David Ross

Some of you may know of this Holiday salad. I've been making different versions of it for years. Going back to when I was growing up, we never had a green salad for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Thanksgiving and Christmas always started with a shrimp and fresh Dungeness Crab cocktail. The salad was Mother's special frozen concoction of cream cheese, cranberries and I think some type of gelatin. I prefer a green salad for the fresh, clean flavors and it seems a less heavier alternative to the salads of the past. It's really versatile and you can use apples instead of pears, use hazelnuts or walnuts in place of the pecans. I like bleu cheese, but I think goat cheese would also work well. Maybe a soft triple cream might be good. And I like this style of salad if we're serving beef or a roast duck. Ingredients- 4 cups mixed baby salad greens 2/3 cup dried cranberries 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar 1 cup raw hazelnuts, unsalted 1 large red bosc pear, cut in half, cored and thinly sliced 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 3/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese 1 cup extra virgin olive oil black pepper to taste Instructions- Toast the Hazelnuts- -Heat the oven to 375. Spread the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet. Roast the hazelnuts until they start to turn golden, about 7-8 minutes. Remove the hazelnuts from the oven and spread on a kitchen towel. Cover with another towel and rub the hazelnuts between the towels to remove the skins. Roughly chop the hazelnuts. Glaze the Dried Cranberries- -In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, add the balsamic vinegar and the dried cranberries. Cook until the vinegar is reduced by half and the texture of runny syrup, about 10 minutes. If the balsamic gets too thick, add a little water and stir. The glazed cranberries will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to two weeks. Slice the Pears and Assemble the Salad- -Cut the pear in half and scoop out the core. I leave the pear unpeeled but it’s your choice. Use a paring knife to cut out the middle stem. Cut the pear halves in half, leaving you with4 pear quarters. Cut the pears into thick slices, (I use a mandoline to slice the pears). Place the pear slices in a bowl and gently toss with lemon juice to keep from browning while you finish the salad. -Place the mixed baby salad greens in a large serving bowl. Add the glazed cranberries, toasted hazelnuts, sliced pear and bleu cheese. Drizzle in the olive oil and gently toss to combine the ingredients. Season with black pepper.

Another main dish Mother did for Christmas was turkey. I was remembering the Thanksgiving turkey from just a few years before, but looked forward to it again on Christmas. She changed the sides for Christmas. We still had dresssing, mashed potatoes and rolls, but she made delicious little pearl onions in cream sauce and instead of corn, and brussels sprouts, green beans sauteed in butter with almonds. I still make turkey for Christmas, (as do all my friends in the UK), and save the prime rib or ham for New Years dinner. This year I used a recipe from America's Test Kitchen, "Turkey en Cocotte." It's basically a turkey breast slow-cooked in a Dutch oven. I changed the recipe to include more vegetables and stock to make from gravy. And instead of crowding the plate with sides, just served the turkey in thick slices with the gravy and mashed potatoes. This dish was made a few days after a disappointing Thanksgiving turkey at friends. One fellow smoked a whole turkey, but it went off. It was dry and overly smoked. Worse, he chopped it into bits so it was basically shards of dry turkey meat! This recipe is so moist, tender and delicious I'll make it again during football bowl game season to try and impress friends. I'm not sure I'll roast a whole turkey again after finding and tinkering with this recipe. For the turkey- 1 6-7lb. bone-in turkey breast trimmings from the turkey breast salt and pepper 2 tbsp. oil 1 medium onion, chopped 3 carrots, peeled and diced 3 ribs of celery, diced 6 cloves garlic, smashed 1 bay leaf 3 sprigs each of fresh thyme, sage and rosemary 1 tbsp. black peppercorns 1 cup turkey stock For the Herb Gravy- 2 tbsp. flour 2 cups turkey stock add additional stock to thin the gravy salt and pepper to taste Instructions Brown the turkey and braise in the Dutch Oven- Place the oven rack on the lowest setting. Remove the other racks to allow space for the Dutch oven. Trim excess skin from the turkey breast. Using kitchen shears, cut off the lower rib bones. Cut and break off the bone on the large end of the turkey. You can leave the turkey untrimmed, but trimming allows it to sit upright in the Dutch oven. Season the turkey breast with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in the Dutch Oven over medium heat on the stovetop and brown the turkey breast on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove the turkey breast to a plate while you cook the vegetables. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, sage, rosemary, and peppercorns to the Dutch Oven and saute until soft, about 3 minutes. Pour in the 1 cup of turkey stock and turn off the heat. Place the turkey breast on top of the vegetables in the Dutch oven and cover the pot with aluminum foil. Place the lid on top of the foil and press the foil around the edge of the lid to create an air-tight seal. Place the pot in the oven and slow-braise for 2 hours or until the turkey breast registers 160 on a meat thermometer. Remove the Dutch oven and place it on the stovetop. Take the turkey breast out of the Dutch oven and place it on a cutting board. Tent the turkey with foil to keep it warm while you make the herb gravy. Heat the stovetop to medium and start cooking down the pan juices with the vegetables. After about 10 minutes, most of the liquid should be evaporated. At this point, stir in the flour to make a roux. When the flour is browned, start slowly adding the turkey stock, 1/2 cup at a time. As you add the stock, the mixture will become thick. Continue to slowly add stock and stir, scraping up any bits at the bottom of the Dutch oven. Once the gray is silky and smooth, strain it to remove the vegetables. This step may take two people. The Dutch oven is heavy, so start by placing a strainer over a small saucepot. Have someone lift the Dutch oven and pour the gravy through the strainer to remove the vegetables. Keep the gravy warm over low heat. Remove the skin from the turkey breast. Carve each turkey breast off the bone, then cut the turkey breast into thick slices and serve with the gravy. The leftover turkey is delicious in open-face hot sandwiches with gravy.

One of my favorite Holiday appetizers is based on our discussion of Gels, Jell-O and Aspic https://forums.egullet.org/topic/143597-cook-off-61-gels-jell-o-and-aspic/ and the Oyster with Bloody Mary Aspic. Friends and family don't understand why I take the time to make these when they can now go to the market and buy a "fresh" oyster in a shot glass that has some spicy tomato juice in there. And how long ago was that oyster put in said glass I ask them? I've tweaked the recipe a bit, but you start with making a tomato spice base then turn that into an aspic. The aspic then garnishes a fresh oyster. It's full of flavors like celery, black pepper, and of course Vodka and just a few little spoons on top of a fresh oyster and maybe a squeeze of lemon. I live in the Pacific Northwest and we have fresh oysters available year-round. Although I'm on the east part of Washington, we get fresh oysters from Puget Sound flown over daily. I like the tiny oysters like the Kumamoto. Tomato Base Ingredients- 1 cup V8 juice 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/3 cup chopped celery 1 tbsp.brown sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1/4 tsp. paprika 1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes 1 bay leaf 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning 3 whole cloves Aspic Ingredients- 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin powder 1/2 cup V8 juice 1/2 cup bottled clam juice 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 1/2 cup diced celery 1/2 cup vodka 1/3 cup chopped cilantro 1 tsp. black pepper 1/2 tsp. salt 2 tbsp. finely chopped jalapeno For the Oysters- 18 fresh live oysters in shells celery leaves for garnish rock salt for serving Instructions Make the Tomato Base- Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Finish the Aspic and Open the Oysters- While the first mixture is cooking, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Strain the hot tomato base into the bowl with the aspic ingredients. Pour the aspic into small ramekins or spread on a cookie sheet. Chill the aspic for at least 4 hours. Use a kitchen towel for opening the oysters. Hold the oyster in the towel in one hand, and use an oyster knife in the other hand to open the oyster. Scrape the oyster away from the shell. Add a spoon of the Bloody Mary Aspic on top of the oyster and garnish with a celery leaf. Spoon the rock salt into a serving dish and place the oysters on top and serve.

Hey actually I use Jimmy Dean. I think it still has the best flavor, especially the sage variety and I like the grind. I've got a copy-kat recipe but it never comes close to the original.

I'm glad we have this dedicated discussion. I've posted a few new recipes and dishes in other threads, but I think they fit better right here. Some of these dishes are from my eGullet archives, with a few updates, others are new dishes I've been working on. When I was a kid Mother made pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanksgiving was pumpkin and mince pies. Christmas was pumpkin pie but most of us went for the plum pudding with hard sauce. Those were the days when we could get a traditional plum pudding at one of the local department stores. (Now I have to order them through Amazon). Anyway, this is a new type of pumpkin tart. It uses my primary shortbread crust recipe, then a basic pumpkin filling. But the surprise are the canded cranberries. I started making them last year and now love them for tarts because of the burst of tart juice and the sweetness and bit of crunch from the sugar. Now that I think of it, sugared cranberries would be a good garnish for plum pudding. Spiced Pumpkin Tart with Candied Cranberries- For the Candied Cranberries- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup water 1/2 cup granulated sugar for dusting For the Shortbread Crust- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2/3 cup powdered sugar 12 tbsp. butter, melted For the Spiced Pumpkin filling- 1 15oz. can pumpkin puree 1 cup heavy cream 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1/2 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 tsp. ground cloves 2 large eggs, beaten fresh whipped cream for garnish Make the Candied Cranberries- Make the candied cranberries the day before Thanksgiving. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring to melt the sugar. Bring to a simmer then take off the heat and pour into a container. Stir in the cranberries and let them sit in the warm syrup for 3 minutes. Drain the syrup and reserve to use in drinks. Place the sugar in a pie dish and roll the cranberries in the sugar until they are fully coated. Place the cranberries on a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie rack and let them dry overnight. The next day, toss the cranberries again in sugar before garnishing the pumpkin tart. Keep the candied cranberries stored in a covered container. Make the Shortbread Crust and Spiced Pumpkin Filling- Make the shortbread crust and bake the pumpkin tart the morning of Thanksgiving so it can chill in the fridge at least 4 hours before serving. (Or make a day ahead). In a bowl combine the flour, powdered sugar and melted butter and stir to combine until the mixture forms a soft dough ball. Press the dough with your fingers into the bottom and up the sides of a 9x9" tart pan with a removeable bottom. Trim off any extra pastry around the rim of the tart. Refrigerate the pastry in the tart pan for 20 minutes to firm up the butter in the dough. Preheat the oven to 325. In a mixer bowl, add the pumpkin, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and eggs and beat at low speed to combine. Pour the pumpkin filling into the chilled shortbread crust. Place the pumpkin tart on a cookie sheet and put into the oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes until the filling is set but still a bit soft in the middle. Remove the tart from the oven and cool on a cookie rack. Place the pumpkin tart in the refrigerator and let it cool for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve the Tart- Just before serving, garnish the Pumpkin Tart with some of the Candied Cranberries. Spirnkle the top of the tart with Holiday cookie sprinkles. Serve slices of the Pumpkin Tart with fresh whipped cream.

I haven't made sausage rolls in a few years, but think I will this season. But one question. In the past I've always felt the interior of the puff pastry that is around the sausage is really wet and gooey. The outside is crisp and golden, but is there a way to put a barrier between the sausage and pastry so it basically doesn't turn the inside pastry raw?

A friend of mine who lives in the MidWest did something similar. At her latest scan and tests after cancer surgery a year ago, she brought her healthcare team many, many holiday cookies. Her thanks to them, and their appreciation back to her. I think I'm starting a new holiday sharing tradition this year. (and I'll include the Dentist in the sweet holiday offerings. I know, giving the dentist lots of sugar, teeth, cavities and all the rest, but they'll still love it).

Last week at a Dr. appt., I left my Doctor and his assistant with some of my Holiday recipes. I think they were a bit suprised. I told them patients are more than just a chart number, and likewise, I know that my healthcare team is more than just titles. They have family and friends and much of their days are spent in stressful situations. I said I wanted to bring them some Holiday cheer by creating some dishes at home. They were so thankful and I'm glad I did that for them. I gave them recipes for candies and cookies.

I've ordered from Lobel's and it was very good, but the shipping costs are so high. Luckily we have a few butchers in our area that sell "prime" rib. The two main butchers I've gone to age their beef for a few weeks, but not as long as the really dry-aged beef I've seen on television and videos. There beef is fine with me. I've had the long dry-aged beef at steakhouses, and I do like the flavor, but the cost for me to buy it at home is beyond my budget. But because the beef has lost a lot of water weight and you have to cut off that outer crust, the price for me is way too high.

More of the details of my gingerbread house. I didn't have a formal plan for this house, just bought things that caught my eye then got them home and started applying them.. The tree is a disaster. It was a pre-made gingerbread tree but I thought I'd be unique and spray it with fake Christmas snow. Of course being porous the snow never really stuck and I should have left the gingerbread in its natural state, just adding icing and decorations. Trees from the model railroad hobby store sprayed with fake Christmas snow- Farm animals from the toy section. The "snow" around the house is coconut. I experimented with different ways to glue down the coconut, but nothing worked too well so I just spread it around loose. The front walk path is Grape Nuts cereal. Then I sprinkled on some clear cooking sprinkles to sort of look like ice pebbles. The figurines came from the craft store. To make the "ice rink" I cooked a simple syrup to the hard crack stage then added a drop of blue food coloring. Let dry until hard. The chimney is rock candy jelly beans then the smoke is cotton "snow".

I'm part of a Huckleberry group on Facebook, mainly comprised of folks in the Pacific Northwest regions where the berries grow wild. These are some serious pickers and cooks and a number of them made this compote for Thanksgiving. Friends and families all loved it which makes me happy. On man used a spiced wine in place of the red wine and said it turned out very good.

This is the Cranberry-Huckleberry Compote Recipe- Ingredients 1/4 cup red wine Merlot or Zinfandel are best in this recipe 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar 1 cup wild huckleberries substitute blueberries 1 cup fresh cranberries 1 cup sugar 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 1/8 tsp. nutmeg 1/8 tsp. ground cloves Instructions Combine the red wine, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, huckleberries, cranberries, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat to low. Cook the compote, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until the compote thickens. To thicken the compote, stir 1 tbsp. cornstarch into 3 tbsp. of water, then stir into the compote. Just before serving, heat the compote in a saucepan over low heat and serve on the side. The compote will keep covered in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

I'm going to a dinner with about 12. I've made two things, one new recipe, one old. -The new recipe is a Huckleberry-Cranberry Compote served warm. The compote starts with cooking the berries down with sugar, a bit of lemon juice and orange zest. Then in goes some red wine and balsamic vinegar. The spices are cinnamon and fresh-grated nutmeg. Cook down to the consistency you like. I prefer a thick compote, so may add some cornstarch blended with water. -and my "dressing." My Father always made the dressing or stuffing when I was young. He wasn't a great cook, but enjoyed food and did a great job with dressing. His "secret" according to him was to add 2 eggs to keep the dressing moist. And he always removed the cover the last few minutes of baking to get the top crusty. I think he liked a big portion of stuffing doused with gravy more than the turkey. I start with Franz "croutons". They've made them for years and it's still the best I think. I also use the little spice packet that comes in the bag. This year I used two bags so I'll have enough for the party and lots leftover for home. To the croutons I add pork sausage, lots of onion and celery cooked in lots of butter, dried cranberries and chopped pecans. I add poultry seasoning, lots of black pepper and a bit of salt. I happen to love sage, and add some but I know it can be overpowering. Bake one hour at 350, then crisp under the broiler a few minutes. It's actually better the next day.

The oldest one I clipped is the castle made with cookies. I love the idea of using ice cream cones turned upside down to look like spires and turrets.

I've been cutting out gingerbread house ideas for years then packing them away with the Christmas decorations. I'm old school and prefer a visual on a piece of paper, although an internet search is just as good for finding ideas. Here are some great ideas and techniques for building a gingerbread house-

I display it on a table that's the same height as a normal dining table. Kids would love it as it's more at their level. Tommorrow I'll post the little ice rink I made using the same basic method for windows. I just made a simple syrup and cooked it to hard crack stage. Added 1 drop of blue food color to mimic ice on a lake.

The 2019 build is completed. I got a good head start with the 2018 house I had started. Overall I like the looks of it for an amateur attempt. The competitions we see on television or locally have limitations I don't have to deal with. At home I can use my glue gun and the Dremel moto-tool to cut candy canes and pretzels. And I don't go by a time clock, I take as much time as I need. From what I've seen on tv and locally, the gingerbread has to be made from scratch, no pre-made kits allowed. You can only use some form of icing as your glue, and typically the figures have to be made from sugar or natural products. There are the first five photos of the build- Front of the house showing log pretzels and icing used as the "boards." Candies glued on in sort of a Chalet type of look. The shingles are frosted mini-wheats. The door is pre-made and comes with windows on a sheet. You can buy them at craft stores and usually in the section of gingerbread houses at Walmart. The ornaments by the door are tiny glass ornaments. The little farm animals are from the toy section at a big box store. You can also find them at a local hobby shop or model railroad store. The "snow" effect is just coconut. Side of the house. Each corner has a soft peppermint log I found at Walmart. I used the Dremel moto-tool to cut them to the right size. The top of the roof is a pretzel log. Those are large red hot candies with icing sugar as the base. Hard candies along the roof line. Closeup it shows my untidy glue lines, but at a glance, most people don't notice thankfully.

My friends in the UK are more fortunate than we are in the US. And it's the demand issue. Sainsbury's is one of the supermarket giants in the UK and the goose is 9$ UK which is about $11.60 US. I have a friend who lives north of London and they can get goose at a local butcher shop that is more of the free-range type of bird and it's also far less than what we pay for in America. On another note, Goose is one of the featured entrees on Lufthansa flights during December. My Father finally got Mother to buy a goose one Christmas and it really wasn't a good choice. All it really did was perpetuate his thought "I'll give you a Christmas goose!" The meat wasn't too bad, but there was a lot of grease and at the time we didn't know the fat would be great if we saved it. There wasn't really enough meat for four hungry people, so after dinner I think we all wished we had just had turkey. I'm still going to do goose some year, but I know I'll cringe at the price.

Thanks I've collected ideas from old food magazines for years and I saw regular mini-wheats but I thought "frosted!"

These are some of the candies and figures I've got in my toolbox, along with the house I started last year. In addition to craft stores and big box stores for candy and decorations, model railroad shops are a great source for figures and animals. These farm animals came from the toy section at Walmart. Since I'm not building to a scale like model railroaders, I don't mind using items that aren't in proportion. The idea with my gingerbread is to just create a fantasy sort of look. I mentioned before I sort of cheat in terms of using hot glue for attaching some of the decorations and candy. But I also use icing, usually store-bought in a small squeeze tube.

Our family will never forget what happened one Christmas season. My Father took care of an elderly family friend and we would bring her over for Christmas dinner. Mother had bought a pre-made gingerbread house at a local bakery and put it on an end table next to the couch. After dinner we went into the living room and there she sat, breaking off pieces and nibbling on that gingerbread house. Mother was aghast and nobody knew what to say, if anything. I suppose since it was locally made it was all good ingredients and wasn't going to harm her, but it was one of those uh-oh moments of the holidays. Do you eat a gingerbread house or just use it as a showpiece.

These are a few of the kids entries in a local gingerbread competition that is held at a local hotel as a charity fundraiser.

I'm not yet graduated to making the gingerbread walls myself, so start with a pre-made house kit. I usually buy candies and decorations from a variety of stores-craft stores in the cake decorating section, the candy aisle at Walmart and Walgreen's. Small little farm animals and figurines come from a toy section or a model railroad store. And I've found the Dremel moto-tool works great for cutting candy canes and pretzels with a hard edge.

We've shared our gingerbread houses over the years in holiday baking and cookie discussions. But this year let's start a new tradition with a discussion topic dedicated just to the gingerbread house. I'll start with a gingerbread house I worked on for a couple of years starting in 2016. For two years I'd buy some new candies and add a little more, but then in 2018 tragedy. I'd packed it in one of those large hard plastic tubs and closed the lid. I kept it in a closet in the house thinking that would be a safe place. Well it got some condensation in there and when I opened it last season it had collapsed and I couldn't re-build it. It was a nice for an amateur attempt.

In the past I've used the fruitcake recipe from the Northern Pacific passenger train line and their signature train the North Coast Limited that ran between Chicago and Seattle. Hard to believe today, but during the heyday of the Northern Pacific they served fruitcake and it was such a big hit they sold it onboard. The Northern Pacific ultimately merged with the Great Northern and today is BNSF. The Northern Pacific was also famous for their "Great Big Baked Potato." I'll find the recipe and post again, but you can also find it upthread. It's a dark fruitcake and I add lots of booze. My Great Aunt Bertie made a similar fruitcake and her best ones were in the range of 10 years old!