Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year, not for the time off work or the drunken stumbling of friends and family although they do go hand in hand. The Christmas season would not be the same without it, Christmas to me is being with family, eating amazing homemade food and watching christmas movies. This year however was a little different, as I have been traveling abroad since September and Christmas was to be celebrated a new way in jolly old England with family that I haven’t spent a Christmas with since I was a pubescent teen. But new experiences make you stronger and I was excited to spend time with my moms family as I haven’t in years.
The festivities started off with my prepping of appetizers the day before. They consisted of a chicken liver pate with pear and apple coulis and baked brie stuffed with caramelized mushrooms and garlic wrapped in puff pastry. Two easy and delicious christmas starters that wowed and amazed the family. That night, it was off to my grammas, brothers, sons house so that would be my moms cousins for drinks and the time honored tradition of wii rock band, that was a new one for me. With chips and tiny sausages on sticks to tantalize the palate, lets just say there was not much eating going on, but the company was good and once the guitar came out and the singing commenced we were feeling no pain.
Walking home that night though proved to be a challenge and with snow laden streets ahead we wobbled home. Snow is another obstacle for jolly old England as they are not equipped for snow. England was in chaos but thats another story. Calling home though at 4 in the morning our time was a lot of drunken slurring and merry chaos in itself.
Christmas day started a bit late as it took a lot for me to gain my strength after little sleep and long night of hugging the porcelain. With bacon buddies for breakfast and lots of tea I began to feel myself and got prepared for the arrival of my aunt and cousins. They who showed up fashionably late at 2pm, hung to shite. Appetizers quickly followed and my grandmothers shrimp dip – that she says is a staple at family events -didn’t make the grade. Canned shrimp, ketchup, mayo, cream cheese, and hot sauce -not the best hangover cure to satisfy the aching bellies – was left to fend for itself.
Christmas dinner in England is pretty much the same as in Canada, but with a few minor differences. The Turkey was cooked ahead by my aunt. It was a boneless breast and was over cooked and dry. This for me was sad as I love this aspect and it isn’t christmas without it, but considering my grandmas oven is a tiny something out of the 1940s and adjustments had to be made. We usually serve a honey but the English love their crackling so we had a Roast pork with crispy crackling that was delicious. The potatoes were roasted, not mashed, they were par boiled, then roasted in lard and turned out to be crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside – the perfect roast potato! The english have this down to a science as the roast potato is pretty much the potato of choice. The vegetables on the other hand, were simple and easy broccoli, roast turnips and brussels sprouts. Not my favorite green veg, but a tradition in English christmas lunch.
The stuffing was done two ways. First, sage and onion out of a box which was good but when I offered to make a fresh batch was ignored due to quantity over quality. The second, was an apple and sausage which was homemade made by my gramma. It was good but the apple overpowered it and it tasted a little dry and tart with not much seasoning but it had great potential.
I’m beginning to learn that the English don’t mind the dry and blandness of their meals as they do cover everything with gravy or some sort of brown sauce, or in my cousins case, mayonnaise. The gravy was made by me so, it used the vegetable stocks, white wine, drippings from the meats, and roux slowly simmered and seasoned to perfection and without gravy browning. Gravy browning in my opinion should not exist. Any great gravy or jus should and can be colored by the length of cooking and type of protein you use. My aunt uses it religiously to give the proper color of a gravy by her definition, doesn’t matter if its a chicken or roast beef its all the same. An argument that have left us on different sides. Christmas pudding consisted of minced meat pies and a mixed fuit strudel that I made but unfortunately split and looked like the graboid at the end of the tremors movie at the bottom of the Nevada canon. had to through that reference in lol. But tasted delicious.
All and all the Christmas Experience was a great one in Jolly old England and I’m glad I got to catch up with the family I have here for a change, since it is hard to get all of us together at one time. I wouldn’t have changed it for anything Ciao for now.