heat, stirring until dissolved. Thicken with cornflour mixed with a little cold water. Stir until thickened and clear. Add

brandy, then the butter, a little at a time. Serve hot with the plum pudding. FRUIT MINCEMEAT This mincemeat is ready for use in less than 14 days. This is a very old recipe of Mrs Beeton’s which was first published in 1861 and I repeat the form in which it then appeared. You will need: 3 large lemons 3 large apples lib stoned raisins 11b currants lib suet 21b moist sugar loz sliced candled citron loz sliced candied, orange peel and the same quantity of lemon peel T 3oz mixed peel should fill the bill. 1 teacup brandy 2 tablespoons orange marmalade Method: Grate the rinds of the lemons, squeeze out the juice, strain it, and boil the remainder of the lemons until tender enough to pulp or chop finely. Add to this pulp the apples, which should be baked, and their skins and cores removed. Put in remaining ingredients one by one, and, as they are added, mix everything very thoroughly together. Put the mincemeat into a stone jar (glass jar should do) with a closely-fitting lid and in less than a fortnight it will be ready for use. Use to fill either one large shortcrust based tart or individual small covered pies. BOILED HAM

Soak the ham in cold water overnight. Put into pan

deep enough to completely cover with water. Bring slowly to boiling point but never let the water do more than simmer. If it boils the flesh will be hardened. Skin as necessary during cooking. Allow 25 minutes a pound cooking time, from the time when it starts to simmer. To test if cooked, pierce with skewer. When cool enough to handle remove skin, which should pull off easily when loosened at one corner with a sharp knife. If it is to be eaten cold, it should be returned to the cooking liquor where it should remain until quite cold when it can be “flossied up” with the pineapple and honey crust. This can also be done if it is to be ; served hot — providing you have plenty of time. Honey, pineapple crusting You will need:— 3 cups fresh breadcrumbs ' 14 cups drained crushed pineapple 1 cup clear honey | teaspoon powdered cloves. Method: Cover fat of ham completely with the breadcrumbs which have been moistened with a little of the reserved pineapple juice. Add cloves and honey to drained pineapple and heat until the honey is liquid. Pour over top of breadcrumbs, plaqe ham in a baking dish in a pre-heated oven (325). Baste frequently until a rich brown crust and glaze is obtained. After removal from oven and before the glaze is fully set, the surface can be studded in a pattern with whole cloves and a diamond pattern made over the surface with the back of a knife.

ADVANCE PREPARATIONS Consomme made ready for pre-heating, or cocktail prepared. Whitebait cooked and sauce prepared and both stored separately in refrigerator.

Garnish prepared. Turkey or goose stuffed ready to put in oven.

Ham cooked — if served cold.

Plum pudding made and left in basin (To heat, steam for 2 hours.) Brandy sauce made to be reheated in top of double saucepan or in basin standing in boiling water in saucepan.

Mince pie or pies ready to be warmed just before serving. (To warm place in paper bag in oven.) Dessert arranged in dishes ready for placing ,pn table.