To Yorkshire pudding or not to Yorkshire Pudding? Does bread sauce go with a Christmas meal? I'm musing over this and other festive food difficulties I've debated on social media.
Turkey
I'm not a fan of this bird really. I think if it was that great, why don't we eat roast turkeys all year round? I think it's a bit of a meh bird really. I prefer a duck, or a decent sized chicken.
Bread sauce
Traditionally, in the UK we serve this with chicken and turkey mainly. Apparently it comes from the Tudor times, when they ate bread with pretty much everything, including, so Himself tells me, bread plates. Home made bread sauce is a doddle, milk infused with an onion stuffed with cloves, then you stir in chunks of stale (or not stale) bread. You can also add some horseradish to give it a bit of a kick. And apparently, it can be eaten with all meats, and not only chicken and turkey.
Yorkshire puddings
Talking of things that can be eaten with all meats...Strictly speaking, this is for a beef roast only. For those who don't know what this is, it's a batter mix, just like you'd make for a pancake – flour, milk, egg – and you get fat in a dish really hot – so it spits when you put a bit of batter in, then pour the batter into the fat and bake it. It raises like a cake. Don't worry about sparkling water, or putting the batter in the fridge, that's all bollocks really. All you need is the batter and some very hot animal fat – it has a higher smoking point than vegetable oils, I use dripping. I use Clarissa Dickson Wright's Yorkshire recipe – 110g plain flour, 2 eggs, 300ml milk, or multiples thereof. So, bringing myself back to the question, to have or not to have at a Christmas dinner? I got into a bit of a heated debate on Twitter about this. Me, I think it's a roast dinner, therefore it has Yorkshire pudding. In fact, I once brought my own 'make it yourself' kit to a family friend's Christmas dinner. I arrived with the dish, some dripping and pre-mixed batter. They all scoffed at it, but everyone helped themselves when it came out of the oven, despite me only making enough for me and Himself. I let them tuck in as I saw it as a victory to my own logic.
Pigs in blankets
Cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon. Delicious. Have you tried dates or prunes wrapped in streaky bacon – devils on horseback, or angels on horseback they're called. The sweetness of the dates and prunes goes so well with the saltiness of the bacon. Try it if you haven't so far.
What do you think about including these with a Christmas meal? Have I gone too far with bringing my own Yorkshire pudding as a guest for a Christmas meal?
If that's got you in the mood for Christmas why don't you curl up with a couple of festive stories?
Christmas Serendipity
It's available from Amazon.com To buy from Amazon.co.uk
The Next Christmas (the sequel)
It's available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
Happy holidays! Liam Livings xx
Turkey
I'm not a fan of this bird really. I think if it was that great, why don't we eat roast turkeys all year round? I think it's a bit of a meh bird really. I prefer a duck, or a decent sized chicken.
Bread sauce
Traditionally, in the UK we serve this with chicken and turkey mainly. Apparently it comes from the Tudor times, when they ate bread with pretty much everything, including, so Himself tells me, bread plates. Home made bread sauce is a doddle, milk infused with an onion stuffed with cloves, then you stir in chunks of stale (or not stale) bread. You can also add some horseradish to give it a bit of a kick. And apparently, it can be eaten with all meats, and not only chicken and turkey.
Yorkshire puddings
Talking of things that can be eaten with all meats...Strictly speaking, this is for a beef roast only. For those who don't know what this is, it's a batter mix, just like you'd make for a pancake – flour, milk, egg – and you get fat in a dish really hot – so it spits when you put a bit of batter in, then pour the batter into the fat and bake it. It raises like a cake. Don't worry about sparkling water, or putting the batter in the fridge, that's all bollocks really. All you need is the batter and some very hot animal fat – it has a higher smoking point than vegetable oils, I use dripping. I use Clarissa Dickson Wright's Yorkshire recipe – 110g plain flour, 2 eggs, 300ml milk, or multiples thereof. So, bringing myself back to the question, to have or not to have at a Christmas dinner? I got into a bit of a heated debate on Twitter about this. Me, I think it's a roast dinner, therefore it has Yorkshire pudding. In fact, I once brought my own 'make it yourself' kit to a family friend's Christmas dinner. I arrived with the dish, some dripping and pre-mixed batter. They all scoffed at it, but everyone helped themselves when it came out of the oven, despite me only making enough for me and Himself. I let them tuck in as I saw it as a victory to my own logic.
Pigs in blankets
Cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon. Delicious. Have you tried dates or prunes wrapped in streaky bacon – devils on horseback, or angels on horseback they're called. The sweetness of the dates and prunes goes so well with the saltiness of the bacon. Try it if you haven't so far.
What do you think about including these with a Christmas meal? Have I gone too far with bringing my own Yorkshire pudding as a guest for a Christmas meal?
If that's got you in the mood for Christmas why don't you curl up with a couple of festive stories?
Christmas Serendipity
It's available from Amazon.com To buy from Amazon.co.uk
The Next Christmas (the sequel)
It's available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
Happy holidays! Liam Livings xx
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