eG Foodblog: Chris Amirault (2010) - Holidays in Rhode Island

[mkayahara]

Merry Christmas, Chris and other eGulleters! We're up, but not quite at 'em. I haven't decided for sure on breakfast yet this morning; there will definitely be home-cured peameal (a.k.a. Canadian) bacon, with either pancakes or fried eggs on Ruhlman's English muffins. But before any of that, there will be grapefruit halves, since I've eaten grapefruit halves on Christmas morning ever since I was a kid.

(And before that, there will be coffee...)

[Fat Guy]

We're in the process of discussing whether the main meal today will be Chinese, Thai, or Indian.

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[Anna N]

. . . .

Surely we're not the only Society members up and at 'em this morning. What are others doing? No need to toil alone in a quiet kitchen!

So who is toiling? Not me! Since we celebrate Christmas Eve rather than Christmas day I plan on putting my feet up and doing very little of anything.

Hubby and I will enjoy a small Danish lunch with open-face sandwiches washed down with some ice-cold Akvavit and a couple of brews followed by a long nap. But I do wish all of you the best of the holidays.

[C. sapidus]

Surely we're not the only Society members up and at 'em this morning. What are others doing? No need to toil alone in a quiet kitchen!

For us, toiling was all done yesterday. We had a small family gathering last night, serving tom kha gai, and diner-assembled lettuce wraps with larb gai or a garlicky pork stir-fry. Ham sandwiches for the young ‘uns, mulled white wine for the grown-ups (and near grown-ups), and plenty of cheese, crackers, raw veggies, and dips upon which to nosh.

I also baked two crab quiches yesterday for Xmas brunch at my brother’s house. Russian friends invited us for dinner tonight, so Mrs. C will make her ever-popular cabbage salad. No turkey and stuffing for us this year.

Boys were up late preparing a scavenger hunt for Mrs. C. Turnabout is fair play – we used to give the boys Xmas scavenger hunts that included math problems.

Looking forward to enjoying your feast vicariously! Oh, and extra kudos for involving your charming daughters.

[Darienne]

We're up, but then we have dogs and dogs don't care that we were late last night and need extra sleep.

So far just coffee. Our daughter is still asleep upstairs, but she will want bacon and eggs for breakfast because although she has been on her own for decades now, she still refuses pretty much to cook. Her BF is an incredible cook - he cooks 7 days a week for homeless Caribbean men - but he doesn't do breakfast.

Then on to stuffing the turkey, etc. Totally traditional menu here in the far frozen north.

Great BLOG, Chris. Don't know where you get that energy!!!

[Chris Amirault]

Happy Christmas, Anna, Bruce, and Darienne!

A pause in the action while we await my parents' arrival. Give me a moment to upload a few snaps.

[Marlene]

We're just waiting for the lad to get up, then I'll make cinnamon pecan waffles and we'll all go off in our separate directions. Turkey sandwiches tonight!

[weinoo]

RE: Dessert snafu. While I'm not surprised that you would try something for the first time for the eG Foodblog, I am surprised that you would try something for the first time meant to be served to a lot of guests!

[Chris Amirault]

From last night's tortilla making. I wanted to demonstrate the great ziplok bag technique that, I think, Diana Kennedy developed:

Boy, it was worth trucking that 50 pound bag from Tucson:

[Chris Amirault]

Morning's tea:

Breakfast #1, with three butter & nut cookies from Andrea's grandmother, with walnuts from her own trees:

Breakfast #2 in the oven:

The makings for Ong's gougeres:

I then spent an hour or so doing the prep for the Bras stuffed onions:

The Hermé tart in the oven:

Just a little bit of prep for the duck ham salad left to do:

[Merridith]

Good morning to everyone. I have been up doing the day's routine (feed, play with dog, mostly). We had a nice quied christmas eve - I made the SV lobster tail with a preserved lemon risotto (flavored with the bag juice from the lobster). It needed a sauce but I had too much going on. I was working on marshmallows, peppermint bark and other things for my dinner on the 27th (this is OUR family dinner). Today it is what I call "a Dierberg's Christmas." That is where my MIL goes to the local grocery and buys all the prepared crap she sees and feeds it to the guests for dinner. Needless to say, she knows nothing about food. Anyway, it is fun to visit with all the distant relatives and great to enjoy the kids with all their new stuff!

Chris, I have really been enjoying this thread - I keep sneaking off to the computer to see what is going on. Sorry about the ice cream. Thank you for sharing because we can ALL learn from each others successes and errors.

Finally OMG...those cinnamon rolls make me really want to live next door to you!

[Dejah]

Good morning, and Merry Christmas, Chris! Wonderful blog and great read. You are THE MAN to have for fantastic meals!

Thanks for the tip on using the Ziplock bag over the tortilla press! I've struggled with tying Saran wrap on both halves whenever I make dim sum. Now my task will be much easier!

[Mjx]

It doesn't look that bad to me -- and I bet that the texture is just perfect!

Surely we're not the only Society members up and at 'em this morning. What are others doing? No need to toil alone in a quiet kitchen!

To be honest, when I wrote earlier it was already about 11.00 here, and I'd been doing nothing much: Yesterday was the big day.

Today I mostly sat about limply, doing a PM on yesterday's dinner. The texture of the cake was okay, but I'm still kicking myself for not just carrying the ganache bowl into the living room, where it was warm (I was wearing a scarf and fingerless gloves in the kitchen, which should have clued me in). At least I'll know to do that when I make truffles for another party on Monday.

To my great relief, the flying-blind-in a snowstorm venison dish turned out reasonably well, though I'll be reducing the cooking time, next time I do this.

[Pam R]

We're in the process of discussing whether the main meal today will be Chinese, Thai, or Indian.

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Chinese. I slept in and I'm about to start on the sesame sauce for the Chinese hot pot tonight. Tradition.

This is a-whole-lotta work. Do you cook/host every Christmas or are you ever a guest? Maybe a better question: Do you ever want to be a guest or would you rather be in charge every year?

[janeer]

But it turns out that the dessert (mirliton citrus tart) required both grapefruit and orange supremes, something that Andrea's knife skills can't handle. Still tentative, I got down my new razor-sharp nakiri, and a few minutes later:

Phew. I guess my skills didn't all vanish in an avalanche of curd. Now I can get a drink.

Now, that is a beautiful little supreme job. Did you take a pic of the tart?

[Chris Amirault]

Pix of the whole meal to follow. Serving the daube course now.

[nickrey]

Reading this on Boxing day here in Australia, I can only marvel at the multitasking involved in cooking and blogging at the same time!

Chris when you get time, try Robuchon's method for creme Anglaise. As usual, it works out extremely well. It's one of those things that I'd always do stovetop rather than sous vide as it is fast and efficient once you have practiced it.

[David Ross]

What a wonderful blog and photos--the discussion just as rich. Happy Holidays to all. I am at the Family home in Oregon roasting a prime rib of beef that has a delicious layer of fat, which, if things go as planned, will melt down through the sprigs of fresh rosemary strung around the roast and drizzle onto the potatoes below. Not overly adventurous this year, plum pud and hard sauce for dessert. Can't wait to see more on how your dinner turns out Chris.

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks for the tip on using the Ziplock bag over the tortilla press! I've struggled with tying Saran wrap on both halves whenever I make dim sum. Now my task will be much easier!

It makes things a whole lot easier. Be sure to get the freezer bags, as the extra few millimeters of thickness help a lot. I also figured out an additional step last night that helps you prevent the tortilla from sticking to the bag at that crucial moment:

1. after you've pressed the tortilla, peel open the ziplok and let that side of the tortilla dry slightly for 10-15 seconds;

2. close the ziplok and peel of the second (not dried) side;

3. place the second side on your palm and peel off the dried side;

4. lay the tortilla on the heat with your hand.

Mjx, I've been feeling sorry for myself bc I've had some dishpan hands and a nagging cut, but reading about your scarf and fingerless gloves, I'm not complaining any more!

This is a-whole-lotta work. Do you cook/host every Christmas or are you ever a guest? Maybe a better question: Do you ever want to be a guest or would you rather be in charge every year?

I'm an only child now, and my parents are older, so I've been the holiday cook for quite a while. In addition, I really, really, really enjoy every aspect of it: the planning with stacks of cookbooks (and, now, the fantastic Eat Your Books website); shopping; doing all the prep and cooking. The eating ain't so bad either.

[Shelby]

Am I mistaken, or are those cinnamon rolls resting on a sheet of dough? If so, what's that about?

The PC is putting in a few hours at work, so I'll have to get back to you on that. Perhaps someone else around here knows....

Here's the word from Andrea:

"Sitting on mixture of butter, brown sugar and (stabilizing) corn syrup: will caramelize as bakes an make the goo."

ACK! Now my secret it out lol!

I always smear butter, brown sugar and pure maple syrup on the pan before putting the rolls in...it DOES make the BEST goo!

[Chris Amirault]

A few notes on the photos above:

I should have sliced the onions from tip to root, not this way. No big deal, but the packets were a bit difficult to negotiate in the oven.

Does anyone else who has been cooking SV find themselves hoarding small amounts of fat and other tasty goodness? That's about a tablespoon of pancetta fat there that I saved, and I found it rummaging around the fridge. It was a great addition to the onion stuffing.

[ScottyBoy]

I absolutely do that haha, it's like "oh crap I forgot the butter to baste with". Oh wait, found some of that sweet and salty pork fat I saved from the bag, perfect!

[Chris Amirault]

David, I want you to FedEx me some of those potatoes.

[Chris Amirault]

I took this shot of the gourgeres as a test, but they didn't make it to the serving platter. Great recipe: easy to make and quite forgiving. I used another ziplok kludge for these guys, as we lack a pastry bag. Definitely going to make these again and again.

The onion soup depended on a beef stock with a lot of gelatin, which, along with the onions, had a lot of body. I combined the Culinaria and Robuchon recipes, adding a bit of flour toward the end to the golden onions. And, thanks to a bunch of second-hand ramekins, the presentation was pretty spectacular:

At about this time Bebe started realizing that this meal was not going to be Annie's shells, and, to enable the other seven of us to get through the meal in a leisurely fashion, we broke out the Frosted Mini-Wheats:

The stuffed onions were excellent. I don't think that the creme fraiche was necessary, and it slid off the slippery onion slope. But no matter, as it's an easy and tasty course:

Forwent the chestnuts on the duck ham salad, which was great:

Because of the ice cream mishap, we ran short of eggs, and so I resuscitated the polenta, much to my mother-in-law's happiness. The daube, as always, was wonderful:

Finally, the tart - which would have benefited from more tart valencia oranges:

[ScottyBoy]

Oh goodness, great job!