Cooking up a storm
THROUGHOUT the year it seems there are always an inordinate amount of foodie futurists, game ball for a shot at the latest trend, no matter how outrageous or outrĂ© - from breast milk ice cream to body sushi, from garlic lollipops to edible dirt. (And, no, I didnât make those up.)
But come Christmas, with the passing of each shorter, darker, colder day, that dormant craving for familiar old comfort blankets stirs within - old traditions are wheeled out and buffed up anew, none more so than the roast turkey.
Too often the Christmas Day turkey disappoints. Renowned American food writer Mark Bittman wrote recently in the New York Times that other than in the hands of the most âexperienced, careful or lucky cooksâ, turkey is âabout the worst meat you can roastâ.
âExperienceâ is bound to be in short supply, turkey so rarely featuring on the Irish dinner table other than Christmas Day and trusting âluckâ will see you successfully roasting the monstrous gobbler is just plain foolhardy. But most of us could do âcarefulâ, providing we take it handy with the champers and sherry on Christmas morning. But âcarefulâ to do what exactly?
Well, if anyoneâs going to show me how to get the best out of the traditional Christmas turkey, itâs got to be Darina Allen. Sheâs no culinary conservative, with her voracious taste for global epicurean experiences, but equally she would be most peopleâs first choice as national conservator of all that is best about Irish traditional cooking. And with her Ballymaloe Cookery School just crowned Best Cookery School in Ireland at the Good Food Ireland Awards, itâs a perfect time to hightail it off to a wintery East Cork for a Christmas cooking lesson at the hands of the First Lady of Irish Food. First principle for Darina is to always begin with the best quality ingredients available. The turkey is no different. âNo matter how good a cook, no matter how good the recipe,â says Darina, âif you have a poor-quality turkey, the best you can hope for is an average dinner.â Once, the only turkey eaten at Christmas in Ireland was the âBronzeâ but many of the large scale producers began to produce the inferior âWhiteâ turkey due to itâs ability to put on more weight in less time â in other words, economics trumping quality. A number of years ago, I discovered Tom Clancyâs Ballycotton Free Range Poultry bronze turkeys and Christmas dinner round our way was permanently elevated to a higher plane. âLook for an Irish bird,â says Darina, ânot an imported one and preferably, fresh not frozen and, yes, a bronze will always be tastier than a white but if you canât get one, you can still have a lovely roast turkey dinner.â
Trick number one, according to Darina, is brining, where the bird is soaked in a brine mixture of salt and water, chilling overnight. The electrically charged ions of the salt plump up the muscle fibre, allowing them to absorb water, altering the structure of the proteins, preventing moisture from escaping during cooking. The salt also intensifies the flavour. âItâs a great way to improve an average or below-par bird,â she says. These days, the food safety mob would prefer you didnât stuff your turkey at all. Not so Darina.
âThe problems began to arise with frozen turkeys,â she explains, âA big turkey is like an iceberg, it can take up to two days to defrost from frozen. An awful lot of poultry can have salmonella or campylobacter or both but thatâs okay if the bird is cooked properly right through to the centre. But youâd have people stuffing a still half-frozen bird with warm stuffing the night before to save time. The bacteria would multiply on the warm stuffing and the turkey, not properly defrosted, would never cook right through to the centre. The trick is to put cold stuffing into a fully defrosted bird at the last minute, just before going into the oven and leave some space in there to allow heat to circulate inside, donât pack it completely.â
The turkey is a relatively lean creature. Fine if itâs part of a weight-loss diet, but itâs lacking in those precious melting fats, so essential for flavour. There are all manner of techniques out there to rectify this deficiency, none of them perfect but the solution Darina offers is exquisitely simple, and the end result is simply exquisite â a muslin cloth soaked in melted butter and draped around the trussed and stuffed bird. It may look a little disconcerting, rather like something Lady Gaga might sport on her wedding day but thatâs all you need to do. âPut it into the oven and forget about it,â says Darina, âno need to baste, not once and youâll have the crispiest skin ever but youâll still have all the flavour.â I pride myself on landing a pretty fair bird onto the table each Christmas but I fancy this year may well see my finest effort to date, Iâm hoping compliments will include a âSimply Delicious!â
(4.5-5.4kg) 1 x 10-12lb, free-range and organic, turkey with neck and giblets
170g (6ozs) butter
350g (12oz) chopped onions
400-500g (14-16ozs) approx. soft breadcrumbs (check that the bread is non-GM)
(or approximately 1lb 4ozs of gluten-free breadcrumbs)
50g (2oz) freshly chopped herbs eg. parsley, thyme, chives, marjoram, savoury, lemon balm
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Neck, gizzard, heart, wishbone and wingtips of turkey
2 sliced carrots
2 sliced onions
1 stick celery
Bouquet garni
3 or 4 peppercorns
225g (8ozs) butter
Large square of muslin (optional) Cranberry sauce Bread sauce Garnish
Large sprigs of fresh parsley or watercress
Remove the wishbone from the neck end of the turkey, for ease of carving later. Make a turkey stock by covering with cold water the neck, gizzard, heart, wishbone, wingtips, vegetables and bouquet garni. (Keep the liver for smooth turkey liver paté.) Bring to the boil and simmer while the turkey is being prepared and cooked, 3 hours approx.
To make the fresh herb stuffing: Sweat the onions gently in the butter until soft, for 10 minutes approx, then stir in the crumbs, herbs and a little salt and pepper to taste. Allow it to get quite cold. If necessary, wash and dry the cavity of the bird, then season and half-fill with cold stuffing. Put the remainder of the stuffing into the crop at the neck end.
Weigh the turkey and calculate the cooking time. Allow 15 minutes per lb and 15 minutes over. Melt the butter and soak a large piece of good quality muslin in the melted butter; cover the turkey completely with the muslin and roast in a preheated moderate oven, 180C/350F/regulo 4, for 2Ÿ-3Œ hours. There is no need to baste it because of the butter-soaked muslin. The turkey browns beauti-fully, but if you like it even browner, remove the muslin 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Alternatively, smear the breast, legs and crop well with soft butter, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. If the turkey is not covered with butter-soaked muslin then it is a good idea to cover the whole dish with tin foil. However, your turkey will then be semi-steamed, not roasted in the traditional sense of the word. The turkey is done when the juices run clear. To test, prick the thickest part at the base of the thigh and examine the juices, they should be clear. Remove the turkey to a carving dish, keep it warm and allow it to rest while you make the gravy.
To make the gravy: Spoon off the surplus fat from the roasting pan. De glaze the pan juices with fat-free stock from the giblets and bones. Using a whisk, stir and scrape well to dissolve the caramelised meat juices from the roasting pan. Boil it up well, season and thicken with a little roux if you like. Taste and correct the seasoning. Serve in a hot gravy boat.
If possible, present the turkey on your largest serving dish, surrounded by crispy roast potatoes, and garnished with large sprigs of parsley or watercress and maybe a sprig of holly. Make sure no one eats the berries.
Not surprisingly many people hate Brussels sprouts because invariably they are overcooked. The traditional way to cook sprouts was to cut a cross in the stalk so that they would, hopefully, cook more evenly. Fortunately, I discovered quite by accident when I was in a mad rush one day, that if you cut the sprouts in half lengthways they cook much faster and taste infinitely more delicious, so with this recipe Iâve managed to convert many ardent Brussels sprout haters!
1 lb (450g) Brussels sprouts, (cut lengthways top to bottom)
1 pint (600ml) water
1œ teasp. salt
1-2 ozs (30-55g) butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 packet of peeled cooked chestnuts
2-4ozs (55-110g) crispy bacon lardoons
Choose even medium-sized sprouts. Trim the outer leaves if necessary and cut them in half lengthways. Salt the water and bring to a fast rolling boil. Toss in the sprouts, cover the saucepan just for a minute until the water returns to the boil, then uncover and cook for 5 or 6 minutes, or until the sprouts are cooked through but still have a slight bite. Pour off the water.* Add the chestnuts for one minute before the end of cooking to heat through. Melt a little butter in a saucepan, roll the sprouts gently in the butter, season with lots of freshly ground pepper and salt. Taste and serve immediately in a hot serving dish scattered with hot crispy bacon.
Note * If the sprouts are not to be served immediately, refresh them under cold water just as soon as they are cooked. Just before serving, drop them into boiling salted water for a few seconds to heat through. Drain and toss in the butter, season and serve. This way they will taste almost as good as if they were freshly cooked.
In season: winter (check pheasant season with your local gun club). A roast pheasant makes the perfect Christmas dinner for two and youâll probably have a little left over which may be eaten cold for supper. This slightly unorthodox way of cooking the pheasant produces a moist, juicy bird. Guinea fowl is also wonderful cooked and served in this way.
1 young, plump pheasant
45g (1 1/2oz) butter
75g (3oz) chopped onions
65g (2 1/2oz) breadcrumbs
1 tbsp freshly-chopped herbs, eg. parsley, thyme, chives, marjoram
Salt and freshly ground pepper
300ml (1/2 pint) game or chicken stock
1 x âJâ cloth (donât use a pink one or the dye will run and you will have an extraordinary looking bird!) or alternatively use a square of muslin
50g (2oz) butter
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5 Gut the pheasant if necessary and remove the âcropâ, which is at the neck end; wash and dry well.
Melt the butter and sweat the onions until soft but not coloured, then remove from the heat. Stir in the soft white breadcrumbs and herbs, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and taste. Unless you are about to cook the bird right away, allow the stuffing to get quite cold before putting it into the bird.
Season the cavity with salt and freshly ground pepper and stuff the pheasant loosely. Sprinkle the breast also with salt and freshly ground pepper. Melt the butter and soak the âJâ cloth in it. Wrap the pheasant completely in the âJâ cloth (fear not, the âJâ cloth will not melt: you can even wash it out and use it later!) Roast in a preheated oven for 1ÂŒ hours approx. Test by pricking the leg at the highest point, the juices should just run clear. Remove the âJâ cloth from the pheasant and keep warm on a serving dish while you make the gravy.
Spoon off any surplus fat from the roasting pan (keep it for roasting or sautéing potatoes). De-glaze the pan with game or chicken stock. Bring it to the boil, and use a whisk to dislodge the crusty caramelised juices so they can dissolve into the gravy. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, taste and boil until you are happy with the flavour. Pour into a hot gravy boat. Carve the pheasant and serve with stuffing and gravy.
A big roasting tin of crusty roast potatoes always invokes a positive response. So here are my top tips:
â Grow or seek out good quality dry, floury potatoes such as Golden Wonders or Kerrâs Pink. New potatoes do not produce good roast potatoes.
â Peel just before roasting. Resist the temptation to soak them in water.
â Dry the potatoes meticulously. Otherwise, even when tossed in fat or oil, they will stick to the roasting tin.
â If you wish to prepare potatoes ahead, there are two options. Peel and dry, toss in extra virgin olive oil or fat of your choice, put into a bowl, cover and refrigerate. Alternatively, put into a plastic bag, twist the end, and refrigerate. They will keep overnight without discolouring. Roast potatoes may be cooked in extra virgin olive oil, top-quality sunflower oil, duck fat, goose fat, pork fat (lard) or beef dripping. Each gives a delicious but different flavour.
1 Toss potatoes in chosen fat and cook.
2 If you prefer a crunchier crust, put them into a deep saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil, simmer for 2â4 minutes, drain. Dry each blanched potato and score the surface with a fork.
Toss in the chosen oil or fat, season with salt and cook in a heavy roasting pan, preheated oven 230ÂșC/450ÂșF/gas mark 8.
3 Drain the blanched potatoes, then put the saucepan with the potatoes inside over a medium heat, shake pot to dry potatoes and fluff the blanched surface. Toss in your chosen oil or fat, season with salt and roast as above.
Some like to toss potatoes in a little flour, seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper, pinch of cayenne pepper or smoked paprika.
I know this sounds a bit old hat, but of all of the glazes that I do, this is the one that I keep coming back to. Or you could just use marmalade. Youâll know when the ham is cooked when the rind comes off the fat easily.
1 x 4.5kg (10lb) fresh or lightly smoked ham (ensure it has a nice layer of fat)
30 or more whole cloves, depending on the size of the diamonds
350g (12oz/1 1/2 cups) brown Demerara sugar
A couple of tablespoons of pineapple juice from a small tin of pineapple
If the ham is salty, soak it in cold water overnight and discard the water the next day. Cover the ham with fresh, cold water and bring it slowly to the boil. If the meat is still salty, there will be a white froth on top of the water. In this case it is preferable to discard this water, cover the ham with fresh cold water again and repeat the process.
Finally, cover the ham with hot water, put the lid on the saucepan and simmer until it is almost cooked. Allow 20 minutes of cooking time for every 450g (1lb) of ham (usually about four hours, but depends on the size of the ham). When the ham is fully cooked the rind will peel off easily and the small bone at the base of the leg will feel loose.
To glaze the ham: preheat the oven to 250C/ 500F/gas mark 9. While still warm, peel the rind from the cooked ham, cut the fat into a diamond pattern and stud each diamond with a whole clove. Blend the brown sugar to a paste with a little pineapple juice. Be careful not to make it too liquid. Transfer the ham to a roasting tin just large enough to take the joint.
Spread the thick glaze over the entire surface of the ham, but not underneath. Bake it in a very hot oven for 20 minutes or until it has caramelised. While it is glazing, baste the ham regularly with the syrup and juices.
