Christmas eve - What are you cooking today?

Sagz_2

You lot all make me feel really lazy!

I am officially working - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

squirrelchops

Only OH and I so little to do. I have however made some cranberry sauce and am going to prep the veg in a bit as although I dont mind cooking I can't be doing with the prep tomorrow!

I have also looked up and written down what temps everything needs to be, how long the beef should take etc etc just to have it all in one place and easy to refer to!!

Whistling_Gypsy

Ragz - never tried this so can't vouch for it....but a friend of mine told me years ago that you can microwave a whole swede for about 25 mins to save all that peeling/chopping. She never tried it either!!

Did mine this morning and used my trusty hand-blender, lots of butter and ground white pepper....tis taunting me from the fridge!!!

I am envious of your ricer tho....Santa might bring me one in the sales!!!

(PS - I thought poppyglos meant to soak the swede in clothes washing up liquid for a sec there...doh!!)

Moniker

poppy-glos wrote: »

clothes washing liquid or powder with some water in and soak it, i can't remember if it's the bio or non-bio one to use, i use non-bio when i do it as thats what i have... any scientists on today who can advise which is best. used to soak the oven shelves in it 20 years ago when it was my weekly job to clean the residential home i worked in's kitchen.. came up a dream with no work.

I always clean my oven with biological washing powder. I take all the removable bits out and soak in a deep sink (or the bath if all else fails!) Have the water as hot as you can get it (I add a boiling kettle or two) and use about half- one whole pack of powder. Leave to soak as long as possible- the enzymes in the bio powder eat away the burned on fat - and then rinse and rub clean. Works every time - but better if you don't leave it a year between treatments (hangs head in shame!)

Have cooked pasta with tomato and mushroom sauce for lunch today as it is a no meat day for us. Will be having some toast and a dippy egg this evening. Tomorrow there's just five of us so I have a turkey crown to do. I made mince pies and short bread earlier in the week and don't want too much left over as we are going to be away for the rest of the holiday. This is the first time in 26 years we haven't had 'children' here on Christmas Eve and it feels very odd. I have had to decorate the tree myself!

Have a good one everyone.

Moniker

Whistling_Gypsy

Oh - meant to say take the swede out of the fridge for a couple of hours first - a bit easier to peel/chop. Mine was bought a couple of weeks ago and has been in the veg rack.....a teeny bit wrinkly but I think that definately helped with the peeling!!

ragz_2

Just finished glazing the ham. Tasted a bit and it really tastes of Cola. sounds stupid but I wasn't expecting it to (can't stand the stuff). I'm hoping that's only the edge pieces that taste like that and the middle will still be ok. Hmmm. Oh well, my own silly fault for not having a trial go I suppose but only decided to do it a few days ago. Well, you live and learn.

Gonna call my Mum and see how she's getting on with the red cabbage. I'm a cheeky cow, she made it last year but this year I gave her a specific recipe to follow, only cos I was going to do it myself as it looks yummy then decided to delegate but everyone thinks it's really rude of me!

thriftlady_2

Merry Christmas everyone:rudolf:,

Christmas Eve is my busiest cooking day although I have done a lot of prep over the last few days.

So far I have

made lots of Delia's quick flaky pastry for use in mince pies and sausage rolls

made several batches of mince pies

made several batches of florentines

made meringues as an alternative pud for tomorrow

made the Christmas pud -weeks ago

ditto Christmas cake -I don't ice it

made Christmas muffins (glace cherries, nuts, mixed peel, chocolate and orange zest)

made sticky gingerbread

Today I have

rendered the packet of goose fat that came with my goose which we collected yesterday

made stock from the giblets which I will turn into gravy soon

made two kinds of stuffings -apple and prune and sage and onion

made 3 dozen sausage rolls (pastry made earlier and frozen). We eat these for lunch on Christmas Eve and for tea tomorrow onwards.

wrapped 2 lbs chipolatas in bacon to be roasted with the potatoes tomorrow

Still to do

Finish my quince syllabub (Elizabeth David's recipe with quince vodka in place of brandy) This is for pudding today but leftovers will be eaten with the Xmas pud. How could I not combine my two favourite words in the English language?

Cook ham in cider- was going to do it in coke but was unable to bring myself to buy coke lol! Coke is manufactured but cider happens;) Will eat it with baked spuds and red cabbage coleslaw- I made a massive bowl of this yesterday.

Prep carrots, parsnips and spuds

Make gravy

OH is asleep on the sofa -don't know what he's been doing to tire himself out :rolleyes:

Triker

ragz wrote: »

Just remembered about the swede mash! I HATE peeling/chopping swede so definitely doing that one today - anyone got any tips? They are just so big and tough it takes me about an hour to cube one up (knew I should have bought it preprepped, but that stuff always tastes yukky!). I have my new best friend (potato ricer) to mash it up this year though!

Also, I have a pan that OH burned his chili on to the other day - I have tried everything, stardrops, cola,nothing is shifting the thick black yuck! Any ideas?

Have you tried washing powder and water, bring to the boil on the stove and hopefully that should lift the burnt on stuff.x

Whistling_Gypsy

OH has just arrived home with 4.3K of ham. Smoked and on the bone. He tends to panic at the work raffle....

I have barely any room in the freezer, and already have a cooked a beef joint and have a pork joint for the weekend. (He knew all this....) I have frozen the now sliced beef cos its in smaller packages so have squeezed it in the freezer. Will cook the pork now, for tomorrow and maybe do the gammon on Sunday (use by date of 28/12). Hopefully will have eaten some things out of the freezer by them and will be able to freeze it cooked and sliced. Have already found some apple sauce and red cabbage I forgot I made :-)

My first thought was cooking it in coke but Thriftlady's post above has made me think cider would be better now for exactly the reasons she gives (thanks Thrifty!) So will send OH to the corner shop and hope they have some decent cider....

Be careful what you wish for.... ;-)

Genuisscuffy

OMG you are all so organised - I'm at work until 5pm then its chicken burgers tonight!! tomorrow we are having rib of beef and other son sausages!! (we dont like turkey!!) - Rib of beef is slightly different to cook than topside/silverside which are great in a slow cooker. But rib is best cooked on the day
1. Sear the beef in a frying pan or oven pan over direct heat until slightly coloured on all sides
2. Cook in oven 1 1/2- 2 hours on low-med heat depending on how you like it.
The difference is that there is a bit of fat running through the rib which makes all the difference to taste - it is definately the best flavour i think!!