eG Foodblog: Jackal - Xmas week

[Suzanne F]

Thank you, Jack. This beats the hell out of Saveur.

[bloviatrix]

New Years's (as I said in the first post to this thread) will be Hogmanay - Scottish theme: Haggis etc, and a tall dark stranger to first-foot with a lump of coal and a bottle of malt whisky...but by then it should be someone else blogging.

Will there be kilts and sporrans, too?

[jackal10]

What's Saveur? A foodie glossy, I guess?

I'm afraid my food presentation (like my spelling/typing) leaves much to be desired, but its family stye.

Those of Scottish decent (I'm not, my family come from Alsace) will wear kilts for Hogmanay, I expect...with nothing underneath, of course.

[fresco]

Jack, you are too modest by half.

Before you end this blog, I'd love to know what other British occasions you mark with food and drink, or what occasions you mark in a typically British way with food and drink.

If you are not utterly blogged out...

[jackal10]

"L'art d'accommoder les restes" says Elizabeth David, quoting a previous edition of Larousse Gastronomic "is not to be considered as the summit od culinary achievment" but rather that there are leftovers is the sign of a badly run household. However Mere David relents enough to allow that some are legitimate.

Tonight was peasant: chunky turkey soup (turkey, sausage, leeks, carrots, celery) , good bread, and the remains of the trifle. Coffee and desert.

Edited December 26, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[fifi]

Now THAT, dear ones, is LEFTOVERS! The picture of that soup actually made my tummy all warm. (I will bet Marge would appreciate a small bowl. )

[Mabelline]

Actually, I have a holiday to ask about. Now don't get me wrong, I am not an American soap opera watcher, but I was addicted, addicted I say, to BBC America's Eastenders. I watched it mainly to pick up on my ear for fast-spoken English.Jamie Oliver holds no difficulty for me as a consequence. But anyway, whenever they were celebrating Bank Holiday I went blank...what is it, if you please? Do you eat something special?

[jackal10]

Bank Holidays are official government holidays, and originally when the Bank of England was shut.

They are, for 2004, with foods:

Jan 1 New Years Day:

April 9 Good Friday:

April 12 Easter Monday

May 3 May Bank Holiday

May 31 Spring Holiday

August 30 Summer Bank Holiday

Dec 25 Christmas

Dec 26 Boxing Day

Soup was probably too salt for Marge. She got Pedigree Chum and leftover turkey, before, as dogs should not be fed at table, or they start begging.

Holidays with foods mostly follow the religous holidays.

Christmas

New Year Scottish, also Wassail

Easter (Lamb, Simnel cake)Purim (Hamentaschen)

Christmas

New Year/Wassail

and from my Jewish background:

Passover: (lots)

Purim (Hamen Taschen)

Shavout (cheese cake)

Rosh Hashonah (Honey cake)

Succoth (cinnamon biscuits)

Hannukah (Latkes)

Next serious feast, after New Year will be my Birthday on Jan 10.

Edited December 26, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[Mabelline]

Will you be chef or guest of honor or both?

[fifi]

You are absolutely right about not feeding dogs at the table. Sophie was not fed at the table and was on a pretty strict diet but sometimes got treats from ingredents prior to salting, etc. She did, however, on particularly festive occasions, manage to sit in her bed across the room and STARE you into submission so that she got maximum treats later, having effectively induced a massive guilt trip in her humans.

I am sure that the aristocratic Marge would never do such a thing.

[jackal10]

Will you be chef or guest of honor or both?

Both, I hope.

Marge is not a resident, but a guest. She departs tomorrow, no doubt to the local wildlife's relief. She certainly prays hard for manna to drop from heaven, but she is a surprisingly well behaved dog.

I forgot to mention the various college feasts and Guest nights, that now I am a bye-fellow I get to go to at College expense. The rule for Guest Nights is that you can take anyone except your current or another Fellow's partner.

Edited December 26, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[Cusina]

Absolutely gorgeous blog all the way around. You have raised the bar for sure. Thank you so much for sharing it all with us.

Hope your Boxing Day is relaxing after preparing such a feast.

[woodburner]

Jack,

Very fascinating, and extremely tantalzing, with mouth watering foodporn. Thank you for sharing, as I greatly enjoyed it.

woodburner

[jackal10]

Just finishing the Ch Caillou. Just as nice today. Almost like a soft Maidera - raisins and butterscotch with an underlying citrus note. That same darkness a Christmas pudding has. Sweet, but balanced by the lemony acidity. Amazing!

Edited December 26, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[elyse]

Gosh. Now that I've seen the photographs, I am totally jealous. Can I move in?

[torakris]

How long do you want me to go on? Personally I'd love to hear about the Japanese festivities next week. I love Japanese food, but know far too little about real domestic cookery there - we only see restaurant set pieces here. Looks like I might get a trip to Japan in May next year. There is a conference in Kyoto (Hotel Granvia 19-21 May 2004) at which I might speak.

Is that a tag?

I don't mind taking it on, but please don't expect the food seen in this blog......

Next week is also not a very typical week in that is the oshogatsu (New Year) holidays and my husband and kids will be home for the entire week, which means I will have to actually cook 3 meals a day instead of foraging like I usually do.

Of course it will be a good excuse to pull out the new digital camera....

[fifi]

GO KRISTIN!

I would love to see a blog from a different cuture and holiday experience. Please, please, please. *unashamed begging*

[Suzanne F]

Oh, yes, please, Kristin!

Right, Jack: Saveur is a highly glossy food magazine. Rather fatiguing after a few years (actually it's almost 10 years old!). Nowhere near as personally compelling as your blog. However, they did sponsor a by Mark Kurlansky when his Cod book was just out, accompanied by tastings of salt cod dishes by (I think if was) Tom Colicchio (of Craft here in NYC).

[herbacidal]

GO KRISTIN!

I would love to see a blog from a different cuture and holiday experience. Please, please, please. *unashamed begging*

yea, i'm already chompin' at the bit.

[jackal10]

Baked off the bread. The cracklature on the crust is enhanced by its overnight retardation. Keeping the dough in the fridge overmight slightly dries the outside, so you get the fine bubble.

I could not resist making a turkey sandwich for lunch (tho I shouldn't since I've put on 5lbs over Xmas).

Bacon (it was going to be a bacon butty, since I was cooking breakfast for the house guests), turkey, stuffing, cranberry, iceberg lettice, and ... a slice of Foie Gras...

Sliced the bread a bit too hot, so it tore a bit. Not elegant, but yummy. Obscene.

The knife, btw, is my favourite one- a full carbon steel Sabatier 6 inch boning knife. Needs constant sharpening, rusts if you put it in a dishwasher, but an edge like no other.

Edited December 27, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[fifi]

Oh, good Lord!

[Mayhaw Man]

What a sandwich! I thought Dagwood Bumstead was an American, but I stand corrected.

Nice knife. I have that same knife, plus the 10" slicer and a 8 and a 10 chef's knife. I love them. Had one of the chef's knives rehandled a few years ago, due to abuse in the dishwasher. You are correct about the edge though, there is nothing else like it.

Thanks again for the blog. It has been a great one.

[jackal10]

What a sandwich! I thought Dagwood Bumstead was an American, but I stand corrected.

Nah, can't be a Dagwood. No dill pickle...

Nice review in today's Times by Giles Coren of Midsummer House, the restaurant I started. Doesn't seem to be online, yet, however. I sold the restaurant about 15 years ago. Fortunately I owned the freehold, so the increase in property price made up for the losses in trading. They've kept the logo, designed by David Kindersley for me, which is my piece of vanity being my initials, (JAL) upside down

The current chef, Daniel Clifford, has gained the restaurant a Michelin Star, and cooks in a post-modern style.

I'll hand over to tokaris after supper tonight, for what promises to be a fascinating Japanese experience.

Edited December 27, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[jackal10]

Fishcakes for supper. Salmon and the remains of the salt cod.

Salad.

White Rhone (Vieux Telegraph 96)

Fruit and Mince Pies.

That's it. Its been fun. Thankyou for listening, and downloading 90 pix.

Digital camera's are wonderful...

Handing the baton over to Tokaris (Kristin), for a blog I'm really looking forward to...

Edited December 27, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

Thanks again. It was fascinating.