Okanagancook

A stick blender would work but if you wanted it super smooth you may consider straining also. Enjoy, the sherry really makes it and it is very easy to make.

The mushroom soup recipe from Les Halles.

Repurpose it to taco filling. Crispen it up with onions, chili and some Mexican spices. Grated cheddar over the top in a taco would work for me.

Put a medium sized eggplant in the hot coals for a total of about 10 to 12 minutes, turning halfway through and pricking it before putting in the fire (no foil). Nice char flavour! Saved a bunch of electricity. What the heck I thought, put some carrot wrapped in foil in the hot coals for about 14 minutes, turning once....a little charred with a nice flavour too.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I have never had a Sauternes that old.

Season them up with your favourite herbs/seasonings; sear them well; put on a bed of sliced potato/onion/carrot/celery or fennel if you have it; dump a little beer/stock/wine in the pan and slow roast until the internal temp is around 134F; rest 15 minutes under foil; devour

Just the two of us this new years. Asian roast game hen; Black bean/garlic fried crab; steamed baby bok choy and steamed Thai glutinous rice with Champagne to start and some kinda semi sweet wine to go with the meal, probably a Portuguese Antao Vaz from the cellar.

HungryChris, a thing of beauty. Looks like a Weber without the infrared heating element, so you used indirect heat?

When you have a nice bird, it's true, just cook it and let the meat shine. Nice. Looks like a "big'in", 5 to 6 lbs?

Shelby, I read the Serious Eats link to the perfect yorkshire pud that Norm kindly posted. I made the batter and put it in the fridge overnight. About 4 hours before I cooked the batter it was taken out of the fridge. I added a little cold water as per Elaine Lemm's recipe (I used her recipe), gave it a whisk, heated the beef fat to smoking, filled the cups and they were done in about 13 minutes. Really light and fluffy. Yorkshire pud is pretty easy to make. The only trick is the timing of the baking to coincide with when everything else is ready. It's an impressive component to a meal. Those oysters look fantastic. I don't buy them here, too far from the ocean.

Roast pork shank, yorkshire puds, red cabbage and gravy. Only filled the popover pans 1/3 of the way full and rested the batter overnight. Very light and hollow in the middle as they are supposed to be. I started the pork shank in the little Cuisine Art Oven on steam-bake at 220F for 120 minutes then transferred to my Cadco Convection Oven at 475F until the crackling got crispy.

Took the words right off my keypad Shelby. The food looked amazing too. We are all so fortunate to be able put on such wonderful Christmas meals.

Thanks for the link Norm. A good read. We clearly filled our cups too much, I think they were about 2/3 full. Need to make half the batter volume for that six cup popover pan. I have "The Great Book of Yorkshire Pudding" by Elaine Lemm. Here is her video on YP: http://foodanddrink.yorkshirepost.co.uk/recipes/perfect-yorkshire-puddings/ She really stresses resting the batter but now I think I will make it the night before and then take it out an hour before baking. That was interesting about the flavour development of an overnight batter. I use beef fat by the way. (In her little book she has ideas for using the puddings, like the onion filled ones mentioned over at Serious Eats. She also mentions putting Irish Stew or chilli in the cups.)

Hey Norm, nice puddings! We have the same pop over pan. How full do you fill your cups? I have used my pan just once, up thread, last night and we thought the pudding was too dense towards the bottom. The roast beef also looks fantastic as do the shrimp.

So good, had to do it again! P.S. I got a dumpling cookbook for Christmas!

Pork/cabbage pot stickers!

Rack of lamb, yorkshire put made in my new 'popover' tins and parsnip/carrot. Measured the YP 'cause having a 'whose the best at YP' with a friend

Wow, love that kinda spread. So did my Dad. I would take the same kind of pickles/meats/cheese/bread and he would eat and eat beyond my expectations....

A beautifully decorated Xmas 'hamper' full of baked goodies, preserves and a cookbook.

I've made the Andrea Nguyen beef pho and thought it was excellent. Good luck.

I have several clay pots and a gas stove. I purchased one of these: http://www.creativecookware.com/Commercial-Cookware/Ibili/Heat-Distributing-Plates-p4099/ I actually use it a lot to have a uniform heat especially for long slow simmers. I usually use it when cooking in my clay pots for safety (I'm a chicken) and the even heat.

Sartoric, I think you just nailed it, it ALL depends on the meat. We are blessed with a little butcher shop here in our small town of 35,000 people. I have cultivated my relationship with them and am usually invited to choose the belly I want from the pile they get each week.

Nice pork belly. By the looks of the thickness, it must have been juicy. Nice crab cakes! So envious of west coast fresh crabs. Just enough other stuff for the crab to stay together. Do you form them ahead and leave in fridge to meld together and do you use any Old Bay?

Yes, I did see that spoon in the mouth...no excuse for that. Let us see if she can prove her own hype in LCK.

We have a dog bath which is very useful....when there isn't a dog in it !